Who do you want deciding money matters at your fire department?

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The general election is less than a month away, and along with various ballot measures and other choices for the voting public to make, there are nine fire districts around Lewis County which will see contested races for the position of fire commissioner.

Lewis County has 18 fire districts, the majority of which are run by a three-member board of commissioners. They are the mostly unpaid volunteers who are in charge of the finances and budgets to operate fire protection and emergency medical services in each community.

Today is the deadline for voter registration, address changes and other updates citizens might need to make with the elections division at the Lewis County Auditor’s Office. New Washington state residents get until Oct. 28.

Ballots for the all-vote-by-mail election will be sent out on Oct. 18. They must be returned with a postmark either before, or on, election day Nov. 5.

Two organizations will have levies on the ballot: Lewis County Fire District 17 in Mineral and Lewis County Fire District 14 in Randle.

See the online voter’s guide with information about candidates and measures. Following are the races to check out, according to the sample ballot from the auditor’s office:

Lewis County Fire District 2 in Toledo
• Curtis M. Feigenbaum
• Jacqui Spahr

Lewis County Fire District 4 in Morton
• Gerald Klepach
• Douglas L. Osterdahl

Lewis County Fire District 5 in Napavine
• Lyle Hojem
• Donald Ragan
• Kevin VanEgdom

Lewis County Fire District 8 in Salkum
• George Kaech
• Don Taylor

Lewis County Fire District 11 in Pe Ell
• Randy Coady
• John Woods

Lewis County Fire District 14 in Randle
• Frank Kittock
• Kenneth Lindh

Lewis County Fire District 18 in Glenoma
• Richard Kain
• Fred Jurey

Cowlitz-Lewis Fire District 20 in Vader
• Terry Williams
• Scott D. Horton

Riverside Fire Authority in Centralia
• Harlan E. Thompson
• Rick Conklin

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 7th, 2013 at 7:00 am and is filed under Top story of the day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Who do you want deciding money matters at your fire department?”

  1. meh says:
    Monday, October 7, 2013 at 10:10 pm

    Now is the time to add a USEFUL two cents about the candidates listed above – no name calling, just the facts (ma’am) about who is better qualified or not qualified at all. Please, go ahead and chime in – I’m all ears (or eyes, as it is!).

    Thanks!