SEQUIM — A newly appointed commissioner has been seated on the Clallam County Fire District No. 3 board.
Michael Gawley was appointed to the position left open when former Commissioner Gary Coffey resigned at the end of December.
Gawley was sworn in earlier this month during a special meeting among the commissioners of Clallam County Fire Districts Nos. 2 and 3.
He will serve until his term expires Dec. 31, 2015, and can run for election to fill the position for a full-six year term.
Gawley moved to Sequim from Hawaii after he retired in 2005 from the Federal Aviation Administration after 32 years of service as an air traffic controller, staff support specialist and applied technology center computer specialist.
He began serving as a volunteer firefighter with District No. 3 in 2006.
Since then, he has obtained an emergency medical technician certification and has been serving as a senior firefighter and EMT at Station 31 in the Dungeness area of the district.
Gawley has been married 48 years to Teddie Gawley, who retired from the Department of Defense, where she worked as a registered nurse.
He has two sons: Michael, who lives in Australia, and Bill, who is a District No. 3 volunteer firefighter and member of the technical rescue team.
Gawley spends much of his spare time building a small airplane at Sequim Valley Airport, working on rental properties and riding his motorcycle.
Fire District No. 3 commissioner meetings, which are open to the public, are at 1 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 323 N. Fifth Ave., in Sequim.
