Editorial from the April 3 print edition

The process was correct, and the right person has been recommended as Shakopee’s first full-time fire chief.

Next Tuesday night, Shakopee City Administrator Mark McNeill plans to recommend that Ed Schwaesdall, who has been the department’s part-time fire chief since 2005, be appointed to the post. It will be up to the City Council to decide whether it agrees with him or not.

Schwaesdall was one of four finalists for the job. McNeill will make his recommendation after a long process that included a national search, an initial pool of 98 applicants, a reduction to 17 and then seven and then four applicants.

The city utilized a diverse group of people to interview the finalists, including fire chiefs from other communities, another city manager, and Shakopee city department heads, firefighters and fire officers.

Other finalists for the post included Shakopee First Assistant Fire Chief Rick Coleman, city of Roseville Deputy Chief Greg Peterson and city of Bloomington District Chief Laura McCarthy.

In the end, McNeill said, he was convinced that Schwaesdall was the top candidate. Unless some new information comes out regarding Schwaesdall we can see no reason why he should not be appointed Tuesday night.

His selection is good on several fronts. First, he’s experienced as a fire chief in this growing, spread-out community. He’s taken the job seriously, obviously. And he’s taking the opportunity to become the city’s first full-time chief seriously as well, taking college courses to help him in the job and leaving his real-life job in the family restaurant business.

Most significantly, Schwaesdall’s appointment will spare the city from the possibility of turmoil if an “outsider” came to lead the department. Schwaesdall and other firefighters are part of a brotherhood (though there is a sister on board and more to come, we hope) that has existed in this community for generations. When the city first considered the process of hiring a full-time chief, firefighters were adamant that the chief should just be chosen from the ranks — no need to look outside for the appointment.

Schwaesdall and others preferred that the city save an estimated $18,000-plus by not hiring the national search firm to find applicants and instead look at interviewing internal candidates.  

But the city correctly did just that: It looked outside and inside. While Schwaesdall and chiefs before him did a more than adequate job, the job description was changing. The new chief must be a leader, must be an administrator, and must be a firefighter. Unless the city could see for itself what other kinds of candidates were out there and the skills and attributes they could bring to the job, the question would long linger whether someone from the “inside” was the best candidate available.

When an “outsider” comes in, or someone is pulled up from the ranks of the department to lead it, turmoil can ensue. Just have a look at what’s happened in larger departments, such as Minneapolis and St. Paul. That’s not to say that someday Shakopee will not be led by someone from outside the department; almost certainly, that will happen. But the fact that the best candidate in the view of McNeill — and, we hope, the majority of the City Council — is already in the department, it will help smooth the transition to a full-time chief.

The shift to a full-time administrator is long in coming for a department that has handled an increasing numbers of fire calls and responsibilities from a growing population. It first got a department secretary midway through last year. The city has also modernized procedures and policies of what had very much been a self-led body of volunteers.  

The time has come for a full-time chief. And we endorse McNeill’s recommendation that Schwaesdall is the best person for the job.