Where Is City of Venice Fire Chief Shaun Carvey From

VENICE – The Venice City Council will be asked to Tuesday to confirm a recommendation by City Manager Ed Lavalle to make Deputy Fire Chief Frank Giddens the next Venice fire chief.

Current Fire Chief Shawn Carvey is planning ot retire at the end of August. His will be the first of several key upper management vacancies the city will fill in coming months.

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In addition to Carvey, Venice Police Chief Tom Mattmuller, City Clerk Lori Stelzer and Controller Joe Welch all plan to retire –  Mattmuller and Stelzer in December and Welch in January 2022.

Both Carvey and Giddens pointed to an organizational succession plan that both gave Giddens the opportunity to grow into the job, as well as make him the logical choice for the top position.

"For me personally, I enjoy the challenges and coming up through the ranks of the fire department, especially at the city of Venice; it's an honor to take the position," said Giddens, 45, who is a 19-year veteran of the Venice Fire Department.

He took a lead position in several key areas, ranging from emergency management – especially after Hurricane Irma – and the establishment of a city ambulance service.

"That's the beauty of having a succession plan in place," Giddens said. "Chief Carvey afforded me the opportunity to take the lead role on a lot of projects that have affected the fire department.

"It builds leaders for the fire department." he added.

Carvey's last day is scheduled for Aug. 31, with Giddens taking over Sept. 1.

He is retiring after 25 years.

Carvey plans to move to upstate New Hampshire, where his wife is from, to fulfill a promise.

"I promised my wife a long time ago, she's from up north and I'm from down here," Carvey said. "We'll spend the first half here and I promised I'd spend the second half up there."

Carvey noted that Giddens has developed ties within the community, as well as helped develop "the processes that developed the direction that we're going and it's been very successful."

Carvey became fire chief in December, 2015, after serving for two months as interim chief, after James Warman resigned.

He took over at a particularly uncertain time for the department, with the City Council contemplating consolidation with Sarasota County.

Ultimately the city and county could not agree on a deal and instead, the city embarked on a process of taking over ambulance services.

That happened Oct. 1, 2020.

In addition to that, a replacement for an aging Fire Station 1, or Station 51, as it's known within the overall county response system, is currently under construction.

Giddens noted that the hope is for that to be complete in late July or early August – while Carvey is still chief.

Giddens will be looking to relocate the existing Fire Station 51 from its current site on Grove Street North, to a more centralized location, based on the city's growth pattern.

But for now, he plans to let the current department, which now includes ambulance service as well as paramedics capable of providing advanced lifesaving measures on all engines, continue to find its footing.

"Our department has gone through significant changes over the past two years," Giddens said. "Right now, ALS is still fresh and it's time to let those changes take seed and grow."

Earle Kimel primarily covers south Sarasota County for the Herald-Tribune and can be reached at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription to the Herald-Tribune.

Where Is City of Venice Fire Chief Shaun Carvey From

Source: https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/2021/06/18/frank-giddens-tapped-succeed-shawn-carvey-next-venice-fire-chief/7724958002/