Four employees of the Maricopa Fire/Medical Department were pinned during a ceremony in front of the city council to indicate their recent promotions.
“The department has been stagnant for a long time,” Fire Chief Brady Leffler said. “There has not been any promotion because there has not been any movement. Thanks to the council and the city manager, we were able to create these positions. It does wonders for the morale of this department.”
The first to be ceremonially promoted to engineer was David Maas, who was actually promoted in July. His wife Rachele pinned him at the meeting.
Long-time firefighter Michael Grant was pinned by his father-in-law. Twelve-year employee Chazz Dupree was pinned by Assistant Chief John Storm.
Also promoted, Capt. Brad Pitassi was unable to attend because he was assigned to help on the Tinder Fire in the Coconino National Forest.
“I know they’ve been sacrificing for a lot of years and trying to come up with a budget that allows things like that,” Mayor Christian Price said. “Seems simple enough, but they are far from simple.”
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