In a remarkable cliff-hanger election in the Fairview Fire District on December 11, Virginia Buechele and Alan Crotty are tied for the three-year fire commissioner position. Your devoted blogger was elected to a five-year commissioner position.
Three-Year Commissioner Slot
Out of 92 ballots cast, each of the two candidates in the three-year contest received 46 votes. Buechele, former leader of the Fairness for Fairview advocacy organization, has been a Fairview fire commissioner for one year. Her opponent, Alan Crotty, was a volunteer Fairview Fire Chief in the early '90s, but has not been involved in Fairview issues in recent years. As in the 2008, 2009, and 2011 elections, this contest was a choice between a relative newcomer aligned with taxpayer advocacy and a veteran aligned with the fire station. Voter turnout was considerably lower than in any previous contested election in the last five years.
Remarkably, the result of the three-year contest was delayed until a few days ago. That's because during the election, the election inspectors sequestered one ballot for a voter not listed on Fairview's voter roll. It wasn't until November 13 that the Dutchess County Board of Elections determined that this voter was indeed a legitimate voter in the Fairview Fire District, mistakenly omitted from the roll. When the election inspectors opened the sequestered ballot at a public meeting on November 13 at 5:30 P.M., it was found to be the tying vote. The tie will be resolved by a special election between the two candidates, presumably in mid-January.
Five-Year Commissioner Slot
It was not determined until November 21 that the five-year commissioner slot would be uncontested, although I did not find out until November 26. I received 74 votes out of the 92 ballots cast. Of the remaining 18 ballots, 14 were blank and 4 went to two write-in candidates.
Fairview Still Won't Have a Full Board
Instead of the normal 5-member board of fire commissioners, Fairview has had only 4 or fewer commissioners for the last year and a half. This deficiency has inevitably meant that less work got done. It also has made decision-making more difficult. For example, the board failed to appoint a commissioner last winter because of a 2-2 deadlock.
There was every reason to expect that this month's election would finally allow the board to achieve full strength. But the impossible-to-anticipate tie means that the board's next meeting on January 8-th will once again be with only 4 commissioners. Presumably, this problem will be resolved expeditiously with the run-off election. Unless, of course, it again results in a tie!
This Blog Will Change
When I take office as Fairview Fire Commissioner on January 8, this blog will change in three ways:
- I probably won't publish posts critical of Fairview Fire District officials. After all, I'll be one of them. I expect to make my views known from the inside.
- I probably won't publish posts on factual topics related to the Fairview Fire District, such as Fairview fire tax rates, Fairview exempt percents, and so on. My preference would be for such information to appear on the Fairview Fire District website.
- The frequency of posts will diminish because I will have less time to conduct property tax investigations.
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