Plymouth to keep fire chief a full-time job

PLYMOUTH – The City of Plymouth is sticking with a full-time fire chief, though some of the duties will shift over to the police chief.

Volunteer firefighters had raised concerns that the city may not hire a full-time chief since the process for hiring had not started with only a few months before the planned retirement of current Fire Chief Ronald Nicolaus at the end of the year.

However, the Police and Fire Commission met Friday to approve the job posting and discuss changes in job duties for the position of fire chief.

City Administrator Brian Yerges said earlier in the week that the position will remain funded at $50,000, a base-position salary that’s $7,000 less than what Nicolaus -- who has been chief for three decades -- is currently paid. In addition, Yerges said some personnel oversight and his role as emergency management director for the city will shift to the police chief.

Nicolaus, who attended Friday’s meeting to take notes, said there likely won’t be any problem making that administrative shift, noting the police chief has previously ran emergency management operations. However, he expressed some disappointment that the hiring timeline will make it nearly impossible for him to train his replacement on things like fire inspection, which he noted most current volunteers don’t have experience doing.

Nicolaus retires on Dec. 31 and will not return to the department as a volunteer firefighter.

“Either way it’s going to be hard for the new guy coming in because he’s not going to know (anything),” Nicolaus said. “And the timeframe is going to run out that I can train them...biggest thing is fire inspection with the city. You’ve got to get out there and know the people and get in the buildings.”

Yerges said emphasizing those inspections are a big part of the revised job duties of the chief. While the fire department requested $8,000 in the 2015 city budget for contract fire inspections, Yerges said the department hasn’t come close to requiring that level of additional funding and wants to try and see how many the chief can achieve himself and set additional funding levels accordingly.

While Yerges noted that internal applicants could make the process for hiring go more smoothly, the application is open to external candidates as well. Applicants will be required to carry certain fire science certifications, but may still be offered the position without such qualifications.

In that circumstance, their hiring would be contingent on completing those certifications within a specified time frame -- likely six months after their hiring.

The Police and Fire Commission voted to approve placing advertising and putting a job posting out sometime next week, though they’ll still have to agree on final language for job duties. It’s anticipated that the application period will be open for three or four weeks, with hiring completed as early as the end of the year.

Reach Jason Smathers at 920-453-5167.