GREEN RIVER — A familiar face is now heading up the Green River Fire Department.

Assistant Fire Chief Bill Robinson was recently named the department’s chief. City Administrator Reed Clevenger confirmed the appointment Thursday, saying the city will issue a more detailed press release about the appointment Friday. Firefighters who spoke with SweetwaterNOW said an announcement was made during a meeting at the fire station last week. Robinson said he was unable to comment on the appointment.

Robinson and Assistant Fire Chief Larry Erdmann took on fire chief duties after former fire chief Mike Nomis and his wife were arrested and ultimately convicted of embezzling funds from non-profit accounts associated with the department. Nomis was arrested and convicted in 2020 and was sentenced to between three and seven years in prison.

SweetwaterNOW spoke with Clevenger about the fire chief position in 2022. At that time, Clevenger said the city hadn’t budgeted for a replacement due to declining revenues. He said the city planned to run the department with Erdmann and Robinson filling the fire chief’s duties “for the time being.”

“When we went into the budget year (our Fiscal year 22 that we are in now) we were just seeing the end of the case with Nomis. At that time we had the two assistant chiefs working together. As we finished budgeting for the year we did not budget for the replacement largely due to the decrease in the revenues across the board and based on internal meetings that outlined a plan to run the department with two assistant chiefs taking on those responsibilities,” Clevenger told SweetwaterNOW in 2022.

The fire chief position has been included in the city’s annual list of director positions despite not having someone filling the role, The position is classified as an E1 Position, with a 2026 salary range of between $107,494.40 and $145,102.26.