List of Perry fire chief candidates trimmed to six

Six candidates are still in the running for Perry fire chief.

City leaders narrowed to six a list of 10 candidates for interviews, which took place Aug. 29-30. But one candidate had a scheduling conflict, with that interview expected Tuesday. The interviews are held in closed sessions.

“I was hoping that we would have been further through this,” Mayor Jimmy Faircloth said. “But we’re not going to make any decisions until we are able to interview all of the candidates.”

City leaders are keeping close to the vest the identities of the six candidates. State law compels disclosure of the final three candidates. But mayor and council could tender an offer from among the final six.

“We can determine that we need to have one or more second interviews with several candidates. We can make a job offer to one, or we can throw them all out and start over,” Faircloth said. “I really have no idea at this point where we will go with it, and it has nothing to do with the candidates.

“We just haven’t gotten far enough through the process yet to make that determination as a council,” he said.

In all, 32 people applied for the post. A review panel, assembled by the Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs at the city’s request, narrowed the candidate pool to 10. Then, mayor and council chose the six candidates to bring in for face-to-face interviews.

The selection process is similar to how the city selected and hired Police Chief Steve Lynn. The city contracted with the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police to narrow applicants to seven or eight people. City leaders then made a selection from among the candidates who made that list.

How this process is different is that the fire chiefs association does not offer a similar service. But the association assisted the city by assembling the fire chiefs for the panel.

The city’s fire chief also serves as the city’s emergency management director.

The post requires a minimum of 10 years of career fire-service-related work, including five years of supervisory experience, or an equivalent combination of experience and education, according to the advertisement for the job. A 12-month probation period for the new chief also is required.

The salary range is from $62,200 to $90,900, and the actual salary will be dependent on the successful candidate’s level of experience and expertise, Faircloth said.

Also, the city is advertising two firefighter positions.

The fire chief’s post was vacated by the resignation of Joel Gray, who served as fire chief nearly 10 years. His last day was May 31.

This story was originally published September 5, 2016 at 10:01 AM with the headline "List of Perry fire chief candidates trimmed to six."