With a 5-2 vote by borough council on Monday, Rick Myers was named chief of the Ellwood City Fire Department. He takes over for the former longstanding fire Chief Connie MacDonald, who retired last month.
Myers, a longtime firefighter with the Ellwood fire department, was up against another candidate who was unnamed but reportedly also a member of the fire department.
Voting ‘no’ were council members Marilyn Mancini and Ralph Chiappetta. Councilman Chiappetta attempted to abstain from voting in that he opposed the procedure used to arrive at the selection.
However, according to Council President Anthony DeCarbo, abstaining from a vote can only be done if personal reasons come into play, which they didn’t in this situation. So, Chiappetta’s vote was considered ‘no.’
Councilman Chiappetta said last week and again on Monday that he was against the procedure in which council was selecting the new chief. He said that with other official positions in the past, council typically did a more comprehensive interview process, specifically using the Ellwood City police chief as an example.
“In the past, we’ve had someone give an outside opinion,” said Chiappetta. “We’re not following the same procedures as we had for other head officials. I’m not against Myers, just against the procedure.”
Last week during the agenda setting meeting, other council members expressed the need for a chief to be named immediately and that extending the interview process any longer would be detrimental.
The fire department was without a chief for approximately three weeks. MacDonald officially retired on June 22.
The Ellwood City Fire Department is made up of a chief and some 40 volunteer fire fighters, and they are involved in weekly training sessions and are active participants in mutual aid systems.
Since when is it ok for members of a volunteer organization to persuade council whom to hire for a position? There should have been a panel of professionals that sat in on interview process to select this person. If council wants to go on the word of the public for the fire chief, then why didn’t they go on the public’s word for the nativity? Time to vote them all out.
Why is it that every story in the ledger on the new “chief” have to mention that he is married to the daughter of a fireman that died tragically in a fire? Makes one wonder if he got the job just because of that……just saying. I just hope that no one gets hurt because of his lack of experience(from what I understand the other two applicants had way more experience) but the volunteers chose thier buddy. Wish council would have used the proper channels to do the hiring.
To “a resident” : It is respect and gratitude for the fallen firemen that they may mention the new chief’s wife. The fact that you comment on “what you understand from others” is just shows you are probably another small minded rumor spreading resident who has never lived out of Ellwood City. Why don’t you check how many times each applicant has reported to a fire call? Do you know that the new chief was very active for many years in the Evans City fire department? Do you know he has medical training far beyond the other volunteer applying for the job? Open your mind and close your mouth before you continue to embarass yourself. They definitely appointed the right man for the job, he is a hard worker and will do well for the WHOLE community. It has nothing to do with his wife .