The Rural Municipality of Tache will have a new Fire Chief effective October 1st.

(Peter Skjaerlund)Mayor Robert Rivard says after years of service, Peter Skjaerlund has announced he is stepping down.

"We hired Peter as our Utilities Manager and between the two jobs it's just too much for one person to handle, so it's too bad," explains Rivard. "We're losing a great Fire Chief, a person who has served the municipality for quite a few years in that capacity and has been great at it. But it wasn't a surprise."

Rivard says the role of Utilities Manager is full-time work. He says Skjaerlund is responsible for managing sewer and water in their Local Urban Districts as well as their solid waste facilities at Monominto and Lorette. Rivard says it is very time consuming for Skjaerlund to supervise all those employees and also deal with government agencies.

The task now is to find a replacement and Rivard says he is hopeful they can promote from within.

"I would hope we would have somebody internally that would be interested in doing it," he says. "And that would be qualified or would want to get the qualifications to do it."

But Rivard says they will not limit themselves to only looking from within. Skjaerlund has agreed to stay on a little longer in order to help with the transition.

Rivard says Skjaerlund has done a great service to the municipality as Fire Chief.

"He's worked hard to bring up our standards in our fire departments," says Rivard. "We have, in my opinion, one of the best in the rural municipalities in the province."

Skjaerlund started with the fire department in September, 1990 and became Chief in May, 2005.