City of Columbia names new fire chief
The city of Columbia named Randy White as its new fire chief Tuesday morning. White, a 16-year veteran of the department takes over February 1 of next year as he replaces outgoing chief Chuck Witt.
City manager Mike Matthes introduced White in a press conference today and said, “Randy is exceptionally well-prepared to take our fire service into the future.
Matthes praised White for his rise through the ranks. White is noted for his work with regional emergency planning groups. He’ll make $120,000 and receive a car allowance in his new role.
White said he will focus on the department’s staffing once he takes the position.
The fire department said the amount of new employees to be hired will depend on the budget. But it needs five more firefighters to fully staff Station No. 2. And the department said it would like to add a tenth station which would need 12 additional firefighters.
It also said it would like to increase the overtime budget by $50,000. The fire department said it will continue to pursue new funding sources such as grants to try to meet the goals.
White said another focus will be on the training with the department. He said he plans to figure out how to restore the level of training to what it was before the recession. And he plans to improve on the department’s technology by looking for ways to improve response times.
