Fire Chief William Miles will retire next month after 36 years with the department and seven years as chief, opting to step down one year before the mandatory retirement age of 65.
In an interview, Miles said he mailed notice to the Middlesex County Retirement System on Monday morning, the day residents were set to decide the fate of a $7.1 million project to rebuild Fire Station 2. The measure failed.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a few months,” Miles said of retirement. “And I really did a lot of work on that fire station project and I certainly didn’t want to retire before that was finished.”
State law requires public safety personnel to retire by age 65. Miles will celebrate his 64th birthday on Sunday, and plans to retire on Jan. 31, 2018.