Fire District No. 3 board working on fire chief succession

Virts, 69, was appointed to the Fire Board in September 2008 to replace Terry Mitchell, but lost his bid for a full term in 2009. The Fire Board hired Virts as the district’s fire chief in February 2010.

Virts said the fire service has been in his blood most of his life.

“I’ve been doing this since I was 21 years old, but now I’m thinking about doing a few other things,” he said.

Virts said the Fire Board is trying to figure out what it can afford to do in terms of hiring a new fire chief.

“To be honest, my recommendation to the commissioners is to seek out a full-time guy,” Virts said.

Virts makes $28,700 based on 24 hours per week, but, he said, “The hours dedicated to fire chief duties easily amount to more than full-time hours just about every week.”

The Fire Board is working on a plan to bring a successor on board to work alongside Virts for a period of time before Virts’ retirement date. Commissioner Bob Conor told The Enterprise Tuesday the Fire Board is doing its due diligence right now.

“We’ve been conducting workshops after every commission meeting, so we are working on it,” Conor said. “We continue to get advice [from our consultant] and are making progress.”

The Fire Board has been working with fire service consultant Bob Merritt, of mHc, who attended the board’s June 18 meeting and offered suggestions on how to proceed.

Merritt highlighted the importance of conducting an executive search, and the 2013 Level of Service Community Task Force’s opinion on fire chief succession.

In a recommendation to maintain a strong volunteer-based emergency response model, the task force stated, “First, the Fire District must continue to invest in strong, skilled District leadership...Maintaining a committed, experienced leadership team offers two fundamental benefits: higher levels of expertise and committed community volunteers who want to serve with and learn from strong leaders. Under its current part-time structure, however, it will be difficult to replace existing leadership with similarly qualified leadership.”

Merritt suggested the commissioners consider putting a package together for applicants that includes a profile of Fire District No. 3, a job description, and an outline of the skills, performance expectations, and leadership style the district is seeking in its next fire chief.

Then, it would be up to the Fire Board, as a matter of policy, to decide where the position should be advertised.

The next Fire Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 13, at 6:30 p.m., at the Husum Fire Station.