The North View Fire District recently welcomed David Wade, a 28-year veteran as the newest Fire Chief. Wade was named to the position late in 2013 after unanimous support from the North View Fire District Board.
Choosing a new Fire Chief, or even Chief of Police, is a long process. Each municipality has its own criteria, though certain standards are generally applied.
South Ogden Human Resource director, Kristen Hansen, recently oversaw the process of hiring both a new Fire Chief and Chief of Police when former Chief Val Shupe retired after 17 years as the director of Public Safety. Shupe oversaw both the fire and police forces, but South Ogden decided to separate the responsibility and hire a separate leader for each. In emails exchanged with the Sentinel News, Hansen described the extensive and thorough process of hiring important leaders for South Ogden City.
Because of the transparent nature of government, ordinances dictate how long a job listing must be posted and where those postings should be placed. Websites, newspapers and even bulletin boards at city and county buildings are all used to help more people see the listing and, hopefully, apply. Several websites are devoted to listing city positions that are open and can be accessed by candidates throughout the country.
Candidates are carefully screened for experience, education, skill set and other qualifications. Depending on how high the position is ranked, applicants go through a thorough background check and multiple interviews, both by phone and in person.
Applicants for city positions are interviewed by several managers including the HR manager, City manager and department heads. Since the final decision is generally left to the mayor and City council, these individuals are often included in the screening process.
In South Ogden, Hansen explained that after choosing the best applicants, they all were brought “in for interviews at the same time and put through several interviewing stations or panels.” These panels included presenting employee scenarios to identify each applicant's knowledge about discipline procedures and established laws. It also included a mock media Q&A to test how well applicants react under pressure.
“Once we put them through this process, everyone on the interview panel scored each candidate,” Hansen said. “We met around a table for several hours to discuss the processes we all participated in. [The] final candidate was turned into the mayor and City manager, who brought them in for a final interview.”
South Ogden ultimately hired Darin Parke as the Chief of Police, and Cameron West as the Fire Chief.
The North View Fire District hired Wade as the new Fire Chief, in part because of his long, devoted service to the district. Former Fire Chief, Lynn Froerer, also had a hand in it. Knowing he would soon retire, Froerer spoke with the District Council and convinced them that Wade was the man for the job.
Under his leadership, Wade hopes to continue to serve his community and eventually build a second fire station to better and more quickly serve residents in Pleasant View and its surrounding areas.
