Excerpts from wrex.com:

At Tuesday’s Loves Park City Council meeting, James Hart will be sworn in as the next Chief of the Loves Park Fire Department.

Hart is a deputy chief serving the Loves Park Fire department since 2018. Hart has also served as a paramedic in Rockford and in Colorado.

Hart succeeds Jerry Wiltfang, who has served as Loves Park fire chief since 2018.

At the Dec. 19 meeting, city council members approved a resolution for Wiltfang to serve as a part-time assistant to the Loves Park mayor, taking the new role of Director of Emergency Operations.

Officials credit Wiltfang as a major part of expanding the role of the Loves Park Fire Department, growing from a volunteer department to having 24/7 response teams.

Under Wiltfang, the department has also gotten newer equipment and opened a new fire station to allow for better response times for more people in the city.

The city council will meet at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Loves Park City Hall. The full agenda for Tuesday’s meeting can be found here.