Candidates for the board of commissioners for the Bainbridge Island Fire Department have submitted candidate statements for Kitsap County’s voters’s pamplet.

Theresa “Teri” Dettmer is seeking the Position 5 seat on the Bainbridge Island Fire Department. Her opponent is Holly vanSchaick.

Theresa “Teri” Dettmer

Biography: Professional Experience: I had the pleasure of practicing law for twenty-five years in the areas of health care, employment relations, risk management, insurance defense and professional responsibility. My practice involved representation of individuals, corporations and governmental entities, including physicians, hospitals, state government, county government, city government and fi re districts. As a law firm partner, I helped manage budgets, resources and employees to maximize the outcome for all involved. I have lived on Bainbridge Island for over eighteen years, and my husband and I have two children at Bainbridge High School.

Statement: The commissioners are responsible for managing the department’s $7.4 million budget and making such decisions as whether to submit levy requests to the voters and at what amount, whether to construct and/or remodel fi re department facilities, and how to staff stations, including the now unstaffed Phelps Road station. This undertaking requires commissioners with significant managerial and administrative experience, as well as an understanding of the law governing the department.

As a commissioner, I would assure the department continued to provide the premium level of emergency services we currently enjoy, while searching for ways to improve and be more cost effective. My priorities include employing maximum transparency in all transactions, assisting residents with disaster preparedness, and maintaining a strong volunteer program.

Almost 80 percent of the calls to the department are for medical services, and I look forward to using my years of experience representing health care providers to assist the department’s mission to provide emergency care in a safe and speedy manner. I am especially committed to staffing the Phelps Road station to ensure that residents in the northern part of the island have the same access to swift medical services as now enjoyed by us south end residents.