Manchester officials announced they have hired a new fire chief. Stephen Caswell, who has been Richmond’s fire chief, started work in Manchester Jan. 28 after a tumultuous year. Caswell will continue part-time in Richmond. Jessica Lowell/Kennebec Journal file

MANCHESTER — After a year of upheaval in fire department leadership, current Richmond Fire Chief Stephen Caswell will serve as Manchester’s next full-time fire chief, town officials announced Thursday.

Caswell, who brings 15 years of fire department management experience to Manchester, will continue working 20 hours per week in Richmond while he assumes his new duties. He began in the Manchester position on Jan. 28, working closely in a transitional period with Walter Mooers, the interim chief and now the deputy chief, a news release from the town said. Caswell will be paid a salary of $59,325, plus benefits.

Caswell said the main goal for his tenure is to reestablish the fire department as a positive force in the Manchester community, which he said requires purposeful transparency.

“The biggest one, as a term, is boots on the ground — out in the public talking with people, answering questions, telling them what we’re about and the equipment we have and some some certain expertise that we do,” Caswell said. “Transparency is everything.”

He said he hopes to bring back the department’s auxiliary crew and its junior firefighter program, which Caswell said has been robust in Richmond during his tenure there.

“Unfortunately, in our line of work, we’re all 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years old, and the younger generation is the one that’s going to continue the fire department for the fire service,” he said. “So we have to recruit them and keep them entertained.”

The elimination of Manchester’s community-facing programs like the auxiliary and junior firefighter program had been a source of criticism against former Fire Chief Francis Wozniak, who resigned in August amid increasing public sentiment opposing his leadership. Wozniak had spent two months on administrative leave after being charged with impersonating a public official; he denies the allegations.

In the final meeting before Wozniak’s resignation in August, several residents said the department should keep more specific records of policy, trainings and hours — with several pinning blame on Wozniak for a lack of preparation for a state labor investigation. Debora Southiere, Manchester’s town manager, said then that she hopes to enforce more stringent record-keeping with the new chief to ease those concerns.

The search for a new chief began in October, when the Manchester Select Board approved keeping the same job description for the fire chief position, which became full-time in 2019 under Wozniak’s tenure. Caswell will be Manchester’s second-ever full-time chief.

Caswell said he has been pleased with the group of firefighters at the department during his first week on the job, and that he hopes to improve recruitment and retention efforts by strengthening relationships in the community.

“Steve wants to listen to the ideas and concerns of the residents to build a more responsive department,” Southiere said in the news release. “In addition, he plans to work on recruitment, future needs of the department and public relations. He wants to build a department that the Town of Manchester and Manchester residents can be proud of.”

Caswell will be officially introduced in an open house at 2 p.m. on Feb. 16 at the Manchester Fire Department at 37 Readfield Road.