Foothills Fire hopes to hire chief in April

Board OKs hiring in-house

Foothills Fire & Rescue could have a new re chief as soon as April 18, and that person likely will come from the department’s sta .

After a lengthy discussion, the re board voted 3-1 on March 21 to allow the search committee to advertise the chief’s position for one week starting March 22 only within the department. e names of the nalists will be released to the public before April 4, and the search committee will bring its recommendation to the board at its next meeting.

Board member Stephanie Graf, who was appointed to the board in January and named its president, said for transparency’s sake, she voted no, because she wanted the re district to advertise for candidates outside the department with a longer timeline.

Board members voting in favor said they agreed with the search committee that the re department has been in turmoil long enough, and it needed time to nd a new leader and heal.

Foothills Fire & Rescue has been without a chief since Dec. 8 when Chief Alan Anderson resigned for personal reasons. He had been chief since 2018. e department and the community it serves have been in turmoil over a failed bond ask in November for a new re station in e chief’s position description asks for someone with four attributes: organizational leadership, managerial leadership, clarity of direction and e ective communication skills. e board also voted unanimously to allow the department to create what it called a “viewpoint survey” that would be sent to department sta , community members and other re departments that Foothills works with to get a read on how well the department is being run.

Against an in-house search

“Opening (the search) for one week is too short,” Graf said. “I don’t think there’s a downside if we open it up externally. Jamming this through is not the right thing to do.”

Graf said she’s hired a lot of people, and she’s concerned about what appears to be a rush to hire and only opening the position internally to Foothills sta .

“To me, it feels like we’re not opening it up to others and rushing it through,” Graf said. “ e appearance of impropriety is large.”

She added that hiring a chief a month before a new re board is elected on May 2 also might not be the best way to select a chief, since the new board will oversee the new chief.

“My view is there is nothing bad that would happen if we open it up,” Graf said. “I think it’s better optically, and it could be former Foothills personnel.”

A case for hiring in-house

Deputy Chief Kyle Vaughn, who serves on the chief search committee, said committee members believed they will have in-house candidates who can lead the department in the right direction.

“You have to have a chief the volunteers are willing to follow,”

Vaughn said. “Historically, a lot of people who want to be chiefs look good on paper. It’s tough to tell through an interview how they will be as chief. Our ask is to hire someone internal.”

Vaughn, who has been with Foothills Fire for 15 years, said the department has had ve chiefs in that time, so he’s prepared to help hire a sixth.

He explained that re chiefs who come from outside departments tend to want to change the department’s culture to something the chief is familiar with. He pointed to Evergreen and Genesee re departments, whose chiefs came from within their ranks and have remained chiefs for longer periods of time.

“When you hire an external chief, that person is new to the membership and volunteers, and has to prove themselves to the volunteers and the organization,” Vaughn said.

“When it’s a home-grow chief, you have the buy-in of the volunteers, which is essential. We strongly believe as a committee that we have candidates who can lead the department in the direction we need to go.”

Vaughn said the re district was not rushing the process since it’s taken four months to rewrite the position description and create a timeline the committee is comfortable with.

Board member Steven Beck agreed that opening the search to external candidates would be detrimental to the department.

Board member Norm Kirsch added that it was important to respect the wishes of the volunteers.

“We need to look at preserving what we have and increasing the number of volunteers who are well-trained and willing to respond,” Kirsch said.