CAPE GEORGE — Chief Ed Erhardt will leave Jefferson County Fire District No. 6 to become the new manager of the Port of Poulsbo at the end of the month.
Erhardt, who announced in February that he was going to retire from the fire district, said Monday that he had decided to take the job in Kitsap County.
He said the fact that he had been the odd man out in merger talks between the Cape George-based fire district and the city of Port Townsend led to his departure.
“I’ve been through mergers before and there is not room for two chiefs,” he said. “I have no hard feelings and no bad things to say.”
Commissioner Rich Stapf said Erhardt’s decision to back out of his two-year contract a year before it expired “came as a complete surprise to the board.”
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The rest of this story appears in the Tuesday Peninsula Daily News Jefferson County edition. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.