Elizabethtown-Kitley Township will look internally to hire its new deputy fire chief, a council committee decided this week.
At its committee of the whole meeting, the township opted to look within its current complement of firefighters for the right candidate for a new deputy, instead of posting the job for external applicants.
“That’s the way I prefer it,” said the department’s new fire chief Jeff Sargent.
“I would rather someone be rewarded for the service they’ve provided to the residents of the township.”
Sargent said he’s confident they have qualified firefighters within the department who would be interested in applying for the job, and anyone who may want the job but is not completely qualified could be properly trained for the position.
“I think through mentorship and coaching, we can get them the rest of the way so that they’re going to be effective at their jobs.”
Going this route would be “much easier,” he said, adding their firefighters are already familiar with the township and the department itself.
The deputy fire chief is primarily responsible for the role of fire prevention and inspections, and those duties have become “lax” in recent months because the position has been vacant, Sargent said.
Late last year, the former fire chief and deputy chief abruptly left the fire department, but the reasons for their departures were not made public.
To fill the vacant role, township administrator Leslie Drynan was temporarily appointed fire chief, and Sargent took on the role of deputy after being a volunteer member of the service since 1996.
Sargent was then promoted to the chief position, and Drynan said officials intentionally waited until the new chief was settled into his position before they began the search for a new deputy.
A staff report recommended they look internally to fill the role, a route the township has taken more often in recent months.
“Over the last 12 months, we’ve had much success with internal promotions, and to date, they’ve been very successful, and this is really keeping with the theme of promoting from within and really supporting, professionally, our resources,” Drynan said.
“Jeff and I are both hopeful this will work out, and keep enhancing morale in the corporation.”
Some councillors expressed concern about the idea of promoting from within.
Coun. Christina Eady said she was concerned how it would be perceived by the public. She suggested there was no harm in posting the job both internally and externally, and that it could be seen as not transparent to exclude external applicants.
The committee, however, voted to proceed with an internal process, and most of council was happy to promote from within.
Coun. Earl Brayton said he was in favour of rewarding the dedication of a current firefighter, even if they weren’t totally qualified for the job.
“I would rather hire somebody who doesn’t know, than get somebody who thinks he knows,” Brayton said.
“If you have to get somebody who needs a little mentoring, I’d be all for it.”
The role of deputy, which comes with a salary range between $90,539 and $101,925, is a full-time position, but it hasn’t always been this way.
When the townships of Elizabethtown and Kitley amalgamated, they hired the former Kitley fire chief as the deputy on a part-time basis. Following the deputy’s retirement, the township continued with a part-time deputy until 2016.
In 2019, the township completed an internal review and recommended hiring a full time deputy, since fire services across the province have been putting a greater emphasis on fire prevention. Council approved the recommendation, and the position has been full-time ever since.
Coun. Rob Smith floated the idea of going back to a part-time deputy, suggesting it was something that worked well in the past.
But Sargent said the emphasis on fire prevention keeps the deputy busy on a full-time basis, particularly since the position has been vacant for a number of months and those critical services have consequently been left lacking.
“It does need to be done to keep us compliant, and that would be the bulk of the time the deputy chief would spend on his day to day, the fire prevention, fire inspection, compliance issues,” Sargent said.
“That’s where I find the work coming from, and there’s definitely enough work there to keep two people busy all the time.”
After the new deputy is chosen, the department will gear up to conduct its regular fire prevention and public education activities in 2024, a staff report said.