City of Salem Announces Process for Hiring Next Fire Chief
Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll today announced the process that the City will take to hire Salem’s next Chief of the Salem Fire Department. The previous Chief, David Cody, retired on March 31, following 35 years of service in the department, including 14 as Chief.
“Our intention is to follow an open and competitive process identical to that which was undertaken a few years ago when we hired our new Police Chief,” Mayor Driscoll explained. “While the law allows for a much more closed and constrained process, with just a written examination among the top three ranking members of our local department and a final selection by the Mayor without any public input, I think we saw with the Police Chief position that a more transparent and rigorous process was to everyone’s benefit.”
The City has received authorization from the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission to allow it to conduct a sole assessment center, starting in May, open to eligible individuals. That center would consist of both a written examination and in-person evaluations and simulation exercises.
Following the assessment center, the top three candidates would then meet for a series of interviews with a community stakeholder committee. The committee’s membership includes a representative of the Salem Firefighters’ union, a representative from Salem’s neighborhood associations, the Chamber of Commerce, the City Council President, a representative from the Latino Leadership Coalition, the City Solicitor, Human Resources Director, and Mayor’s Chief of Staff, and two outside experts – former Chelsea Fire Chief Chuck Fothergill, who is currently the Communications Director for Atlantic Ambulance, and a representative of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. The committee will then forward its report to the Mayor, who will meet individually with the three finalists before making her selection. Mayor Driscoll’s goal is to have the next Fire Chief appointed by the end of July.
“Salem’s Fire Department is one of our largest and most critical,” said Mayor Driscoll, “With a budget of $8.8 million and 95 men and women in the department, last year they responded to over 7,000 emergency calls for service. In addition, our Fire Chief is the City’s Emergency Management Director; as a coastal community that hosts large scale public events and is home to major facilities such as the power plant, state university, MBTA station, and Salem Hospital, among others, this is an extremely important position to fill with the most qualified and well-prepared individual.”
With the Civil Service Commission having approved the City’s request for the open assessment center process the job will be advertised and a deadline for applications announced shortly. Additional information will be posted at https://www.salem.com/human-resources/pages/employment-opportunities regarding the process, description, and deadlines as they are determined.