COVENTRY, R.I. -- Taxpayers in the cash-strapped Central Coventry Fire District elected a new, seven-member board of directors at an all-day referendum Saturday in Coventry Town Hall.
Twelve candidates ran, and the winners are: Marie A. Baker, Cynthia A. Fagan-Perry, Fred P. Gralinski, Robert G. Hadley, Maureen K. Jendzejec, Daniel G. Lantz Jr., and Helen G. Quinn.
Six of the seven were endorsed by the Central Coventry Citizen's Taskforce for Fire Protection, an organization created with the assistance of state Rep. Patricia Morgan, R-West Warwick, Coventry.
With a turnout of 1,391 voters, Hadley had the most votes with 1,061. The other candidates endorsed by the task force received between 996 and 876 votes, Gralinski, co-chair of the task force, wrote in an e-mail.
Jendzejec, who wasn't endorsed by the task force, received 721 votes to secure the final seat, wrote Gralinski.
The new board will have a significant responsibility for determining the future of the troubled fire district, which provides fire and emergency rescue services for 18,000 people.
The Central Coventry Fire District has been in receivership, a form of bankruptcy, since October and is being run on a day-to-day basis by a court-appointed special master, Providence attorney Richard Land. The old board resigned at the request of Superior Court Judge Brian P. Stern.
In May, Land petitioned the court to hold elections for a new board, which would mostly operate in an advisory capacity. At a May 10 court hearing, several speakers told Stern that an advisory board would be a waste of time and money.
Stern essentially agreed. "This court finds that the taxpayers of CCFD, though their duly elected representatives, are in the best position to decide the future of their fire district going forward," he wrote in a May 17 ruling.
The judge authorized the new board to formulate a new budget for the district and recommend the new tax levy for the voters.
Stern gave the board the authority to negotiate or renegotiate contracts and agreements, including the contract with the firefighters' union. He also requested that the board come up with a contingency plan should the taxpayers reject a new budget.
In March, Central Coventry voters had overwhelmingly rejected a new budget for the district by a vote of 1,357 to 484.
Fourteen candidates had filed petitions to run for the board. Stern disqualified two of them, ruling they did not meet residency requirements, leaving 12.
The unsuccessful candidates were Raymond J. Angell III, Stephen P. Fay, Ronald J. Gizzarelli, R. David Gervis, and Raymond D. Scott Jr.