The Chelsea Area Fire Authority (CAFA) now has two new full-time firefighters on staff — James Gaken and Nate Saarinen.
In addition, interim Chelsea Fire Chief Jon Ichesco told the CAFA Board at its regular meeting on Nov. 22 that Eric Stanley had been promoted to the rank of fire lieutenant.
The board also adopted a balanced, about $1.46 million, 2017 operating budget, which will now go to the member municipalities for the elected officials’ comments in December.
“I want to publicly thank Kurt (Koseck) for his work on the budget,” said Board Member Shauna Mote. Her sentiments were echoed by Board Chairman Tom Osborne who offered his “heartfelt thanks for this budget. My hat’s off to you.”
CAFA Board Member Peter Feeney said that the chief selection committee had received 18 applications and the group had whittled them down to six possible candidates.
The committee would like to shorten that list “a little more,” Feeney said, and more formally interview the remaining candidates.
“We want a sufficient number of candidates to get through the process, but, if not, we’ll go through the process again,” Feeney said.
He thanked the committee for all their hard work and said it will take them into December to reach the next stage.
Ichesco told the board he authorized a reverse osmosis system be installed at Fire Station 2 due to “a questionable reading on the drinking water containing total dissolved solids of 487 with 500 as the maximum contamination level of EPA secondary regulations,” according to his report.
The CAFA board will meet on Dec. 20 at Lima Township Hall beginning at 7 p.m.
