Gayle Sommers, who was elected six years ago as a reform candidate to the Island’s fire commission, will step down from the post before her term expires later this year. 

Sommers, 59, and her husband Paul Sommers plan to leave Vashon in June for about a year, live on their sailboat in Nova Scotia for two months and then sail along the East Coast.

Sommers, who hadn’t planned to run again after her six-year term ended this fall, said she feels she’s leaving the five-member board at a good time. Vashon Island Fire & Rescue, under the leadership of Chief Hank Lipe and his top administrators, is “in really good shape,” she said.

“I’m really pleased with what I and the other board members have accomplished. Things are very different from the way they were when I took office,” she said.

She’s particularly pleased that the fire department now has staff working actively to attract and retain volunteers, “so that we can continue to be a combination department with all the challenges,” she said.