Matlock Fire 12 appoints final commissioner

Fire District 12 commissioners filled the vacant seat 2 position at the June 19 meeting, appointing Matlock resident Steven Ingram.

Earlier in the meeting, Commissioners Trina Young and Dave Persell interviewed Ingram and Kenneth Smith, asking the candidates about their experience and how they would approach the commissioner job.

Smith, who volunteered with District 12 from 2011 to 2018, said he also worked in fire districts in Spokane and California.

Persell asked Smith when he first learned about the “fraud situation” at the district.

“When the auditor’s report came out,” Smith answered, referring to the investigation released by the state Auditor’s Office in September 2022 that said the district misappropriated almost $70,000 in public money and paid $95,000 in unsupported expenses.

Persell asked Smith what he would do if he wasn’t appointed.

“I’ll still support the fire department,” Smith replied.

Ingram also said he became aware of mismanagement at the district through the audit.

Ingram was in the Navy for 35 years and has lived in the district since 2009, he said, spending most of his adult life in Mason or Kitsap counties.

“I think I have skills and abilities and experience that might benefit the commission in righting a capsized ship,” he said.

Ingram has no fire district experience, but he said he would bring executive experience in management, budgeting and fiscal accountability to the table.

Young asked how he would go about building consensus.

“Consensus is not the right answer per se, but rather it is the ability for a team to come to a conclusion that everybody can and will support and is the right answer,” he said.

Young and Persell called a short executive session and came back to unanimously nominate Ingram.

“This whole process has really shown me what an awesome community that we have and the amazing amount of credentials and experience in this area,” Young said, adding she hoped that everyone involved in the application process would continue to participate in the district.

Persell said all of the commission positions are appointments so all three commissioners will have to run in November 2025, if they are still serving.

“Anybody who wants to throw their hat in the ring in 2025 can do so at that time” he said.

In May, Fire 12 lost its insurance coverage due to mismanagement, was declared a disaster area by the county and saw all three of its commissioners resign.

On May 24, Mason County commissioners appointed Young and Persell for positions 1 and 3 respectively, and they were tasked with appointing position 2.

Ingram was sworn in immediately by Auditor Steve Duenkel, who attended the meeting.

“I’d be honored to administer the oath of office,” Duenkel said.

“We now have a full board,” Persell said.

Commissioners announced at the meeting they will be accepting applications for an interim administrative assistant position until 5 p.m. Monday.

The position is part time, 96 hours a month at $25 per hour and no benefits or contract. Acting Fire Chief Mike Brown will hire the applicant and applications can be submitted at [email protected].

Young said eventually they will be filling it as a permanent position.

Brown was out of town. Steve Woods, acting assistant chief, gave an update on the stations.

He said mechanics are working on some of the equipment.

“There’s so much work to be done,” he said, and thought it might be cheaper to surplus some of the equipment and buy replacements.

“Stuff had set so long they couldn’t even release the brakes on a tinder,” Woods said, blaming “lack of maintenance” for years.

He said volunteers would start training with the equipment “when they get it running. When we become an actual fire district with insurance,” he said.