Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Back when Lisa and I started attending North Lyon County Fire Protection District meetings, we were often the only members of the "public" (i.e. not a board member, staff member, firefighter, or member of one of the auxiliary groups). Nowadays, enough people show up that they've had to start holding the meetings in a bigger room. I'm not sure exactly why that is, though.

During the public comment at the end of the meeting, I stood up and said how disappointed I was that nearly 60% of the voters in Fernley didn't think our fire department deserved a small raise, which in my case would have been the cost of a take-out pizza once a year. I still wonder what those people who voted "no" will think if they have a fire or medical emergency and nobody shows up because there are only four people on duty at any given time and they're all tied up when that call comes.

I knew that Lisa Deutsch Harrigan, riding Amtrak back from Westercon 71 in Denver, would be going by the house this morning, and from checking the Amtrak "track a train" page this morning knew about what time I could expect her to pass. Initially I didn't think I'd be able to go out and wave due to back-to-back-to-back meetings scheduled today. However, the third meeting was canceled, and as the second one ended, I turned up the radio scanner and heard the engineer of westbound #5 talking to a track maintainer. She read back the maintainer's orders permitting her to bring her train through Fernley at reduced speed due to track work. That told me that the train was nearly here, so I got my camera phone out, determined to take pictures and video this time.

( Wave to the Passing Train )

Normally the California Zephyr scoots through at full speed (79 mph), but on top of there being a maintenance-related speed restriction, the train was also about to make an unscheduled stop. If you watched the video above, you may have noticed that the door on the next-to-last car was open, and a conductor was standing in the doorway with a step box. The train slowed to a stop with the open door across from the maintenance yard.

( Onboard Medical Emergency )

Shortly after helping the person from the train to the ambulance, the conductor climbed back aboard and I trotted back to the house, where I could hear both the train and ambulance communication. The ambulance headed for Northern Nevada Medical Center, while the conductor gave the train a "highball," whereupon the engineer gave the requisite two toots of the horn and set off for Reno.

Lisa, on board the train, caught this picture of me shooting pictures of the train. That's Fernley House shrouded by summer tree growth across the street behind me.

Tomorrow I learn whether I made the cut into the top 4 for the run-off for the NLCFPD Board. But I'm in the Bay Area right now and there's nothing more I can do about the election, so tonight I'm going to a movie and going to try and not think about the election.

Tonight's meeting of the North Lyon County Fire Protection District was quite long, due to having to deal with the 2018-19 budget and to hear presentations from insurance carriers that probably should have been told they had a time limit for their presentations. I won't be at the next meeting (June 14) because I'll be in the Bay Area that week.

I learned at the end of the meeting that this primary election coming up June 12 is not the final for this board. The purpose of this election for the two open seats is to cut the field of seven candidates down to a smaller number, but nobody could tell me what that number is. The smaller field will then go on to the general election in November, with the top two being elected.

One of the existing directors (who was going to be term-limited out) has moved out of the district and resigned this week. I will apply for the interim appointment, but having to miss the meeting where they will make the decision next month probably puts me at a disadvantage.

As I was coming out of the meeting, I saw that the rain had come back. I hadn't brought a coat or an umbrella. I turned up my collar and resigned myself to getting soaked. As I walked around the corner of the station, I saw that Lisa had drove the Astro over to collect me. (She had come to the start of the 5 PM workshop, but did not have the stomach for the full death march meeting and had walked home before it started raining.) I was very grateful that Lisa kept me from a drenching.

Tomorrow, work permitting, Lisa and I set out after lunch on a drive across Nevada. Exact plans are still not firm. I may not even write about them until we get home.

After work today, Lisa and I went to Broeder's Espresso off main street to put up my larger campaign sign. Broeder's has recently moved in and reopened the drive-through espresso stand on Main Street, and the owner told me after we retrieved the sign (the city took it down because it was on their fence; none of us who had posted there realized it was city property) that I could put the sign there. I ordered a large sugar free mocha from them while Lisa got out rope and zip-ties and tied it to their fence. This time we're sure the fence is part of the private property in question because we watched the fence being built last year after the previous tenant moved out and the owners made improvements.

( On the Fence )

Eventually Lisa got the sign secured and I got my coffee. I'll go get a photo of the sign when it's not pouring with rain.

The second NLCFPD sign was ready for collection at lunch today. I paid for both signs ($80, which brings my total campaign expenditures close to three digits) and Lisa and I walked down Main Street to post it. I felt a bit like a sandwich-board advertiser and I walked down the street, but I made sure that all of the passing motorists could see the sign. Every person who can remember my name helps.

