Incumbents Robert Brown and Mitchell Ege face a challenge from Kenneth Williamson.
By: Sue Kramer
LAMBERTVILLE Residents will go to the polls Saturday, Feb. 21, to vote on the Fire Department budget and elect two men to fill three-year openings on the Board of Fire Commissioners.
The two seats on the board are held by Chairman Robert Brown and Vice Chairman and purchasing agent Mitchell Ege, both of whom are seeking re-election. Challenging the two commissioners is newcomer Kenneth Williamson.
Mr. Brown, 61, will be seeking his fourth term on the board. He served as vice chairman for three years and has been the chairman for the past three years. His reasons for wanting to continue serving on the board are twofold.
First, he said, is to assist firefighters by volunteering to help the volunteers.
"They’re spending so much time volunteering as firemen," he said. "They keep taking more on."
He cited the many hours of regular training firefighters take and added, "Now they’re taking on confined space rescue training."
Mr. Brown’s second reason for wanting to continue his service on the board is financial.
"I want to look out after the taxpayers’ dollars," he said.
And, after ensuring the firefighters have up-to-date training and equipment, it’s the financial aspect Mr. Brown sees as the board’s top priority item.
"We have to use the taxpayers’ money sensibly, making sure we get the most for their money and by not wasting their money by financing and paying interest," he said.
Mr. Brown, who moved to Lambertville as a child, attended Lambertville Public School and the former Lambertville High School.
He started helping out in his family’s painting business when he was 12 and went on to start his own painting business. He is semi-retired, but his dedication to community service and volunteerism keeps him as busy as any full-time job would.
Mr. Brown joined the Lambertville Ambulance Association when he was 20 and served as the association’s chief during its merger with the Lambertville Rescue Squad a year later.
He has held numerous positions with the squad, including all lieutenant positions. He was vice president for six years, on the squad’s board of trustees for 10 years and is in his fourth term as president.
Mr. Brown is an active member of the squad, volunteering to drive ambulances between midnight and 6 a.m.
He is a member of the squad’s Technical Rescue Team. He also teaches scuba diving, rescue diving and airboat and conventional boat safety and handling.
Mr. Brown also was a member of the squad’s three-time world championship Heavy Rescue Team for 12 years.
Mr. Brown and his wife of 41 years, Susan, have two children, Robert, who is a Lambertville police officer, and Tiffany, who is a teacher at Delaware Valley High School.
Mr. Brown said his goals as a fire commissioner are "to make sure the firemen of Lambertville have a safe and up-to-date equipment to respond to the town’s emergencies" while keeping spending "within the guides of fiscal responsibility."
Mr. Ege, 42, is seeking his second term on the board. Like Mr. Brown, he sees his position as a chance to give of himself while helping Lambertville’s firefighters.
He sees his first three years on the board and his position as both vice chairman and purchasing agent as a learning experience.
"It takes that long to become acclimated as to how the commission runs and the resources that are available," he said.
He added, "The reason I wanted to become a fire commissioner is because I’m the type of person who has always been willing to give as much of myself as possible. Taking that step enabled me to help my peers within the Fire Department by enabling me to help purchase the best equipment to do the safest job possible while keeping in mind the needs of the taxpayers."
Mr. Ege’s goals as a fire commissioner are "to maintain a stable tax levy and to continue to improve on the resources that are available to firefighters."
Mr. Ege is a lifelong Lambertville resident. A 1980 graduate of South Hunterdon Regional High School, Mr. Ege attended Mercer County Community College where he majored in criminal justice.
Mr. Ege has been a patrolman with the Raritan Township Police Department for the past 16 years. Prior to that, he was a patrolman in Lambertville for two years.
Mr. Ege also has been a member of the Lambertville Fire Department for 28 years. He is the past secretary of the Union Fire Company and the company’s first lieutenant.
Mr. Ege and his wife, city Councilwoman Cindy Ege, have three sons. Their oldest, Mitchell, 19, is in the Army Reserves, stationed at Fort Dix. Chad, 17, is a junior at South Hunterdon, and Justin, 15, is a freshman at South.
Mr. Ege said the one thing that should be given top priority by the board, is "the water company."
United Water, Lambertville, charges the board a flat fee of $23,000 per year for fire hydrant rental. For its money, the department gets to use an unlimited amount of water. In return, United Water Lambertville must test and maintain the hydrants and provide the board with a water-flow rating for each hydrant.
Mr. Ege asserted the water company has not provided any hydrant-flow information to the board for three years, and its inaction is posing a threat to residents.
"I think it’s unjust that we’re paying that kind of money while time and time again, they refuse to provide us with the required water-flow ratings on each hydrant," he said.
Mr. Ege explained a good hydrant will produce 1,000 gallons of water per minute, a desirable amount of water for fighting a fire. But hydrant flow varies, and poorly maintained hydrants can produce 500 or fewer gallons per minute.
"This is not good," he said.
And because United Water Lambertville has refused to supply the board with the results of hydrant water-flow testing for the past three years, Mr. Ege said, "bottom line is, if we have a fire and we hook up to a hydrant that isn’t producing the flow of water that we need, someone could be injured or unneeded property damage could occur."
Mr. Williamson, 47, wants to be a fire commissioner so he "can do a little more for the community."
A 1974 graduate of South Hunterdon, Mr. Williamson attended both Mercer County Community College and Spartanburg (S.C.) Tech, majoring in liberal arts.
He’s president and CEO of e-Traces, a Lambertville-based Internet services company that provides Web hosting, Web site design and other computer services and repairs.
A widower, Mr. Williamson has two children, Tara, 16, a junior at South Hunterdon, and Ken Jr., 10, a fifth-grader at Lambertville Public School.
He has been a member of the Lambertville Fire Department for 10 years, both as an active firefighter with the Hibernia Fire Company and as a member of the Fire Police. He is president of the Lambertville Fire Police.
He is also a retired member of the squad, having joined as a youth member in 1970. He is vice president of the West Amwell Youth Baseball League and has been the director of umpires the previous six years. A member of St. John the Evangelist Church, Mr. Williamson serves as an extraordinary minister, "assisting in administering Holy Communion at Mass or to the homebound."
Mr. Williamson was a member of Lambertville’s Office of Emergency Management for five years.
It is these experiences, he said, that have given him the needed background in equipment trials, writing vehicle specifications, budget preparations and finance to become a fire commissioner.
"I feel that I’ve had enough experience in the past with being a member of different fire and rescue organizations, that in the administrative as well as the practical field, I can be an asset to the community," he said.
While Mr. Williamson said his busy schedule has allowed him to attend only one fire commission meeting in the past year, he said he feels "making sure the firefighters and the community are given the best we can afford" should be a top-priority item for the board.
"I’m a resident in the community and feel we deserve the best we can get," he said.
Like Mr. Brown and Mr. Ege, Mr. Williamson’s goals as a fire commissioner would be geared toward providing the best for residents.
"My goals," he said, "are to make sure we can advance where possible and maintain the best equipment so we can provide the best service to the community."
In addition to voting for two commissioners, voters will be asked to approve the Fire Department’s $455,597 budget. Of that amount, $362,600 is to be raised by taxes.
Voting will take place at the Columbia firehouse on North Union Street between 2 and 9 p.m.