The City of Levelland is currently looking into filling two vacancies which are department head positions. Those positions include Levelland Fire Chief and Levelland Police Chief.
It was recently made known that former Levelland Fire Department Chief Jay McKay retired.
“Jay served our community for 40 years very admirably and did great things,” said Levelland City Manager James Fisher. “We are blessed to have him as a member of our community.”
“We made a change; Jay retired from the city and that’s where we’re at today,” continued Fisher.
Fisher explained that he reached out to the recruiting firm who is assisting the city with their police chief search as they also provide interim services.
In reaching out, Patty Byars-Faulkner was brought on as an interim fire chief until the position is filled with a full-time candidate. She has been in the role for roughly two weeks.
“With all vacancies you’d like to have these done yesterday but we also know we need to make sure we find the person that’s the best fit for our community,” said Fisher. “We are just beginning the process, and most vacancies take anywhere between six weeks to 12 weeks to get them in here.”
The plan is to work on filling the vacancies in an aggressive timeline as the holidays could be a hurdle in the near future.
“Levelland has great opportunities, and we have to find the next leader to help make us the preferred leader of the South Plains,” said Fisher. “We have great fire guys and gals and volunteers. We have added six new volunteers of the past couple of months,” added Fisher. “We want to build upon that success.”
Some of the discussion stemmed around what the future of the department and community will look like. That includes how the department is managed, how to stay physically responsible and how to make sure the department has the best individuals for the community.
With bringing Byars-Faulkner, Fisher explained the move brings in a new set of eyes and possibly a different perspective.
“Going back to Chief McKay, he has been an integral part of our community for years and he’s done a lot of great things for our community,” said Fisher. “I think she’s going to be a good compliment and will help us moving forward. She will provide a fresh set of eyes and help us address any shortcomings there may be and help get the department ready for a new chief.”
At the same time, the city has also been working to fill the police chief position following the retirement of former Police Chief Albert Garcia.
Last week, city staff had five candidates come in with Fisher meeting with two of them alongside different community panels. The search for the police chief position has been narrowed down to two.
They are now going through the background and community resource checks. The goal is to have a finalist within the next couple of weeks so meetings can be conducted to ensure they are a good fit for the community.
As searches for these positions are conducted, the question is posed about elevating in house candidates.
“I’m not speaking negative of anyone here; we have a responsibility to make sure that the leaders we have can help take our people to the next level and empower them to go through that,” explained Fisher. “We have great people within our system but we’ve got to invest in them so they can be ready to take the next step.”
He added that they did not feel that they had that at this time.
“If I promote somebody, I want to make sure they have all the tools necessary to succeed and there were a couple of tools that just weren’t as sharp as they should be,” said Fisher. “I’m not knocking previous administration or the current. We’ve got great people, but I want to make sure that they can see if we move them in.”
Fisher added that they did have an internal applicant and went through the process, however, the individual stepped out.
“I hope whoever we bring in as chief can continue to work with that group and give them the opportunities to learn more and to be ready to step up,” said Fisher. “That training involves getting them out, getting them exposed to other agencies and getting them exposed to other ways of doing things.”
Fisher acknowledged that some community members may feel there are individuals already within the departments who may be qualified.
“I know it’s hard. I people are saying we have people right here they can do this,” explained Fisher. “We do but some of them weren’t ready enough and it’s our job is to help get them ready.”