BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle

The chairman of the Montgomery County Rural Fire District’s board of directors says the Montgomery County Commission ignored a recommendation from the fire board calling for the reappointment of department coordinator Wilbur Schwatken.

County commissioners on Monday chose to not reappoint Schwatken to his role of rural fire department coordinator. Commissioner Larry McManus presented a motion to reappoint Schwatken, however his motion failed to garner any further support from commissioners Tony Fowler or Fred Brown, thereby resulting in a dead motion. Therefore, Schwatken’s reappointment automatically failed.

All other department chief reappointments were approved by the commission.

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Montgomery County Commission chairman Tony Fowler on Wednesday would not provide details about the commission’s reason to not reappoint Wilbur Schwatken, rural fire district coordinator.

However, Fowler, who has been commissioner for two years and was named chairman in January, says the commission has new goals and vision for the rural fire director position.

Fowler said he could not talk specifically about Schwatken’s dismissal. However, he did refute claims that the commission did not consider the recommendation of the Montgomery County Rural Fire District board of directors, which voted unanimously to recommend Schwatken’s reappointment.

“As far as the firefighting side, we do listen to the fire board carefully and have never said “no” to any budget request,” said Fowler. “But as far as the administrative side, we feel that it’s something quite simply where the director position needs to be put in a different direction.”

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