GILROY
– It’s hard to escape the irony that Fire Chief Jeff Clet’s last
day on the job in Gilroy is on a day in which the fire department
is celebrating new hires and promotions.
GILROY – It’s hard to escape the irony that Fire Chief Jeff Clet’s last day on the job in Gilroy is on a day in which the fire department is celebrating new hires and promotions.
“I think it’s ironic, but I think it’s just a huge opportunity for me to … thank everyone for being so supportive and for making this a great fire department,” Clet said Tuesday.
On March 12, the Gilroy Fire Department and city officials will hold a badge-pinning ceremony to officially welcome new members and recognize promotions. They will also say good-bye that day to Clet, who a week ago accepted the job of fire chief for the city of San Jose, where his father was chief from 1978 to 1984. Clet ends work in Gilroy on March 12 and begins in San Jose on March 15.
City Administrator Jay Baksa expects the search for a new chief to take six to nine months. He said he wouldn’t know for a couple of weeks whether the city will search for an interim fire chief or leave management to the GFD’s division chiefs.
Clet and Baksa met Friday and discussed current matters as well as those coming up over the next nine months. Here are the things they say they agreed upon:
• Fireworks mitigation plan – Clet will be present for a Monday workshop with the City Council, at which legislation will be prepared for the March 15 Council meeting. After nine fireworks-related fires caused $425,000 in damage this past Independence Day, the GFD has been working out a plan to raise fees for fireworks permits, educate people about safe fireworks use and step up enforcement of unsafe use.
• Master plan – GFD Analyst Geoff Cady will plan future fire coverage needs within the city’s master plan, which Baksa said is “80- to 90-percent done.”
• New fire station – Capt. Ed Bozzo will continue to oversee the final construction of the GFD’s third station, on Sunrise Drive in the city’s northwestern quadrant. The finish date is expected in six to eight weeks, Baksa said.
• New fire truck – Division Chief Charles Hurley will look into replacing the GFD’s 22-year-old aerial ladder truck with a $573,000 new one, with longer reach, later this year.
• GFD budget – Cady, who already handles budget matters, will oversee them.
• LAFCO – Division chiefs Phil King and Hurley will handle any needed correspondence between the city and Santa Clara County’s Local Agency Formation Commission over possible consolidation of countywide fire service, which could cut into local control.
“Other than that, the day-to-day operations and the emergency operations would remained unchanged,” Clet said.
