Tom Arnold Named Costa Mesa Interim Fire Chief
HATCH APPOINTS ARNOLD AS INTERIM FIRE CHIEF
Today Costa Mesa CEO Tom Hatch announced that long time resident Tom Arnold has been appointed Costa Mesa Interim Fire Chief pending the completion of physical examination and background check.
EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE
Arnold, who has been a Costa Mesa resident for more than three decades, is a retired Deputy Fire Chief in the City of Newport Beach. According to the Daily Pilot article on his appointment, he worked as a firefighter, paramedic, fire captain and battalion chief before his final 15 years as Deputy Fire Chief.
GREAT NEWS!
This is great news for the City of Costa Mesa and for the Costa Mesa Fire Department specifi
cally. The department has been in a state of unrest, without a Fire Chief, Deputy Fire Chief and with other senior Fire management positions vacant for a year. Interim Fire Chief Kirk Dominic, who has tried to hold it all together during this troubled time, will return to field operations once Arnold takes charge.
LEADERSHIP NEEDED MORE THAN EVER
There remains much turmoil swirling around the Fire Department, including the potential of the takeover of the department by the Orange County Fire Authority and the conflict with the City Council over pensions. Arnold's experience and leadership will be especially welcome at this time.
KUDOS TO BOTH TOMS
Kudos to Tom Hatch for making this move, and to Tom Arnold for accepting this challenge.
Today Costa Mesa CEO Tom Hatch announced that long time resident Tom Arnold has been appointed Costa Mesa Interim Fire Chief pending the completion of physical examination and background check.EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE
Arnold, who has been a Costa Mesa resident for more than three decades, is a retired Deputy Fire Chief in the City of Newport Beach. According to the Daily Pilot article on his appointment, he worked as a firefighter, paramedic, fire captain and battalion chief before his final 15 years as Deputy Fire Chief.
GREAT NEWS!
This is great news for the City of Costa Mesa and for the Costa Mesa Fire Department specifi
cally. The department has been in a state of unrest, without a Fire Chief, Deputy Fire Chief and with other senior Fire management positions vacant for a year. Interim Fire Chief Kirk Dominic, who has tried to hold it all together during this troubled time, will return to field operations once Arnold takes charge.LEADERSHIP NEEDED MORE THAN EVER
There remains much turmoil swirling around the Fire Department, including the potential of the takeover of the department by the Orange County Fire Authority and the conflict with the City Council over pensions. Arnold's experience and leadership will be especially welcome at this time.
KUDOS TO BOTH TOMS
Kudos to Tom Hatch for making this move, and to Tom Arnold for accepting this challenge.
Labels: CMFA, Kirk Dominic, Tom Arnold, Tom Hatch
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 10/21/2011 10:42:00 PM
21 Comments:
congrats Tom!
Dear Council,
Can I puhhhhhleazz hire Tom?
CEO
Comgrats Tom. Keep your anti-venom handy!
Menssy:
I'm not trying to micromanage the fire department, but, I move that every time a hose is pulled out in the city I must be texted first.
Monahan:
Agree, but I object to the term "MICROmanage."
Righeimer:
I'm in charge of all the equipment in the city. Email me at whatever buffet I may be at.
Bever:
I didn't sign up for this.
Clerk:
The motion carries 4-1 with Leece dissenting.
There cannot be enough thanks extended to Kirk Dominic for his service as Interim Fire Chief.
He accepted a thankless job assignment at a time of great unrest.
His honesty and integrity, along with his dedication to the City of Costa Mesa are tops.
Thank you Kirk
I agree 100%.
To expand on the comment from "try a little tenderness"....
There cannot be enough thanks to EVERY SINGLE City of Costa Mesa employee who perform there thankless job assignments in a time of great unrest.
Their honesty and integrity, along with their dedication to the City of Costa Mesa are tops.
I thought it was going to be Lobdell or Joyce.
Costa Mesa. The land of the interims. Is this a special club just for the City of Costa Mesa? Can't they just hire someone permanent and be done with it? Of course Fire is one of the departments looking to be outsourced, so I do not get the point of this appointment.
...in an ex-parte email to Der Rigsheister,
"Let me schow-ya schum-tin', ah-ha-ha-ha!!!!"
