Woodinville Fire fills a gap

Once again, it’s a full house over at the Woodinville Fire & Rescue board of commissioners. Finally… at least for now.

At its October 1 meeting the WF&R board appointed Roger Collins to fill the fire commissioner seat vacated when former commissioner Gerry Vucci resigned from the post in July due to moving away from the district for professional reasons.

Vucci replaced Randy Ransom, who resigned 16 months ago due to health reasons.

Collins was selected unanimously over two other applicants – both of whom applied for the position before- and will serve the duration of the term which expires December 31, 2013.

He has no previous affiliation with fire service but brings a solid business background to the board.

Collins, a 26-year Woodinville resident, is owner and chief executive officer (CEO) of Sierra Construction Company, which, he said during his October 1 public interview, relocated to Woodinville about 12 years ago.

In that interview, the CEO expressed a desire to give back to his community.

Further, Sierra Construction has 110 employees, he said, and does $100 million in revenue annually with balanced books.

That, apparently, was enough to impress the four standing commissioners.

“Roger brought a refreshing business approach,” Commissioner Kevin Coughlin said. “He’s the owner of a major construction company and understands business. (Fire) commissioners have to balance public policy and business, and he emphasized to us how we need to market our product.”

Coughlin said Collins was a breath of fresh air in this new budgetary world.

“Nothing against the other two guys because they were good candidates, but it’s nice to get somebody with his qualifications who’s already well respected in the community and well known in the area.”

He added that it was good, finally, to get that fifth commissioner chair filled.

“Absolutely. We have some serious business to take care of and we’re currently getting deeply involved with budget.”

Cool note: Collins, later during his public interview, with a smile, said he owned his own personal fire truck. “It’s a ’47 Ford … and I’ll look official when I drive it around. It’s a beauty.”