Interviews Ongoing For New City Fire Chief

Interviews to fill the position of fire chief in the city of Jamestown have officially begun.

During Monday’s City Council work session, Jamestown Mayor Kim Ecklund updated the council on the search progress so far. This search comes following current Deputy Fire Chief Matthew Coon’s upcoming retirement on May 9.

As of the work session at the beginning of April there had been over a dozen resumes received for the position, and Ecklund said that number has now grown to 28.

“Fire chief interviews have started,” Ecklund said. “I know there was discussion last week and I want to make it clear that we have received now 28 resumes and the potential of interviewing up to 13.”

The fire chief position was previously discussed by council at the early April meeting, following a discussion as to whether or not the city should continue to require that someone in an officer position live in the city. During that meeting, Ecklund said specifically for this position there is not a problem with finding applicants, and that applicants know of the current city rule that whoever is in this position must live in the city, as she said the current position very clearly states that they need to live in the city or will be required to move to the city after being appointed. Ecklund said during that meeting that there are some very qualified candidates among the received resumes. It was noted that only a few individuals in Chautauqua County are fully qualified for the position, and Ecklund said the resumes have come from all over, including New York, Pennsylvania and Florida, along with in-town people.

“Obviously in that dozen there are a few that aren’t qualified, but I will tell you there are some very qualified candidates,” Ecklund said. “Whether they just sent it, or whether they sent it with the full intention to interview and come here, we’ll find out, but I’m confident that some of them did.”

Interviews will continue throughout the next few weeks and Ecklund said at the most recent work session that the team doing the interviews — made up of police chief Timothy Jackson, Deputy chief Scott Forester, Ecklund, Council President Tony Dolce, Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large and chair of the Public Safety Committee, and two members of the fire department — will continue to keep the council updated.