So the city has once again proved the number one requirement on a resume to work in the city is you should live in it. Other qualifications really don't matter. I am sure this will only lead to great success in the future. (audible laughter at every other city hall in America)
Since this is a FD thread. Geoff, why havnt you written a blog on the OCSA at the football game. CM taxpayers are running hard with this...
Rich, you should not be surprised. Geoff misses important issues all the time.
I still cannot figure out which is worst. The action, arrogance and sense of entitlement of the firemen who left their service zone for hours or the lame response from their Captain.
What you hear in Union negotiations is all about response times and minimum staffing levels. Do what we say or people will die!
Then when they get caught with their pants down they say that no calls for service came in and that the firefighters will be disciplined but because of Union negotiated contracts none of us will know what the discipline was. Which is most likely “Do not get caught again”.
I think it is good that a resident has been hired as FD Chief. I think it is good that he has worked next door. I think that it is good that he has been attending City Council meetings. However the guy is a flaming liberal. So no wonder Geoff West thinks this is a good hire.
My jury is out …
Wioaath,
Sure, I miss "important" issues all the time - I actually have a life beyond this blog. For example, I was 300 miles away with my sweet and very patient wife this weekend - but still managed to get comments posted here.
I posted an entry on my Facebook page about the transgressing fire fighters, but didn't write about it here because it was only marginally relevant - no members of the CMFD were involved and I don't really care if some of Mensinger's buddies were inconvenienced by having to walk around a county fire rig.
In general terms, I think it was a boneheaded move for that Pop Warner dad to take his crew to the game. That team was on the clock and expected to be able to respond to emergencies in their service area. I don't know if we'll ever hear about what kind of punishment they will receive. I've seen comments on newspaper threads about firefighters missing lots of their kids events, etc. While I'm sympathetic to that line of conversation, that is what the job is, and anyone in the job knows it - it's only one of the many trade-offs they make in the fire service.
Tom Arnold as the Interim Fire Chief is a case of the right guy in the right job at the right time. His history with the Newport Beach Fire Department speaks for itself. The fact that he's a Costa Mesa resident and has been following budget issues and others closely for several years - he and I were among a half-dozen residents at the budget workshops, for example - speaks volumes about his concern for the city.
Anyone who would marry Rosanne Barr doesn't seem to me to be the right choice for anything...
What dear? He's not?
OOOOps... Never Mind.
Eric... come clean you loooooser.
Geoff,
The abuse you take and CHOOSE to publish on your own blog is amazing.
The Bozo on the "other" local blog has few or no comments and NEVER any that "they" don't agree with. He's such a coward.
Note: I wonder if the "Those are 'our' opinions" refers to a board of directors or just little voices in his head.
Thank for a place where people can share thoughts.
This only stinks for OCFA because they came to Costa Mesa. If this happened in any other city, nobody would care.
Obviously, OCFA is not following politics closely to know most citizens of CM HATE public employees and will do anything to complain and keep that anti-pension agenda rolling.
True Story..=)
Tom Arnold- thumbs up= he cares.
Since we are talking about firefighters...I am sure the only reason Cox complained is because he was encouraged by "Rig" or "Men" both have children in the program. Why wouldn't he complain directly to OCFA...but to the CM City Manager, I mean CEO? Love the "taxpayer" lingo, maybe it was Colin McCarthy who wrote the piece? Now maybe CC will use this as an excuse "not" to "outsource" to OCFA, we all know how "they" want to be involved in every decision, just look at the "hiring freeze" piece at last week's City Council meeting.
I do know that the OCFA HQ is in Irvine and this was the HAZ-MAT team that would respond to any request throughout the OC, not just Irvine. They will receive their punishment, but I wonder how it would have been received if his son played on CMPW?
Men are just jealous that they get to drive shiney-big-red-trucks and women flock to those men in uniform them.
So says the coward hiding behind the name Observer. The pot calling the kettle black.
Interim? Is that because they're having a hard time finding someone who wants to work for such a messed up organization?
Yes, Costa Mesa is great to work for; that's why everyone's leaving!
Quit your job and sign on; don't worry about the messed up organization, we'll pay you big bucks!
Somebody showed some smarts in getting Tom out of retirement and making this appointment.
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