ELECTIONS 2025: North Whidbey fire board candidates stress readiness

Allyson Ballard reports on elections in North Whidbey for the Whidbey News-Times. Read the whole story.

Keeping membership trained is a shared priority of two fire commissioner candidates going head-to-head.

Matthew Nienhuis, 47, is challenging incumbent Robert Miller, 80, for his spot on the North Whidbey Fire and Rescue board of commissioners.

They Said It

Nienhuis, born and raised on Whidbey, earned his bachelor’s of arts in business administration and finance from Northwestern College before obtaining a teaching certificate at Central Washington University. He worked for Island County Public Works and now serves as the public works director for the city of Mukilteo.

Despite lacking fire service himself, he interacts with Mukilteo’s fire department on a daily basis as part of his duties.

“I am more of a government, executive background, as far as leading local governments to try and be efficient and serve the community as best they can,” he explained.

Miller moved to Oak Harbor from Woodinville in 2018, where he lived almost 40 years while working nearly as long for the Seattle Police Department. There, he managed vehicles and gear as a fleet analyst. He also served as a fire commissioner for 24 years in Woodinville.

Although sitting on the North Whidbey Fire and Commissioner board now, this is Miller’s first time going up for election — his current position is an unexpired term he was appointed to finish.

“I’ve had a lot of experience working through processes and dealing with people and helping getting generalized positive outcomes from issues that come up,” he said.

Giving back to his community is something Nienhuis is passionate about, hence his decision to run for commissioner. Managing “rigid” public budgets as he does in Mukilteo is something he believes would come in handy if elected — maximizing the resources which can be drawn from the taxpayer dollar is important.

He knows what qualities make a group like a board of commissioners successful. That means entrusting staff with the tools they need to fulfill their responsibilities to the community — rather than micromanage them — and prioritizing accountability.

Providing membership with necessary training and equipment is important to him.

“I want to be able to give back to the community and help this organization that I think does such a great job,” he said. “I love North Whidbey and I love its residents and I’m here to stay, I’m invested in it.”

Miller is cognizant of the differences between Woodinville and North Whidbey — the latter is more rural, which can make securing funds through tax revenue more difficult. He takes that seriously.

“We have to be very careful with our funds, make sure that we do all our homework and we get the best equipment and personnel we can,” he explained.

Like Nienhuis, Miller cares about keeping membership sharp. Over the next year or two, he wants to secure property upon which to eventually build a permanent training facility.

“(Firefighters) need constant training and reevaluation of their skills. They have to be at the top, utmost caliber when they deal with the public because people’s lives are at stake,” he said.

On the Ballot in November 2025