One seat on the five-member Board of Fire Commissioners of the Greater Naples Fire Rescue District is on the ballot this year for voters who live in the District’s Golden Gate Division. Find your district here. For more, see my post Fire and Emergency Medical Services in Collier County.
The candidates are Dominick Biondo and incumbent Tom Henning.
In this post, I will review what I learned from researching the candidates running for seats on Collier County’s fire district boards and the money that is financing the campaigns. Please see How I Research Candidates and 6 Things to Consider When Evaluating Candidates for how I approach writing these posts. I also asked the candidates to complete a questionnaire and included excerpts from their responses edited for clarity and brevity as well as links to the complete documents below.
Dominick Biondo
Dominick Biondo served as Deputy Fire Chief for the East Naples / Greater Naples Fire Rescue District from 1989 to 2014 in charge of the fire prevention division, according to his LinkedIn page. In 2015, he founded Naples-based Fire Consulting Solutions, Inc. He has been a Collier County resident for 32 years and previously lived in Miami.
Candidate Questionnaire Responses
Asked why he is running for this position, Biondo said, “I feel changes need to be made in all areas of the District.”
Three things he wants to accomplish if reelected are:
- “Sign a contract with labor union;”
- “Provide better service to community;” and
- “Repair morale across the department.”
Asked to name a past policy decision of the Board he disagrees with and would like to change, he said there are too many to list just one.
The most important thing voters should know about him is that ”I have 27 years of experience with Greater Naples Fire Rescue and most of them assisting with the budget.”
Endorsements
Biondo is endorsed by the Collier Firefighters & Paramedics ECO and Collier First Responders, a political committee. “Experience counts in a fire commissioner,” they wrote in an image shared on the union’s Facebook Page.
Press Coverage
Google and social media searches turned up no press coverage.
In His Own Words
Tom Henning
Incumbent Tom Henning served on the Board of Collier County Commissioners from 2000 to 2016. Choosing to run for the Fire District rather than for another term on the County Commission, he was elected in 2016 with 56 percent of the vote. Henning currently serves as Treasurer of the consolidated Greater Naples Fire District board.
He has been a Collier County resident for about 47 years and previously lived in Michigan.
Candidate Questionnaire Responses
Asked why he is running for this position, Henning said, “I have much wisdom serving many local capacities and feel I have much to offer.”
Three things he wants to accomplish if reelected are:
- “Keep firefighters salaries at a rate that is fair and reasonable;”
- “Expand services to reduce response time;” and
- “Keep the residents informed of issue of the Fire District, not by special interest or politicians only by Administration.” (sic)
Asked to name a past policy decision of the Board he disagrees with and would like to change, he said that while there have been times that his vote was in the minority, no decision was so significant that he would want to revisit it.
The most important thing voters should know about him is that “I’m not a former employee that has a grudge.”
Endorsements
I could find no endorsements.
Press Coverage
- County approves plan for Big Corkscrew park and extension for advanced life support services. “Commissioner Tom Henning was reluctant to allow the extension, saying the fire district was hoping to delay the expiration of their advanced life support license until after the election.” Naples Daily News, 2/22/16
- Collier commission rejects request for Immokalee fire district money, take no action on redevelopment. “We have a lot more government services there supporting Immokalee than we do in other parts of the community with the same population,” Henning said. “And we do that because of the needs of the community.” Naples Daily News, 4/5/20
- Former Collier commissioner pleads not guilty to illegal possession of lobsters. “Henning repeatedly told the officer he did not have any more lobsters in his possession until he was shown a photo….” He then admitted there were an additional 35 wrung lobster tails, according to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. Naples Daily News, 8/14/20
In His Own Words
- Candidate Questionnaire
- Online Candidate Statement
- Backing fire district merger. “I have been working with both fire districts’ commissioners over the past 1½ years to streamline the fire plan review and building review.” The merger “will save money and improve efficiencies.” By Tom Henning, Collier County commissioner, District 3, via Consolidate Fire Now Facebook Page, 10/14/14
The Money
According to campaign finance filings as of 10/06/20:
I reviewed the financial reports and noted that Henning loaned his campaign $2,000 and reported 13 monetary contributions totaling $6,835. Five of the 13 contributions were for $1,000 each: one from former Collier County EMS Medical Director Dr. Robert Tober and the other four from local businesses. The eight other contributions ranged from $5 to $800.