Ceremony For New Fire Chief Tomorrow Morning

DAN STEFANO TAKES OVER TODAY
Overlooked by me as I pounded my head on the wall about the whole "Public Comments" fiasco is the fact that our new Fire Chief, Dan Stefano, starts to work today.

CEREMONY AND RECEPTION TOMORROW
Tomorrow, Tuesday, December 3rd, there will be an official badge pinning ceremony at City Hall in City Council Chambers beginning at 10:00 a.m., followed by a reception for the new Fire Chief.

LONG SERVICE IN LAGUNA BEACH
According to the City press release, Stefano comes to us after long service in Laguna Beach.  Read that press release HERE.

INTERIM STEPS
Costa Mesa has been without a permanent Fire Chief for several years.  Several men have stepped up to perform as Interim Chief during that time.  Kirk Dominic filled that role, then retired.  Retired Deputy Fire Chief from Newport Beach, Tom Arnold, stepped up to provide some stable, mature leadership to the organization on a part-time basis and created a new deployment model that, once fully implemented early next year, will provide superior service and save a ton of money.  Recently Fred Seguin has acted as Interim Chief and has done a fine job of juggling many balls while the search for a permanent chief was conducted.

WELCOME, CHIEF STEFANO!
We welcome Chief Stefano to head the Costa Mesa Fire Department and hope he will provide the stable leadership needed as the department converts it's deployment model.