Archive for Thursday, January 14, 2010

Hunt for new fire chief still ongoing process

By Nicole Kelley

January 14, 2010

The city of Edwardsville is at least six to eight months away from getting a new fire chief.

While the time frame seems significant, city administrator Michael Webb said there was good cause for a slow process. He said the city was planning to take its time in selecting the right candidate for the position.

“For here, historically, this decision is fairly long term,” he said. “Getting another chief for 10, 12, 14 years is not unlikely. We want to take a few months making sure we’re making the right decision so down the road, we don’t regret anything.”

Following the retirement of Cliff Lane, who had been with the city for 31 years and was fire chief for 16, and the departure of two other employees, Webb said the city had to pay out a significant amount in vacation and sick time accrued by those employees.

With that strain on the salary side of the budget and an overall strain on the 2010 budget in general, Webb said finances were a small part of why the city planned to wait to start the hiring process.

Webb said it would take six months of the fire chief’s pay and benefits to get back what was paid in accrued vacation and sick time to the employees that left.

But, Webb said, an equally important reason for the wait was to also make sure the correct candidate was found.

“We didn’t want to go out, start searching and not know where we’re wanting to go (with the fire department,)” Webb said. “We just want to make sure the next chief is the right fit for the department.”

Once the formal process is started, Webb said the hiring of a new fire chief would be similar to what the city went through when hiring the current police chief, Mark Mathies. Webb said there would be no national search, but a decision would need to be made as to how many neighboring states the search would entail.

Following the advertisement and search for candidates, Webb said there would be a series of written exams and personal interviews, conducted by a panel appointed by the mayor.

This process, Webb said, should take three to four months to complete.

In the meantime, Mathies is acting as interim fire chief and already has some ideas in mind to improve the department before a new chief arrives on the job.

Mathies said his first steps as interim fire chief had been to review basic policies throughout the department, as well as getting to know the firefighters at the station.

These next few months, he said, would be spent getting an overall assessment of the department, deciding what direction the department should head in the future and then formulating a plan to make sure those goals are met.

There are a few goals, however, that Mathies already has in mind.

One of those , Mathies said, is to improve the city’s rating for the Insurance Services Office. Mathies said this rating was used by insurance companies and affects the insurance rates of every home and business in Edwardsville.

On a scale from one to ten, with one being the best ISO rating, Mathies said Edwardsville currently has a score of five. As the city’s rating improves, Mathies said, insurance rates could go down.

So far, Mathies said he ordered a detailed list from the city’s last rating so he could assess areas in which the department scored well and areas to improve. From there, Mathies plans to determine what can be improved that still fits with the city’s resources and finances.

After improvements are made, Mathies will ask the ISO to visit the city for an updated assessment, which he hopes will lead to a lower rating.

Most importantly, Mathies said he looked forward to more conversations with the firefighters of Edwardsville.

“I want to have discussions with them and empower them to be a part of the change, get them on board with some of the ideas,” Mathies said.

Comments

  1. Really123 (anonymous) says…

    I feel so very sorry for the Edwardsville firefighters. They lost a leader of many years, who has now been temporarily replaced by someone who knows nothing about the fire service at all. Is Mathies getting any extra compensation for this "duty" or is he just doing it out of the kindness of his heart? I would guess that he and Mike Webb have again made a "behind the doors" agreement with each other. How can Mathies lead these firefighters when he can't even manage the police department? Why not give the interim job to one of the firefighters that has been on the job for quite some time and knows about the job? A good question to ask is, after Mathies took over the Police Department, why were so many people fired? Why did he and Mike Webb completely ignore and not investigate a female officers complaint about being sexually harassed by one male Sergeant and choked by another male Sergeant? I bet the public knew nothing of this! Enough is enough with Mathies and Mike Webb. Citizens of Edwardsville need to beware of these two and start asking a whole lot more questions of their actions!!!

  2. Undercoverperson (anonymous) says…

    Lets "cut to the chase" ! The shadows of corruption,backroom deals,cover-ups and all around dishonesty just about completely cover these so called "public servants" They along with a few other Edwardsville city officials/employees need to be given a stint in the "cross-bar hotel" instead of being in positions of literally "raping" the city with their under the table antics!
    Both of them,along with some past & present people that should have to "back-up" to the pay-clerk each payday due to the shame the have brought upon themselves and others. As for the female officer,that was the most gross cover up that Edwardsville has seen in a long time. I hope she pursues the vile and cowardly things she was made to suffer on a Federal level,where the local Chief & his cronies can't sweep it under the rug with their phoney "in-dept. investigation" Its time Edwardsville P.D. was cleaned up along with others on the city payroll.Its the peoples town,not the private playground of the C.O.P. and other corrupt officials/employees. For Gods sake,stand up people! Make your voice heard!

  3. hmm (anonymous) says…

    I just want to know if this kind of stuff is still happening here six months later? Why is it taking SO LONG to get a new fire chief? are they even looking or is Mathies just going keep this position? Can Mathies effectivly and efficiently do both jobs? How much are we paying him to do both jobs, is he getting full time pay from both, full time from the PD and part time from the FD or just his PD pay? If he is getting full time from both - is he working an 80 hour week (probably not)?