Cumberland Station 23 Fire District Election - District 4 in Maurice River Township
Quick summary: The fire district associated with Cumberland Station 23 has two seats open for election this year, William Pettit is running for re-election and one more person may be a write-in. There is one known ballot question regarding the purchase of a fire truck and a utility truck. There are a few known issues, some of which are county-wide and a few that are district specific.
Candidates
Each candidate has their own section. Questionnaire responses will be posted as received.
William Pettit (running for re-election)
- Outreach sent
- Response received
No questionnaire response has been received yet.
Potential write-in (William Hall)
- Outreach sent
- Response received
No questionnaire response has been received yet.
Ballot Questions
Each ballot question is posted with the literal language and a plain-English explanation.
Ballot Question 1 — Purchase of firetruck + utility vehicle (up to $1,250,000)
Literal ballot language
“The legal voters at the annual election of February 21, 2026 shall be asked to approve of the purchase of a firetruck for an amount not exceeding $1,150,000 and a utility vehicle for an amount not exceeding $100,000 and to further authorize the Fire District to undertake the issuance of notes and/or bonds or lease purchase financing relative to the purchase of the vehicles.”
Plain-English explanation
Is it ok for the fire district to spend $1.25 million on a fire truck and a utility truck?
Pros / Cons notes (current)
- Pro: It was explained to me that the purchase is in line with the need for new trucks, especially when considering state mandates/standards.
- Possible concern: When looking at prior voting results for similar situations, some residents do vote no.
- Process note: If any objection to these current spending intentions might result in “no” votes, the public ought to attend a meeting to discuss any concerns about the intentions.
Issues
This section is split into district-specific issues and county-wide issues (which will appear on all district pages).
District-specific issues (Port Norris FD1)
- Website / maintenance backlog: It appears as though the township clerk is on vacation with someone filling in, so website maintenance is backlogged a bit. Hopefully that will clear up in the coming weeks.
- Levy cap discussion: There was a request to go beyond the 2 percent levy cap for the purchase of a new truck. This does seem to be naturally in line with purchasing essential equipment, even if it technically went beyond the cap.
- Fundraiser friction (resolved): Mention of friction regarding potentially stopping a few types of fundraisers (as per meeting minutes) seems to have cleared up.
County-wide issues (applies to all districts)
- Staffing: Most, if not all, districts need more firefighters and EMS personnel.
- Volunteer model vs affordability: The use of volunteers versus the cost of living and affordability situations should be discussed.
- Turnout: Low voter turnout should be re-discussed, as it calls into question the strength of election processes.
- Visibility gap: Lack of public attendance and press coverage of meetings leaves the public and voters in the dark regarding essential emergency services.
- Legal Notice vs Meaningful Notice: Traditionally, public meetings across the county only needed to be advertised in one or two newspapers. As the digital age takes over, there is a push to publish on websites, but is that enough? Vineland's current data center issue and low awareness in fire districts suggest more advertising could be done.
- EMS uncertainty: The ongoing Inspira contract discussions leaves districts in limbo about how to handle EMS coverage on a long term vision.
- Radio programming: The lack of a radio programmer hinders inter-county communication during mutual aid endeavors.
Coverage
District-specific coverage links live here (posts, interviews, meeting notes, etc.).
Coverage log
- Post / article: Coming Soon
- Interview: TBD
- Meeting coverage: I initailly connected with Cumberland Station 23 at the Maurice River Township Committee meeting on January 15th. When attending their subsequent meeting on January 23rd, they were very helpful with answering my questions and discussing coverage moving forward.