Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak introduced new leadership in the police and fire departments. The Progressive announced the appointments during her monthly community safety update and the staff may be familiar to the community.
In late May, the mayor appointed then-deputy Fire Chief Michael Curtin to lead the department as chief. He was confirmed on June 2ndand officially assumed the new role on July 1st, replacing longtime chief Michael LaChance. A week into his role, Curtain reintroduced himself in his new capacity.
“I spent 26 years in the fire service, 23 of them right here in Burlington and I can tell you first hand the professionalism, the pride and the commitment of our firefighters are unmatched,” Curtin said. “My vision for the department is for us to be a leader in the fire and EMS service. This is a department that delivers every day and my vision is to give the people the support and the leadership that they need to keep delivering at that highest level.”
Mulvaney-Stanak said she was glad to be able to name a chief with experience within the department.
“It’s great when we can elevate leadership from within and I’ve talked about how important this is. It helps for our institutional knowledge. It shows a great investment in elevating folks,” Mulvaney-Stanak said. “If you come in and start your career, or even mid-career come to Burlington, we will elevate that leadership for those folks who have that skill to lead and that dedicated service to Burlington.”
The mayor also announced a newly hired deputy police chief. She is bringing back Jon Young to the department. The former lieutenant had been working in the private sector. Young, who now serves as deputy chief of Operations, said it’s the third time he has returned to the department.
“It’s really great to be back. It’s not just a job, it’s a true calling to me personally. I could not get the fulfillment anywhere else and I wanted to give back,” Young noted. “I wanted to take some of that institutional and historical knowledge that I have, use some of it to strategize and move forward. And one of my biggest first goals is recruitment and retention of the quality employees that we have right now.”
