by John Q. Murray
The third time's the charm.
For the third election in a row, Frenchtown Fire district residents asked for greater fiscal responsibility, and on Tuesday, their votes changed the majority on the five-member board. Three trustees are now advocates for greater control over the fire district budget.
On Tuesday, voters elected Glenn Green and Ray Winn by a wide margin in an election that saw nearly 20 percent turnout countywide.
In unofficial results, Green had 755 votes and Winn 701 votes to defeat incumbent Dee Woods, 432 votes, and Harry R Kenck, 392 votes.
Green thanked all of the voters for participating, whether they supported him or not. "We have a public say in our democracy," he said. As a new board member, he said he would seek greater input into fire district decision-making. "We want input from the public," he said.
Winn also thanked the voters, saying he was gratified by both the high voter turnout and the margin of victory. "There was a clear mandate for change," he said.
Tuesday's fire board election followed the same pattern established over the last two years. Voters defeated a proposed levy increase in November 2006, then in May 2007 elected candidate Mitchell Hicks over three other candidates. Hicks campaigned on a pledge to seek budget savings.
After his election, Hicks was often ignored by the four other trustees. His proposals often failed to even earn a discussion for lack of another trustee to second his motions. He frequently stood as the lone dissenting voice in 4-1 votes.
In the 2008 election, while all four candidates offered strong support and appreciation for the district's volunteers, there were stark differences among them on other issues, such as impact fees and residential fire sprinklers.
Green and Winn opposed impact fees, while Woods and Kenck supported them. A proposal before Missoula County would charge an impact fee of about $2,000 for each new single-family home in the district to pay for the increased costs of fire protection associated with growth.
Green and Winn also opposed Fire Chief Scott Waldron for involving the district in water supply requirements for new construction, by advocating residential sprinklers. Green and Winn said fire districts should not be involved with building codes for new construction, while Woods and Kenck applauded Waldron's leadership on the issue.
Green and Winn criticized the outgoing board for approving, just before the election, a nine percent raise effective July 1 for most full-time Frenchtown Fire staff members. Six of the eight full-time staff members then voted to join a firefighters' union.
Missoula County elections officials said complete precinct results and voter turnout figures would be available after the official canvass of the votes next week.
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