As a general rule, when a group of elected officials have a “special” meeting, they know why. And all the members of that group would be notified about the purpose of that meeting.
Not the Mount Holly Fire Department. The Fire Department web page says:
Notice that the reason for the “special” meeting is not fully known [or revealed]. It could be this, it could be that. And they might or might not take formal action. The meeting is at 10 AM when many people who care about Fire Department business are at work.
The Bylaws of the Fire Department regulate how it should operate. Those Bylaws state that “Special Meetings” should only happen to
· “Enable the Board to consider and take action on a single problem or set of problems”
or to
· “Enable the Board to take emergency action between regular meetings”.
The Bylaws go on to state that “All Members” of the board should be notified within 48 hours of the meeting.
Commissioner Rosemarie Logue told the Mount Holly Reporter that:
“As of 9:05 AM on September 18, 2025, I’ve not received official notification, verbal or email, from the chairwoman regarding the special meeting at Fire District #1.”
The Reporter reached Commissioner Jeena Sheppard by email. She indicated that she did receive an email notification almost precisely at the 48 hour requirement. Ms. Sheppard’s response to The Reporter echoed her testimony at the last Commissioner meeting where she lamented the lack of communication from Commissioners Brown, Saucier and Gaskill with regard to the 2026 budget
“I have not received an agenda to know the purpose of the meeting. There was no previous polling or communication regarding a special meeting. I was notified by email 6 minutes short of 48 hours. When I asked for a special meeting for the shared service agreement and the 2026 budget during the September meeting, the resolution for that special meeting was not passed. I asked for a special meeting again via email and for the Chair to poll the other Commissioners if it was needed, but she never responded to my request. None of my other communications have received responses by the other Commissioners or Chairwoman Saucier.
Best Regards, Jeena Sheppard
And there is question as to whether the public was adequately noticed about the meeting, as it should have been posted in local newspapers. The Reporter reviewed the on-line notices of Burlington County Times and Courier Post and did not find the Special Meeting listed.
Regarding the purpose of the meeting, it should be noted that the Bylaws indicate a Special Meeting should have a limited purpose that is revealed to Members and the public. It is specifically stated in the Bylaws that the public will only be allowed to address the topic for which the meeting was called. Which suggests that the Board would know what the topic is an inform the public of same.
A clue as to the special reason for the unusually timed special meeting may have been dropped on Facebook by the former Director of Mount Holly Fire District, Jason Carty. He speculated that the position from which he was ejected by Judge Cook might be on the agenda.