( Product Placement )

So one sign came up but another came down. As we drove to the grocery store after work, I saw to my great dismay that all of the signs on or near the small fence near the 76 station, including mine (see here) were gone. Another larger sign on the larger fence to the right was still there. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that the small fence belongs either to the city or is within the state right of way, and thus all political signs were removed. I'll have to contact the city and the DOT tomorrow about this. According to the material I have, if the DOT removes signs, they take them to the nearest DOT yard, which in this case is just down Main Street. I'd call it walking distance, but the sign mounted on plywood is heavier than I'd prefer to lug it. It's annoying, though, considering that it represents half of my entire public campaign!

On the brighter side, this week's Mason Valley News & Leader-Courier includes the run-down on all of the Fire Board Candidates, including me. For some reason they mixed in one candidate from a different district among the NLCFPD candidates, though.

This morning, Lisa mounted the Fire Board sign to the piece of plywood I bought yesterday, and then drilled some holes in it and got out some zip ties for mounting the sign to a fence. After work today, I drove down to the gas station/deli whose owner said I could hang the sign on his fence and got it put up.

( Well, It's One Most Sign Than the Other Candidates Have )

Tomorrow I get the second sign from the sign shop and put it up at Hanneman's former car wash.

Yesterday afternoon, I went for a drive around Fernley's main roads to see if there were other areas I should be looking to try and post signs. I find that most of the signs are concentrated on Main Street, so that's where I'll focus. I hope this gets my name in front of people properly.

This afternoon, between coming back from breakfast and going to have my hair cut, I worked out my campaign site for the North Lyon County FPD seat. Inasmuch as I don't want to spend any money on this and because I think it's about the right speed for Fernley, I created a Facebook page. As far as I can tell, you do not need to have a Facebook account or be signed in to see

Kevin Standlee for Fire Board

I also used some of the material from the site to create a flyer that I took with me to the get my hair cut at A Little Off The Top. The proprietor let me put one of my flyers in her window, which was nice of her.

Next I need to print some business cards with my picture and a pointer to the web site, so I can hand them out to people. Apparently, I'm visible enough with my habit of walking around downtown for my health that just being able to put a name to the face (and the hat) should be helpful.

After having multiple people whose opinions I respect independently (and as far as I can tell, without mutual discussion) ask me to do so, I took a big step today and entered my first "mundane" political election.

( Heading to the Courthouse )

I have filed for a seat (two at-large seats are open; top two finishers are elected, and if two or fewer people file, they'll be automatically seated without an election because there's no write-in provision) on the board of the North Lyon County Fire Protection District. All seats are elected at large. The NLCFPD is substantially the same area and contains the same residents as the city of Fernley. (As I understand it, the slight difference between the city and the fire district's areas will be cleared up soon, and the area in question doesn't have anyone living in it.) I'm running for a four-year term on the five-member board (maximum of three terms under state law). Members serve without compensation, and therefore there is also no filing fee, but you do have to go in person to the county clerk's office to file for office, and the paperwork isn't even available on the clerk's web site, so you don't have the opportunity to review it before actually going in to file.

After establishing my residency (fortunately my driver's license has my street address to prove that I actually live in the district), the assistant clerk went through a checklist of items with me. One reason for having to file in person is that they have to prove that they provided everything to you, so you sign forms that (among other things) testify that you've received everything and had all of the warnings.

Today was only the first step. There are other filings that I have to do online with the Nevada Secretary of State's office, mainly having to do with financial reporting. This is likely to be trivial in my case because I don't expect to do any fundraising or to spend a significant amount of money, but the first filing is due in just a few days, shortly after the filing deadline for the election, so I really do need to get with it.

Filing for office of course is no guarantee of being elected. My late grandmother was a candidate for the school board in Challenge long ago, and lost by a single vote. Getting out any sort of message may be difficult. Unlike California, Nevada doesn't publish candidate statements in the voter guide. But I'll do what I can with the resources that I have.

Mind you, it's not that much different than a volunteer work for Worldcon. Lots of unpaid work and meetings, and probably people who will be unhappy with you for not doing what they want you to do, while balancing too few resources against too many demands. But managing the fire district has a bit more on the line than running a Worldcon does.

Update, 10 March: Clarified that the two open board seats are at-large and not individually contested, with the top two finishers getting the posts, and that if not more than two people file, they'll be automatically seated without an election because there is no provision for write-in candidates.