A proposal to move the appointment of the city fire marshal to the mayor was tabled by the Grantsville City Council during its meeting last Wednesday.
Grantsville City Mayor Brent Marshall added the resolution to the meeting agenda as the position has been open since Kent Liddiard left at the end of the year. The fire marshal works as a liaison between the fire department, city council and planning and zoning commission to ensure new developments align with the city’s fire code.
“The past month has been somewhat difficult trying to get things approved from the fire side of things,” Marshall said. “…This way you would have somebody that reported to the mayor.”
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Grantsville Assistant Fire Chief Travis Daniels said the position should still be appointed by the fire chief, in part to ensure the department hierarchy aligns with National Incident Management System guidelines.
“The needs of the fire (marshal) has to be in concert with the needs of the fire chief and work under that direction,” Daniels said. “When you add or insert another step in that chain of command, it makes that difficult.”
Marshall said the fire department answers to the mayor whether the chief or mayor appoint the fire marshal. He also said the city council needs to approve any fire marshal appointee, whether appointed by the mayor or fire chief.
With no fire marshal, Marshall said Grantsville Fire Chief Casey Phillips has been required to sign off on development plans.
Daniels said the fire department selected Brad Clayton to the position of fire marshal prior to the meeting. He said Clayton will need to attend training for his final certification but should be ready to fill the position by March 6.
Grantsville City Councilman Tom Tripp questioned Daniels on the need for the fire marshal to mesh with the fire department. City Councilwoman Jewel Allen also asked about the workflow between the fire marshal and fire chief.
Daniels said the fire chief and fire marshal need to work together, especially based on emergency guidelines established by NIMS. He said the fire marshal would serve in an advisory role to the chief during a major disaster.
“In the case of a national incident or we have to cross boundaries to work with Salt Lake, there’s an established order to make it so we work cohesively together,” Daniels said.
Allen also asked if the department appointing Clayton would alleviate Marshall’s concerns about the unfilled fire marshal position.
“I guess that it would,” Marshall said. “It doesn’t matter if he passes his test or not; you guys still have to approve it and that’s what I was saying earlier.”
Grantsville City Councilman Mike Colson said he wanted more information on other cities that have the fire marshal appointed by the mayor before he would vote on the matter, prior to his motion to table Marshall’s resolution.
“I don’t see any advantages to shifting the fire marshal out of the fire department to try and smooth out what I see as just some personnel issues at the moment,” Colson said.