Jackson County Fire District 1 has approved a consulting services agreement with the Special Districts Association of Oregon (SDAO) to support recruitment of a new fire chief. Under this hybrid model, SDAO will manage advertising and initial candidate screening, while the district’s board retains final hiring authority. The agreement with SDAO is effective May 21, 2026, with a not-to-exceed value of 6000 and an overall recruitment budget of 10000 to cover items like background checks and medical evaluations.This indicates committed spending on recruitment-related professional services such as background investigations, assessments, and medical evaluations, with an additional contract for a background investigator to be established soon. Vendors providing executive recruitment support, background investigations, psychological and medical evaluations, or leadership assessment services could position themselves for this and future leadership hiring needs as the district builds out its vendor list for the process.

District also plans to contract separately with a background investigator and to reserve hotel rooms for candidates at Best Western at district expense.