Springfield Twp. has permanent fire chief

By Mary Grzebieniak

The new fire chief will be paid $772.50 a month.

NEW SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Township trustees have named Matt Gebhardt permanent part-time fire chief.

Trustees appointed the 32-year-old to the post on an interim basis after the resignation of Fire Chief Brian Hughes in February 2008.

Gebhardt was chosen from among these other applicants — assistant fire Chief Scott Rice, EMS Squad Second Lt. Jim Bacon, paramedic and firefighter Tom Mason, First Capt. Dan Bender and Capt. Jim Rice from Fire Station 23.

Trustee Chairman Robert Orr said Gebhardt was selected based on interviews in which all the candidates were asked the same 13 questions about the fire service.

Gebhardt will be paid $772.50 per month.

A township native and graduate of Springfield Local High School, Gebhardt has been with the fire department since 1994. He is a state-certified fire inspector and is currently taking an emergency medical technician basic class.

Before being named interim chief last year, he was a department captain at Station 23.

He is employed as a mechanic at Snyder and Son Farms on Beard Road. Gebhardt and his wife, Stephanie, have two sons, Austin and Coltyn, and a daughter, Mattison.

Hughes was chief from 2003 to February 2008. Trustees gave him a 90-day unpaid suspension after Hughes was found guilty in October 2007 of several charges gestating from a 2005 training exercise involving a barn fire on Garfield Road.

When Hughes returned to work after his suspension, his job was reduced to part time without benefits. He resigned shortly thereafter.

In other business at their meeting this week, trustees hired Jen Johnson as part-time police secretary at $9 per hour. They also hired Kevin Flaherty and Steve Szekely Jr. as volunteer firefighters.

Police Chief Matthew Mohn announced that the police department received a $2,886 grant to continue the national Drug Abuse Resistance Education anti-drug program.

Trustees also renewed a service agreement with Info-Link Technology of Mount Vernon for police department computers for $495 per month for one year.