Council Approves Interim Fire Chief

St. Charles City Council approved the appointment of Deputy Fire Chief Rick Daly as the interim fire chief for the St. Charles Fire Department.

Ernie Rhoads, who served as chief for nine years in St. Charles, after he was hired as head of West County EMS and Fire Department.

Daly has worked for the for 31 years, the last 16 as deputy chief in charge of operations. Daly said spending time as interim chief will allow him to consider whether he'd like to apply for the job full time.

Daly's current position as Deputy Fire Chief of Operations is being held open, he said. Daly previously worked as chief of the Kirkwood Fire Department, which he said gave him a taste of what the job would be like.

Mayor Sally Faith said the city will wait to start a search for a new fire chief because the city is currently in the middle of a search for a new police chief. Faith said she expects to complete that search before starting another.

"The (fire) department is in a good position and ready to move on and keep going," Faith said.