After Columbia Fire Chief Clayton Farr Jr. announced Tuesday he will retire after serving as chief for 18 months, a Columbia fire union is calling for stability in the department.
The Columbia Fire Department has experienced four changes in leadership since 2019, and Columbia Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 1055 hopes stability will come in the search for the next chief.
The search for the next chief has already begun, and the city is launching a nationwide search, according to Columbia spokesperson Sydney Olsen. City manager De’Carlon Seewood was out of town Friday, so KOMU 8 reached out to Olsen instead.
Olsen said the city is looking for a candidate who is committed to the community, whether they come from inside or outside the department.
When the city announced Farr’s hiring in October 2022, it announced he was part of the Deferred Retirement Option Program , which allows people to continue working while accumulating retirement savings for up to five years.
Clayton Farr Jr. City of Columbia▲
Farr has worked at CFD for 25 years and was eligible for retirement. Farr said he planned to serve for five to seven more years, hoping the city could make changes to the pension system to allow for it.
“We had some initial conversations about potential ways to extend that time,” Farr said. “Nothing turned out to be viable at the end, and we certainly didn’t want to cause any levels of unfairness by making a midway change to that system.”
Despite efforts by the city manager’s office, these changes didn’t happen in time.
Farr said he has mixed emotions about retiring after 18 months.
“It’s bittersweet,” Farr said. “I’m very pleased with the progress we’ve been able to make. We’re fully staffed, and that is very exciting for a public safety agency.”
Olsen said the city understood Farr was a part of the deferred retirement program when he was hired.
“We committed to reviewing the DROP plan and looking at if there was a way for Chief Farr to be able to stay,” Olsen said. “In the time allotted that we had with him in the role as Chief, we were unable to find anything that would not have significant financial impacts for him.”
She said the city didn’t want to implement any change that would benefit only one employee.
“We don’t want to set that precedent,” Olsen said. “We want to be fair to all our employees because they commit so much.”
Olsen said the city knew upon Farr’s hiring there was a potential Farr would have to retire after serving for 18 months.
Zachary Privette, president of Columbia Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 1055, said firefighters were involved with the new chief selection process in 2022.
He said when Farr was named chief in 2022, he expressed concerns with his participation in the DROP program.
“We felt that with the rapidly changing turnover in our leadership positions that that wouldn’t be a wise decision,” Privette said. “We need stability.”
Privette said he wishes Farr the best on his future but said the department is ready for stability. He said the frequent leadership changes has had a brutal impact on members’ morale.
“It seems like there’s a revolving door of things to deal with,” Privette said.
He said one of those things is implementation and development of policy.
“We have our base policies, we have a contract with the city, and that’s all kind of set in stone,” Privette said. “But there’s day-to-day business that each leader gets to determine how that looks.”
He said his organization plans to work with the city to be part of the selection process for the next chief.
“We have an opportunity in this moment to come together and work collectively to find somebody that serves not only the best interests of Columbia, but the best interests of the employees that are serving in the fire department.”
Assistant Fire Chief Jerry Jenkins will also retire.
According to an announcement from the city, during Farr’s tenure as chief, Fire Station 11 opened in south Columbia, work began on the new Fire Station 10 in the city’s east-central corridor, and the fire department achieved accredited agency status from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International, becoming one of only 312 agencies in the world to have this distinction.
Farr said he will be the organization’s greatest cheerleader.
“This is an amazing opportunity for another fire chief to come into this organization and continue with the work that we’ve done,” Farr said.
He also said those considering entering a deferred retirement option should be certain about the decision.
The fire department posted an announcement for the job search Friday afternoon on Facebook with a preferred application deadline of April 5.