At their regular bi-weekly meeting this Tuesday, the selectmen held a public interview for the three finalists for the post of Harvard Fire Chief.
The finalists are Joseph LeBlanc, currently deputy chief of the Devens Fire Department; Stephen Slarsky, a captain at the Ayer Fire Department; and Richard Sicard, a captain and chief of training at the Ashburnham Fire Department.
The three were chosen from a field of 23 applicants by a select committee of the town as well as by the officers of the Harvard Fire Department. It was their third interview.
Each candidate was asked an identical series of scripted questions by BOS Chairwoman Marie Sobalvarro and Selectman Ron Ricci, the BOS liaison to the Fire Department. The interviews lasted 30 minutes apiece, and candidates were asked to answer more complicated questions such as whether they had applied elsewhere for a similar position to their views on the regionalization of fire and other public safety services.
Town Administrator Tim Bragan said that his staff was completing background checks on the three candidates and that each would be interviewed one last time by the Harvard Fire Department rank-and-file. The selectmen will meet Thursday, May 12, at 9:30 a.m. to hear the final recommendations of Bragan and the Fire Department staff. Sobalvarro did not state whether the BOS will vote to make their final selection at that time.
