greenfield fire district
greenfield fire district

Commissioners

Duties

Documents

Board of Fire Commissioners

The Board of Fire Commissioners is a five-member government who manages the Greenfield Fire District. Below you will find a picture of each Fire Commissioner and a brief description of their roles on the Board. You can learn more about what a Fire Commissioner's duties are in the duties section.

Additional questions regarding the Board of Fire Commissioners may be forwarded via the contact section.

Donald Kugler, Chairman

Don was a licensed insurance agent for 46 years before retiring in 1993 from Prudential Insurance Company with 20 years service. Don has been a member of the Maple Avenue fire company for 19 years after serving 25 years in Argyle fire department. Prior to joining the Board in 2000, he was Secretary/Treasurer for 9 years.

Don manages the the SCBA account:

  • SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) account: the district has 52 air packs in service and packs routinely need inspection, fixing and maintenance. Bottles also have a shelf-life and are often in need of regular replacement.

Thomas Robarge

Tom joined the Greenfield Center fire company in 1984. He served as Lieutenant of that company and later was elected to his first term as Fire Commissioner in 2002.

Tom manages the Training and Rescue accounts:

  • Training: the training account provides funds to train the many firefighters of the Greenfield Fire District. There are numerous requirements that are imposed on our volunteers year after year.
  • Rescue: the rescue account provides funds to equip our firefighters with tools devoted to extrication and other rescue operations.

 Tom has been heading the "Emergency Generator" initiative which is aimed at installing an emergency generator at each of the firehouses in the district.

You can contact Tom at TommyRobarge@greenfieldfd.org.

 

Richard "Spack" Spackmann

Richard joined the Maple Avenue fire company in 1996. Richard is an EMT and an active member with the Maple Avenue fire company. He joined the Board of Fire Commissioners in 2005.

Richard heads many new initiatives including the communication committee, website initiative, newsletter initiative and the gear initiative.

You can learn more about Richard and email him via his online blog at www.RichardSpackmann.com.

Richard manages the EMS and Gear accounts:

  • EMS: the EMS account is responsible for funding the EMS side of the Greenfield Fire District's service to the community. EMS accounts for nearly 70% of the district's annual call volume.
  • Gear: otherwise known as PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), the gear account purchases the jackets and bunker pants that the firefighters use to fight fire. This initiative involved a nearly six-month field study which you can read here.

 

Kenneth Waite

Ken manages the Radio and Fire Police accounts:

  • Radio: the radio account is used to purchase the pagers (that are used to dispatch our volunteers) and portable radios (that are used by our volunteers during an emergency to communicate with each other).
  • Fire Police: the fire police account is used to fund the many "fire police" volunteers who are members of the district. Fire Police are responsible for traffic control during emergencies.

 


Fire District Staff

Joyce Petkus, District Secretary

Joyce was appointed fire district secretary of the fire district in the Fall of 2005.

Joyce's primary responsibilities include the following:

  1. Joyce serves as the fire district Records Managment Officer (RMO). As such, she coordinates the development of and coordinates the legal disposition of obsolete records, and the orderly and efficient management of all records.
  2. recieves and processes all FOIL (Freedom of Information Requests),
  3. transcribes all meeting minutes ,
  4. and recieves all fire district correspondance.

She and her family moved to the Middle Grove area from Long Island where her family was active in the East Meadow Fire Department.

She holds a Bachelor's degree from Hofstra University in Business Management and has over ten years of experience in the Medical Transcription field.

Jill Chouinard, Purchasing Agent

Jill was appointed Purchasing Agent for the fire district in Fall of 2005.

As purchasing agent for the fire district, Jill's duties include:

  1. make all purchases and all contracts for supplies, materials and equipment , of every nature for the fire district within budgetary confines,
  2. coordinate all expenditures with officers of the fire district,
  3. and manage and maintain district inventory of supplies, materials and equipment.

Jill has over twenty years of purchasing experience in local industry including Curtis Lumber and State Farm insurance in Malta.

Jill also serves as Deputy District Secretary in Joyce's absence.

Jean Bishop, Treasurer

Jean joined the Middle Grove Fire Department in 1987 with her husband. She was appointed deputy district secretary/treasurer in 1991 and later accepted the position of district treasurer in 2001 and has served in that position since.

As treasurer for the fire district, Jean's duties include:

  1. being the fiscal officer of the fire district,
  2. receive and have the custody of the funds of the district,
  3. arrange for payment of fixed salaries, compensation for services of officers or employees
  4. pay the principal of or interest on obligations issued by the fire district,
  5. and pay all state and local employees' retirement system monies
  6. additionally manage and track all monies of the fire district

She and her husband own and operate Humpty Dumpty Ice Cream on West Avenue in Saratoga Springs.