Brookfield continues fire chief search

March 05--BROOKFIELD -- Township officials will hire an outside firm to help it find a new fire chief.

In a split 2-1 vote at their regular meeting Friday morning, township trustees approved a consulting contract with the Ohio Fire Chiefs Association. Trustees Ron Haun and Gary Lees voted for the measure while Dan Suttles cast the negative vote. The approval is conditional upon agreement with the association on fees.

The association will assist Brookfield in its selection of a fire chief to replace longtime Chief Keith Barrett, who retired in December. The association's fee will range from $4,000 to $11,000, depending on the amount of work necessary.

In his last full year, Barrett was paid $53,901, plus health insurance and pension benefits, the trustees said.

Lees said he talked to different fire departments in the area who contracted with the association and that there were no complaints. Haun said he wanted to hire the association to find top-notch candidates.

''We have a good fire department. We have a good EMS (emergency medical services),'' Haun said. "But administration is our Achilles heel right now.''

Further, he said didn't want to interview dozens of candidates and said the association could whittle that down to a reasonable number. Positions of the three trustees were strong but polite,

"I want a guy who's a firefighter first,'' Suttles said. "I want to decide who our fire chief is. It's part of our responsibility to hire people.''

Suttles said he was a career firefighter who served on the township's fire department and was a firefighter for the U.S. Air Force. He recently retired as assistant chief of the Warren (Ohio) Fire Department.

"This this is a major decision,'' Haun said. ''We want to get our money's worth and get the best candidate.''

Lees said he was tired of dealing with the issue and wanted to move the process forward.

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