MLFD chief search presenting a challenge

Key points: 

• First search failed to attract qualified candidates 
• If the second attempt is successful, the announcement of a new chief could come in midsummer. 
• A new chief would be expected to start in late summer or early fall if the search is successful. 
• Unknown if the possibility of a feasibility study indicating that the department would be eliminated somehow is having a negative effect on the recruiting process. 

MOSES LAKE — Applications will be accepted through June 22 for a new Moses Lake Fire Chief. It’s the second attempt to find a replacement for longtime Chief Brett Bastian, and Fire Administrator Mike Ganz said the process will be different the second time around. 

“As of about two weeks ago, the search firm has started recruiting again,” Ganz said during the May 23 Moses Lake City Council meeting. “(Once applications have closed) we will go back in, look at the candidates and try to narrow it to a pool of about three to five.”

City Manager Rob Karlinsey asked if a few months had made a difference in the city’s chances.

“This is the second time we’re trying this – we tried this a few months ago, and weren’t successful in getting candidates,” Karlinsey said. “How are you feeling about this latest attempt?”

Ganz said he wasn’t working for the city during the first attempt, but he has had a chance to talk to potential candidates and there’s at least one person who’s applying. All candidates chosen for interviews will go through a series of interviews, and not only with city officials, Ganz said. 

“It would be a series of interview questions, (meeting with) panels, and those panels would be made up of stakeholders – members of council, members of city staff, firefighters, maybe community members, maybe the business community. A mix of stakeholders who can hear those interviews and then come back with a recommendation,” Ganz said. “That’s the plan. If it all goes as planned.” 

Ganz said he’s willing to answer questions from people interested in the job. 

“Because I’ve been here and I have a perspective on this department now, I’d be happy to discuss the department with them and what I see as the strengths,” he said. 

Bastian retired in January after 33 years with the department, beginning as a fire inspector in 1992, then working as a firefighter. He was named interim chief in 2015 and took the permanent job in 2016.

If things go as planned, Ganz estimated a new chief could be announced by midsummer, although the new chief probably wouldn’t start until late summer or early fall. 

“They’ll have to give some notification where they are working now,” he said. “That should get us to late August to mid-September.”