Council approves the hiring of Stephen Reid as a new fire chief on 5-3 vote; three council members wanted the local guy

CEDAR RAPIDS - The city got a new fire chief last night, but not before three members of the council argued to hire the local candidate and not the one from Washington, D.C.

In the end, on a 5-3 vote, the council approved the hiring of Stephen Reid, 58, past deputy chief of emergency medical services in Washington, D.C., as the city's new fire chief.

Council members Chuck Swore, Chuck Wieneke and Don Karr all said they wanted the local candidate, Cedar Rapids District Fire Chief Brian Giachino.

Swore revealed that the city search committee's top pick actually was a third candidate, Scott Goodwin, division chief, Santa Fe Springs, Calif., though he subsequently was eliminated during a late vetting process, Swore said.

Council member Kris Gulick noted that a similar local-versus-non-local discussion ensued back in 2008 when the city picked Floridian Greg Graham as police chief over a couple of good local candidates.

Gulick said the key was the quality of the search process, and he noted that the department's firefighters were among those involved in interviewing the candidates.

Council member Justin Shields said the search committee found Reid, who is currently president/CEO of Stephen M. Reid and Associates, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm, to be “highly skilled,” and council member Monica Vernon said Police Chief Graham, who was on the search committee, convinced her to vote for Reid.

She pointed out, though, that outgoing City Manager Jim Prosser led the hiring process for the new fire chief, and she added that he just resigned.

Reid is slated to start the job May 10. He replaces Steve Havlik who retired in late February after 12 years as head of the department.