Citing a desire to return to his native Arizona, Mike Winters has tendered his resignation as Cheney Fire Chief and Fire Marshal. Winters’ resignation was effective Aug. 2.
City Administrator Mark Schuller said Winters had discussed the possibility of leaving with him at times over the last couple of months, expressing a desire by him and his wife to be closer to their two daughters in the Phoenix area. He also said he wanted to move away from the administrative and managerial functions of a fire chief and get back into a position of taking a more active role in firefighting.
“Just take (his) career in a different direction,” Schuller said. “Kind of getting back more into line-staff work.”
Winters was appointed Cheney’s fire chief in October 2006, having spent 18 years with the Scottsdale, Ariz. Metro Fire Department and three years as the fire marshal with the fire department in Payson, Ariz., located about 90 minutes north of Phoenix. Winters, who replaced long-time Cheney Fire Chief John Montague, has a bachelor’s of arts in public safety administration and a master’s of science in executive fire service leadership from Grand Canyon University.
Schuller praised Winters’ work in the nearly 10 years he was with the department. Of particular note, Schuller pointed out the work Winters did with Eastern Washington University in making sure the school’s fire protection needs were met.
“He went above and beyond,” Schuller said. “Customer service-wise to Eastern, he couldn’t have done a better job.
Winters also played a key role with Schuller in uncovering and remedying last fall the misapplication of a formula used to reimburse the city for fire services at Eastern; leaving the city short tens of thousands of dollars annually since 2010. Both men were able to negotiate a deal with EWU officials that allowed the city to recoup part of the lost revenue while providing for more accurate assessments in the future.
Schuller said the city wouldn’t seek a replacement for Winters just yet. He wants to meet and work with the department’s battalion chiefs on how best to move the department forward, empowering them with more management ability.
“These guys have a lot of potential,” Schuller said. “I want to give them a chance to weigh in on the direction of the department.
Schuller said they will look at possibly selecting an interim fire chief later this year, with an eye to a new chief in 2017. He said that would definitely involve a search to produce a pool of candidates that would be publicly vetted.
“If we don’t hire the first time, we will go out again,” Schuller said. “We won’t settle. That’s a key position in our city.”
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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