June 5, 2023 – In a packed Clovis City Hall at Monday’s City Council meeting, a presentation was held for Clovis Fire Chief John Binaski upon his retirement.
Binaski has served as fire chief for six years and ten years total in the Clovis Fire Department.
His firefighting career has lasted a total of thirty-two years.
General Services Director for the City of Clovis, Shonna Halterman, first spoke and thanked Binaski for his years of service.
This was followed by Public Utilities Director Scott Redelphs and his presentation of a street sign named “Binaski Way”.
This has been Clovis’ way of honoring dignified City employees over the years.
“As far as the contributions he’s made to the city it’s been incredible,” said City Manager John Holt as he explained that what Binaski has done over the years has gone above and beyond the normal expectations of a fire chief. “His job being fire chief is a very small portion of the contributions to the City of Clovis.”
City Councilman Drew Bessinger thanked Binaski for “putting Clovis on the map”, when describing how Binaski’s efforts have helped transform the town into what it is in present time.
“There was a point in time where people said, ‘Where’s Clovis?’, and consistently over and over again people find out where we are because of people like you.”
Councilwoman Diane Pearce stated that while she was the newest of the dignitaries to speak on Binaski’s behalf, she recognizes that it was “impossible” to not know when Chief Binaski was in the room, having pointed out his outward and positive attitude.
Fire Chief John Binaski then spoke at the presentation and stated that most of all his retirement comes as a thank you to his family for the years spent missing out on events with them.
“I’ve left them high and dry many times over my career as the Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief and I just wanna say thank you to all of them and all the time and commitments that I have been able to fulfill just by having their support.”
He also thanked the City and city employees for their assistance over the years and their contributions.
“The one thing I can say about Clovis is the department heads are a great team. They don’t talk bad about people, they don’t talk bad about council members. I’ve been at locations where that occurs at meetings after council and it just shows the great leadership that you’ve instilled in the City Managers current and past.”
“It’s been a fantastic career it’s been a pleasure. When I came here to be the fire chief, time goes by so fast…it really seems like it was yesterday. You’ll be surprised by how fast it goes by.”
Mayor Lynne Ashbeck closed the presentation out by pointing out, “Our story is the story of great leaders like you. I think we’ve been smart and lucky over the years to continue to find and train and recruit and hold on to very strong leaders. The strength of our community is because of folks like you who step up to lead.”