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PICKENS COUNTY - Advisory elections in the county's fire districts will not take place this year after county council voted Monday night to take the fire board elections off the table in a effort to fix what they believe is a flawed system.

Council approved an ordinance that would suspend elections for 2008 and possibly beyond.

Before the vote, residents urged council members to allow the elections to proceed.

Earlier this year, council members took over as the Pumpkintown Fire Board following the resignation of the actual board, a move that council members and residents agreed had allowed for tempers to cool off and that community to come together.

"The community is off to a good healing process," said Tim Cooper. "I want thank you for allowing that process to happen. I think it was wise."

Cooper said he understood the reasons behind the proposed ordinance eliminating elections.

"I'm not convinced this may be the best method of solving crises," he said. "Community involvement is key."

Matt Chappell agreed.

"The practice of the advisory elections was flawed, the principle behind them I don't feel was," he said.

Council putting a stop to fire board elections would be akin to the state legislature stepping in and stopping County Council elections, Cooper said.

The current method, in which those running do not know if they're opposed until the night of the election, is "somewhat flawed," he said.

"People running for the board probably shouldn't be nominated the night of the election,"

Cooper said. "It should be a normal election process."

Residents urged that fire board elections be tied into general elections.

"We decide at the county level who manages us, who makes the decisions on behalf of us," Chappell said. "Keeping that control at the local level is the key to success in any government. I hope the council has seriously considered the views of their constituents on this, because they're the ones it affects directly."

Suspending the elections this year doesn't rule out the possibility of tying them to the general elections in the future, said Council chairman G. Neil Smith.

"This is just a stop-gap measure," he said. "All we're saying is that we had a system that wasn't working, we had some problems and we're trying to let it settle down."

Councilwoman Jennifer Willis said had council allowed scheduled fire board elections to proceed, there would have been no time to change the election process itself.

"It's just not possible," she said. "In the meantime, however, we've got to figure out how to make these fire districts work."

Council has been refereeing arguments regarding fire commissioners for too long now, she said.

"I hate like anything to take an election out of anyone's hands," she said. "We've beaten our heads against the wall."

Smith agreed.

"We've got to debate, but we've got to walk away from the debate," he said. "When it works, it's great, but it doesn't, it's awful."

Councilman Tom Ponder said he could not allow the fire board election process to continue unchanged, as it allows a very small number of people to determine the outcome, as many residents aren't interested in the elections enough to vote themselves.

"I can't leave it like it is," he said.

Councilman Jim London said tying the fire board elections into the general elections "probably makes the most sense."

Council voted 6-0 to suspend the elections.

Cooper said he would be more comfortable with council's decision if some kind of limit had been placed on it, defining just how long the elections would be suspended.