SEQUIM — Sequim’s current fire inspector, Mike Mingee, has been chosen to serve the remainder of former Clallam County Fire District 3 fire commissioner Steven Chinn’s term through November.
Commissioners Bill Miano and Jeff Nicholas appointed Mingee at Tuesday’s commissioners’ meeting. He will start on May 2.
“I have some things I can bring to the board,” Mingee said of his talents via Zoom at the meeting.
Mingee has served 40 years in the fire service, including time as fire chief of East Jefferson Fire & Rescue and the City of Port Townsend. He was hired as a part-time fire code technician in June 2021 through an interlocal agreement contract between Fire District 3 and City of Sequim.
At the meeting, Mingee shared his intention to file in May to run in the election for Chinn’s seat.
Miano said Mingee approached him a few weeks ago about running prior to Chinn sending in his resignation to the fire district on April 4.
“He’s intimately familiar with the growth and changes coming in the district,” Miano said of Mingee after the meeting.
Miano and Nicholas agreed with important long- and short-term decisions coming up they wanted there to be three commissioners instead of two, particularly with a planning workshop set for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
Mingee will participate as a private citizen, Nicholas said.
As for choosing someone before the filing period May 15-19, Nicholas said he had spoken in the past year to the most frequent meeting attendee Duane Chamlee, and his opponent in the 2021 election, and he wasn’t interested. Commissioners had 90 days to appoint a person or the Clallam County commissioners would have had to do so, per Washington code.
Mingee asked to remain a volunteer firefighter along with being a commissioner, and the commissioners said it shouldn’t be a problem as Nicholas remains one, too.
Fire district leaders said he’ll also continue to serve as a leadership instructor for the U.S. Fire Administration and the Washington State and California State Fire Marshal’s Office, and volunteer in Olympic National Park as a National Ski Patroller at Hurricane Ridge.
Mingee joined the fire district’s Station 35 in Diamond Point as a lieutenant in 2018, fire district leaders said. In 2021, he was hired as fire code technician after building and business inspections stopped following a staffer retirement in 2020.
Fire chief Ben Andrews said they’ll open the application process quickly following Mingee’s resignation.
Chinn, the former fire commission chairman, served in the fire service for 34 years mostly as a volunteer firefighter. He was appointed in July 2016 to the board of commissioners and elected in 2018. He was also an elementary and middle school teacher for 31 years in Chimacum and Sequim school districts. He plans to coach the Sequim High School wrestling team for one more year before “passing the torch.”
Chinn said in an interview the Jan. 12 death of Capt. Charles “Chad” Cate, a firefighter and wrestling coach, was a factor in his resignation, along with his own personal health, and consideration of his family.
“My relationship with my family is more important than anything,” he said. “I’ve short changed my family for way too long.”
Commissioners also voted to make Miano chairman of the board and Nicholas vice-chairman.
For more information about Clallam County Fire District 3, visit ccfd3.org.
________
Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
