BANGOR, Maine — While the application process is still going on for the vacant fire chief’s position, city administrative staff members soon will interview finalists to become Bangor International Airport’s new director.
“We have readvertised the fire chief’s position and that ad period will close June 22,” said Bob Farrar, Bangor’s assistant city manager. “We went through an initial process in March, had a dozen applicants, and interviewed some, but decided we wanted a broader pool of applicants.”
The fire chief’s position has been vacant since Jeff Cammack retired in late February after 32 years as a firefighter, the last 15 as chief.
The BIA director’s job — open since Rebecca Hupp resigned in March after 11 years on the job to take a similar post in Boise, Idaho — should be filled sooner.
“I’m hoping to resolve the BIA director’s opening within the next month,” said City Manager Cathy Conlow. “We’re currently putting together our list of finalists.”
Farrar said 30 people — in house and outside — applied for the BIA director job, which has a pay range of $76,946 to $103,360.
Acting interim director Tony Caruso — who has 16 years of service, the last 10 as assistant director, at BIA — said he is interested in taking the job.
“We’re looking to have folks in here for interviews over the next two to three weeks,” said Farrar. “I would hope to have a finalist named by mid- to late July, sooner if possible.”
As for the fire chief position, which has a $69,534-$93,405 pay range, things will proceed more slowly since the process had to be redone.
“Some of the applicants were certainly acceptable, but they may not have been exactly the right fit we were looking for,” said Farrar. “Once we get these ongoing applications in, we’ll sit down and take a look to see what we have. We hope to select finalists to interview in July and perhaps have someone selected by August or sooner.”
In the meantime, Bangor Assistant Fire Chief Rick Cheverie is serving as interim chief.
What would it say about the Bangor Fire Department if they don’t promote someone from within the organization? What a slap that would be to several- excellent- more than qualified Bangor Firefighters.
All you citizens of Bangor who voted out Rick Bronson last year from city council. Guess who your next Fire Chief is going to be. Yup. sleezy politics at work. Even though Bangor Fire has several very qualified members now, the city, specifically the city manager is going to hire Bronson because he was the councilor who work his sleezy magic to get her hired. Just wait and see. Sorry Bangor Fire, Sorry Bangor residence. Just asked anyone from Brewer where he was a fire chief. They were very happy to see him go.
Sounds like you have a grudge against Bronson. he is a great guy
Another ‘nationwide search’? I don’t have a clue what goes on in that town, but you do seem to harbor some animosity…
he has an opinion
And he’s not holding it back, either! :-)
What happened to your original reply to me?
“I wouldn’t like Bronson watch my pet while I was out for an hour.”
Fant…That was a “nation-wide search.” How lucky are we that the best candidate in the country happened to be in Orono all this time? How fortunate are we that she didn’t even apply for they position until she got a call from a friend? Remember when Bronson called the Police Chief to complain that there was an unattended cruiser left running on the street in the summer? The Chief had to drop what he doing to look into it for him only to find out that it was the K-9 cruiser with the dog inside while the officer was doing an investigation. Then he tried to save face by complaining about the crime scene van being parked left wheel to the curb… while detectives investigated an aggravated assault crime scene. No common sense. Politics at its best.
Our Mayor Weston. will place a couple friends in there… don’t think so. think again.. it’s part of the circle of helping each other obtain power. I’m guessing Tanya will run the airport. Depends if it pays more the the 65K starting pay she’s getting from the city already
He is not a mayor
The city council needs not to look at what “good ole boy” network they want in. There are many qualified members of the Bangor Fire Department who know how things should be and would do a great job. Since the council has shown what intelligent people they are so far, put in someone who at least knows what they say before opening their mouths! Can’t believe Cammack is hard to replace.
They knew what they had with Cammack and he was inherited. When it comes time to make the decision nobody wants to stick their neck out. People feel better off hiring what they know (which aint much) instead of what they don’t know.
Bangor Fire has a couple of FF that would make excellent Chiefs if given the support. Highly unlikely that happens.
It’s hard to be progressive when nobody wants to see progress.
They don’t care about qualifications. THey care about who they can keep their thumb on.
Let’s just get on with the business of hiring the two ‘assistant’ directors/chiefs and stop wasting time and money pretending that there is some huge National search taking place for either position. There are no more qualified people out there. Please.
For once, I couldn’t agree more. Put the ad online and all of a sudden it’s a nationwide search. I think we all know that nobody really wants that, period.