Residents, trustees urge DeKalb County board to delay fire-trustee appointment

Several residents and current fire-district trustees urged the DeKalb County Board to delay consideration of a proposed appointment to a community fire protection district board, saying the county did not follow past local practice and that the public and district leaders were not notified.

The speakers said the county’s executive committee was presented an application for a self-nominated candidate alongside a chief’s recommendation for reappointment, and that the committee chose the self-nominated applicant based on the length of the submission rather than the chief’s recommendation. The matter was discussed during public comment and during committee consideration; the board moved to table the appointment until further review.

The dispute centers on how trustee appointments have been handled in recent years. “In my 30 years plus experience here in DeKalb County, Fire Trustees were usually only appointed by the board when the vacancy occurred,” volunteer firefighter and EMS captain Joe Herman said. He said past practice was for the fire chief and remaining trustees to submit a recommended replacement when a vacancy…