Strasburg almost went two more weeks without a fire chief because the people responsible for filling the position weren’t on the same page.
A vote on whether to suspend the usual rules so council could hire Jason Ely without further consideration resulted in a three-to-three tie.
Mayor Bruce Metzger usually gets the final say but didn’t because the law requires a three-fifths majority.
“Now we’re going to go two more weeks without a fire chief. That doesn’t make sense, and we have a gentleman that wants to come here and do it.”
One of the no votes came from Councilman Jeff Smith, who said he wanted to delay the hire until the next council meeting to give residents time to weigh in.
Ely comes from the bolivar fire department where he currently serves as a lieutenant. The chief there is Shawn Lynch. He came to Tuesday’s meeting to show his support and urged everyone to set aside their differences.
“The chief is the guy who puts all the systems in place to serve residents. Right now you’ve got nobody in that leadership position to bring that all together. You’re worrying too much about yesterday. Turn the page.”
The Strasburg fire department has been without a chief since Steven Laskey stepped down at the end of June. Smith and Councilwoman Kathy Burrier would eventually reconsider and switch their no’s to yeses, allowing Ely to be sworn in during the meeting.
His first day on the job is august 20th and recruitment will be a priority for the new chief, who will be leading a department that has been critically understaffed in recent weeks. The remaining members have been picking up extra hours to help fill in the gaps but can only do so much since many have full-time jobs elsewhere.
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