Fire Commissioner elections today until 9 p.m.
Polls are now open for some area voters to decide open fire commissioner seats and various referendums and bond votes.
• RIVERHEAD
Two commissioner seats for the Riverhead Fire District are open. A referendum is also up for approval on whether to make changes to the district’s Length of Service Awards Program (LOSAP), which aims to recruit and retain volunteers in the fire department.
Richard S. Campbell and Kyle Watts are both seeking a five-year term made available when Commissioner Dennis Hamel decided not to seek reelection. Both are members of the department, and Mr. Campbell is an ex-captain.
Kathleen Berezny and Timothy Murphy are on the ballot for the other seat, a three-year term left vacant when ex-chief William Kelly died in June. Mr. Murphy is a member of the department and Ms. Berezny is the chaplain of the Riverhead Ladies Auxiliary. Her husband, Joseph, is also an ex-captain.
The LOSAP program was initiated in Riverhead in 1997 and has not been changed since, according to Caitlin Buthmann, the district’s secretary and treasurer.
The original program allowed members to accumulate up to 20 years of service credit, while the proposed change would increase that to 50 years, which is the maximum allowed by New York State law. It will also increase the monthly benefits, which was $20 per month, per year of service credit, to $30 per month per year of service credit, according to Ms. Buthmann.
If approved, the LOSAP changes go into effect January of 2025.
The fire district, which is overseeing the program, is proposing decreasing the entitlement age from 65 to 62 years old.
The proposed changes also add a guarantee of years of payment. This way, if a department member receiving their service credits died having only received five year’s worth of payments, their beneficiary would receive the remainder.
“Previously, if you passed away, that was the end of it; the payments stopped and nothing went to your beneficiary,” Ms. Buthmann said.
Voting is open today, Tuesday, Dec. 12 from 3 to 9 p.m. at Riverhead Fire District headquarters on Roanoke Avenue.
• FLANDERS
In the race for one commissioner seat at the Flanders Fire District, incumbent Robert Merker is running unopposed for a five-year term.
The vacant seat, previously held by Brian Williams, who died at the beginning of November, will remain vacant for now.
Voting will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the firehouse on 19 Firehouse Lane, off Flanders Road.
There is also a bond vote in Flanders, to authorize the purchase of a fire truck with affiliated equipment, for a maximum cost of $825,000.
The resolution setting the vote authorizes the issuance of a serial bond or statutory installment bond for up to 20 years for the principal amount of up to $335,000 and/or by utilizing reserve funds in the amount of $250,000 to lower the cost.
• JAMESPORT
The Jamesport Fire District has a vote on one unopposed commissioner candidate, David Pfoertner, and a referendum to change the district treasurer from an elected position to an appointed one.
Voting is from 3 to 9 p.m. in the firehouse on Main Lane.
• WADING RIVER
Kevin McQueeney, the incumbent chairman of the Wading River board of commissioners, is being challenged by Julio Prendergrast.
Voting will take place at the firehouse on North Country Road from 2 to 9 p.m.
