People to Pick Troy Fire Trustees for the First Time Ever

For the first time ever, the residents of Troy Township will vote for fire district trustees.

Prior to this April's election, the trustees were appointed by the county executive.

But a referendums passed in the February 2010 election put that power in the voters' hands.

Another referendum in the same election boosted the number of trustees from three to five. The additional two were appointed and now all five spots are up for grabs.

A slate of five candidates, of which four are former volunteer firefighters, is going for all five spots on the board of trustees. And one solitary candidate — also a former Troy volunteer — is going it alone in his bid to make it onto the board.

Bob Schwartz, George Muentnich, John Theobald, John Scheidt and Roger Barrowman are running together. Bob Robinson is trying to make it on his own.

The five running together also happen to be the current trustees. Schwartz is the board president. Robinson had served seven years as the department president.

All six candidates can boast of past contributions they have made to the fire protection district.

Robinson said it is not in the township's best interest to have all five members of one ticket take all five seats on the board.

"If you get the same five guys together, everything's a wash then," he said.

"It's a non-partisan race," Robinson added. "And I didn't see it as a group thing."