In Bruce R. Carman, the Island County Commissioners selected a veteran of North Whidbey Fire and Rescue to fill the vacant chair on the district’s board of commissioners.

The fire district has been short one commissioner since Ron Muzzall resigned Dec. 18, setting off the lengthy process of trying to find someone to fill the vacancy.

Remaining commissioners T.J. Lamont and Larry Morse originally set a deadline of Jan. 9 for interviews, but after receiving five applications extended the deadline to Feb. 6.

At the board’s Feb. 13 meeting four applicants, Robert Barker, Jerry Goin, Jay Brand and Carman, were interviewed for the position, but Lamont and Morse were unable to reach an agreement on who to appoint.

Morse made a motion to appoint Brand to fill the position, but the motion died for lack of a second from Lamont.

As a result of the deadlock the matter was referred to the Island County commissioners who interviewed the applicants at their March 12 meeting in Coupeville. Carman was the unanimous choice of Mac McDowell, Mike Shelton and John Dean. He was sworn in at the fire district’s Tuesday meeting.

Being a North Whidbey Fire District commissioner is not a new experience for Carman, who had been a member of the board until being defeated by Morse in the last election.

“I was on the board for 13 years and I also was a volunteer firefighter for 25 years,” Carman said.

Additional responsibility was placed on the new commissioner, as he was immediately elected to be chairman of the board for the remainder of the year.

Morse said he thought that “for continuity and until we can get Bruce up to speed,” either he or Lamont should be the chairman. However, Lamont’s nomination of Carman was accepted and he was voted into the chairman’s position.

Again, this is also not a new experience. “I was chairman of the board for quite a few years, I’d say four or five years,” he said. “The chairman has no more powers than the other members. You have one vote just like everybody else. The only difference is you are in charge of the meetings. The chairman only has the authority granted by the other members.”

Carman said he has some definite goals set for the next five years.

“What we need to do is basically try to modernize as much as we can, working with the Oak Harbor Fire Department,” he said. “We need to see where we can go to save money for both the district and the city. Right now we have a building project going and I think we need to continue on that project as soon as possible.”