Familiar Face Tapped for Tallahassee, Florida Fire Chief

After going seven months without a permanent fire chief, Tallahassee's city manager has offered the job to Tallahassee Fire Department Capt. Cindy Dick.

"I've found a person that I am confident in and am offering the job to," Anita Favors Thompson said Friday evening.

The 39-year-old Dick, for her part, said she would relish the opportunity to lead the department, with which she started working in 1987, when she was 21.

"I have a passion not only for the career, but to this specific organization," she said.

Favors Thompson said she was not yet ready to talk about the reasons behind her choice but that she would do so as her negotiations with Dick progressed next week. The choice of fire chief rests solely with the city manager.

Dick has been a captain, one of 16, since 1997. She said one of the main challenges for the new chief would be identifying the community's needs and responding to them. Asked about her accomplishments with the department, she declined to take sole credit - saying firefighters work as a team - but mentioned her work with communications and training programs.

The fire chief position is advertised as paying between $53,000 and $123,000. Dick currently makes about $63,000. She has an associate's degree from Tallahassee Community College and is enrolled at the University of Florida as a business major.

Tallahassee's 265-employee Fire Department has been without a permanent fire chief since Tom Quillin retired from the city March 1, after 15 years in the position. Two weeks later, Quillin was named director of Leon County's Emergency Medical Services, replacing Dan Moynihan, who was fired in February in the wake of sexual-harassment charges by a female EMS employee.

Since Quillin's departure, Division Chief Steve Anderson has been acting as interim chief.

Favors Thompson said it took a lengthy search to find someone she was comfortable with. She said one of the new chief's first tasks would be to beef up upper management.

"We don't have a real strong team of people to move up into key positions," she said.

Other issues the new fire chief will have to grapple with include firefighters' discontent over their salaries and a contentious relationship between the city and county over how much unincorporated areas should pay to receive Tallahassee fire service.

Tallahassee firefighters cover a 67-square-mile area and respond to more than 19,000 fire and emergency medical calls annually through 15 stations. They partner with Leon County's EMS, and also respond to urban search-and-rescue missions and hazardous-material spills. The department's budget this year is $23.5 million.

Favors Thompson said if negotiations with Dick don't pan out, she can still turn to one of the latest batch of applications for the position. They are:

Deputy Fire Chief Dan Spillman, 50, the Tallahassee Fire Department's second-highest ranked officer.

Daniel Gaumont, 50, fire chief of Watertown, N.Y.

David Daniels, the fire chief in Fulton County, Ga.

Interim chief Anderson also applied for the position, but withdrew his candidacy, said Gloria Hall-McNeil, the city's director of human resources.