During a special Orcas Island Fire and Rescue Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday, Aug. 22, commissioner Jim Coffin offered his resignation. After serving 10 years on the board, Coffin has decided it’s time to walk away.

Coffin was appointed in 2006 to fill an unexpired term on the commission, and in 2007 was elected into the position.

The board chose TJ DiCaprio to take Coffin’s place on the board. In the days following the announcement, members of the community vocalized their discontent with the lack of an election on online message boards. The commenters believed that the empty seat needed to be opened to the public, and not occupied by someone selected by the commissioners in private.

DiCaprio decided to walk away from the position on the board due to a combination of the public outcry and personal reasons, said OIFR board chairperson Barbara Bedell.

“It’s really unfortunate because she had a lot of really great experience,” said Williams, who noted that DiCaprio had no ties to the board or the fire department so would have provided a fresh perspective to the board. “There were great opportunities there that we lost.”

Now the board will be searching for someone in the community to fill the vacancy.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Bedell. “It’ll be opened now to anyone who would like to do it.”

Bedell noted that a commissioner isn’t an employment position and there is no application process; someone just needs to show an interest in being on the board.

“We’ll see if anyone has lifted a hand and if so, take a look at those people,” said Bedell. “We’re looking for good people to put their name on the list.”

Lawsuit against OIFR

A lawsuit against Orcas Fire and Rescue has been filed by a former volunteer trainee. According to Williams, an individual was in the training process when “some issues” occurred and the department chose to let the trainee go. Williams said the trainee felt like he/she was wronged by OIFR.

“The status is, the legal team from our insurance company is looking into it,” said Williams. “We’re still gathering information.”

Fire Chief Search

“It’s coming along well, I believe,” said Williams. “They (the board) have an official packet to be sent out and are accepting applications until the middle of October. Then it’s on to the next step of interviews and the actual hiring of a new chief.”

The fire chief position was vacated by Mik Preysz on April 8, after he had been placed on administrative-leave following an investigation into allegations of misconduct. Williams has been serving as acting fire chief since the board of commissioners appointed him on April 18.

During the meeting in April, the board debated the prospect of hiring an external entity, a “head hunter,” to help fill the position of fire chief, or performing the search internally.

“We’re doing it internally,” said Bedell. “We formed a search committee.”