Nathan Lorick is now interim chief of the Gunter Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department, KTEN reported Thursday, filling the post left open when longtime chief Jon Logan retired.
Logan announced his retirement last month after 30 years with the department. In a written statement at the time, he said that as a volunteer he no longer had the time to serve the department's members effectively.
Lorick told KTEN his priorities are keeping the people the department already has, raising money for equipment and training.
A tighter budget year
He steps in as a new city budget takes effect without money for the department's on-call pay program. In a letter posted Oct. 1, City Manager Hayden Brodowsky wrote that the fiscal 2027 budget no longer funds the volunteer fire department's on-call and shift-pay program, along with a proposed attack vehicle and related equipment.
According to the letter, the city started the on-call program in fiscal 2024-25 with about $39,800, then raised it to $110,000 for 2025-26. Brodowsky wrote that the program helped put more volunteers at the station, but that the city cannot keep paying for it at that level out of recurring General Fund revenue.
The cut was one of several made after the city found a recurring General Fund gap of roughly $730,000 while building the budget.
