On Tuesday night, when the last of the votes were counted up on the fourth floor of the Ellenville Government Center, the handful of Ellenville's Finest along with other concerned citizens walked out in silence. A total of 454 people had cast their ballots to decide whether taxpayers were willing to purchase the JM Originals Store at the corner of Yankee and Canal and turn it into the district's first consolidated fire house. Of that number, only 73 residents voted "yes" while 381 voted "no".

As the fire department's contingent left the conference room that night, some in attendance offered encouragement, saying, "Don't give up. Get some more information out next time."

The muttered response came back from the group, "We're not giving up. I'll tell you that."

But the night's results beg the question, where does the EFD's consolidation effort go from here? As has been mentioned several times over the last three weeks, this vote, while appearing rushed in the eyes of many critics, is just another chapter in the EFD's ten-year odyssey to find an existing building or a large piece of empty property to place equipment from the Kimble, Pioneer and Scoresby firehouses. Speaking with several local citizens about the issue since it came to light a little over a month ago, the two main criticisms of the EFD's efforts were the lack of readily available information for interested voters and the sense by many that the effort was being pushed through quickly in order to get a grant.

Other voter concerns included the project's cost, the proposed building's location, its structural integrity, uncertainty as to the future of the three current firehouses and displeasure at having another building removed from the district's tax rolls.

EFD officials argued that they needed a central firehouse to increase its emergency response time, and to better use its volunteers' time with regard to general maintenance of the house and fire trucks as well as proper training on all of the district's equipment.

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The EFD conducted the vote in hopes of getting the approval of district residents to bond $550,000 to purchase the building currently known as the JM Originals Store. The $550,000 was just the beginning of what the EFD says would have been a $4.1 million project, with $3.6 million going to the building's remodeling needs, which included the addition of a second floor; the building's remodeling costs would have been paid, in whole or in part, by district taxpayers depending on the project's eligibility for federal grants.

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