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A public “walk-off” ceremony honoring retiring Fire Chief Jim Miguel will be held at 3:30 p.m. today in front of the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department headquarters at Bernal Avenue and Nevada Street in Pleasanton.
Miguel, who is capping a 31-year career in fire services including the last four in the top position here, is the department’s third chief since the fire departments of Pleasanton and Livermore were merged in 1996.
At today’s “last roll call” for Miguel, firefighters and department officers will line up to send their chief off into retirement. It is a colorful, somber ceremony that will include salutes and handshake all around. An invitation-only retirement dinner will follow at the Robert Livermore Community Center on East Avenue in Livermore.
Miguel and his wife Susan have built a new home in southern Utah where they will now be closer to their children and grandchildren.
Miguel’s 31 years in fire services includes eight years at his previous post as Fire Chief for the city of Modesto. He also served a concurrent role in Modesto as the Acting Deputy City Manager and Director of Finance.
He began his career as a firefighter in Modesto and worked through the ranks as fire engineer, captain, battalion chief and operations division chief. He has a Master’s degree in Executive Fire Service Leadership from Grand Canyon University and is a graduate of the Executive Fire Officer program at the National Fire Academy
As chief of the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department, Miguel successfully led the 911 dispatch consolidation with Alameda County Fire, expanded first responder services to the Livermore Veterans Administration facility and successfully navigated the department’s budgetary constraints during the recession. This included closing Fire Station 10 at the Livermore Airport and making some staff reductions. The airport station has since been re-opened.
Miguel was hired to succeed Bill Cody, who was the LPFD’s chief for four-and-a-half years. Cody followed 35-year veteran Fire Chief Stewart Gary, who was the fire chief in Livermore when the two cities merged their fire departments and named him the first chief of the combined operation. Gary is now a member of the Livermore City Council.
“Since Chief Miguel joined the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department on July 6, 2010, he has demonstrated exceptional leadership and made many contributions to LPFD and the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton,” said Jeff Peters, deputy fire chief of Operations.
Peters continued:
“Chief Miguel has forged strong organizational relationship in public safety throughout Alameda County and fostered unity in labor relations. He served as president for the Alameda County Chiefs Association and participated in numerous community events and organizations in both cities.
“Jim is a very spirited affable individual. This asset is what made him a great leader and mentor to this department. He will be greatly missed.”
Nelson Fialho, Pleasanton city manager, and Livermore City Manager Marc Roberts, who represent their cities on the LPFD Joint Powers Authority, which oversees the combined department, are now in the process of conducting an executive search to replace Miguel.
Might be good to have writers stop using the word “tomorrow” and state a date instead. Ive noticed this on several articles. The reader has to look for a publication date to reference what that author means by tomorrow. Thx
Could not find any mention of his age. This seems to be a piece of information that is missing from every story. Normally this would not be information that is interesting but in the case of a public employee where they will receive a large pension and could be retiring as early as 50 years old with 100% of their salary plus cost of living for life, it is pertinent information. Especially since we know the pension plan is underfunded and the taxpayers are on the hook for the difference. The only thing I could find on our chief was that he received his bachelor of science in 2002.
He came to the Pleasanton Livermore district only 4 years ago. Does anybody know if the complete pension liability for him is the responsibility of Pleasanton/Livermore, even though he has only been working in our district for 4 years? Not sure how that works. I am not sure if the pension liabilities are charged to all existing employees/employers in the system, or only to the agency at the time of retirement.
From what I can tell the Chief is smiling because his pension is well over 200K per year, with lifetime medical benefits for himself and spouse. While I’m sure Pleasaton will cover a significant amount of the pension cost, because they paid him much more than Modesto for the same job, and much of that cost increases the unfunded liability Pleasanton pays substantially, the unfunded pension liability continues to grow.
I do NOT have a problem with the job these people do – medical response. I do have a problem with the ridiculous amount of money they’re paid while working, and the ever increasing ridiculous amount of money they receive while not working, at a very young age.
I can’t imagine how this most recent former Fire Chief is entitled to Pension & Healthcare benefits of $220,000 – $250,000 per year, with a a two percent Cost Of Living Allowance/Increase each year, for what?