GREEN RIVER — The Green River Fire Department has been operating with two assistant chiefs since May 2020 and will continue to do so through at least the current budget process.
The department shifted to operating with two assistant fire chiefs after former Green River Fire Department Chief Mike Nomis was sentenced to 3-7 years in prison for the theft of nearly $60,000 from the department.
Nomis was sentenced in December 2020 and Assistant Chiefs Larry Erdmann and Bill Robinson then took on the responsibilities of the chief position.
Green River City Administrator Reed Clevenger said the City of Green River did not budget for a replacement for the chief position at that time due to decreases in revenues and plans to run the department with two assistant chiefs.
“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 said.
According to Clevenger, how the department will operate moving forward will depend on this upcoming fiscal year’s budget and an analysis of the department’s needs. Clevenger said the city is just now starting the budget process for Fiscal Year 2023, which will last until the second city council meeting in June when the budget is approved.
“We will look at all levels of operations and all departments within the city including the fire department to analyze needs. These will be compared to revenue expectations, which at this time, we do not see any relief coming in the near future,” he said.
In the meantime, Clevenger said the GRFD will continue to operate under the management of the two assistant fire chiefs.
“We continue to expect the two assistants to perform their duties managing the department as they are now for the time being,” Clevenger said.
