HomeMy WebLinkAbout9.a. Appointment of Fire Chief�ROSEMOUNT
CITY COUNCIL
City Council Regular Meeting: April 2, 2013
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
AGENDA ITEM: Appointment of Fire Chief
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PREPARED BY: Dwight Johnson, City Administrator
AGENDA NO. �. a.
ATTACHMENTS: Excerpt from Fire Department Personnel
APPROVED BY:
Policy
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RECOMMENDED ACTION: Motion to approve the appointment of Richard Schroeder as
Fire Chief for a three year term effective immediately.
BACKGROUND
Fire Department Personnel Policy, adopted on June 17, 1997 provides that a Fire Chief will be appointed
once every three years. Current Chief Scott Aker's term is up and he is not seeking re- appointment as
Chief. The Policy provides that the City Administrator will convene an interview panel consisting of six
members, three of whom must be firefighters. Members of the interview panel were:
Rob Sciamanda
Kerry Hiben
Jim Olinger
Mike Scott
Eric Werner
Emmy Foster
firefighter
firefighter
firefighter
Eagan Fire Chief
Police Chief
Assistant City Administrator
The panel interviewed four qualified candidates (rank of Captain or higher) on February 28, 2013.
Subsequent to the panel interviews, Chief Aker organized "listening sessions" at each Fire Station on
March 26th at my request. I was accompanied by Mayor Droste and Council member Weisensel.
Approximately 15 firefighters offered their thoughts about what the department needed and any opinions
they had about the selection of the next Chief.
Personnel Policy provides that the City Administrator will select the candidate deemed to be most
qualified and submit the selection to the City Council for confirmation.
After carefully reviewing the results of the process and a personal meeting with the leading candidate, a
selection has been made for Council consideration.
DISCUSSION
All four candidates are qualified to be Chief and each has their areas of strength. I have decided to
recommend Captain Richard (Rick) Schroeder for the position.
Captain Schroeder brings many outstanding qualities to the position:
• He has served the Fire Department for 15 years as a firefighter, Lieutenant and Captain.
• He is well educated and is one year away from receiving his Master's degree.
• He has substantial supervisory experience in both the public sector as a Sergeant in the Sheriffs
Department and previously as a private business owner with six employees.
• With his law enforcement background, he is very well positioned to help the Fire and Police
Departments work even more closely together.
• He is also well positioned and demonstrates interest in exploring more shared services with
surrounding cities.
• He shows a good understanding of issues likely to face the Fire Department in the coming years
including daytime response and upgraded technology.
• He will seek suggestions from all firefighters and have an open door.
• He graded the highest of the four candidates with the interview panel.
• Reference checks came back very positive.
• He is a dynamic individual with considerable energy and drive to serve Rosemount.
RECOMMENDATION
I recommend that the City Council approve a motion to appoint Richard Schroeder as Fire Chief.
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Fire officer minimum training attendance shall be reviewed quarterly and shall be cause for the same
disciplinary action as for firefighters; except on the third occasion, the fire officer shall be demoted
to firefighter.
3) For the purpose of determining the appropriate the discipline for failure to maintain minimum fire
call and /or training participation, the city shall consider such failures occurring during the year
preceding the most recent occurrence. If no failure to meet minimum requirements has occurred
during such one year period, failure to maintain minimum fire call and /or training participation shall
be considered a first occurrence.
4) If upon the quarterly review of call or training percents a firefighter is found to be below the
minimum requirements, the firefighter will not receive credit towards time -of- service for that quarter
- ninety (90) days, effective October 1, 2008.
Section 11. OFFICER SELECTION PROCEDURES
The fire chief, assistant chief and secretary shall be selected and assigned by the city administrator, subject to
confirmation by the city council.
The fire chief shall be selected from applicants meeting the minimum qualifications for the position.
Applicants will be interviewed by a selection panel of six (6) members, three (3) members of which shall be
firefighters. Firefighters wishing to serve on the panel will volunteer. If more than three (3) firefighters
volunteer, selection will be made by the city administrator. In the case of the fire chief, the city
administrator may interview the candidates. The city administrator shall make his /her selection as to the
candidate deemed to be most qualified for assignment as fire chief and submit the recommendation to the
City council for confirmation.
In the case of the assistant fire chief and secretary, the fire chief may interview the finalists recommended by
the selection panel established as provided in the preceding paragraph. The fire chief shall submit his
recommendation to the city administrator. The city administrator may elect to interview the candidates
before forwarding a recommendation to the city council for confirmation.
The term of assignment to the position of fire chief, assistant chief and secretary shall be three (3) years;
provided, however, any person holding such position may be assigned for additional terms by the city
council. The fire chief, assistant fire chief and secretary may be removed from their position by the city
council with or without cause.
The term of assignment for the positions of training coordinator, captain, lieutenant, fire prevention officer
and safety officer shall be one (1) year; provided however, any person holding such position may be
assigned for additional terms by the city council. Employees assigned to these positions may be removed
from their position by the city council with or without cause. The fire chief shall recommend to the city
council candidates for appointment to these positions.
The terms of fire chief, assistant chief and secretary shall be staggered so that the respective terms do not
terminate at the same time. In order to accomplish this, the appointments in 1998 for these positions shall
be as follows:
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