The voters have spoken, and a date has been set to return the Chico Way fire station to full capacity.
Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue officials will have the Chico station, which has been largely unmanned for a year and a half, staffed full time starting Dec. 1, Fire Chief Scott Weninger announced at a board of commissioners meeting Monday.
Voters approved three ballot measures -- two levies and a bond -- last year, after the district reduced the minimum staffing level to 17 from 19 firefighters in early 2014 to cut overtime spending. The four-year, $1.8 million maintenance and operations levy passed in November allowed district officials to hire six firefighters to help staff the Chico station.
Based on 2017 projections by Monika Carberry, the district's information services manager, "it looks like we'll be able to sustain 19 as our minimum staffing level," Weninger said.