“If you promise not to throw things at me, I might do it for a year.”
Those were the words of Oxford Township Supervisor Bill Dunn last Wednesday before he was elected to serve as chairman of the Oxford Public Fire and EMS Commission (OPFEC) for 2003.
Dunn, who reluctantly accepted the post, was finally elected after several board members declined nominations to the post.
Dunn replaced former chair and Oxford Village President Steve Allen whose one-year term expired. He served as chair for 2001 and 2002.
Allen submitted his resignation as chair in June 2002. OPFEC accepted his resignation in July effective upon the appointment of a new chair, which never happened, so Allen remained at the post until the end of his term.
The township supervisor originally nominated Commissioner and township Trustee Jerry Dywasuk to the chairmanship. Dunn noted the board’s last four chairs were village council members and he’d “like to see” a chair from the township board.
“No thank you,” Dywasuk said as he declined the nomination. “I really don’t respect OPFEC. I think it’s really a bad example of the way government should be run.”
Dywasuk, a strong and vocal supporter of a township-owned Oxford Fire Department, said OPFEC is “unnecessary,” has a “bad setup,” and is “very expensive to the people.”
Dywasuk’s comments generated some applause from the audience members present.
The safety authority oversees the joint fire department through a board consisting of all seven elected township officials and all five village council members.
Commissioners and township trustees Shirley Clancy and Pat Fitchena were also nominated, but each declined citing their already busy schedules.
Resident Helen Barwig once again urged officials to “get rid” of OPFEC citing the fact that no one really wanted the chairmanship as further evidence the safety authority should be dissolved.
“I think all of us want OPFEC out of the way,” Dunn replied, but until an entity is in place to oversee the fire department, OPFEC must remain.
However, once a new way to oversee the fire department is agreed to by the township and village, Dunn said he’d like to see OPFEC “neutered” and “put in a corner.”
Commissioner and village Councilman George Del Vigna was elected vice-chair while Commissioner and township Treasurer Joe Ferrari was re-elected as OPFEC’s treasurer.
Clancy was re-elected as OPFEC’s secretary despite her repeated objections to serving again.
She suggested it would be “beneficial to have someone at the offices” serve as board secretary because she does not have “direct access” to the OPFEC records room, which is located in the basement beneath the village offices, and the job’s duties are too much given her other duties as an elected township official.
It would be “more efficient and effective” to choose someone else, Clancy told the board.
She suggested Commissioner and township Clerk Clara Sanderson could become board secretary because she works at the township offices, right across from the village offices, and has one of only two keys to the records room.
Village Clerk Rose Bejma, who is not an elected official or member of OPFEC, has the other key.
Currently, the only way Clancy can gain access to the records room is through Sanderson or Bejma.
It was suggested that Clancy be given a key to which she replied, “I don’t want a key.”
Clancy told this reporter after the meeting that she didn’t want a key because of a previous recommendation from OPFEC’s attorney that access to the authority’s permanent records should be limited for security and liability purposes.
Resident Sue Bellairs, former township trustee and OPFEC commissioner, argued that all the commissioners should have “unqualified access” to the records room because ultimately they’re legally responsible for what’s in there.
Fire Department Secretary Margaret Payne suggested that OPFEC look into hiring a private company to scan all the authority’s records into computer files and store them all on CDs, that way Clancy or any other commissioner could have access to them at any time, any place, without having to go into the records room.
Sanderson said she’d discuss these issues with OPFEC’s attorney and report back.