Aug. 1 primary election results resounded with a nearly 80 percent majority for Clallam County Fire District 3’s commissioner incumbent, who is seeking re-election.
Steve Chinn received 79.82 percent of votes across Clallam and Jefferson counties for the Position 2 seat on the Fire District 3 commission in the first count of primary election ballots Tuesday.
Challenger Sean Ryan received a combined vote total of 14.93 percent. Fellow challenger Robert Porrazzo received a combined 5.25 percent.
The top two contenders for the commissioner seat, Chinn and Ryan according to the initial count, will move on to the Nov. 7 general election.
The winner, who will fulfill a six-year short and full term, will take office Nov. 28.
The next count of ballots will be by 2 p.m. Friday in Jefferson County and by 4:30 p.m. Friday in Clallam County.
Chinn said he was grateful to his committee and for the community support.
“I’m very satisfied. I feel good about it,” he said. “We’re going to take the general election.”
Neither Ryan nor Porrazzo returned calls for comment on Aug. 2.
Chinn was appointed in July 2016 by current fire commissioners James Barnfather and G. Michael Gawley following the retirement of longtime fire commissioner Richard Houts.
Chinn sees the commissioner’s role as adjusting resources and funding to keep up with the district’s call volume, which has tripled since 1995, he said.
If re-elected, Chinn hopes to continue the district’s momentum of piloting changes recommended by Fitch &Associates LLC in its service study.
The approximate $50,000 study analyzed the district’s performance across the board. Among the findings that stood out to Chinn, the study recommended redistributing the workload among personnel.
“We’ve been adding staff, but now we’re trying to better utilize the staff that we have,” Chinn said, noting the district can improve service now without hiring more personnel.
For example, the study revealed one paramedic responded to about 10 to 12 calls within a 24-hour shift, Chinn said.
“We found out our paramedics were just getting hammered.”
The district instigated a north-south split along Washington Street to divvy up the call volume between two paramedics, Chinn said. Now, one paramedic answers calls on the north side and the other responds to calls on the south side.
Although it usually takes a quarter to understand the “gut feeling of the troops,” Chinn said, paramedics have spoken favorably of the change so far.
Commissioners also will need to establish a consistent base of funding in the coming years, Chinn said.
“We’re having to tighten the belt and the belt is getting tighter and tighter,” he said.
In the initial count of votes, Chinn won 5,652 votes, or 79.82 percent, to Ryan’s 1,057 votes, or 14.93 percent, between the two counties. Porrazzo netted 372 votes, or 5.25 percent.
In Clallam County, Chinn won 5,585 votes, or 79.84 percent, to Ryan’s 1,043 votes, or 14.91 percent. In Jefferson County, Chinn garnered 67 votes, or 77.91 percent, to Ryan’s 14 votes, or 16.28 percent. Robert Porrazzo won 367 votes, or 5.25 percent, in Clallam County and 5 votes, or 5.81 percent, in Jefferson County.
Sarah Sharp is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. She can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or at ssharp@ peninsuladailynews.com.
