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The special Friday morning hybrid meeting at which Fire District 13 commissioners approved a 2023 budget lasted just 20 minutes.

But the real hard work crafting the fiscal plan of slightly more than $1.6 million and operating expenses nearing $1.4 million took place in the weeks before Nov. 18.

Chairman Bruce Shellhamer praised district secretary Tracy Berg and Fire Chief Wood Weiss for preliminary work in developing the budget.

"Tracy and Chief Weiss have been working hard on this," said Shellhamer. "They've done a great job coming up with an efficient budget that gives us flexibility in thes...