South Fulton begins process to find city's first top cop

SOUTH FULTON, Ga. - The new formed City of South Fulton began the process of finding the city's first police chief.  At Tuesday's city council meeting, leaders discussed how they will go about the national search.

"Who is going to do the search, how much it is going to cost," said South Fulton Mayor William Edwards. "Put together a list to of people that we will bring back to the council."

South Fulton Mayor William Edwards said in addition to naming a police chief, the city is working with Fulton County to establish their police and fire departments that he expects to have in place January of 2018.

Mayor Edwards said they are requesting four officers and four firefighters from Fulton County to guide them through the process.

"We know that fire and police are always intricate things to bring over, you have to follow not only some state regulations, but there are some organizations you have to deal with," said Mayor Edwards.

The mayor said they will take 173 officer applications and the positions are also open to current Fulton County officers who choose to transition to the new city. The mayor said they will be able to keep their salaries and pensions.

"We would love to have some certified officers where we can find them to come in because a certified officer, he can be on the street in 60 days, you take an officer who has not been certified and from the day he has the application to the day he is on the street is 18 months," said Mayor Edwards.

The city is also working with the county to purchase patrol vehicles and fire trucks for about one dollar.

The mayor said they've established their planning department and now that; that is in place they can move forward with parks and recreation and code enforcement.

"We're in the process of doing things, but doing them timely and doing them in order so we will not have any problems once the final analysis is done," said Mayor Edwards.

The mayor said it is beneficial for the city to move quickly because they are paying a fee to Fulton County to run their departments.