Just after celebrating the retirement of the current fire chief, Gilroy City Council narrowly voted last week to place a retired police chief temporarily in charge of their fire department.
While the unusual move came with some concerns over his lack of fire experience, city staff said it would buy time to search for a new fire chief.
“I wish we were not in this position,” said Mayor Marie Blankley. “All of us would rather have a fire chief … It’s about getting someone who can handle the administration side of things until we can get a fire chief. So I’m glad that there’s some thinking outside the box.”
With current Fire Chief James Wyatt retiring at the end of May, City Administrator Jimmy Forbis sought to appoint Scot Smithee, who was Gilroy police chief from 2017 to 2020, to take the helm while the city searches for a new chief. Smithee would serve as a director — rather than chief — of the fire department, focusing on the administrative side and delegating issues of fire response.
While the move is rare, several cities throughout the state have police professionals overseeing fire departments or vice versa — though many of these are in cities with combined public safety departments. Gilroy also had a fire chief who briefly took charge of the police department in the ‘90s, according to Forbis.
While Forbis said he had consulted with current leadership on the hire, several city councilmembers expressed their concerns over having someone without fire experience overseeing the fire department.
“It feels very desperate,” said councilmember Rebeca Armendariz. “I think our community deserves better and so do our firefighters.”
“We know everybody up here loves Chief Smithee,” said councilmember Fred Tovar, but he mentioned that he received concerns from firefighters regarding the lack of fire experience.
City councilmembers also expressed concerns over the timing of the search, since Wyatt announced his retirement months ago and the job listing has not yet been posted. City staff stressed that high-level searches are often slow and that to hire the new chief, they are working with an outside firm that is in high demand. “I’m sorry, but we have to wait our turn,” said LeeAnn McPhillips, human resources director for Gilroy. “We moved as quickly as we could.”
Forbis also emphasized that this was a temporary solution, and that he hoped to post the job by early June and have a new fire chief within the next three to four months – or, as a “plan B,” an interim fire chief. “I’m committed to finding a fire chief. There’s no plan C or D,” he said.
The council approved the appointment in a narrow 4-3 vote, with councilmembers Armendariz, Tovar and Zach Hilton in opposition. Scot Smithee began as Interim Senior Executive Team Director leading and managing the Gilroy Fire Department on May 28.
