Adams, Halligan named to fire quintet

Published 10:00 am Saturday, December 23, 2006

The fire board expands to five with the appointment of two new members.

By overwhelmingly approving the expansion of the fire board last month, island voters made a call for broader representation.

By selecting two new commissioners Wednesday, the fire board answered the phone.

A broader blend of opinions, cooperation and the possibility of smaller group work without the fear of a quorum were cited as reasons for expanding the board, which next month will seat Michael Adams and Maureen Halligan.

The pair will join current commissioners Earl Johnson, board Chair Jim Johnson and Dave Coatsworth at the next meeting on Jan. 10.

“This was a tough decision,” said Commissioner Earl Johnson, of choosing two commissioners from a pool of six candidates. “But I think we ended up with a good mix.”

Adams will serve a three-year term, while Halligan’s term will run through 2007. Her position, along with that of board chair Jim Johnson, will be up for election next November.

Both appointees are former volunteer firefighters who have in the past worked with budgets.

Adams is a lifelong islander with experience in a number of different fields, including teaching, vehicle research and construction. He is currently an emergency operations planner at island company Pacific Marine Technical Services.

Asked about what role he might play on the board, Adams mentioned his interest in finance.

“I have a strong fiscal background,” he said. “My big issue is helping protect the budget.”

He also cited as a positive asset his maritime emergency training.

In a management role at biotech company Amgen, Halligan too is familiar with finance. She moved to the island in 1999 and was a volunteer firefighter for five years before her career became too time-consuming, forcing her to leave the department.

She said the expansion will smooth operations among the board.

“It’s always challenging to evolve a local system,” she said. “I think the fire department has to a certain degree been forced to do that, and both the members and the board have done an excellent job of recognizing the need and taking action to meet it.”

The next step in that evolution is the selection of a new chief, work toward which will begin next year after Adams and Halligan are sworn in.

The board recently extended the contract of interim chief Glen Tyrrell, after deeming the initial pool of candidates for the chief position too small.

Candidates for the commission seats were interviewed earlier this month. Johnson said the board considered a number of different factors – ties to the community utmost among them – before deciding on Adams and Halligan.

Adams, who ran against Commissioner Dave Coatsworth last year, was given the choice of which seat he wanted, and opted for the longer of the two terms.

Now that the board is made up of five people, Johnson said he’d like to explore the possibility of creating sub-committees that could do smaller group work, though he said the board would likely wait until a new chief is chosen to discuss the possibility.

“The biggest thing is that two of us can now bounce things off one another without having to worry about a quorum,” he said. “This will really help to facilitate debate and idea sharing.”