Two fire district boards expand to five members

Two rural fire district boards that have dealt with recent turmoil had votes passed Tuesday expanding their size from three to five members.

The Millersville Fire District board had its share of controversy during the past year, said Janice Robertson, who defeated incumbent board member Lori Aufdenberg by nine votes Tuesday.

The board struggled last November with a wave of resignations sliced the 22-member department in half over a budgeting disagreement.

The 12 members who had quit, including chief Jerry Aufdenberg, were reinstated after an emergency meeting.

"I didn't know for sure what was going to happen," Robertson said about both the race for the board vacancy and the ballot question regarding expansion, which passed 138 to 32 votes.

Robertson said she thinks having two more members on the fire board to provide opinion and insight will help the growth of the department.

East County Fire Protection District board incumbent Terrence Kelley, who received 133 votes, said he doesn't think expanding the board was the biggest priority but that he believes a larger board will mean more participation in the district.

Kelley and incumbent Connie Exler, both appointed temporarily last year by the court after resignations left the board with just one member, defeated challenger Norman Goehman for the two board vacancies.

Exler received 105 votes and Kelley 133 to Goehman's 63.

The ballot question asking voters to expand the East County board passed with 75 percent of the votes, 127 to 41.

"It's going to be a big help," Exler said.

Exler said the board hopes that by adding two members it will avoid running into trouble again if a member resigns.

Another benefit of having a larger board is that if two members happen to be in the same place at the same time, it doesn't constitute a quorum, leading to legal complications and problems, Exler said.

"I think we'll just be better off," she said.

The newly created seats on both fire boards will be filled by voters the next time the board seats come up for election.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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