Crime & Safety

Smith Challenges Friemann for Cutchogue Fire District Commissioner

Former Mattituck School Board member is running against longtime incumbent commissioner.

Seats for fire district commissioner are up for the vote this coming Tuesday across the North Fork, and a couple are contested this year — two candidates are running for one seat in both the fire districts of Cutchogue and Orient.

In Cutchogue, incumbent commissioner Sanford Friemann is being challenged for the first time in 10 years for a five-year term by Jeff Smith, a Cutchogue resident and former Mattituck School Board member.

Voting takes place Dec. 11 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Cutchogue Fire House.

Find out what's happening in North Forkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Friemann has lived in Cutchogue most of his life and has been a member of the fire department for 44 years. He has served as a commissioner for 20 years. He says he is running for a fifth term on his track record with the fire department and his vast business knowledge, having owned and operated a landscaping and construction company and a retail gardening center.

“I will continue to apply my business experience, because it is my job as commissioner to look out for the tax payers of this district, which I always have done,” he said. “I have honesty, integrity and dedication.”

Find out what's happening in North Forkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Smith has also been a member of the fire department for decades and has been actively involved as an Emergency Medical Technician for many years. He won the top responder award for being the fire department member that responded to the most alarms during the year in both 2010 and 2011.

Smith has served on the Mattituck School Board and continues to serve on the Eastern Suffolk BOCES board, is chairman of the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Park District and is a member of the Knights of Columbus. He said that he decided to run for commissioner this year due to the urging of many living in the district.

“They feel like there needs to be some new blood on the board, and I think I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing, having served on boards and understanding what is involved in running this fire department,” he said.

Read about the race in the Orient Fire District here.

Candidates up for the vote for seats on North Fork fire departments’ boards of commissioners are as follows:

Mattituck: Incumbent Lloyd Reisenberg

Cutchogue: Incumbent Sanford Friemann, challenger Jeff Smith

Southold: Incumbent Chairman William Sawicki

East Marion: Newcomer Laura Fauteux is running unopposed

Orient: Newcomers Richard Milligan and Bill Wysocki are both running for one vacant seat.

(NOTE – Greenport Fire Department's election takes place in April.)

Voting takes place Dec. 11 from 6 to 9 p.m. at local fire houses.

Who will you vote for in Cutchogue? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

Let Patch save you time. Get great local stories like this delivered right to your inbox or smartphone every day with our free newsletter. Simple, fast sign-up here.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.