Fire Commission Vote

This article appeared in the Townsman, December 11 edition

An unprecedented 505 voters, plus 21 absentees participated in the Woodstock fire district election, held December 9th from the hours of 6:00 to 9:00 pm at the Company 1 firehouse in Bearsville. The candidates and observers had to wait until 10:10 pm for the ballots to be tabulated and results announced.

James Brunner narrowly won a third five-year term for commissioner over challenger James Hanson, final numbers coming in 247 Brunner, 242 Hanson. Three of the absentee ballots were yet to be certified due to uncertainty of their postmark, but seeing that even if they broke all his way he would still come up short, Hanson conceded the race to Brunner, shaking hands and congratulating him on the victory.

Michael Lourenso ran away with the race for the three year term with 263 votes over Steve Dallow's 220 and Duncan Wilson's 32.

Likewise Judy Peters swept past incumbent Karen Shultis for the fire district treasurer position, 280 to 212.

Brunner, generally noted for his laconic style, reacted to the result by observing, "Well, another five years."

Lourenso credited his victory to "a lot of hard work" and thanked voters for their support.

Peters said simply, "I am delighted."

For a race that generated much attention there had been little heat between the candidates. Howard Shultis, speaking for the fire district, captured the spirit by thanking all the candidates and voters for their participation. "This has been good for the community."

One wag commenting on the unusually high turnout said, "These fire district elections are getting to be like the library's."