WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI (WSAU) — The City of Wisconsin Rapids has filled one high-profile vacancy in its public safety ranks, and leaders will take their time filling a second.
Mayor Shane Blaser says the Police and Fire Commission recently approved the hiring of Todd Eckes as their Fire Chief after he served as Deputy Chief under Scott Young. Blaser says the Commission placed a premium on hiring from within, saying the department has developed a good culture and he has faith that Eckes will continue that. He says what’s also important is creating a culture that will make it easy to fill lower-level vacancies with people who can work their way up the ranks.
“We have to recruit and retain firefighters, so we have to figure out what is the best plan for that? It’s something on the forefront for most police and fire departments in the area right now,” said Blaser.
Eckes has been formally sworn in, and Blaser notes that a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony will also be held at an upcoming City Council meeting.
The Commission will now turn its attention to hiring a new Police Chief, a method that may take a little longer as the city lost two high-profile members of the force in a short time. Blaser says this process will involve enlisting a consulting firm that will conduct community and officer surveys. “They’re doing a cultural assessment of the department to figure out what is the biggest need for the department? They’ll try to gauge what we are looking for, what kind of Chief do we want in our community?”
He says moving directly to an application process could lead to a pool of good candidates, but those candidates may not possess the skill sets that the city is looking for. Once the interview and assessment process is over, they’ll do some recruiting and even headhunting for the city to find the best candidates, be they internal or in other departments.
“It’s a different approach, but hopefully it will result in a Chief that will lead us for many years to come,” added Blaser.
Other topics he discussed with WSAU’s Mike Leischner include:
Start of video- Success of No Mow May
4:30- New Fire Chief and search for the city’s next Police Chief
10:20- Procolmations for May
13:08- What summer jobs are left in the city
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