A new fire chief has been chosen, and the police force is nearly at full strength again.
The new chief will be Mark Billmire, now of McCall, Idaho, where he headed a fire force for six years until June. The Lynden City Council on Monday unanimously confirmed Mayor Scott Korthuis’s choice of Billmire, who will begin work here on Sept. 17.
The full chief slot has been in limbo since Robert Spinner died unexpectedly at age 50 in July 2017.
And, with many family members present, Matthew Thompson and Aaron Belt were sworn in as Lynden police officers by Korthuis. Thompson has about eight years of experience in Everson and is a U.S. Coast Guard Reserve while Belt comes from the Skagit County Sheriff’s Department and served four years in the U.S. Navy.