By Mark Squibb/October 21, 2021
The Town of Witless Bay is looking to hire a full time, paid fire chief.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because they did that just five months ago.
Maria Churchill was hired in late May, and began work on May 31, selected by L.W. Consulting from a pool of over 30 applicants.
Churchill is the latest in a string of town staff who have hung up their hats in recent months. Currently, the town has no CAO, no town clerk, and now, no fire chief.
During the October 19 meeting, in which the news of the chief’s departure became public, Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard moved that council proceed immediately with the process of hiring a new paid fire chief.
The problem is that council is unsure how to proceed.
“My question to council is, how do you want to proceed with this?” asked Yard. “(Councillor) Alex (Troke) has done some research on our previous consultant, and they don’t really owe us anything because the position didn’t work out. So, we’re basically back at square one.”
Troake said it would be best to tender the position through a consultant, but the process will undoubtedly take at least a few weeks.
Mayor Trevor Croft noted the previous consulting firm had a number of applicants, and he wondered if that list was available for council’s use.
“There may have been good candidates there that weren’t chosen for whatever reason, it doesn’t make them a bad fire chief, it just means that they weren’t chosen for that position for whatever reason,” said Croft. “Could that be the quickest route, because now time is absolutely urgent. So, would someone have seven or eight names to give us, or do we go fishing for names, is my question.”
Council met with the outgoing fire chief last week.
“We met with the outgoing fire chief last week, and we had a great discussion with her, and she gave us some really good advice,” said Yard. “It was unfortunate that we couldn’t persuade her to stay. We tried, but that didn’t work out. So, we wanted to make sure that we moved ahead with this, and do it right, so we’re not in this situation again where we can’t hold on to a fire chief.”
Yard said the town also met with members of the volunteer fire department.
“Council had a very positive meeting last night with the fire department,” she said. “They’re a very busy department. Our town is growing, all the areas that they’re serving are growing, and it’s critical that they have a paid fire chief and the support of the town, which they certainly do.”
She said that volunteers at the station told council they felt like they had little input into the hiring, and she would like to see them more involved.
Council voted unanimously to move ahead with the process.
In the previous meeting, council voted unanimously to cancel the $500 limit on the fire chief’s spending.
