Before the holidays, the Board of Selectmen opted to defer their decision on a new fire chief after interviewing a single finalist for the position (a second finalist had dropped out just days prior). Chairman Bill Boland told me this week the board hopes to take up the issue at a meeting later this month.
Boland said the board is waiting for the Fire Chief Screening Committee to reconvene and come up with a recommendation on what to do next. Options including advancing additional candidates to the final round or starting over by reopening the search to new candidates.
In the meantime, Interim Fire Chief Michael Dunne continues to lead the Southborough Fire Department. Dunne, the former fire chief of Sudbury, was appointed to the interim position back in September after longtime chief John Mauro Jr. retired.
Southborough isn’t the only Massachusetts town searching for a fire chief right now, and from the sounds of it, many of them are having as difficult a time as we are. In November Lexington reopened their search after getting only a handful of qualified candidates. Gloucester’s search for a new fire chief has hit snags. Maynard and Littleton are also looking for new chiefs.
Southborough’s search process has been criticized by some who were disappointed that no internal candidates made it to the final round of interviews.
Coincidentally this article appeared in today’s Metrowest News about the potential merger of the Ashland and Hopkinton fire departments:
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/top_stories/x2023109886/Ashland-studies-Fire-Department-merger
We have a regional school, why not a regional fire department? It could potentially reduce costs and alleviate the fire chief search problems.