Silver Lake village dissolution; contracting with Salem for Fire/EMS referendum results

Silver Lake voters had two referendums today — one seeking to ban the village from contracting with Salem for fire/EMS service and another seeking to dissolve the village government.

Both referendums were binding. The dissolution referendum needed to pass by a two-thirds vote.

Incomplete results at 9:45 p.m. show:

On prohibiting the village from contracting with Salem for fire/EMS coverage: No 638 to Yes 474. If this result holds, that would mean the village could consider contracting with Salem for fire and EMS service.

On should the village government be dissolved: Yes 598 to No 531. That’s a 53 percent Yes to 47 percent No vote, an insufficient margin to have the measure go into effect.

Voter turnout was huge in Silver Lake. Before today there were reportedly about 1,400 registered voters in the village. Each of the village referendums had over 1,100 votes cast.

UPDATE 10:27 p.m. — Complete unofficial results from village Clerk Terry Faber:

On prohibiting the village from contracting with Salem for fire/EMS coverage: No 650 to Yes 479. This result means the village could consider contracting with Salem for fire and EMS service.

On should the village government be dissolved: Yes 608 to No 538. That’s still a 53 percent Yes to 47 percent No vote, an insufficient margin to have the measure go into effect.

 

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9 Comments

  1. Speaks louder than a Facebook page says:

    The vote speaks volumes. Time for an audit. This isn’t about “pro or anti Silver Lake Fire Dept/Silver Lake Rescue”, “Save our Village” or “Moving Forward”. Go back to the VERY beginning – where’d all the money go???

  2. Soon to find out says:

    Silver Lake residents will soon find out they will pay more for thier government of this tiny village. New name of Silver Lake…Stupid Lake…

  3. Time for action says:

    It’s time for people on both sides to put their personal agendas aside and work together to make Silver Lake a better place to live. I’m tired of the same people whining and complaining yet when it comes time to help/volunteer they are no where to be found. Clearly there were many hours and dollars put into trying to dissolve or save the village. How about put the same amount of time and energy into improving it? If not, I hear there are a lot of houses for sale in Salem,,feel free to see if the grass is greener.

  4. Action? Like what? says:

    Okay, so exactly what kind of action are you suggesting the discontented citizens of SL engage in? The town’s potential prosperity is held in check by opaque (and obviously faulty) financial stewardship by our elected officials. And any steps taken in either direction are stymied by bickering.

    It’s easy to call for action, but why don’t you speak more explicitly about what possible action we can take to improve thw situation?

  5. Ralph Jankovic says:

    Time for action:
    Tired of the whining time for a change plenty of homes in Salem for sale, I would sell in a heart beat if I could get what I paid for my home 8 years ago would even throw in the extras! The only changes I have seen in the past eight years have been the color of the new police squad and of course my taxes, went down Manor street the other day and chipped a tooth need to be re done I don’t think I am asking for too much for my $6,000.00 + tax’s.

  6. c'mon now..... says:

    You can’t be serious that you don’t know what action citizens can take? How about show up to meetings and find out how things work or what needs the village has? Unlike others who show up to shout things from the back of the room,, real brave. I spoke to people the past couple months both for and against dissolving. I was shocked that the only thing the majority of people knew were facts spoon fed to them, and most of those were false.

  7. Bernard Punsley says:

    I think the citizens are FINALLY starting to WAKE UP!!!!! The “Save Our Rescue Squad” vote DID NOT PASS, and the DISSOLVE SILVER LAKE movement made tremendous strides in awakening the voices of the people! If our citizens want our rescue squad run village board to continue running us into the ground, then so be it. I think BOTH referendums CHANGED THAT!!! Don’t take my word for it..come to a village board meeting and witness it for yourself!!!! Do we want PARAMEDIC level service or NOT??????????

  8. No Paramedics Needed in Silver Lake? says:

    Silver Lake Rescue Squad, courtesy Ms. Erb et al tried vainly to tie the board’s hands in negotiating any type of fire/rescue/EMS response agreement with Salem. Most folks saw through that charade, if Chief Trudeau has any sense of safety, he will see it as well. He can hold hands and sing Kumbyha with police, fire, & rescue all he wants. Until all 3 entities decide to sit down TOGETHER and decide what is BEST for our village, it wont’ happen. I wish him the best, but throughout this entire fiasco, the fire department has been made out to be the “bad guys”. Maybe Chief Trudeau wasnt’ at all those meetings where the “RED JACKETS” sat in the back of the room screaming. His predecessor was, at more than one meeting, strictly to maintain some semblance of decorum. Think about this, the police chief retired, and almost IMMEDIATELY a plan was developed to take over his duties and responsibilities, INCLUDING naming officer Trudeau to Police Chief. OK. Good move. Fire is STILL waiting to have their Fire Chief recognized by the board.
    They continue to REFUSE to do so. To the delight of more than one cop and rescue squad member@!

  9. Pondering Paramedics says:

    I see that the village of Bristol is going to add PARAMEDIC level ambulance response to their citizens effective January 1st. I also see that their Public Works employees are also members of the fire department, available to respond to calls during the daytime hours, when staffing issues can cause problems. I thought Silver Lake’s public works employees were also supposed to be members of our fire department. Bristol seems to have a pretty decent solution to providing fire & ambulance/rescue services to their citizens……what do they know that we here in Silver Lake don’t?
    I understand that Bristol’s village administrator is also a member of the fire department, and responds to calls if needed. When our board was encouraged to “look outside the box” by the Ad Hoc committee, they instead adopted a “tunnel vision” approach. Remember, the committee DID offer an option of “Status Quo”,
    which was ultimately chosen. But the “other side” tried to “up the ante”, by trying to tie the board’s hands via the referendum process. Not only did that FAIL, it WOKE UP many village residents to the reality of not only the problems facing our fire department response, but to the FIRM RESISTANCE by our Rescue Squad driven board to even CONSIDER providing PARAMEDIC LEVEL SERVICE to our citizens. I think a SLEEPING GIANT has been awakened. DO we want paramedic level care in our village or not? Bristol has it, Salem has it, we continue to be told “We don’t NEED Paramedics in Silver Lake”. But we need a full time police department? Couldn’t we figure out a way to have Silver Lake Fire, Silver Lake Rescue Squad, and Silver Lake Police Dept. sit down and figure out a way to combine resources to upgrade our medical care? Working TOGETHER?

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