Wisconsin County Officials Find College Degree Not Required for Chief’s Position

City of Delafield – After some debate, the Lake Country Fire and Rescue Commission unanimously agreed that a college degree would not be a requirement for the new fire chief of Lake Country Fire and Rescue.

Lake Country is a consolidated fire and emergency medical services agency with an annual budget of about $2 million a year that serves the communities of Nashotah, Chenequa and the city of Delafield.

Commissioner Brian Gerner, a Nashotah resident who is also a Brookfield firefighter, suggested that a minium requirement for the position should be a “bachelor’s degree related to fire service such as fire administration, public administration or business management.”

Instead, the commission decided that a bachelor’s degree was “desired” with a minimum requirement “of an associate arts degree in fire technology, fire administration or equivalent education or experience at the time of hire.”

Gerner and village of Chenequa Commissioner Rob Manegold initially argued for the college degree requirement but eventually agreed to go along with the rest commissioners in requiring an associate degree or equivalent education or experience.

Gerner suggested that many larger departments require a college education for command positions and an associate arts degree for newly hired firefighters. He said requiring the college degree would send a signal to the fire fighting profession that the LCFR was looking for a highly qualified candidate.

Manegold added that the position required skill sets that would enable the chief to lead fire fighters, administer the department, work with a governing board, and establish relationships within the communities.

However, Delafield Commissioner Brad Stocks said he was concerned that the college degree requirement might rule out skilled and experienced candidates who lacked college degrees.

He said by requiring the associates arts degree in fire technology and administration, the board would be assured of having candidates who were qualified fire fighters. Any candidate with those qualifications ought to have a chance to convince the board that they could be chief, he said.

Otherwise, the board could also opt for a candidate with a college degree who also had the fire fighting skills. Stocks added

Interim Chief Kevin Keith, who has a degree in criminal justice from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, says he has known “good chiefs with and without degrees.”

Some city of Delafield officials have suggested that the position requires strong administrative and fiscal skills because of the complexities of the service contracts and Medicare and Medicaid billing systems which help provides nearly half of the revenue for the department.

Former Fire Chief Jack Edwards retired at the beginning of the year in the midst of controversies over the agency’s declining revenues which has required the three municipalities to increase their contributions of real estate tax dollars to the department’s operations.

The commission, during its Tuesday, March 10, adopted the qualifications for the position and approved a time table for the recruitment and interviewing of applicants in time for the commission to make a recommendation to the LCFR governing board in June.

The governing board, which oversees department operations, is responsible for developing the job description for the position.