Fly Creek Fire District Elects New Commissioners

By CASPAR EWIG

Keith Dickinson, Sam Hoskins and Edward Kuken-berger emerged as winners in a hotly contested election on Tuesday, December 13 for three seats on the Board of Fire Commissioners of the Fly Creek Fire District.

Dickinson defeated Joan Kegelman, the sitting appointed chairman, for a full five-year term. Hoskins, who ran unopposed, will fill a vacant seat for a three-year term, and Kukenberger will rejoin the board for a one-year term, having defeated challenger Kevin Green.

The three winning candidates will join Christine Voulo and Betty Staffin, who are currently serving five-year terms.

In addition, voters rejected five separate propositions. Four of the propositions requested voters to ratify board resolutions which had been passed the week prior to the election. These resolutions sought to establish multiple reserve funds to cover the purchase, maintenance, and repair of various fire department equipment and buildings. The fifth defeated proposition was to ratify a board resolution of November 10 that converted the position of fire district treasurer from an elected to an appointed post.

Fly Creek Fire District elections historically do not elicit a large crowd, and some past elections have drawn less than 10 voters, sources said. However, due to the emotions surrounding this election and issues raised by the propositions, the board anticipated a high turnout and had prepared 1,800 ballots. In the end, a total of 176 voters arrived at the polls, still representing an unusually high interest.

According to community members, over the past few years an increasingly contentious atmosphere has pervaded the board, including the exchange of personal accusations and aspersions, resulting in what one voter described as an unprecedented number of resignations.

These vacant spots were filled by appointment, and the terms of those commissioners could only last until the next annual election. Thus, Hoskins and Kukenberger were elected to fill the unexpired terms of those appointed commissioners.

The dispute underlying this election was the nature of the fire department’s administration.
“We governed according to the guidelines established in the Handbook of the Association of Fire Districts,” said outgoing Chairman Joan Kegelman.

However, the slate of challenging commissioners campaigned on the theme that the existing board had created an unnecessarily rigid and formalistic structure, requiring needless expenditures of thousands of dollars.

“In the past the board was always able to get things done within those guidelines on a more congenial and informal basis,” said a spokesman for the challengers. “And this election was a referendum by the community that it wanted to return to that kind of governance.”

A group opposing the proposals issued a circular prior to the election, titled “Save The Date,” pointing out that the creation of reserve funds would seriously interfere with the flexibility of using monies as needed. Conversely, the board considered the establishment of such escrow accounts to be consistent with New York State guidelines for Fire District Commissions. Neither side disputed the need to create reserves to replace or repair equipment, but again disagreed on the structure required to achieve that result.

The first organizational meeting of the newly-constituted Board of Fire Commissioners will take place on January 12, 2023.