The Town of Apex recently welcomed two new employees to key areas of town management. Both gentlemen come with impressive credentials and are excited about their new jobs and joining this community.
Tim Herman, Fire Chief
Tim Herman is the new Apex fire chief. Herman emerged as the candidate of choice after several rounds of screenings, interviews, and an intensive two-day assessment where candidates participated in an array of role-playing scenarios, presentations and other activities focused on the skills and knowledge essential to this important position.
“I look forward to leading the professional men and women who are committed to the mission of helping people every day,” said Herman. “The Apex Fire Department has always been a cutting-edge, progressive, and proactive organization which lead me to pursue this opportunity. As a resident of the Triangle most of my life, Apex has always been a town I wanted to call home. I look forward to experiencing the ‘peak of good living,’” he shared.
Herman’s goals for his first year on the job includes opening the new Station 36 on schedule so they are ready to serve the people on that side of Apex and also ushering a new class of recruits to graduation and department integration this spring.
While he noted that he no longer rides the fire truck, his responsibilities as fire chief demand that he be present in another way.
“I make sure that every man and woman in the Apex Fire Department have what they need—the equipment and the training they need—because they are the ones out there every day, face-to-face, making those encounters with the people that need it the most,” he said.
Herman, originally from Pinetops in Edgecombe County, brings over 26 years of fire and emergency service experience to Apex. He leaves the Garner Fire/Rescue Department after 12 successful years there as their deputy fire chief. Herman was instrumental in the Garner Fire Department’s success in obtaining their accredited agency status, as well as lowering their ISO rating.
Herman points to his father’s work as both the mayor of Pinetops and as a volunteer fireman there as “planting of the seed” in terms of his career in public service and firefighting. He noted that they moved to the Triangle when he was 10.
Herman’s hobbies, when not on the job, include supporting his children’s involvement in youth sports, playing the drums, and cooking.
John Mullis, Public Works Director
John Mullis is the new Public Works director for the Town of Apex. Mullis brings a wealth of experience in municipal services. He most recently served in the same capacity with the Town of Holly Springs and is an accomplished leader with experience in long-range infrastructure planning, streamlining processes, leading cross-functional teams and in the oversight of capital improvement projects.
“I’m excited about serving the residents of Apex by working alongside a very talented team,” said Mullis. “I was attracted to Apex because of the high value placed on quality-of-life initiatives by town leadership. The preserved and authentic downtown truly creates a sense of place that is unmatched in the Triangle. ‘The peak of good living’ is not just a saying, it’s our purpose,” Mullis shared.
Mullis is originally from the town of Albemarle in Stanly County which is about 100 miles southwest of the Triangle.
In his first year on the job, Mullis will focus on projects that modernize our capabilities of service delivery. He also noted that working within the framework set forth by the Apex Town Council is important and he’ll prioritize aligning his department’s mission and goals with that framework.
The Town’s Public Works Department is responsible for many of the services that are visible to the community every day including maintenance services for the town’s 16 facilities, management of the grounds contract for litter collection and mowing, residential curbside yard waste collection, curb and gutter maintenance, street and sidewalk maintenance, signage, storm and snow response, stormwater conveyance maintenance and management of the town’s fleet maintenance program that includes over 325 vehicles and 250 pieces of large equipment. Public Works also manages the contract with the town’s third-party trash and recycling vendor, GFL.
When Mullis is not on the job, he enjoys any activity that is on or around water. He loves to attend outdoor events like concerts, street fairs or festivals. And he loves to build things, especially using steel and concrete, calling wood a “last resort.”
