After serving as its interim fire chief since March, longtime Hartland employee gets job permanently

As a longtime Hartland resident who has worked for the village for 26 years, Dave Jambretz has a passion and commitment to his community.

Jambretz was appointed the permanent fire chief Oct. 13 after serving as the interim chief since March 2.

"I love the small community feel," Jambretz said of Hartland. "The department has always been a family. ... It's been a great place to live and raise my children."

Jambretz, 58, moved to Hartland in 1994 to work for the department of public works. Later that year, he began a paid-on-call position with the Hartland Fire Department. During his time with the fire department, he has also served as a lieutenant, captain and division chief.

"My boss from the DPW was very instrumental with saying if we got a major call, we could leave DPW and come to the firehouse to carry out fire operations or EMS calls, as long as we promised to come back to the DPW as soon as possible," Jambretz said.

During his time in Hartland, Jambretz gained budget experience while working for public works.

"I always set up the parks, streets and shop budget," Jambretz said. "I helped out with that. ... I wasn't quite as familiar with the fire department side of that. I was never too involved with that. But it all pretty much works out the same."

Along with Jambretz, the department has three full-time firefighter-paramedics and an administrative assistant. Between 47 to 50 people serve as paid-on-call staff members.

Change in leadership

In 2019, the department was audited by Five Bugle Training & Consulting, which evaluated the department from 2014, when Dave Dean took over as chief. The study determined the department was in a state of dysfunction regarding leadership practices and creating a culture of inclusiveness.

Dean resigned as chief in March to pursue a job in state government.

Since then, Jambretz said, the department has worked on improving relationships with full-time and part-time personnel.

"We brought back more of the family atmosphere," Jambretz said. "That's a big thing that has brought a lot of people to us. They come in, and we do ridealongs with them if they're looking to join the department."

The department has also set up a hiring committee.

"Two chiefs meet with the new personnel to go through their background and what they're looking for," Jambretz said. "We do a background check, then they go to our hiring committee. The committee meets with them one night for about 30 to 45 minutes. After they get past that, it gets sent back to me. They move on to the police and fire commission for their final interview."

Jambretz said the process is different from how the department previously operated.

"People were being hired and left on their own," Jambretz said. "My thing was a lot of people leave because they don't get the attention when they're first there. We set up a mentorship program. All new people get assigned a mentor. They exchange phone numbers, and those mentors are responsible for making sure these people get involved and stay involved."

Contact Evan Frank at (262) 361-9138 or evan.frank@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Evanfrank_LCP.