YACHATS – The Yachats Rural Fire District is looking to fill a board seat that will become vacant Dec. 31 with the resignation of longtime member Betty Johnston of Yachats.
Johnston, 83, announced her resignation in October and attended her final board meeting Monday during which other members voted unanimously to create a title for her as “board member emeritus.”
“I am so honored,” Johnston told the other board members.
Johnston moved to Yachats in 2003 and was elected to her first four-year term on the five-member fire board in 2007. She was last elected – and unopposed — in May 2021; her term ends June 30, 2025.
Johnston spent much of her time on the board working with groups on emergency preparedness.
District administrator Frankie Petrick told the board that she has been talking to a few people about applying for the vacant seat, but two board members said the district needed to more widely publicize the opening on social media and its website.
Donald Tucker, who lives in the area of the district between Yachats and Waldport, said it would be good to have another person on the board from outside the city – either north or east of town.
“We need to get the word out,” he said.
But neither the board nor Petrick established any application procedure or timeline Monday and it wasn’t clear if there is a board replacement process outlined in district policies.
The district runs from the south edge of Waldport through Yachats, up the Yachats River valley and just south of Cape Perpetua. It has a $2 million yearly budget, 8.5 employees – including six firefighter/paramedics who also staff South Lincoln Ambulance.
The district had struggled financially the past four years but passed five-year operating levies the past two Novembers that has greatly solidified its budgets. The board currently meets the second Monday of every month.
— Quinton Smith/YachatsNews