PFPD Needs New Trustee

The Plainfield Fire Protection District is taking resumes and letters of application to serve in the seat opened on the board of trustees until 2017, with the only absolute requirements being that you are a registered voter and a resident of the PFPD.

Even if you aren’t interested in serving on this board, maybe you know someone who might be?

Former Trustee Mark Reynolds resigned his seat after being recently hired by the district as an Assistant Chief (note: corrected from original post which mistakenly read ”Deputy Chief”--sorry) and his new job created a conflict of interest as a trustee. Mr. Reynolds was himself an appointee to the board to fill a seat that opened up when another trustee had resigned. He then ran for the board this past spring and was elected. His seat in theory would be up in 2021, but board regulations demand that any such appointee serves only until the next consolidated election for the PFPD. That means until spring of 2017 for this new appointee, at which time they could choose to run for a full six year term on the board.

I’ve been told that age and gender are not relevant to this path of public service (except in that you must be old enough to be a registered voter!) and that you do NOT need to have experience in the fire service. Anyone with the will and the enthusiasm to get in and roll up their sleeves and do the work of being a trustee can be a great trustee!

As someone who has gone to a good number of board meetings, I’ve seen that the topics the PFPD board takes on can be as ordinary as simple receipts and bill payment, but also as varied and interesting as the new training facility or the software to track training and equipment, etc. A new strategic plan is currently being developed as well, and this board will no doubt be taking on lots of questions on how to serve Plainfield well for years to come. They work on vital issues of many kinds for all of us, with the help of solid and helpful administration and staff at the PFPD.

The text below was issued by the PFPD regarding this trustee vacancy and it’s followed by a link to the PFPD’s website info on same--the deadline to apply is this Friday, October 2nd, at 4p:

“ N O T I C E Due to the resignation of a member of the Board of Trustees of the Plainfield Fire Protection District, applications are being accepted for consideration for an appointment until the next election. All interested District residents, who must also be a registered voter, may submit their resume to the Plainfield Fire Protection District, Board of Trustees at 23748 W. 135th St., Plainfield, IL 60544. Applications will be accepted through October 2, 2015 by 4:00 p.m. Any questions, please contact Cheree Lewis, Finance/HR Director at 815.733.7310.”

If you click the link below, you get to the main board page on the (new!) PFPD website and to the far right of all the board portraits is the district logo with ”Open Trustee Position” below it. It says that you click the link to get an “application”, but that’s a bit misleading. When you click that link you simply get the text in italics as above, and all this means is that you send in or drop off your resume with a cover letter expressing your intention to apply for the open seat.

http://www.plainfieldfpd.org/trustee/

ETA--Herald-News of 9/29/15 has good story on this, linked here.