Nominated for the fire board

[SPIPER]

We have board elections tonight for my volly depts. fire board. There are 5 members. One is always held by the fire chief, the other 4 are elected. Anyone can be elected, only people who are current on their yearly dues can vote. Apparently the rest of the ff's and chief think I'm the man for the job, so I accepted the nomination. I'll be the only one on it under 50 if I get elected! LOL I hope I can do a good job and serve the best interest of the department and the community.

[SilverCity4]

I served on our Board for a couple of years. At the time, I was the youngest by at least 30 years!

1. Don't be afraid to throw out new ideas.

2. Don't be surprised if the ideas don't fly...

3. Don't get in a hurry, 'cause decisions come slower than you think.

4. You'll never have as much money as you need.

[SPIPER]

There were 2 positions up for election, only one was vacant by a guy who quit. The incumbant of the other one was re-elected, and I lost to the fuggin mayor! The town council cant decide on simple stuff like who to hire to fill pot holes, they just put it off till the next month. I think we are in for big trouble, with this moron on the fire board too. All of the members of the dept. voted for me though.

[SilverCity4]

Tough break, Steve.

Don't be too disappointed. Abraham Lincoln lost many, many bids for office before being elected to any office....and look what he did for us!

Being on the Board gives you an opportunity to shape the department and help in many different ways than you can be just being a firefighter. It does come with it's own set of frustrations and disappointments. Enjoy being a firefighter and worry about the Board elections next year.

[SPIPER]

I really did'nt want it in the first place, but the rest of the dept. ganged up on me and talked me into it. Now we're stuck with this clown who knows absolutly nothing about the fire service for the next 3 years. This town is comprised mostly of older folks who apparntly think this 33 year old whipper snapper could'nt do the job. It's out of my hands now. This is the first time in a long, long time all of the board members have'nt all been firefighters. Just have to wait and see what happens.

[SilverCity4]

Guess we're the only two who care about this, huh?

Having an all-firefighter board has it's pros and cons. There's nothing wrong with differing views, either. In fact it can be healthly.

Now that I've said that, we had a pretty serious incident a few years ago where "non firefighter" board members managed to gain control of the board. It was for their own purposes, and it wasn't pretty. Fortunately, they gave up on their little coup after after six months, and all resigned at the same meeting.

Shortly thereafter, we changed the bylaws so that only one board member is elected each year, and threw in a clause stating that Board Members are expecting to be active participants in the fire department, but not necassarily firefighters. That means they're expected to help with workdays or fundraisers, bring drinking water, something other that show up once a month and say,"Why are we need another truck?" or "How come we get the paint scratched up on the brush truck all the time?"

[SPIPER]

Thankfully we don't elect all 4 at the same time. 2 positions are 3 years and 2 are 2 years. All you have to do in order to be on the board is pay the $25 yearly dues, nothing more. I agree about a fresh perspective but by someone with some sense. We had a big debacle a few years ago when the Lions club pulled out, and some ding bats had control of the fireboard and almost bankrupted it. We are just now getting back to the way it was before "them".