WHEREAS, Jose A. Santiago is retiring after completing twenty-nine years of service to the City of Chicago and the Chicago Fire Department including six years of distinguished leadership as Commissioner; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of his retirement by Alderman Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, Jose A. Santiago is the only son of a working-class family from the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, at the age of seventeen, Jose A. Santiago enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and rose from the rank of private to Commanding Officer of H & S Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment 4th Marine Division in a thirty-two-year career that spanned both active and reserve duty; and
WHEREAS, as a Commanding Officer he was responsible for the training and supervision of 253 U.S. Marines; and
WHEREAS, during his years of Marine Corps service, Jose A. Santiago was actively deployed during Operation Frequent Wind, Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm; and
WHEREAS, Commissioner Jose A. Santiago attained a Bachelor of Science Degree from Southern Illinois University; and
WHEREAS, Jose A. Santiago returned to Chicago in 1975; and
WHEREAS, he successfully completed the entrance examination and joined the Chicago Fire Department in September 1979 after placing number ten on the hiring list; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago Fire Department assigned him to Engine No. 76; and
WHEREAS, during the twenty-three day strike of Chicago firefighters from February 14 to March 7, 1980, rookie firefighter Jose A. Santiago monitored the fire radio and personally responded to fires in progress in order to save lives and property while keeping faith with the aims of striking union brethren by not crossing the picket line; and
WHEREAS, known for his personal bravery and deeply admired by his peers within the department, Jose A. Santiago served as Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner for Fire Suppression, directing and managing over 4,400 uniformed members and 250 pieces of apparatus; and
WHEREAS, on March 4, 2010, former Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Jose A. Santiago Executive Director of the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) overseeing the 911 center during the final year of Mayor Daley's administration; and
WHEREAS, Jose A. Santiago served in this capacity from March 2010 to June 2011; and
WHEREAS, Jose A. Santiago left OEMC to return to the Chicago Fire Department as Deputy Fire Commissioner, Bureau of Operations; and
WHEREAS, on February 16, 2012, Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed Jose A. Santiago Fire Commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department, succeeding Commissioner Robert Hoff; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago Fire Department is the third largest municipal fire department in the United States with 5,000 sworn members responding to over 500,000 emergency calls annually; and
WHEREAS, during his six-year tenure, Commissioner Jose A. Santiago established the Chicago Fire Department as a leader in the nation's fire service by implementing several best practices, including sweeping changes to the incident command policies with the use of innovative technology; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council assembled this twentieth day of September 2018, do hereby congratulate Commissioner Jose A. Santiago on his retirement and thank him for thirty-nine years of distinguished public service to the City of Chicago and its' citizens; and
:rman Edward M. Burke Alderman, 14th Ward
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Commissioner Jose A. Santiago.