Belleville appoints a new chief to lead fire department
Belleville firefighters will get a new leader early Thursday when an 18-year veteran of the department will become fire chief.
Curt Lougeay, who has been serving as deputy chief, has been appointed fire chief by Mayor Jenny Gain Meyer to replace Fire Chief Stephanie Mills, who has announced her retirement.
The Belleville City Council unanimously approved Meyer’s recommendation Monday night. Lougeay, 50 assumes duty at 12:01 a.m. Thursday; Mills’ last day is Wednesday.
Mills was the city’s first female fire chief when she was appointed to the job two years ago.
When Meyer presented Mills a plaque for giving 25 years of service to the fire department, Meyer acknowledged that Mills didn’t want any emphasis on the fact that she was the first female chief for the city.
After the meeting, Mills said in an interview: “I understand that it’s an achievement but it’s not the most important part. I feel like anybody that gets to this position, it’s strictly on their merits and I would rather it be looked at in that way.”
Mills said she will mostly miss the “camaraderie” of working with firefighters.
“I think just the camaraderie of our department and whether it was training or city events or working together to solve a problem,” she said. “That group of people working towards a common goal, that’s probably my favorite part about it.
“It’s just been an honor to serve with them. It’s been such a fantastic experience, just really proud of our department and everything that we built.”
Mills, 57, said she’s going to take a “take a break” from the rigors of running a department that has an annual budget of about $9.3 million. She said she plans to visit with family in northern Michigan where she grew up.
“If another opportunity arises, I don’t know, I might entertain that but right now I’m just going to take some time off and spend some time with my family,” she said.
New fire chief
Lougeay said he intends to ask the firefighters to continue what they’ve been doing under Mills’ administration and stay on the “cutting edge of fire service” as far as training and equipment.
“It was an honor,” Lougeay said of being selected by Meyer. “This isn’t something I expected to happen at this point in my career but to have the support of Mayor Meyer and the council is just a huge honor because this is a great city, it’s a great department and we’re going to continue to try to be an example for the fire service in Illinois.”
Lougeay will earn $130,582, which is the same base salary as Mills.
As a retiree with the department, Mills will earn a pension worth 62.5% of her salary, which would be about $81,613.
Other changes in the fire department
Along with the change in leadership at the top of the fire department, the council approved the following promotions that take effect Thursday for these firefighters:
- Assistant Chief Jesse Garnica – deputy chief.
- Battalion Chief Joseph Ellison – assistant chief.
- Captain Jeffery Fabrizio – battalion chief.
- Engineer Travis Henry – captain.
- Firefighter Brian Schield – engineer.
