Sunday will be the last day on the job for Fire Chief John Mauro Jr., but his replacement isn’t expected to be hired until later this fall. That leaves the Board of Selectmen with a decision about how to run the department in the meantime. Tomorrow they’ll meet to talk about just that.
The board has identified a candidate to serve as interim fire chief until a permanent replacement can be hired. According to the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting, that candidate is Michael Dunne.
A Google search suggest Dunne was at one point fire chief in Sudbury, but I don’t have any additional information on his background or how he was selected as a candidate for interim chief. I’ll let you know if I find out more.
Russ Millholland, chairman of the Fire Chief Screening Committee, told selectmen last week 58 candidates have applied for the position of chief. A hiring decision is not expected until October at the earliest.
The vote to appoint Dunne as interim fire chief happens tomorrow at 4:00 pm in the Town House Hearing Room (second floor). It is open to the public.
Update 2:00 pm: Town Administrator Jean Kitchen confirmed Dunne was formerly the fire chief in Sudbury, and was identified by the Fire Chief Search Committee as a candidate for the interim position. Kitchen said Dunne comes highly recommended by Framingham Fire Chief Gary Daugherty who is a member of Southborough’s search committee.
I would rather see one of the current Captains step in for a interim as we did with the police chief. This guy doesn’t know anything about our town, our personnel or anything to do with the department. When Chief Mauro is on vacation, one of the captains steps up and I think that would be better fit for the town. I think it is disappointing to see them bring in an outsider. Jus tmy opinion.
Curious
Perhaps one of the existing Captains is interested in the job. In that case appointing an interim chief would send a powerful message that there was an inside candidate that was being primed for the job. Better to have a level playing field and let the best person win.