Fire commissioner candidates talk priorities

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 14, 2017

A fire commissioner seat will be the only race to come before Sequim voters this Aug. 1 primary.

Incumbent Steven Chinn, Robert Porrazzo and Sean Ryan vie for Clallam County Fire District 3’s commissioner No. 2 seat, which is a 6-year short and full term. The race will tighten to two for the Nov. 7 general election joining three other contested races with only two candidates.

Here, the commissioner candidates briefly describe their backgrounds but look for more coverage on the 2017 election this summer.

Chinn was appointed in July 2016 by current commissioners James Barnfather and G. Michael Gawley following the retirement of long-time commissioner Richard Houts.

He was both a volunteer and the part-time volunteer coordinator for the fire district following a 31-year teaching career in Chimacum and Sequim.

Chinn said he was hesitant at first to apply for the appointment but started to think about what he could offer to the board and realized he’s comfortable with it after attending dozens of meetings and working with the union.

He also said he’s optimistic with the direction the district is going following a recent study of the district.

“Now the ball is in our court and we can adjust,” he said.

“I’m running on the idea of making things better. Our push is for excellence and to create an environment that’s successful for the staff and community.”

Porrazzo, a former firefighter and a current finance worker who works with his opponent Ryan, is running for public office for the first time. He used to be a fireman for 12 years with the fire district, which he feels is one of the best districts the country, but says there’s “always room for a new voice.”

“For many years, the commissioners generally ran the same thought process and to some extent ran things like they wanted to be fire chiefs themselves,” Porrazzo said.

“Look at politics. You don’t need to have a balance. When you have people who think one way all the time, you don’t always see a change. (Commissioners) are there just to keep things in order.”

Another topic he finds important is ensuring wiser spending with money, too.

But why run against a friend and co-worker?

“We both want to be a changing voice,” he said. “We’re against and running alongside each other.”

Ryan, who has run for a fire commissioner seat twice before, owns America’s Elite, Inc., a fire, water and trauma scene clean-up business in Sequim.

His current push for a commissioner seat is to bring more medics into the field now.

“We can do it with the allotted budget now and hire more personnel,” he said.

Ryan is a former firefighter and volunteer firefighter with the district and said he believes “there’s a lot of restructuring that could happen” including with the administration.

“We have 34 career firefighter/paramedics and four chiefs. That’s 8.5 guys per chief. How many bosses do you need?” he said.

Ryan feels the current firefighters are doing a wonderful job but he wants to “rein in some of the spending, go after grants and get more firefighter/EMTs out there right now.”

While he and Porrazzo both listed America’s Elite for the county’s filing address, Ryan said their views do differ.

“I think there’s a lot commissioners can do to set the guidelines for the fire department to run better,” he said.

For a complete list of Clallam County elections, visit http://clallam.net/elections.