Tumwater fire and police report recruit graduations, academy attendance and sergeant retest results

Tumwater department chiefs reported staff and recruitment updates at the June 12 Civil Service Commission meeting, including firefighter academy graduations and police candidate progress. Brian Hurley, Tumwater’s fire chief, said five firefighter-paramedic recruits recently completed and graduated from the recruit academy and have returned to shift. "They're back on shift and getting integrated into the, into the shift process," Hurley said. He said one additional firefighter candidate is at a fire academy in North Bend and is expected to graduate on July 24, 2025. The police department reported three recruits at the police academy — two in the same class and one who had just started — with the two expected to graduate in September 2025. The police chief (identified in the transcript as the Mason police chief) said two new officers are in field training and doing well. The police chief also summarized results of a sergeant retest: "Out of the 7 candidates, 6 decided to move forward, 1 chose not to move forward into the assessment center," and after the assessment center, "5 passed. So we currently have 5 on our eligibility list for the sergeant position," the police chief said. Michelle Sutherland confirmed the sergeant eligibility list was approved at the June 12 meeting. The chiefs emphasized that recent graduations and successful assessments help the departments reach or approach full staffing for shifts and operations. No budgetary or policy changes accompanied these personnel updates; they were presented as informational reports to the commission.