Sims will replace Interim Fire Chief Mike Legoudes, Jr., who was appointed after the City Council accepted the retirement of former Fire Chief Ken Kreger in July, as previously reported.
Diving in deeper
Conroe’s Human Resource Director Andre Houser said the position was advertised locally, statewide and nationwide through the city’s website, job boards and other avenues.
“We had 35 applicants that met the minimum qualifications, that number was reduced to five, and then the committee looked at that and further reduced it to three that we wanted to interview,” Houser said during the meeting. “One of those three withdrew, so we interviewed two highly qualified tenants and made our recommendation.”
Mayor Duke Coon said a committee made up of himself, council members Shana Arthur and Howard Wood, Houser, Assistant City Administrator Nancy Mikeska and City Administrator Gary Scott was created to search for a new fire chief and agreed to hire Sims.
Sims comes to Conroe from Montgomery County Emergency Services District No. 9, where he served as assistant chief, according to the ESD’s website. Coon also said Sims previously worked at the Conroe Fire Department for 28 years and served as the fire chief of Harker Heights.
Sims' great uncle was a fire chief and served as mayor of Conroe from 1966 to 1971, Coon said. Sims’ father also served as a Conroe firefighter.
Some context
The Conroe Fire Department has 155 professional firefighters and four civilian employees, according to the city’s website.
