Update: This story contains reaction from Vandalia Fire Chief Brandon Straube.

A new fire protection district in east Audrain County was approved in a special election Tuesday, according to election results from Audrain County.

Voters approved incorporating the new Van Far Fire Protection District - 327 to 52, or 86% of the vote - and to establish a tax levy for the district, 303 to 78, or 80%. That levy is a tax rate of not more than 30 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

“I am overwhelmed with the support shown by the results of the election,” Vandalia Fire Chief Brandon Straube said in an email.  “I am very grateful to the voters in the district that passed the issue by such a large margin. That amount of community support can only have a positive impact on our volunteers, by showing them that their community is behind them and supports them in providing fire protection to the district.”

He said he was “very pleased” with the voter turnout.

“Everyone I talked to was pleasantly surprised by the turnout for an off year election,” he said.  “We owe a huge thank you to those that helped get the word out and to the voters for getting to the polls, especially those voters in Ralls and Pike counties that had to make a trip to their respective courthouses to vote.”

As far as operations, he said, “We are hoping to be on this year's tax bill and the new district to take over operations Jan. 1.”

The election also allowed voters to set the board of directors for the district, with five people chosen and the terms dependent on the number of votes received:

Heather G. Williams, 315, a six-year term

Dean Middleton, 302, four years

Marvin Yager. 297, four years

Justin Hopke, 276, two years

Mark Woodward, 272, two years

Lee Scrogin, 210

The fire district will cover parts of Audrain, Pike and Ralls counties, will still be volunteer-based and operations will continue at stations in Vandalia and Farber, the Ledger previously reported. The impetus for the new district was because of the current funding structure, which was becoming more inadequate across the Vandalia Rural Fire Association, Vandalia Fire Department and Farber Volunteer Fire Department, Straube told the Ledger in a July story.

In information data points given to the Ledger, as previously reported, the formation of a fire protection district will allow the three departments to “operate as a single fire service provider, allowing for better coverage, reduced redundancy in services, and cost-efficiency by sharing resources across a larger area, ultimately providing improved fire protection to all residents within the district boundaries.”