King County District 43 Fire Commissioner Jeff Granlund had served on the board for nearly 12 years, but Thursday night he resigned his position when it was announced the Board of Commissioners would not renew Chief Tim Lemon’s contract.

“I resigned because I did not agree with the decision of the other two commissioners (Brian McGee and Mike Scott),” Granlund said. “This is not the way I wanted to go out after 25 years (in fire service). The reasons for not renewing his (Lemon’s) contract were not justified. Chief Lemon was wronged. When they made the announcement, I resigned.”

McGee and Scott could not be reached for comment prior to posting this article.

The chief was placed on voluntary administrative leave Friday morning according to a press release sent out by the department. Deputy Chief Brad Doerflinger was appointed as interim chief.

“I can’t support McGee or Scott,” Granlund said. “We lost direction and I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Granlund said prior to the meeting he had no idea Lemon’s contract would not be renewed. He said the commissioners had sat down briefly with the chief to discuss some issues, but there were no detailed discussions about the contract.

Granlund said the department is in a financial crisis right now and “we have one major issue (which is) to retain employees.”

He said resigning “was a really hard decision.”

Granlund is on the November general election ballot for his seat, Position No. 3. He said he has not decided what he will do about the election. Camille Walls is challenging him for the seat.

Granlund can not withdraw his name from the ballot, according to information provided to the Reporter on Friday by King County Elections, as the deadline to do so was on June 11.

The two remaining commissioners have scheduled a special meeting 10 a.m. Monday at Station 80, 23775 S.E. 264th Street. On the agenda is the appointment of a commissioner to fill Granlund’s seat.