By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLLINS CHAPEL – The Chilton County Firefighters Association will hold a public meeting on Aug. 13 aimed at helping the Collins Chapel Fire Department resume normal operations after its fire chief was arrested and charged with stealing department funds.

The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13, in the auditorium of the Chilton County Extension Office off Chilton County 29 in the Collins Chapel community.

During the meeting, the Firefighters Association will work to seat a new five-member board of directors for the volunteer fire department, which suspended operations after its chief, Shawn Carlisle, was arrested on July 28 and charged with one felony count of first-degree theft of property.

The Collins Chapel Fire Department also must fill its chief, assistant chief, rescue chief and secretary/treasurer positions, and appoint an at-large board member.

Carlisle was arrested after the state Fire Marshal’s Office launched an investigation into the fire department, which is based in Thorsby and serves portions of northern Chilton County, in late May.

During the investigation, the Fire Marshal’s Office allegedly discovered Carlisle was “cashing fire department checks at a local business.”

According to Chilton County District Court documents, Carlisle cashed numerous checks from the Collins Chapel Fire Department’s People’s Southern Bank tax-exempt account totaling more than $20,000 at a local business between Jan. 1, 2013, and June 17 of this year.

Cheryl Robinson, who currently serves as the department’s executive treasurer and was the director of Chilton County 911 for many years, said the department is encouraging a high community turnout at the meeting.

Robinson faces no allegations of wrongdoing by the state Fire Marshal’s Office.

“We need people to come to this meeting. We are trying to get the department back to the shape it used to be in,” Robinson said. “It used to be one of the finest departments in Chilton County.”

Robinson said only Collins Chapel residents are eligible to serve on the department’s board of directors, but the Aug. 13 meeting is open to everyone.

“We are not doing any calls until a new board is seated. Surrounding departments are picking up all our calls right now,” Robinson said. “Those departments are doing a great job, but they also have their own calls to run.

“We’ve got peoples’ lives at stake. We need to be up and running again for the citizens,” Robinson added. “The Collins Chapel community deserves better than this.”