Government

Surozenski to step down as fire commission chair

JULIE LANE FILE PHOTO | Stepping down as chairman of the Shelter Island Fire District Board of Commissioners is Richard Surozenski (right) who took the job last January. Deputy Chairman Andy Steinmuller (left) is mulling whether or not to take the job.

Richard Surozenski has no plans to seek another term as chairman of the Shelter Island Board of Fire Commissioners at tonight’s reorganization meeting, he told the Reporter this morning.

And the man next in line for the job, Deputy Chairman  Andy Steinmuller, is on the fence about taking on the job.

“We’ll have to see tonight,” Mr. Steinmuller told the Reporter. “I have to think about it. I don’t know if I’m going to take it.”

Mr. Steinmuller has been a fire commissioner for more than 15 years. He said he thinks it might be time to have one of the other commissioners take the chairman’s role.

They are Keith Clark, Andy Reeve and Larry Lechmanski. Mr. Lechmanski ceded the chairman’s job to Mr. Surozenski last year and Mr. Steinmuller became deputy chairman then. Mr. Reeve is the board’s newest member, appointed last spring after Ron Jernick resigned from the commission. Mr. Reeve was elected to a four-year term in December.

The reorganization meeting is at the Center Firehouse tonight, Thursday, January 3, at 7 p.m.