City Manager Michael Van Milligen is recommending Naperville, Ill., Deputy Fire Chief Amy Scheller be Dubuque's next fire chief. The recommendation must be approved by the City Council and will be discussed at their May 2 meeting.
“The City hired a recruitment consulting firm to conduct a national search for fire chief and it resulted in a very competitive process,” said Van Milligen. “I consider it an honor to recommend to the mayor and city council that the City hire Amy Scheller. She will not only provide tremendous leadership for the fire department, but the city organization and the community as well.”
Scheller has 30 years of firefighter and paramedic experience. She has been a member of the Naperville Fire Department serving the city of 150,000 residents since 1998. The department consists of 184 firefighters and 17 administrative staff with 10 fire stations covering a 50 square-mile area. She has worked her way up through the organization, supervising and managing all areas of the fire department operations and administrative divisions. Scheller has been the department’s deputy chief of administrative and strategic planning since 2019 and reports directly to the fire chief and supervises the department’s division chief of operations, division chief of emergency medical services, division chief of training, division chief of support services, and the department emergency operations manager.
She previously served as the department’s division chief of operations (2016-2019), bureau chief for support services (2015-2016), bureau chief for emergency medical services (2014-2015), lieutenant (2010-2014), acting fire lieutenant (2008-2010), and firefighter/paramedic (1998-2010). She was a member of the Montgomery, Ill., Fire Department from 1992-2001 where she began as a paid-on-call firefighter/paramedic.
Her management experience includes strategic planning, standard of response coverage, annual reporting, incident management, emergency operations, grant writing and management, payroll, budget and capital improvement planning, vehicle services, dispatch liaison, labor negotiations, policy development, mentoring, and succession planning.
Scheller is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program and holds a master’s degree in public safety administration from Lewis University and a bachelor’s degree in education from Aurora University. She is a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, through which she attained the Executive Chief Officer and Chief Fire Officer status, and the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association. She achieved the Chief Fire Officer designation and Fire Officer designation through the Center for Public Safety Excellence.
“I am extremely happy and excited to have received the recommendation for the Dubuque Fire Chief position. The thought of being selected to work alongside the members of the Dubuque Fire Department is exciting and humbling,” said Scheller. “When interviewing with the community panel, members of the fire department, and other city staff, it was apparent this was a resilient group ready to support each other in moving the city and fire department forward. My husband, son, and I are looking forward to the opportunity to be a part of Dubuque’s future, if confirmed. I am also looking forward to wearing the Dubuque Fire Department’s patch with pride.”
Van Milligen’s recommendation follows four finalists being interviewed for the position by a core team of City staff and meeting with a panel of representatives from the City’s leadership team, a fire department staff panel, and a community stakeholder panel. Input was solicited from all groups involved in the process before Van Milligen finalized his recommendation to the mayor and city council. If approved, her appointment will be effective June 6.
Original source can be found here
Alerts Sign-up