Former fire marshal and Capt. Mike O’Connor, who has been instrumental in talks with the county over a cooperative service contract, has been named interim chief of the Hollister Fire Department.
O’Connor took over for the retiring Fred Cheshire. O’Connor and Cheshire overlapped on the job last week, while Cheshire’s last official day was Friday, said City Manager Clint Quilter, who made the appointment of O’Connor.
O’Connor’s promotion comes after he was a central figure during talks for a service contract with San Benito County, as he put together much of the presentation documents related to the matter.
As interim chief, O’Connor makes $111,425 annually. That is up from the $96,835 he made for a short time while acting as administrative fire captain in the midst of the county talks. Before that, he made $87,663, according to the city finance department.
As for the choice of O’Connor as interim chief, Quilter said his involvement in the county contract was a major factor.
“Quite frankly, Mike did a lot of the work on the whole contract with the county, so it’ll be important for him to be involved with that process,” Quilter said.
With the promotion, O’Connor will move into the chief’s pay range for salary and benefits. Finance official Robert Galvan did not immediately return an email requesting O’Connor’s new pay information, but the most recently reported data to the state for 2011 showed the fire chief’s total wages at $132,166.
O’Connor has been with the Hollister department for 24 years, and as a captain since 1996, he said. He has served as fire marshal for the past seven years as well.
The first priority will be continuing the transition with the county agreement. That will involve hiring six to seven people.
“We’re looking at bringing on some staffing as soon as all the testing is done,” said O’Connor, who grew up in Sacramento and also worked previously for the Sacramento City department and what is now Calfire, along with being a volunteer for Merced, Madera and Sacramento County’s fire departments.
As for other upcoming changes, he noted that residents can expect four fire stations in the area – the two currently running in Hollister, a San Juan department staffed by paid and volunteer firefighters, and the state’s Calfire station as well. He expects responses to be more seamless due to consistent procedures being followed by firefighters.
“It’s going to simplify the overall running of the fire service in the county,” he said.
O’Connor said the department will stress professionalism. The former chief, in the post for six years, retired about nine months after the city’s fire union passed a vote of no confidence against Cheshire and Quilter.
“I’m looking forward to serving the citizens of Hollister, San Juan Bautista and the County of San Benito,” he said.
