Smith is only the third person to serve as Chief in SBM’s history. He praised the 15 full time staff members and 55 volunteers that make up the SBM Department.
“When I started here six years ago, that was one of the things that I was most impressed with, were the people that worked here,” said Smith. “They’re very good at what they do. They still are very good at what they do. I’m most grateful for the opportunity that I had to lead such a fantastic organization.”
Smith says investments in the fleet have kept it up to date. He says training was one ingredient toward achieving an improved fire insurance rating in 2018. The upgrade lowered insurance premiums for commercial buildings.
“It’s a measure of structural fire response capability, and dispatch, and water supply and they all go together in a formula. So we reduced that from a Class Four to a Class Three which was a lot of work on a lot of peoples’ parts,” said Smith.
Smith also played a role in a unique collaboration with the Centennial Fire District. It’s a separate department, but was brought under SBM administration last year, a move that hadn’t been done before on such a large scale.
“Anything that we can do to improve our service and eventual output to our customers that are having the problem. Showing up and solving their problem. They don’t care who’s showing up, they just want people who are competent and capable and able to solve their problem. And that’s what we’re doing.”
Smith says he plans to focus on family time and just take some time off. After that he may explore some other options like consulting or teaching.
“If you can talk about nostalgia, I started as a firefighter long ago, and I’m still a firefighter at heart.”
Deputy Chief Dan Retka takes over as interim chief until a new chief is hired. Smith is staying on as a consultant during the transition. The fire board is meeting with city managers to discuss search plans for a new chief.
