The Urbana Civil Service Commission approved starting the entry level firefighter/paramedic hiring process during a meeting on April 3. The commission received a memorandum from Urbana Fire Chief Dean Ortlieb stating the Urbana Fire Division has two vacant firefighter/paramedic positions due to the upcoming retirement of Firefighter/Paramedic Dean Edwards, effective June 5, and the loss of Firefighter/Paramedic John Dale.

As part of the hiring process, applications to participate in the testing process are due in the director of administration’s office by 4 p.m. on May 3.

The written examination will be conducted on May 11 at the Champaign County Community Center, 1512 S. U.S. Route 68, or another approved testing site.

A physical agility practice will be performed on May 18 at the city’s Market Street parking lot. The physical agility test will be performed May 25.

A tentative date for the civil service commission to approve eligibility and certified eligibility lists is May 30.

Interviews are scheduled to start on June 3 with the anticipated conditional offer to be made on July 1 with a potential start date of July 21.

In addition to approving the entry level firefighter/paramedic hiring process, the commission approved an eligible list and certified eligible list for an entry-level patrol officer position with the Urbana Police Division.

The three candidates on both lists in order of highest to lowest scores are Brock M. Wise, Morgan K. Milliken and Yvonne M. Henry.

The commission previously initiated the patrol officer hiring process in January to fill a vacancy with the Urbana Police Division.