My name is Ted Wagner and I am a candidate for re-election as a Commissioner on the Board of Commissioners of Plainsboro Fire District #1.
I’ve been a fire commissioner in Plainsboro for 17 years and I am a Life Member of the Plainsboro Fire Company, currently serving in my 51st year as a Plainsboro volunteer firefighter. I’ve been here from the beginning of the fire company, watching the construction of the original firehouse and the early days of the fire company with my father who was one of the early members.
Plainsboro has changed a great deal since that time and so has the job of protecting its residents from fire and providing services.
As a Commissioner, I have led a number of efforts to support high quality fire protection in Plainsboro and ensure that those efforts have been cost-effective and responsive to taxpayer needs. These include apparatus replacement and building enhancement programs that have kept us a top firefighting organization, but we have also maintained tax stability. We have not raised the fire tax in more than a decade.
I have also led efforts to support the attraction and retention of volunteer members of the Plainsboro Fire Company and to expand our career staff to ensure that our residential and business communities are protected during the business day when many volunteers are at work. I’ve also worked to unify the career and volunteer firefighters in a single organization that offers tremendous fire protection and rescue services to Plainsboro and is the envy of many other communities.
We are in a changing time. Although our efforts to support and attract volunteers have been successful and our response rates are good, communities like Plainsboro find themselves in an era when there are likely to be fewer volunteers. Managing this transition will require the experience that I can offer.
I am seeking your vote in the fire district election, which will be held on Saturday, February 16, 2019 from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. at our fire station at 405 Plainsboro Road.
Sincerely,
— Ted Wagner, Plainsboro
