Olds is looking for a new fire chief.
Lorne Thompson, who held the job for 13 years, is no longer employed by the town.
ìWe have decided to go in a new management direction and as a result, Mr. Thompson is no longer an employee of the Town of Olds,î interim chief executive officer Pat Vincent told the Albertan.
Scott Chant, who has served as interim fire chief while Thompson was on leave for roughly the past four months, remains in that position.
The town is now advertising for a new fire chief across Alberta and on social media. Vincent anticipates it will take three to four months for the process to be completed, including advertising, interviews, reference checks, and for the successful candidate to give notice to their current employer.
ìIf everything were to go smoothly, I would suspect a new fire chief would be in place about Sept. 1,î he said.
When asked why the decision was made to replace Thompson, Vincent said, ìjust in terms of aligning things here. In the organization, there are a number of directions that we're headed in that didn't fit with the direction I was getting from council in terms of their expectations and meeting their strategic plan and their service levels.î
He declined to be more specific, citing human resources/privacy concerns.
Vincent said the decision was doubly hard to make in light of the fact Thompson lost a close family member recently.
ìThe timing of this sucks from my perspective.î
Vincent said as interim CAO, he found it awkward to have to make such an important change, but he was given to understand it had to be done. He noted new CAO Michael Merritt starts his job with the town on May 8.
ìI expect that with the new CAO that there may be some further changes that are coming,î he said.
ìI don't want to make significant changes that either don't fit with the new CAO's vision or how he wants to align the organization, but council's been concerned, I think being in this sort of vacuum, that some things needed to be dealt with. So I had the task of having to deal with that particular situation,î Vincent added.
Town officials took advantage of the situation to alter the job.
One of the major changes is that under the old job description, the fire chief was the director of emergency management.
ìThat's not an appropriate place to have that responsibility, because most of the time in a disaster, the fire chief would probably be on-site or directing in the field. The director of emergency management needs to be in the emergency operations centre and directing it,î Vincent said.
ìIn most municipal scenarios, the director of emergency management is normally the CAO and for some reason, for a number of years here, that hasn't been the case in Olds.
ìSo when Mr. Merritt comes in on May 8, one of the first things that we'll be doing is ensuring that that responsibility falls within his scope of duties and responsibilities.î
ìWe're going to be looking for the best possible candidate,î Vincent added. ìI certainly hope some members in the fire department locally who might have the credentials and experience will be interested in applying for the position.î
He said he met with members of the fire department and conveyed that message.
Thompson could not be reached for comment.
"We're going to be looking for the best possible candidate."PAT VINCENT INTERIM CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER TOWN OF OLDS
