Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 26, 1995 TAG: 9509260074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jim Grigsby, deputy chief of public safety in Kalamazoo, Mich., has been chosen over 80 other applicants to be Roanoke's fire chief.
Grigsby, 50, replaces former chief Rawleigh Quarles, who retired in March after five years at the department's helm. The new chief was introduced by City Manager Bob Herbert at a news conference Monday.
"In Jim Grigsby, we have found an individual with proven leadership in both fire and EMS," Herbert said. "He has a strong career and background, particularly in the area of bringing about positive change, which we believe will be the case as we merge these services in Roanoke."
Grigsby started his 23-year firefighting career in Hampton in 1972. In 1988, Kalamazoo hired him as assistant chief in charge of fire operations. He was later promoted to deputy chief of public safety, in which he ran fire and EMS operations.
Kalamazoo merged its police and fire departments in 1982, a move that has resulted in firefighters combating crime and police officers battling blazes. In all, the city has about 270 sworn "public safety officers" performing both duties for a population of about 112,000 people.
Before Kalamazoo, Grigsby served a four-year stint as fire chief of Lee's Summit, Mo., a town of 43,000 people south of Kansas City. He worked in the Hampton Fire Department from 1972 to 1983, rising to the rank of captain.
He holds a bachelor of arts degree in public administration from Upper Iowa University and master's degree in public administration from Golden Gate University.
Grigsby said he's excited about returning to Virginia, and that he's honored to have been chosen as Roanoke's fire chief. He starts the job Oct. 30.
Roanoke "met the profile for me as I met the profile for it," Grigsby said.
Grigsby was chosen over 79 other applicants and was the top choice of two separate city committees who interviewed the "final cut" of seven candidates, officials said at the news conference. One of the panels was composed of current fire and EMS employees, the other of administrators from both inside and outside city government.
Two of the final seven who were passed over for the top job were longtime veterans of the 240-man Roanoke Fire Department, Deputy Chiefs Billy Southall and Winston Simmons.
Grigsby's salary will be $70,000 annually, about $7,000 less than he is earning in Kalamazoo. That's just under the level top department directors earn in the city government. It is almost $14,000 more than the $56,000 salary for the fire chief's position in the current budget.
Capt. Ed Crawford, president of the Roanoke Firefighters Association, said he's optimistic about working with the new chief. But some members of the association are upset that a local candidate wasn't chosen, Crawford said.
The association never took a formal vote on the issue because its membership was split over whether they wanted someone from the inside or outside, he said.
"I hope he has a positive attitude about coming to work in a "right to work" state and working with a union that is not recognized by [city] government," Crawford said.
If Grigsby's relationship with the firefighters' union in Kalamazoo is any indication, there may be some battles for local firefighters, said Winston Culver, president of Kalamazoo Firefighters' Local 394.
Culver said he's glad Grigsby is leaving. He described the deputy chief as a stern disciplinarian who generated a flurry of union grievances, many of which were upheld during arbitration.
"He was definitely a nonunion person," Culver said. Grigsby "didn't care for unions at all. We had a lot of controversy."
Culver also blamed Grigsby for a contentious, 13-month-long dispute between the firefighters' union and city of Kalamazoo over a new contract.
Finally, "we refused to go back into negotiations with Grigsby there," Culver recalls. "The administration pulled him out, and we had a contract in three days."
Although the top job in Kalamazoo's public safety department opened up earlier this year, Grigsby did not apply for it.
by CNB