Review panel narrows list of Perry fire chief applicants to 10

Thirty-two people applied for the Perry fire chief post, with the field of candidates now narrowed by two thirds.

The top 10 candidates emerged after a review by a panel assembled by the Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs at the request of city leaders, said Karen Bycenski, personnel analyst for the city of Perry.

Bycenski is expected to forward the recommendation to City Manager Lee Gilmour, who said he may present that to mayor and council as early as Monday’s work session.

But it’s unlikely applicant identities will be made public until the playing field is narrowed further.

“Myself and the entire council will look at the finalists, if you will, and make the final determination on how many of those that we will interview and then we will go from there,” Mayor Jimmy Faircloth said.

The review panel comprised fire chiefs from departments the same size, or larger, than Perry’s fire department. Its members were Convington Fire Chief Stoney Bowles, Marietta Fire Chief Jackie Gibbs, Waycross Fire Chief David Eddins and Putnam County Fire Rescue Chief Shane Hill.

Based on their experience and knowledge, the chiefs were charged with determining which candidates appeared to match, or would be able to handle the job, as described in the city’s advertised job classification, Gilmour said.

“They’re not making any judgment. They’re not making any rankings,” Gilmour said. “All (they’re) doing is advising mayor and council that, in their experience and professional opinion, these persons should be able to handle the job.

“And then council will do the interviews and determine whom they think will be the best match for the city.”

Hill and fellow review panel members met for several hours Thursday in Perry while reviewing applications one by one.

“Perry’s got a great candidate pool to pull from,” Hill said. “I don’t necessarily know they can get their selection wrong based on the applicants we reviewed.”

The applicants came from both in and out of state and included at least one woman. It wasn’t revealed whether a female candidate made it on the top 10 list.

“When the discussion came up — who looked strong, who didn’t — people would stand out on paper,” Hill said. “We didn’t talk to anybody. We didn’t do any follow-up with references. …

“This is just one piece of the process that they’ll use. Those comparatives, at the end of the day, will give them the strongest candidates to consider for the next step,” he said.

The next step is for mayor and council to review the candidates and determine which candidates will be invited for interviews. But they could also throw out the entire list and start from scratch, though that’s highly unlikely, Faircloth said.

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.

“In my opinion, it looks like Perry is doing their due diligence to make sure they get the right person in there that’s ready to hit the ground running and be their next fire chief and lead their department,” Hill said.

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

This story was originally published July 29, 2016 at 8:20 PM with the headline "Review panel narrows list of Perry fire chief applicants to 10."