Aurora’s City Manager Jim Twombly has announced his pick for the city’s next fire chief, potentially concluding a months-long and nationwide search if his choice receives city council approval.
Twombly has selected Alec Oughton, he said in a Monday news release. Oughton hails from Henrico County, Virginia, where he is chief of the division of fire. He has worked for 27 years within the fire service. If confirmed, Oughton will helm a department employing 450 sworn personnel and 18.5 civilian employees.
Twombly said Oughton brings with him “a wealth of experience,” adding that he comes from a department similar in size to AFR and from a “diverse portion of the Greater Richmond, Virginia area.”
The city council must confirm Oughton’s selection before he can officially step into the role. That vote is slated for the Jan. 30 regular meeting.
“I found his engagement with Aurora community members, council members and me to be authentic and genuine, and I believe he will garner the support of our dedicated fire personnel and the Aurora community. He is committed to our ongoing public safety changes and will add a new perspective to our work,” Twombly said.
At a community meet-and-greet, Oughton told The Denver Gazette he saw internal morale, city growth, recruitment and diversity, and assessing the agency’s emergency medical services model as the four most pressing issues facing Aurora Fire Rescue.
The city manager selected Oughton from among four finalists who travelled to Aurora for a two-day interview process this month. The candidates held a public meet-and-greet and underwent in-person interviews with councilmembers and city management.
The other three finalists were Richard Davis, Assistant Chief of the Austin, Texas fire department; Allen Robnett, interim fire chief of Aurora Fire Rescue; and Froilan “Pepper” Valdez, fire chief of the Billings, Montana fire department.
Twombly commended each finalist for interviewing well and thanked Robnett for “many years of service to Aurora Fire Rescue.” Robnett assumed the interim chief position in July. He has served more than three decades with AFR.
“I look forward to his continued leadership in the department,” Twombly said, also thanking community members who held roles in the selection process.
In total, 36 people applied for the position. The city hired the CPS HR Consulting firm to conduct its search with a directive to focus on recruiting diverse applicants. The city is still in the process of selecting its next police chief — after facing backlash last year for failing to produce diverse finalists and include community input early in the search process. The police chief search eventually started over after announcing three finalists, and the city selected a second interim police chief.
For the fire chief search, Aurora incorporated a panel of community leaders who selected semi-finalists — a different strategy from the previous police chief search — and a panel of city management which then chose finalists.
Candidates also completed taped interviews answering questions submitted by the community. All of the finalists’ interviews, including Oughton’s, can be found on the city’s YouTube channel.
In the news release, Oughton said he felt humbled to be chosen from a pool of candidates who “brought significant experience, great ideas, and their heart for service to the process.”
“I fell in love with this area in 2007, when riding through it as part of a pediatric cancer research fundraiser. It is a beautiful area with amazing people, and I’ve felt a strong pull toward this community since,” Oughton said. “I truly look forward to connecting with, and caring for, Aurora’s residents and Aurora’s firefighters.”
