PORT TOWNSEND — The East Jefferson Fire-Rescue board is seeking applicants for two open positions.
The board is responsible for the fire district’s $9 million operational budget in addition to establishing and approving policy and employing key personnel, including supervision of the fire chief.
Applications are due by 4 p.m. Jan. 10. They can be found at ejfr.org.
The board is expected to appoint two new members by Feb. 19.
Chief Jim Walkowski said candidates don’t necessarily have to have a background in the fire service. Past board members have had careers in areas such as finance or the law, he said.
“It’s nice to have a broad breadth of experience, and that’s always helpful because we’re stronger together,” Walkowski said.
The two seats were created in August when voters approved the expansion of the board of commissioners from three members to five, and their geographic boundaries were established when voters approved the commissioners’ districts in November.
The three sitting commissioners are Chair Rich Stapf Jr., Vice Chair Dave Johnson and David Seabrook.
“At the end of the day, we’re policymakers and overseers of the operations and administration of the fire district,” Stapf said.
East Jefferson Fire-Rescue put a series of ballot measures before voters in 2019, starting with annexation of the city of Port Townsend last February.
Both new positions are within city limits, an agreement the fire district had with the Port Townsend City Council prior to annexation.
The city previously had a council member serve an advisory role on the fire district’s board without the ability to vote.
Now the positions are open to any resident of the specified districts as long as the applicant is at least 18 years old and has lived at their address for the past 30 days.
District 4 encompasses most of the west part of Port Townsend, including Castle Hill. District 5 contains all of uptown and historic downtown Port Townsend.
“It’s going to be interesting to see what kind of interest that we have in filling these two positions,” Stapf said. “Generally in the state of Washington, fire districts that have commissioner districts have gone away from districts because of a lack of interest or a lack of candidates within those districts.”
He was encouraged by voters’ support of all three ballot measures this year.
“All three of those votes from an approval standpoint have been really consistent, really high,” Stapf said. “It leads me to believe we are going down the right road.
“I think people probably are more engaged than I anticipated, which is good.”
State law will require the new commissioners to draw lots to determine at random which position serves through 2021 and which serves through 2023.
When those initial terms expire, the candidates will be eligible to run for a full six-year term.
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
