Liberty Twp. trustees continue fire chief search

The Liberty Twp. trustees are going back to square one in their search for a new fire chief after one candidate turned down their job offer and another dropped out of the applicant pool.

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Trustee Tom Farrell said he is not happy with the job the Ohio Fire Chief’s Association did in finding suitable candidates so the township will continue its search solo.

“I’m not happy. I’m not sure that they did anything wrong, but the point is you hire someone to bring you these top candidates and they are the leaders in their field, you expect them to bring you the top candidates,” Farrell said. “We didn’t get that.”

The township paid the OFCA $12,150 to search and screen 19 candidates who applied, only two were internal candidates.

Fire Chief Paul Stumpf announced his retirement last September and gave the trustees a year to find his replacement.

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Trustee Board President Christine Matacic said she doesn’t believe they need to spend any more money using outside help and she wants to make sure the staff is also involved in the process of hiring the new chief.

“We want to make sure we get the best fit for the staff as well as the community because this is an important position,” Matacic said. “It’s an important role for someone to play. I would rather take a little more time right now and get someone who is the best fit we can possibly get.”

Farrell said the hiring process — which has already begun with the posting of the position — will also include the participation of a “committee of their peers” from their own department and elsewhere who are experts in the fire business and know what to ask.

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Trustee Steve Schramm says he wasn’t a big fan of the first process they tried but since this was the first time he has been involved in governmental hiring he went with the flow. He said he hopes this time — the deadline for applications is July 28 — things can be streamlined.

The trustees hired the OFCA in December and were given three candidates to interview in mid-June. The OFCA member who handled the screening could not be reached for comment.

Schramm said he thought one of candidates they interviewed “was the home run” but he dropped out.

“I wasn’t a real fan of the process and the folks we ended up with, so I think we learned a lot of lessons going through it, we learned what not to do and to do and I think we can streamline the process and maybe even speed it up,” Schramm said. “I think some of the feedback we got from some of the applicants was that it seemed like pretty long and drawn out process.”

The trustees wanted the new chief to be able to learn the ropes while Stumpf is still there. The chief said he has promised to stay on to acclimate his predecessor past September if necessary.

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