Intent on pushing by-laws change already once rejected, Simsbury Fire District seeks to alter election process.

The Simsbury Fire District has called for a Special Meeting on Monday, February 8th at 7pm to be convened at the Main Station located at 871 Hopmeadow Street. The purpose of the meeting is to ask the tax payers of Simsbury to approve proposed changes to the Fire District By-laws. At the heart of the proposal are significant alterations to the process in which Simsbury Fire District Officers are elected. The election process codified in the Fire District By-laws follows Robert’s Rules of Order for the most part and has worked without issue or objection for many decades, but now the Fire District claims significant changes are required to the process.

At the Annual Meeting of the Fire District in 2013, the Nominating Committee presented its slate of candidates for Fire District offices as they typically do each year. Their slate consisted of three incumbents who were running to retain their positions as President, Treasurer and Secretary, and an additional candidate running to fill the open seat of Vice-president. After the slate was presented the Fire District President asked if there were any other nominations and a challenger for the open seat was nominated from the floor and seconded in accordance with Robert’s Rules.

The nomination of the challenger from the floor ignited a heated exchange between those in attendance and members of the Fire District whose conduct was nothing short of disgraceful. A motion to hold the election by means of a secret ballot was requested but the Fire District President initially refused to allow it and only relented after the appointed parliamentarian instructed the President that it must be considered.

While the ballots were being prepared a discussion ensued as to how the Fire District came to choose their candidate to fill the open position of Vice-president. The Fire District President asserted that the candidate had on their own, approached the District Nominating Committee and expressed interest in filling the position, and the Fire District was not involved in any way. The President’s statement was an outright lie. The Fire District President had contacted the Chair of the Nominating Committee and requested that the District’s chosen candidate be put on the slate for Fire District Vice-president.

The vote was taken and the challenger nominated from the floor won the seat for Fire District Vice-president. Afterwards the Fire District President and outgoing Vice-president took turns admonishing those in attendance for what they had done.

Several months later, the Simsbury Fire District began to quietly craft some changes to their By-laws to alter the process regarding how their elections were held. It was very simple – incumbents wishing to run again for their seats didn’t have to do anything. Anyone who wished to run as a petitioning candidate for a seat on the Fire District had to go out and collect fifteen signatures from Simsbury voters, fill out required paperwork which had never existed before, and file their intent to run at least fifteen days before the Fire District’s Annual Meeting.

As if these requirements didn’t seek to create enough of an unfair, lopsided process, another proposed change to the Fire District’s by-laws would prohibit any person from being nominated from the floor.

The motivation and intent of the proposed changes were quite obvious. The Fire District’s proposal was a punitive reprisal and designed to make it quite burdensome for anyone wishing to run in opposition of the Fire District’s own candidates.

The proposed changes to the District’s by-laws were presented at their Annual Meeting in May of 2014 and I spoke in opposition of the proposed changes as did several others. Most of the questions I asked of the Fire District they couldn’t answer or refused to. I objected that they had not provided any public hearings so the tax payers could weigh-in on the proposal prior to the vote. While the by-laws proposal was posted on their website, for two weeks it was taken down just prior to the District’s annual meeting because the language in the proposed changes was so bad, it had to be reworked in some places.

To me, the proposed changes were a solution in search of a problem. The District’s election process had worked just fine for decades, right up to the point where they came up short in a process that was already tilted in their favor. Now the District wanted to keep anything like what had happened from ever happening again, and they weren’t shy about it. The Fire District President had previously openly made remarks about his concern that a tax payer from outside the fire department could come to the annual meeting with friends and family, and get elected to the Fire District. Well, isn’t that every Simsbury tax payer’s right? The President repeated his remark again that night during the debate.

I asked the District what criteria would be used to select nominating committee members. Historically the six Captains of the Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company have comprised the District’s nominating committee. While all good and honorable people, the captains certainly have a vested interest in not getting on the bad side of the Fire District.

I asked what guidelines had been developed to guide the nominating committee in selecting candidates. Would the nominating committee be empowered to independently seek candidates for Fire District office, or were they to simply regurgitate what the Fire District instructed them to? What if the committee presented a slate with candidates other than what the incumbent Fire District officers desired to be presented? I received no answer.

The by-laws proposal was voted down that evening but now the Fire District has decided to resurrect their attempt to engineer process that produces an outcome to their liking. They have removed some of the more nefarious aspects of the proposal but their motivation and intent remain the same. Even though the new proposal requires all candidates, incumbent or not to register with the Fire District Clerk in advance of the vote, they still intent to have a nominating committee who will offer a slate.

Why? If all candidates are declaring their intention to run in advance, why does any candidate need to be nominated via a slate? The only purpose a nominating committee and slate will serve will be to provide an impression that an impartial panel has vetted the candidates and recommends certain candidates over others based on their qualifications, and it’s no secret who will benefit from that process.

And yes, this newest version of the District’s proposed by-laws alteration still will deny the tax payers the ability to make any nominations from the floor.

The initial Fire District proposed by-laws change was a direct reaction to the tax payers exercising their democratic rights and their desire to participate in their government, and this new proposal is punitive just like the last. Because the tax payers chose to exercise their rights, that apparently must be curtailed.

There are more important issues that the Fire District should be focused on. The Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company has recently lost so many members that the department has had to assign extra apparatus to all calls simply to generate enough manpower to properly handle emergencies. Instead of addressing this serious issue that affects everyone in town, the Fire District is focused on unneeded by-laws changes and their newest pet project – running their FM radio station. Yes, you read that correctly.

Tell the Fire District that their positions are not their own exclusive club where membership is by invitation only and interlopers need not apply. I urge the voters of Simsbury to attend the District’s special meeting and say with a loud voice, get back to doing what you are elected to do and address the important issues that need your attention.