Democracy on the Front Lines
City Administrator’s Blog
Walter Denton
April 11, 2008
I am thrilled to announce that the City of O’Fallon has a new fire chief. Well, the chief actually is not new at all, but he is in a new position. At Monday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Graham appointed Brent Saunders as the City’s first full time fire chief.
As I said, Brent is not new to the City of placeCityO’Fallon. He has been a member of the O’Fallon Volunteer Fire Department for 25 years and has been the volunteer fire chief for five years. The City’s hiring of a full time fire chief is a result of the comprehensive Fire Study completed last year.
The Fire Study concluded that the fire department was well-run and provided excellent services to O’Fallon residents. However, the study articulated several administrative, financial, and legal areas that were not being addressed because, frankly, there was no one available to do them. With a department full of volunteers, it was impossible to get to everything.
As we prepared an implementation plan for the study, it became obvious that a full time fire chief was needed. The best way to ensure the success of the volunteer fire department was to hire a full time chief to coordinate the volunteers.
Chief Saunders has been an exceptional volunteer fire chief and we had no reservations about him becoming the full time chief. However, the City of O’Fallon has long regarded itself as a professional organization where everyone must earn their position based on knowledge, skills, and abilities. If we conduct competitive searches for all other City positions, then we should also do a competitive selection process for a position as important as fire chief.
Thus, we advertised nationally for the position. We received more than 40 applications from as far away as South Carolina and Pennsylvania. Four final candidates (including Brent) were selected for an Assessment Center interview process.
An Assessment Center is a day-long series of activities that simulate the types of roles that would be required for a fire chief. For example, the candidates had make a presentation to a mock City Council and had to prioritize a series of tasks, memos, and letters from an in-basket. The activities are a good indicator of character and management ability.
All of the candidates were strong and it was a worthwhile process. When ability is evenly matched, sometimes the decision hinges on who we think is the best fit for our organization. In the end, the consultants and City staff agreed that Brent Saunders was the best fit for the City of O’Fallon.
I am excited to have Brent on our Management Team and am looking forward to working with him on a full time basis. We expect Brent to start his new job in the next 90 days. Until then, he will still be our volunteer fire chief so he will not be too far away.
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