City fire chief Peter Weeber has stepped down from his position to pursue employment in public administration.
Weeber, who has been Terrace’s fire chief since 2005, told members of the fire department last week of his future plans.
“I’m spending the next three months finishing my business degree….and applying on city administrator jobs,” he said, saying that there’s typically a shift in the workforce when election years come up. Municipal elections take place this fall.
“It’s a big change for me and my family, but it’s a positive change,” he said. “I’m looking forward to a new challenge.”
The resignation came March 9 and was effective immediately.
Weeber said his departure isn’t sudden, as he’s been speaking with the city’s chief administrative officer Ron Poole for the past month about it.
“A big thing was, when [former Northwest Community College president] Stephanie Forsyth moved onto new challenges, she encouraged me to take the next steps,” he said.
He’s got a full course load of classes right now, and said now is a good time to step down as the budgets are ready to be signed off and there will be time to post the job and hire someone else for the chief’s position.
A person to take over for Weeber is expected to be appointed in the near future, and for now, incidents will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Weeber started in the department in 1995 as a volunteer, moving up to a paid position in 2001, and said he’s accomplished what he’s wanted to do here.
“We’re a well-equipped, well-trained department,” he said.
“We’ve done a lot of exciting things in the last five years,” Weeber said, listing the training centre at the college and dangerous goods training with CN Rail as some highlights. The fire department also took a lead role during the Terrace floods in 2007.
“For me, it’s totally a good change, I’ve no regrets, it’s been an excellent run,” he said. “It wasn’t my intention to stay in the fire service forever….Right now, my focus is public administration.”
While he’ll be looking at city administrative jobs province-wide, he says he’s hoping a job will come up close to Terrace.
