County Executive Marc Elrich will nominate Prince George’s County Deputy Fire and EMS Chief Corey Smedley on Thursday for the post of Montgomery County fire chief, according to county officials.
Smedley’s nomination is the second that Elrich has made for the position. In November MCFRS Division Chief Charles Bailey was nominated by Elrich for the role. However, Elrich let Bailey’s nomination expire in March after the County Council did not vote on whether to confirm Bailey within the time mandated by county code.
If approved by the County Council, Smedley will be the county’s first Black fire chief, serving as head of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service. The council is mandated by county code to vote whether to confirm Smedley within 60 days of the nomination.
His nomination will be formally announced in a press conference at 11 a.m. on Thursday at Station 32 in Rockville.
Smedley has held his post in Prince George’s County since January, according to his LinkedIn page. Prior to that, he was the City of Alexandria’s first Black fire chief for more than four years, and spent over eight years in their fire department. He retired from the department in January, according to the Alexandria Times.
“The first of anything is a challenging role,” Smedley told the Alexandria Times in December before his retirement. “You can ask anyone that’s done something for the very first time that’s never been done, it’s very challenging. Now you add the things that this country has had challenges with race relations, that just added another layer to it.”
He spent over 20 years in Prince George’s County’s fire department before taking the position in Alexandria.
This is the second nomination to come from Elrich’s office to replace Scott Goldstein, who stepped down in July. Gary Cooper is currently serving as interim fire chief.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) Division Chief Charles Bailey was nominated by Elrich for the role in November. However, Elrich let Bailey’s nomination expire in March after the County Council did not vote on whether to confirm Bailey within the time mandated by county code.
“Following consultation with members of the County Council, a pathway forward for the nomination of Division Chief Charles Bailey as Chief of the Montgomery Fire and Rescue Services was not deemed feasible,” Elrich’s spokesperson Scott Peterson said in an email to MoCo360 in March.
The decision not to proceed with Bailey’s nomination followed the release just days prior of a memorandum by the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General (OIG) concerning a senior MCFRS employee. According to the memorandum, a senior MCFRS employee engaged in misconduct in 2019 and 2021, violating the Code of Conduct. The identity of the employee is unknown.
Elrich and officials in his office told MoCo360 they could not comment on the identity of the unnamed fire official in the OIG report or whether Bailey was connected to the report because it is a personnel matter. Elrich defended his choice of Bailey in the days following the dropped nomination after the firefighters’ union criticized Elrich’s selection process.
Bailey was later moved to a position as the Division Chief for Support Services for MCFRS on March 24.
The County Council will have to vote whether to confirm Smedley within 60 days of the nomination, as mandated by county code.