Dickerson Heads To Dallas
Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue Division Chief Jim Dickerson has announced that he will be leaving to take a position as Deputy Chief I in the Dallas, Oregon Fire Department. Dickerson has been actively searching for a position that will allow him to move upward in the ranks. Dickerson had applied for the Fire Chief position here in Florence when the position became available, but the board decided on the hiring of Chief Michael Schick. The new position for Dickerson begins on Tuesday of next week, so today will effectively be his final day at SVFR.
“I want to thank the board of directors and the volunteers and members of Siuslaw Valley for including me and allowing me to help steer the ship for a while and I’m passing them on to good hands and encourage them to keep up the good work.”
Operational Changes for Fire and Ambulance
The departure of Jim Dickerson at SVFR will mean some changes in the operation’s structure for fire and ambulance. Under the Intergovernmental Authority created last year, Operations chief for Western Lane Ambulance Matt House and SVFR Operations Chief Jim Dickerson shared some responsibilities and with the vacancy created by Dickerson Chief Michael Schick says they will streamline by moving House to Operations Chief over both entities.
“Matt’s very capable, he’s been around for a llong time and he’s actually got a lot of fir experience he used to be a volunteer fire fighter, so he’s got the experience so absolutely I have 100 percent confidence that he can do the job.”
Schick said the plan all along was to have one Operation’s Chief in the event that either House or Dickerson decided to leave. The move will also save the district money while providing less crossover in responsibilities. Schick also said that even though they were aware of Dickerson’s search, they did not know it would happen so quickly.
“I thought we had a little more time to transition him out, but they wanted him to start real quick, in fact on Tuesday.”
Chief Schick notified the rest of the department yesterday of the quick turn around. He says he is excited for Jim as he starts the next part of his career.
Chamber News
The Florence Area Chamber of Commerce’s Executive Director Bettina Hannigan was among 28 chamber executives to graduate from a professional development program offered by the Western Association of Chamber Executives. The Academy is a rigorous 3-day training event that is part of a three year program. Graduates participated in 18 three-hour programs over the past three years. Hannigan says the course was intense and extensive with courses in administration, professional development, planning, marketing, networking and resourcing. This also comes on the heels of Hannigan’s election to the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors in December.
