GILROY
– For a temp, Hugh Holden is getting a lot of experience.
The retired Mountain View fire chief will make his second tour
of duty with the Gilroy Fire Department starting March 15, the city
announced late last week. Holden, who filled in when former Fire
Chief Art Gillespie retired from the Gilroy Fire Department in
April 2001, will replace
– also on an interim basis – Fire Chief Jeff Clet this time
around.
GILROY – For a temp, Hugh Holden is getting a lot of experience.
The retired Mountain View fire chief will make his second tour of duty with the Gilroy Fire Department starting March 15, the city announced late last week. Holden, who filled in when former Fire Chief Art Gillespie retired from the Gilroy Fire Department in April 2001, will replace – also on an interim basis – Fire Chief Jeff Clet this time around.
Clet is headed to San Jose to become that city’s fire chief, a position his father Vince held in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
“We feel very fortunate to have Hugh available for this interim role,” City Administrator Jay Baksa said. “He did a wonderful job leading the fire department following the retirement of Chief Gillespie, and we know he will serve the city well following the departure of Chief Clet.”
Holden ran the GFD at one of the most trying times for any fire department, Sept. 11, 2001. He served from April 2001 to February 2002, when Clet took over the helm on a permanent basis.
Holden spent 32 years serving the Mountain View department, most recently as fire chief. He has experience with fire operations, emergency medical services, paramedic programs and regional fire issues.
During the time he worked on regional matters, Holden got acquainted with Gilroy officials and leaders from other cities. Those friendships and working relationships have landed him interim fire chief spots with a number of Bay Area departments since he retired from full-time duty November 2000.
“He was not an unknown to us back then,” Baksa said. “When he retired, he put some feelers out letting people know he could man their forts. We took him up on that offer and we’re glad to have him again.”
Holden will be paid $10,400 per month until the Gilroy fire chief position gets filled. He is expected to work three or more days a week, the Gilroy human resources department said.
A full-time Gilroy fire chief makes roughly $156,000 a year.
Baksa is estimating a six- to nine-month period before he can fill the vacant Gilroy fire chief’s post.
“It is a long and involved process we go through,” Baksa said. “We have to give this enough time.”
Baksa said the city may make the application period two months long, meaning interviews might not begin until May.
“We don’t want to have an early deadline and lose the chance to get a good candidate,” Baksa said. “This is a department head position, so we want to give applicants plenty of time to do research and get familiar with the issues.”
For the remaining four to seven months, Baksa said applicants will go through a rigorous screening and interview process. Baksa said staff has not yet decided if it will hire a consultant to oversee the recruitment drive.
“That’s something we’ll have to decide based on our workload,” Baksa said. “Chances are we probably will hire one”
Last time around, the city used the services of a consultant.
Baksa said consultants help speed up the lengthy process by weeding out applicants who do not qualify, as well as functioning as a sort of recruiter.
“These guys know a lot of qualified people, and if they know of a good fit they encourage that person to throw their hat in the ring,” Baksa said.
Regardless of whether the city hires a recruiter, Baksa said the position will be advertised within industry journals and publications. It will also be advertised within the League of California Cities job finder.
“We’re going to make it a statewide and West Coast search,” Baksa said.
The consultant or city staff will reduce the field of applicants to perhaps a top 30, Baksa said.
Then city staff may do preliminary interviews to reduce the field in half. A yet-to-be determined panel of city department heads, local and regional firefighters and probably Holden will then conduct interviews. Once a group of half-dozen or so applicants remain, Baksa will begin more intensive interviews and recommend one finalist to the City Council.
