Interim Fire Chief Position Still Vacant for SSFD

When South Shore Fire Chief William Bouma leaves Station 8 for the last time on Wednesday, he will leave the department with no one at the helm.

Bouma is retiring, and his 13-year tenure as chief will end Wednesday with a ride home on a fire truck. Come Thursday morning, the top leadership position at SSFD will be empty even though Mount Pleasant leaders have interviewed at least two candidates.

According to Rick McCluskey, vice-chair of the Police & Fire Commission, the most recent applicant dropped out of consideration because he didn't feel comfortable continuing after Mark Morien resigned as interim adminstrator for the village.

"I had confidence in Mark (Morien) because this is his area of expertise," McCluskey said. "But this person knew Mark and once he found out that Mark was stepping down, he said he didn't want to continue the process."

Morien was hired in August as the interim administrator. An employee of Voorhees Associates, he was originally contracted to find a permanent administrator. When he took the interim job, he said he was going to look at the way the village operated and then start making changes. He tendered his resignation on Sept. 26.

Norm Malcolm—the candidate in question—also works for Voorhees. According to the Voorhees website, Malcolm has 36 years of experience in fire service, primarily with the Palatine, IL, fire department.

According to McCluskey, Morien was also networking through the Wisconsin Association of Retired Fire Chiefs to find an interim chief because experience for this top job is key.

"We need someone with the experience and willingness to stay until we find a more permanent chief," he added. "Perhaps the person who's named interim chief would want to apply for full-time consideration, that would be ideal, really."

William Miller, South Shore union president, said he isn't surprised at how hard it is for Mount Pleasant to find an interim chief given the upheaval in the last year or so.

"Without stability no one wants to step forward," he said.

Miller thinks the best way to fill the position is to promote from within as long as that person is given a defined list of goals. He also agrees with McCluskey about the need for experience.

"The best thing for the department is a stable, well-established chief," he continued. "Taking a battalion chief and promoting them temporarily with a set of real goals would work, too. Then, after a certain amount of time, that person could be evaluated and we could see where we go from there."

Where the search goes from here is being discussed at both the staff and board level. Patch will update this story as the process moves along.