By Cheryl Schweizer
Chronicle correspondent

     BREWSTER - Douglas-Okanogan Fire District No. 15 has a new commissioner who's a familiar face, the combination of an unusual set of circumstances.
     Phil Brownlee, Pateros, was appointed Dec. 14 to fill a vacant seat.
     The district was formed when three fire districts consolidated and had a nine-person board as a result. Commission positions were eliminated as terms expired, and the district eventually would've had three commissioners. But in 2008, voters decided to have a five-person board.
     Because that election was held in an even year it established new commission seats in 2009, even though there were five commissioners already, Okanogan County Elections Deputy Mila Jury said.
     "They only had one seat, but there were three people in it," two of them holdovers from the old fire districts.
     Those seats were held by Neil Shenyer and Dick Shaw, and neither ran for re-election. Their positions will be eliminated Jan. 1.
     Kyle Wilfong and Tim Baird both ran for an open position in the 2009 general election; Wilfong won. After that, commissioners discovered they had another seat to fill, and commission Chairman Ike Vallance proposed appointing Baird, who was at the meeting, to a two-year seat.
     But Shenyer said Brownlee was interested in the position and proposed appointing him instead. Brownlee was on the commission for many years before being defeated for re-election in 2007.
     After some discussion, commissioners Shenyer, Shaw, Wilfong and Lonnie Fenton voted against appointing Baird. Brownlee was confirmed by a vote of the same four commissioners.
     In other business, ambulance Chief Tonya Vallance reported that district officials are pursuing a grant for a new ambulance. The estimated cost is $162,000.