Christensen named Fort Smith Fire Chief, leaving three top city slots to be filled

Philip Christensen is the new Fort Smith Fire Chief, filling a position that has been vacant since October 2015 when longtime Chief Mike Richards resigned in the middle of a tumultuous year for city department heads.

Christensen is an internal hire, having worked with the Fort Smith Fire Department since 1993, and serving in recent months as interim chief. City Administrator Carl Geffken announced the hire late Thursday afternoon via emailed press release, stating that Christensen’s first official day on the job would be Monday (July 18).

“Chief Christensen’s leadership qualities are outstanding,” Geffken remarked in the release, adding that Christensen “inspires action for the future, (is) a committed leader to his department, and brings public safety to the citizens of Fort Smith. Chief Christensen is highly respected by his peers. His career has gone from firefighter, driver, captain, Local 33 President, Battalion Chief, Division Chief of Operations, Assistant Fire Chief and to Fire Chief.”

Christensen had been the assistant fire chief for the Fort Smith Fire Department starting in November 2015. In that role, he was the direct supervisor for all battalion and division chiefs and earned $84,500 annually. Talk Business & Politics confirmed through the City Administrator’s Office on Thursday that Christensen’s salary will not increase from its current amount. He has worked with the Department since 1992.

Throughout his career, Christensen received 18 certifications specific to fire safety, hazardous materials, emergency management, and administration throughout from Southern Arkansas University-Tech (SAU-Tech), the National Fire Academy, the International Fire Safety Accreditation Congress (IFSAC), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM), the Arkansas Forestry Commission (AFC), the Arkansas Fire Academy (AFA), the Public Agency Training Council (PATC), the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI), and the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC). He is currently enrolled in the FBI Bomb Squad Executive Management Course.

HIRING TIMETABLE
Christensen replaces Richards, who announced his intent to retire in September after 33 years with the department. He officially vacated the post one month later on the heels of departing City Administrator Ray Gosack, who left in July 2015.

Geffken was hired to fill the vacant City Administrator post in April and took office one month later on May 9. At that time, he commented to Talk Business & Politics that filling the four remaining vacant department head posts would be a top priority. Those posts included fire and police chiefs as well as the utilities and human resources director positions.

The effort to hire a new fire chief had already begun prior to that under the supervision of then-Acting City and current Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman.

Christensen was interviewed by Dingman and Geffken as well as Sebastian County Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck; Fort Smith EMS Executive Director Tim Hearn; retired former Assistant Fire Chief Terry Bigler, who served as interim chief after the position was vacated by Richards; and Chief Master Sgt. Ron Redding of the 188th Wing. He beat out five other candidates for the position.

POLICE, HR, UTILITIES UPDATES
As for the other positions, Geffken recently said the city has had a “wonderful response to our recruiting firm for police chief and HR director,” noting that the research firm conducting the application process on behalf of the city – Strategic Government Resources (SGR) out of Dallas – had received 19 resumes for each position so far.

“Of police chief, there are about 11 who warrant further investigation, and in HR, out of those 19, there are about seven that warrant further investigation. But it’s still open until the end of July, so it’s been a great response, and I am very pleased,” Geffken said.

The utilities director position, on the other hand, has been slower moving with only “two or three” resumes received so far, Geffken said.

“But our recruiting firm is really focusing in, and contacting candidates, who have what we’re looking for, in their database of people who have submitted,” he said.

Geffken continued: “We have a lot of people we’re trying to reach out to through our recruiter—people who have consent decree, wastewater, storm, sanitary, all of that background. We’re very hopeful that we’ll have some very good candidates coming from that.”

Geffken said at the June 21 Board of Directors meeting that he expected the process of filling the remaining posts to take up to three months, “hopefully less.”

If the city maxes out that timetable, it could be the end of September before the three positions are permanently filled. Maj. Dean Pitts is serving as the interim Fort Smith Police Chief while HR Coordinator Lindsey Kaelin is helping to manage human resources and former public works director Bob Roddy of Burns & McDonnell is serving as temporary utilities director.