>>4188999 PB
requested re-post
Santa Cruz Fire Chief Jim Frawley to retire, work for Facebook
12-5-18
SANTA CRUZ — Just short of four years after a national recruitment brought Jim Frawley to Santa Cruz in 2015, the city fire chief has announced his pending retirement.
Frawley’s last day with the city is scheduled as Jan. 3. The 52-year-old told the Sentinel during an interview in 2017 that “the chief stays as long as the community and department wants you,” but said Wednesday that a third circumstance had intervened: A “dream job” offer from Facebook, headquartered in Menlo Park.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go and work at a company of that size and notoriety,” said Frawley, who said he will will take on a lead role for the firm’s emergency management and preparedness. “When I dreamed what I’d like to do as a fire chief, I dreamed about being here at Santa Cruz Fire Department. Then, as I was dreaming about what I’d like to do in retirement, I thought, hey, I’d like to work for a tech company in their emergency management and emergency preparedness. And boom, it dropped in my lap.”
Frawley’s pending departure represents at least the eighth city department leader’s turnover in the past four years. Fire Division Chief/Fire Marshall Jason Hajduk will serve as interim chief.
Under Frawley’s watch, the department helped launch a regional fire recruit academy with neighboring fire agencies and Cabrillo Community College, established an arson investigative team and remodeled the department’s Community Emergency Response Team program and helped launch a neighborhood FireWise group, among other accomplishments listed in a city release. Such cooperative and regional efforts, Frawley said, were some of his proudest accomplishments as chief. He added that he helped maneuver the department into a better position going forward by pushing his fire personnel to higher accomplishments and lining staff up for better succession planning, and being involved with interagency technology improvements.
As head of the Santa Cruz Fire Department, Frawley earned in 2017 a $211,313 salary, before taxes, and about $80,000 in benefits. He has a 30-year career in the fire service, with previous stints leading fire agencies for the cities of San Marino, San Gabriel and South Pasadena. According to the city, Frawley and his family will continue to reside in Santa Cruz.
https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2018/12/05/santa-cruz-fire-chief-jim-frawley-to-retire-work-for-facebook/
Comment by the anon who originally posted this: WTF - payoff?
The fact that Frawley has only been there since 2015, after a national search, seems suspicious. And Santa Cruz is an incredibly progressive city….