His Web site appears more as if he's campaigning for election rather than seeking an appointment.
Palo Alto Fire Chief Ruben Grijalva is a candidate to be the next state fire marshal, and he's posted his qualifications, positions and endorsements on the Web www.firechiefs.com.
Grijalva, 49, is a year away from becoming eligible for retirement in Palo Alto. If he were to retire at 50, Grijalva would be eligible to receive 90 percent of his salary through the public employee retirement system, calculated from a base pay of about $147,000, said Sandra Blanch, risk and benefits manager for the city.
The new job, if he gets it, would pay considerably less -- $108,573, compared with the $160,000 he's earning now.
Grijalva's 20-year-old son, David, created the Web site. It touts the chief's view on regulations, training and fighting wildfires.
``I have a lot of admiration for the governor, for his accomplishments on workers' comp and other issues,'' said Grijalva, a Republican. He would like to help the administration in fire and safety issues, he said.
It was Grijalva's advocacy last year for a new state building code favored by local governments that put him on the path toward seeking the state job. At the time, Grijalva was serving as president of the League of California Cities fire chiefs department, and building officials who heard him testify in Sacramento urged him to apply for the fire marshal job.
The marshal influences building regulations and hazardous-material codes, oversees wildfire fighting and offers training and education.
In fact, Grijalva has expertise precisely in those areas, Palo Alto City Manager Frank Benest said.
``We don't want to lose him as fire chief, but he'll be going on to a larger arena, and we hope he continues to have great success and positively impact public safety,'' said Benest, who said he gave his blessing to Grijalva's application.
The governor's office would not disclose the number of applicants, nor the timeline for naming a replacement for Fire Marshal John Tennant, who left March 31. Grijalva said he was interviewed by the governor's appointments office staff last month.
``I have mixed emotions,'' Grijalva said. ``The fire service is one of those jobs after 30 years I still look forward to coming to work every day.''
Grijalva has been chief for 10 years. He worked 16 years as a public safety officer and fire marshal in Sunnyvale, then joined Palo Alto as assistant chief in 1990.
In 1998, he came under scrutiny for dispatching officers to help then-City Manager June Fleming sandbag her home the day San Francisquito Creek overflowed and inundated a large area of the city. An investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing.
