Dettmer winning in race for Position 5 on Bainbridge fire board

Persistence has paid off for Theresa "Teri" Dettmer. Dettmer, who unsuccessfully sought an appointed position on the board of fire commissioners for the Bainbridge Island Fire Department last year, was winning a close race for the Position 5 seat on Election Night against opponent Holly vanSchaick.

By Brian Kelly • November 5, 2013 11:22 pm

Persistence has paid off for Theresa “Teri” Dettmer.

Dettmer, who unsuccessfully sought an appointed position on the board of fire commissioners for the Bainbridge Island Fire Department last year, was winning a close race for the Position 5 seat on Election Night against opponent Holly vanSchaick.

Dettmer had 50.9 percent of the vote in the first tally released on Election Night.

vanSchaick, a former Bainbridge EMT, had 48.8 percent of the vote.

Dettmer, 61, is a retired attorney. vanSchaick, 36, currently works as a paramedic for Central Skagit Medic One.

The race was close in the first vote count, and just 88 votes separated the two.

Dettmer has 2,060 votes so far, while vanSchaick has 1,972.

Both vanSchaick and Dettmer campaigned on similar themes: optimizing the impact of taxpayer dollars, supporting the department’s volunteer ranks, meeting islanders’ expectations of adequate response times, and the ability to adjust the operations of the department in response to changing emergency health care demands.