By Cheryl Schweizer
Chronicle correspondent

     BREWSTER - Tim Baird has been offered a seat on the Douglas-Okanogan County Fire District No. 15 board.
     Baird was an applicant for a seat at the end of December, but four of the commissioners on the board at the time voted to offer the position to former commissioner Phil Brownlee instead.
     Earlier this month commissioner Kyle Wilfong, who defeated Baird for the seat in the November election, moved out of the district and has submitted a letter of resignation. Current board members voted to ask Baird to take over the seat.
     In other business Jan. 11, fire commissioners discussed but did not take action on a proposal to raise pay for district EMS employees and discussed changes to compensation for volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel.
     Fire districts are being encouraged to change volunteer compensation schedules, EMS Administrator Tonya Vallance said.
     The movement started in more populous counties, Commissioner Ike Vallance said.
     The district's attorney has submitted a proposal for those changes, Tonya Vallance said, but Joe Kitzman and Mike Lambert, chiefs in Methow and Pateros, respectively, said their volunteers do it for the sake of volunteering, not for the pay.