Selectmen could choose internal fire chief candidate soon

Jan. 20, 2017 | Chris Goudreau
cgoudreau@thereminder.com

WILBRAHAM – The Board of Selectmen may hire a new fire chief sometime next month if the internal search process yields qualified candidates.

The internal posting for the position will close Jan. 21 and the board could start reviewing applicants at its first February meeting.

“I think we want to make this process as expeditious as possible to ensure the smoothest possible transition,” Board of Selectmen Chair Susan Bunnell told Reminder Publications.

Fire Chief Francis Nothe, who has worked for the department for the past 40 years, 14 of which have been as chief, will retire on Jan. 20.

Bunnell said the board is looking to hire an individual that would build upon Nothe’s legacy.

“We’re looking for a combination of continuity, professionalism, the ability to manage staff and the budget in an effective manner, and someone who we can expect to have a strong and balanced relationship with [and with] the department,” she noted.

According to the internal position posting, desired qualifications for the job include a bachelor’s degree in fire administration or public administration, and or executive fire officer training at the National Fire Academy and 15 years of “progressively responsible firefighting experience,” five of which should be as a shift commander or higher ranking and two years experience as a deputy or chief in a paid department.

She added Nick Breault and Human Resources Coordinator Herta Dane would review the applications.

“They would screen really only for someone who did not meet the minimum qualifications,” Bunnell said. “They would screen out someone who was not an appropriate applicant, but other than that I believe what they’ll do is forward those applicants to the Select Board … I think that the review process will happen next week and then therefore it might end up in the selectmen’s folder for the first meeting in February for review.”

She continued, “Based on how big the pool is and how the Select Board chooses to move forward, we could either interview if there were multiple candidates. We might ask a group of people to conduct those interviews and that could include the Fire Advisory Board, Nick and Herta, and perhaps other department heads.”

Bunnell said the board might decide to create a secondary screening process if there are numerous applicants for the job.

“We could choose to broaden the search to an external one and if we are content with the pool of candidates and so chose, we certainly have the power to make an appointment from the internal applicant pool,” she added. “In fact, from a process perspective the selectmen could have simply made that appointment without an application process if we chose to do so.”

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