LETTER: Vote For The Best Interests Of Enfield Fire District 1

ENFIELD, CT — On May 17, voters in Enfield Fire District No. 1 will vote for three fire commissioners. Unfortunately, a “slate” of candidates has taken to social media, flyers, and the newspaper to disparage the current board of commissioners, pushing abjectly false and inflammatory information bordering on slander.

That slate - Derek Chapin, Mark Morell, and John Alexander - have complained of “lack of transparency,” “out of control” spending, and increasing taxes. All of this couldn’t be further from the truth.

All commission meetings are open to the public, with the exception of matters which involve litigation or personnel matters. All three of these gentlemen are welcome to attend any meetings they want to. Yet, in the three-plus years I have been on the commission, I have seen them attend a grand total of one meeting—and that was the meeting to get nominated for the election, which was attended by Morell and Alexander. I have never seen Chapin at a meeting, but according to him, he’s a busy, busy guy.

In over three years, we have not raised our mill rate…in fact, this year we cut it by 0.5 mills. Mr. Alexander has suggested that didn’t amount to a “cut” since assessments on district properties were raised. Unfortunately just as costs have increased for our residents, so too have costs for the district, in particular energy and personnel costs. However with the current state of the economy in mind, we felt it important to mitigate any possible increase.

The district has purchased three pieces of apparatus in the past two years, none of which required an increase in taxes. This allowed us to upgrade the fleet to being modern, safe, and NFPA compliant. And in the process, we were able to downsize the fleet by one engine. By eliminating older apparatus which were a maintenance black hole, we will be able to save the district money on maintenance costs.

The “slate” has accused the commission of fiscal mismanagement; however the district undergoes a rigorous annual audit, which we have routinely passed with flying colors.

Finally there is the issue of a couple of glitches which have come up lately regarding district meetings. The first concerned the vote on the new quint, which we discovered had been improperly warned. Once this was recognized, we rescheduled the vote. The notice had been approved by our attorney, so we believed we had correctly posted the warning.

The second issue concerns the election of commissioners. Mr. Chapin has alleged that this was done in an effort to sandbag the challengers, which is a lie. All seven candidates were equally affected. Again, based on Chapter 7 of the Connecticut General Statutes, we believed we met our legal obligations in how the articles for the district meeting were warned.

When one of the challengers (Chapin) complained about how the vote was warned, we proactively decided to lend more transparency to the vote and had the article tabled until the vote this coming week. We still believe we complied with state statute, but nonetheless, we addressed the concern.

This “slate” of candidates has an agenda, and it has nothing to do with what is in the best interests of the residents of District 1. They are rabid consolidation proponents, backed by a certain member of the Enfield Town Council and the town manager who doesn’t even live in Enfield and other than drawing a paycheck isn’t invested in the town.

However they have not said how they would accomplish this. For example, who would absorb the estimated $15 million in liabilities collectively held by the five fire districts? That would have to be addressed in any consolidation. The town? How much of a tax increase would that lead to if the taxpayers had to absorb such an amount in the matter of a year or two?

They talk a good game, but have yet to release their plan to implement all the amazing things they apparently have in mind. Talk is cheap.

Aside from this “slate,” there are four candidates running for three positions, all of whom have dedicated decades in public service to the community … Gary Castle, Paul Meunier, Sean McGuire and Scott Prentiss.

District voters can vote for individuals who want to use the fire commission to fulfill personal vendettas, or they can vote for those who have the best interests of Enfield Fire District residents and taxpayers at heart.

Patrick Droney, President
Enfield Fire Commission, District 1

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