Auburn’s Chief of Police is adding a new title with new responsibilities. As of the first of the year, in addition to running the Police Department, John Ruffcorn will also be running the Fire Department…

Listen to John Ruffcorn 1

Fire Chief Mark D’ Ambrogi is retiring December 31. The cost savings is estimated at about 200-thousand dollars a year, and will allow the fire department to keep three firefighters that were being paid by a federal grant that is due to run out at the end of the year. Ruffcorn says although having one person running both police and fire departments is unusual, it’s not new…

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The new consolidation of administrative services is on an interim basis, but no timetable has been given as to how long that will be. Ruffcorn says there are two cities in California (Rohnert Park and Sunnyvale) that have a combined police and fire chief, and other states such as Michigan are making it more common. Ruffcorn’s official title will be Interim Director of Public Safety.