Search process for new fire chief nearly complete

The search for a new Plano fire chief has been whittled down to three candidates, with a final decision to come within the next few months.

The city released the names of three finalists on Monday, including one firefighter with strong North Texas ties. Each finalist will be brought in for an interview at the end of October, although no further timeline is available, City Manager Bruce Glasscock said.

"[What happens next] depends on what I get out of the interviews," Glasscock said. "I may feel I need to do a site visit or bring a candidate or two back for additional interviews. If it follows how it has in the past, we will do the interviews and, based on the interviews, we will identify a finalist."

The three finalists are Brian Crawford, the assistant chief administrative officer in Shreveport, La.; Robert Isbell, the fire chief in Midland and former fire chief in Southlake and Euless; and Dennis Rubin, the former fire chief in Washington, D.C.

Glasscock said the city is looking for someone who will be able to maintain the department's ISO 1 rating. The rating is given out by the Insurance Services Office to denote elite fire departments. The ISO 1 rating is currently held by less than 100 departments in the United States.

The search was facilitated by Keller-based Strategic Government Resources. The company was founded by Ron Holifield, who previously served as an assistant city manager in Plano as well as city manager in Farmersville, Garland and DeSoto.

Holifield said his firm used a number of resources to get the word out to interested candidates, including an online job posting board, fire industry newsletters and word of mouth.

"We have a very broad-based, aggressive way of getting the word out nationwide," Holifield said. "... We begin a process of reviewing candidates in more detail and questioning them so we can narrow the field down to about 20 candidates."

When a preliminary list is formed, Holifield said his firm begins interviews and background checks with the candidates to ensure they meet the profile developed by the city. With further interviews, the 20-candidate list is narrowed down to 12, and then eventually to three. The city is involved throughout the process, even though Holifield and his team are conducting the interviews, he said.

"We don't make any of the decisions, what we do is facilitate the process," Holifield said. "While we won't have anybody on the list that we don't feel good about, it is not our job to make the decision. Our job is to make sure the city has the right information to make the decision."

If one of the three is chosen, Glasscock said the new chief will likely be able to begin work within 30 to 45 days of selection although the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays could cause delays.

Until a new chief is hired, the department will continue to be led by interim Chief Bill Peterson, who took over when Chief Hugo Esparza retired earlier this year. Glasscock said Peterson is doing a fine job, but he is looking forward to completing the search process.

"You never like to have an interim or an acting chief, so we are all anxious to get a permanent chief in so things can move along," Glasscock said.

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