Updated Job Descriptions Will Precede Permanent Fire Chief Pick

Before a permanent chief is selected for the Sturgeon Bay Fire Department (SBFD), the job description for that position and the assistant chief will be updated.

Police and Fire Commission chair Wayne Spritka said the chief’s job description was last revised in 1997, while the one for the assistant chief was last updated in 2001, and the commission agreed March 6 to refer those descriptions for revision to the city’s Personnel Committee.

Before the commission selects the permanent chief, Spritka said the job description should reflect the knowledge and skills needed today, such as maritime firefighting.

He said the Personnel Committee would recommend the updated job descriptions for approval by the Common Council, after which the revisions for the positions would be adopted by the commission.

Spritka said the commission will schedule its next meeting after the updated job descriptions are approved by the council, which he hopes will happen sometime in the next six weeks. 

The commission on Feb. 5 appointed assistant fire chief Kalin Montevideo as the city’s interim chief, effective immediately. The appointment was made after fire chief Tim Dietman submitted his retirement effective April 5, but went on leave through that date after his last day on the job was Feb. 2.

The commission’s appointment of Montevideo as an interim fire chief may remain in effect for up to six months, Spritka said, and then could be extended by the commission for another three months. 

The commission is solely responsible for hiring a fire chief, though the Common Council is authorized to set the position’s salary. Spritka said commission members have expressed a preference in hiring internally, but that hiring process won’t be decided until job descriptions are updated.