NORWAY — On the recommendation of Town Manager Dennis Lajoie, the Select Board on Thursday unanimously approved the appointment of David Knox as fire chief.
Knox will replace Fire Chief Dennis Yates, who is retiring at the end of the month after 13 years.
Married with two children and five dogs, Knox lives in Paris and is employed fulltime as an equipment operator with the Norway Highway Department. He has served with the Norway Fire Department since 2016 and had risen to the rank of captain. Knox has 38 years of experience working as a firefighter and has earned countless certifications.
Knox was chosen out of a field of 18 candidates. Four were interviewed, two received a second interview before Knox was selected.
“We’ve met a couple of times since the interview process,” Lajoie said. “David has the support of the leadership of the Norway Fire Department. We had some very good candidates, but David came in clearly ahead of the other candidates.”
The Select Board accepted a $100 donation from Gene and Ellen Benner for the fire department in honor of Yates. The funds will be placed in the fire prevention account.
In other business, the board extended Lajoie’s contract through April 12, 2023, to give the town more time to find his replacement. Lajoie had planned to step down on Dec. 30, but one finalist pulled out and another took a job with another town.
“We’ll have to expand the search a little bit and put out more advertising,” said Select Board Chairman Russell Newcomb.
The Select Board scheduled a special town meeting for Thursday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. at the Town Office to approve the appropriation of up to $75,000 from the undesignated unrestricted fund balance to purchase a new generator for the fire department and Town Office. The purchase will be matched by a 50-50 grant from Maine Emergency Management Agency. The new generator will allow the town to use the fire station and Town Office as an emergency warming/cooling center.
The board agreed to issue two months of payment to the Norway Paris Solid Waste to help with the group’s cash flow problems.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.