Hopefuls line up for port, fire district boards

At least one challenger has filed to run against all three of the incumbent commissioners hoping to be re-elected to the Port of Bremerton and South Kitsap Fire and Rescue boards this year, according to the Kitsap County Auditor’s Office.

South Kitsap resident Phil Seratt will challenge newly appointed Paul A. Golnik for his spot on the SKF&R Board of Commissioners.

Golnik was chosen from a field of eight candidates — which included Seratt — to take over the Position 5 seat left vacant when Rick Metzger, Jr., resigned in January.

Although Metzger’s term does not expire for two years, Golnik must be elected by voters before completing it.

Olalla resident Golnik has lived in South Kitsap for 50 years, and has more than 34 years of professional fire-fighting experience with the City of Bremerton.

He also volunteered at SKF&R for 13 years.

Seratt is an operations support technician for CENCOM, Kitsap County Central Communications, where he has worked for more than 12 years. In 2003, he ran against Commissioner Dave Gelsleichter for the board’s Position 4, earning 47 percent of the votes.

Incumbent Darla Hartley hopes to extend her service in the board’s Position 3 seat for another six years. The Bremerton resident first joined the board in 1988.

Hartley’s challenger will be Gerald Preuss, a Manchester resident who also applied to be appointed to Metzger’s seat.

Preuss is retired from U.S. West after more than 40 years working for telephone companies, where he eventually become a supervisor and created operating budgets of several million dollars.

At the Port of Bremerton, Commissioner Bill Mahan is running for another six-year term as the representative for District No. 3, which includes portions of South Kitsap, Southwest Bremerton, and Seabeck.

A South Kitsap resident, Mahan served as a Kitsap County Commissioner for 20 years before being elected to the Port board in 2000.

Mahan’s challenger is John M. Gray, a McCormick Woods resident.

Whoever holds the seat next year will begin receiving the newly-approved port commissioner salary of $6,000 a year, along with an annual raise of $1,200.

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