The Durango Fire Protect District will hold its first board election in 11 years next week.
Five candidates – Tina McCallum, Samantha Gallagher, David Stokes, Jason Moore and Thomas “TJ” Hermesman – are running for three open seats on the six-person Board of Directors.
McCallum and Gallagher are the only incumbents running for reelection.
Board elections are supposed to occur every two years, and elected members serve a four-year term. In the last decade, there have not been enough candidates to warrant an election.
“We typically have a hard time finding candidates to fill our board seats, and we’ve been fortunate enough to have just the same number of candidates as we’ve had openings for the last 11 years, which has obviously saved the district money – not paying for elections,” said Fire Chief Randy Black.
The board is responsible for fiscal oversight and policy governance, Black said. It runs the business, not the day-to-day operations of the organization.
The three new candidates attended study sessions focused on fiscal oversight and operations oversight, Black said. They also completed an EMS course.
“It's a great candidate pool,” Black said. “We've done training with all of them. We've met with all of them. Everybody's very focused on the organization and its success. I think it’s a great opportunity for some new people to see what the board’s about.”
The election will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 6. Votes must be cast at one of two polling locations: 103 Sheppard Drive or 31263 U.S. Highway 550.
Eligible electors must be registered to vote in Colorado and must reside in or own property within the Durango Fire Protection District. The city of Durango is not technically in the district; rather, the city contracts with the DFPD for fire services, which means city residents are not eligible to vote or serve on the board unless they own property within the district that is in their name.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
An earlier version of this story omitted information about city voters being ineligible to vote unless they own property within the Durango Fire Protection District, which does not include inside city limits.
