Temporary Fire Chief
Andrew Hart
WESTFIELD – When Westfield Fire Chief Mary Regan retires July 6, the department will be in the hands of current Deputy Chief Andrew Hart – for the time being.
Changes wrought by the commonwealth’s Civil Service Commission have made changes which will delay a permanent appointment to fill the chief’s position but when the Fire Commission met on Monday the members voted to appoint a temporary chief and to temporarily fill the vacancies resulting from that promotion.
Albert J. Masciadrelli, chair of the city’s fire commission, explained recently that the Civil Service Commission has elected to stop offering an examination to qualify candidates for the fire chief position and instead has instructed appointing authorities such as the Westfield Fire Commission “to create an Assessment Center to establish candidates for a list which would be certified by Civil Service,” said Masciadrelli.
He said that the required ‘assessment center’ will cost the city between three and thirty thousand dollars and the process will obviously not be completed before Regan retires.
Masciadrelli said that the commission is “adamant” about selecting the new chief from the ranks of the current firefighters when the assessment center develops a promotion list but in the short term the commission filled the vacancy according to the requirements of the city’s contract with the five deputy fire chiefs.
He said that contract stipulates that, if the chief is unable to lead the department for any reason – including sickness, absence or retirement – the senior deputy chief will be offered the position.
He said that the senior deputy, Andrew Hart, was required to affirm his willingness to accept the chief’s position before he was appointed temporary Fire Chief by vote of the commissioners.
His promotion created a vacant deputy chief position which the commission filled – temporarily – with current Capt. Benjamin Warren.
The then vacant captaincy was filled, again on a temporary basis, by firefighter Michael Hawthorne.
The vacant firefighter position was not filled as Masciadrelli called for a new civil service list. He said Tuesday that he has received a new list and the commission will consider the candidates before appointing a new firefighter, “probably by August”.
