Mike Mingee, chief of the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District, has his eye on retiring this summer.
The fire chief has held the post since November 2007 and will ask the district’s board of directors to accept his bid for retirement at a meeting Tuesday evening.
According to the agenda, and a formal statement Mingee released Thursday, he is requesting to separate from his employment contract on July 31 — a year earlier than outlined in his current contract.
“I will be releasing a statement to the media that night after the agenda item is voted on,” he said in a prepared statement.
Pressed further, Mingee, 59, told Noozhawk that while his contact expires at the end of 2016, he’d like to retire sooner because “it’s time for me to move on to the next phase of my life.”
Carpinteria-Summerland Fire spokeswoman Grace Donnelly said she couldn’t provide any more details on the planned action or why Mingee wanted to leave early.
Mingee has led the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District for the past eight years, with 39 years of total fire service experience.
He began his career in 1976, working up the ranks of fire departments in Southern California’s Inland Empire to captain, fire marshal and operations chief positions, according to the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District.
Before moving to Santa Barbara County, Mingee served four years as a fire chief in western Washington.
Mingee’s retirement request comes the same month voters rejected a $10.65 million bond measure for the fire district. Measure Z asked for funds to build a new Summerland fire station and renovate its larger Carpinteria station.
Mingee was also in the news in November 2013, when three firefighters filed a lawsuit against the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District and its chief, claiming that they were retaliated against for pointing out safety violations that endangered themselves and potentially added cost to taxpayers.
The fire district board will determine Mingee’s future during a meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at 5775 Carpinteria Ave. in Carpinteria.
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.