Fort Ann fire chief, 32, wins mayor as write-in, a 4-day campaign

By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer

Four days before the March 18 Fort Ann village election, Jon Lashinsky says he decided to run for mayor as a write-in.

He won, defeating incumbent Denis Langlois 44-21.

Mr. Lashinsky, 32, has been Chief of the Fort Ann Volunteer Fire Company since 2020 and is credited by members for helping turn it around.

“They kept pushing me, saying the village is messed up — you did it here, you can do it there,” said the Fort Ann High grad.
“Between their push and what needed to be done, I said I’ll try it.

“I can’t promise I’ll make anything better, but at least I can say I tried.”

“Constant issues” with the village’s water and sewer system is the top issue that motivated Mr. Lashinsky to run. He said he’s heard residents complain about it.

“We constantly have different shutoffs at the water system….where people have no water for a day,” he said. “They never put out any notices of doing anything like that beforehand.”

He emphasizes “trying to get communication and transparency with everybody in the community so they know what’s going on, and show that people are actively trying to fix the issues.”

“The sewer system in the village is outdated and needs to be replaced,” said Mr. Lashinsky. “The previous administration has been working on grants and whatnot, but I have a professional grantwriter we can work with, and we’ve had a lot of luck writing grants at the firehouse.

“We just want to bring a fresh set of eyes to that, because obviously the system can’t go on forever.”

“Funding for it is definitely going to be a task,” Mr. Lashinsky said.

There’s only about 350 people on the sewer system, and replacing it would be about a $4 million project.

“The big thing is trying to do it without burdening the small tax base,” he said.

He hopes to fund it “through multiple grants and looking at different options for financing.”

He said he’ll also seek grants for sidewalk replacement.

“Being with Fire and EMS, you’ve had your fair share of people falling and getting hurt, scraping themselves up because our sidewalks are in such bad shape,” said Mr. Lashinsky.

He also hopes to attract businesses to vacant buildings.

“We have a lot of abandoned buildings that were once businesses, perhaps we can check tax statuses — are they actually owned, are they foreclosed on, are they in tax debt, what’s going on, why are they closed? I can’t imagine somebody’s paying on an abandoned building.”

Mr. Lashinsky said he wants to start a “beautification process” for the village.

“I want to make it so people want to live here again,” he stressed.

Another priority: getting the community engaged.

“They’ve been approving budgets without public hearings,” he said of the village administration. “I want to get public involvement again.”

Mr. Lashinsky will be sworn in on April 7. He will remain fire chief while serving his two-year mayoral term.

He pointed to successes the fire company achieved under his watch.

“We have a lot more members than ever before. It’s an immaculate response time compared to most agencies at this point.

“Our department for years kind of sat stagnant. They weren’t replacing equipment, they had dwindling manpower.”

He credited his predecessor as chief for doing a lot in upgrading equipment, and said that in his own tenure the department continued to upgrade to the point that it now has “all top-notch equipment.”

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