Acting Tisbury fire chief Patrick Rolston can now call the job his own, after the select board voted Friday afternoon to make the arrangement permanent.
“Patrick is young, but that means we can get maybe 10 to 15 years out of him and I think he’s up for it,” select board member Roy Cutrer said, before the unanimous vote.
A firefighter with the town since 2009, Mr. Rolston rose to the rank of deputy chief before stepping into the interim position last July, when former chief Greg Leland abruptly went on an administrative leave of absence.
The select board fired Mr. Leland in October and opened his position for hiring, with Mr. Rolston one of two finalists they interviewed Friday during a public meeting online.
The other contender, Kenneth Temple, is a senior captain with the 50-member Winchester fire department whose resume includes co-founding the state’s maritime hazardous materials incident response team.
“We have two great candidates,” select board chair John Cahill said as the board opened its deliberations following the interviews.
While Mr. Temple has had a longer career in fire prevention, Mr. Rolston’s Island roots and long service with the town carried more weight with the board.
“I’ve been impressed with his performance over the past seven months, under extreme circumstances,” Christina Colarusso said.
