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City: No fire chief for Wash. fire department until 2015

Officials said they decided not to hire a new chief because the finalists selected were “not a good long-term fit for the city”

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The Chronicle

CHEHALIS, Wash. — Chehalis won’t have a new permanent fire chief until at least 2015.

Chehalis City Manager Merlin MacReynold said he decided not to hire a new chief after getting feedback from the hiring panel and doing reference checks on the three finalists for the position.

“I couldn’t see a good longterm fit for the city,” he said. “In all of my experience over decades, if you’re not comfortable putting someone into a position, then you shouldn’t do it.”

The finalists – Jeff Larson, of Lodi, California; Joseph Sands, of Billings, Montana; and Gary A. Woodson, of Pendleton, Oregon — came to Chehalis and met with the city council and fire crews in early September.

All were vetted for the position, but MacReynold said he wasn’t convinced any of them could effectively usher the Chehalis Fire Department into the future.

The department is facing many big choices since the department likely won’t merge with the Riverside Fire Authority within the next three years. The pressing decisions involve equipment purchases and the decision to remodel or vacate the department’s current building.

MacReynold said no official decision has been made between committee members but Riverside’s financial troubles lead him to believe the merger won’t be happening any time soon.

“One of the key things is we need somebody to come in and work with department personnel and the city, since we’re very certain we’re not going to be annexing to Riverside,” MacReynold said. “We need to look at what the future for the department and the the city is.”

MacReynold is retiring at the end of the year. He said he believed it would be more prudent to let the incoming city manager decide on a new fire chief.

Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer will took over as interim fire chief, replacing interim fire chief Capt. Rob Gebhart. He’ll make an extra $1,500 per month for managing the department.

“In discussions with Glenn, he made clear he was willing to take it on,” MacReynold said. “Financially it was it the best thing for the city.”

Gebhart had been serving as interim chief since Jim Walkowski, formerly the Riverside Fire Authority fire chief and acting chief of the Chehalis Fire Department, resigned.

“Rob was very kind in taking that on, but he made it very clear he didn’t want to be a chief and would do it for a period of time but not a protracted period,” MacReynold said. “We probably got into that.”

If everything goes smoothly, it would likely take four to six months for the incoming city manager to decide on a chief.

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