WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Fire District's Personnel Committee on Monday finalized a job description for the next chief and agreed to post the job with an eye toward getting a new leader in the door by March.

 

That is when Craig Pedercini is set to turn 65 and retire from a department he has served for 37 years — the last 22 as chief.

 

On Monday, the five-person Personnel Committee agreed to post the position by Dec. 1 with the hope to begin screening applicants in early January, though it left open the possibility of beginning the screening process earlier depending on the response rate.

 

The panel's goal is to present a small group of finalists to the Prudential Committee in time for it to make a hiring decision in February.

 

Committee member Fred Puddester told his colleague that Richard Duncan, a human resources professional under contract with the district, said that timeline is reasonable.

 

The committee Monday fine-tuned some of the language in the job description and finalized a couple of the job requirements for the call/volunteer fire department's only full-time employee.

 

A couple of areas that needed to be ironed out included the job's educational requirement and a potential residency requirement.