Bret Ware - Pontoon Beach Village Trustee

04/09/2026

As many of you may already be aware, after the election on March 17th, the County Clerk was made aware of some apparent discrepancies in the unofficial results for our two issues on the ballot. A court order was obtained and last week, election judges from both parties along with County officials and witnesses recounted all of the ballots for these referendums in the precincts that are in the Long Lake Fire Protection District.

The numbers certainly changed, but thankfully both measures passed as originally reported.

Thank you to everyone who voted in favor of both of these important questions! We press forward!

03/18/2026

THANK YOU!!

You listened and voted. Turn out was not what we would have liked, but these important questions passed and now we get back to the work of making the district even safer.

HUGE thanks to Chief Kreher and the whole LLVFD for your help getting the word out!

03/17/2026

Tomorrow is the day.

Please put on your green ☘️ and get out and vote. These are the referendums I hope you will VOTE YES on.

Thank you! 👍🏽

03/12/2026

DID YOU KNOW?

-That we are just 5 days away from the primary election?

- That you just have one more chance to hear personally from us the TRUTH about the two referendums on the ballot on Tuesday?

- The Long Lake Volunteer Fire Department building and equipment is fully owned by the fire department? These items have been purchased over the years using the tax levy from residents and businesses, a bit of fundraising and a touch of grant writing.

- The Long Lake Fire Protection District has never come to voters asking for a levy increase for fire protection since being established in 1950?

- The district has not ever collected taxes to pay for ambulance service and does not currently have contracted EMS for the district?

- Election Day is FIVE days away?

Residents of the Long Lake Fire Protection District (check your property tax bill), PLEASE come out tonight, Thursday, March 12 to the last of three town hall meetings about the two referendums on the March 17th ballot.

Please join us at the fire department TONIGHT at 6. We want to share information with our voters in the hope that both of these important questions will pass. You can also stay after if you wish for our regular monthly business meeting.

LLFPD Town Hall Meeting

Long Lake Fire Department
4113 Pontoon Rd,
Pontoon Beach, IL 62040

#3 - March 12th at 6:00p.m.

Agenda
- Welcome and Introduction of District Board and Fire Chief Kreher

- Presentation of LLFPD -Fire Protection Tax Levy Increase
(District Board Treasurer Don Haddix and Chief Kreher)

- Fire Chief Presentation on Fire Protection Tax Increase

- Presentation of LLFPD -Ambulance Tax Levy

Q&A
Speakers may be limited to 3 minutes to allow everyone time to speak.

In addition, I recently recorded a podcast with a couple of local residents and friends of mine to discuss quite a few things but also to touch on this issue. The link is below. Fast forward to about 1hr into the podcast to hear a bit about the referendums.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6qajuWATiPuEpJFveCbRlt?si=mMITNtSwTXuXbIbKQJYU_g&t=3817&pi=6Eof4HrrQOGV-

Hope to see you on Tonight at 6 p.m. And as always, please share this with those in our community that would be interested. If you have questions or concerns you can leave them here or reach out to me directly.

The Nick and Joe Show · Episode

03/11/2026

2026 Party at the Beach

Friday, August 7th National Recording Artist, Grammy Award Winner, Country Music Newcomer ASHLEY MCBRYDE

Saturday, August 8th National Recording Artist, ACM Award Winner, Country Music Star RODNEY ATKINS

03/09/2026

Spring forward means time to check your smoke and CO detectors and change the batteries in them!

If the detector is ten years old or older it might be time to change it out for a new one too!

03/07/2026

DID YOU KNOW?

- The Long Lake Volunteer Fire Department building and equipment is fully owned by the fire department? These items have been purchased over the years using the tax levy from residents and businesses, a bit of fundraising and a touch of grant writing.

- The Long Lake Fire Protection District has never come to voters asking for a levy increase for fire protection since being established in 1950?

- The district has not ever collected taxes to pay for ambulance service and does not currently have contracted EMS for the district?

- Election Day is TEN days away?

Residents of the Long Lake Fire Protection District (check your property tax bill), PLEASE come out on Thursday, March 12 to the last of three town hall meetings about the two referendums on the March 17th ballot.

Please join us at the fire department 7 days from now. We want to share information with our voters in the hope that both of these important questions will pass.

LLFPD Town Hall Meeting

Long Lake Fire Department
4113 Pontoon Rd,
Pontoon Beach, IL 62040

#3 - March 12th at 6:00p.m.

Agenda
- Welcome and Introduction of District Board and Fire Chief Kreher

- Presentation of LLFPD -Fire Protection Tax Levy Increase
(District Board Treasurer Don Haddix and Chief Kreher)

- Fire Chief Presentation on Fire Protection Tax Increase

- Presentation of LLFPD -Ambulance Tax Levy

Q&A
Speakers may be limited to 3 minutes to allow everyone time to speak.

In addition, I recently recorded a podcast with a couple of local residents and friends of mine to discuss quite a few things but also to touch on this issue. The link is below. Fast forward to about 1hr into the podcast to hear a bit about the referendums.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6qajuWATiPuEpJFveCbRlt?si=mMITNtSwTXuXbIbKQJYU_g&t=3817&pi=6Eof4HrrQOGV-

Hope to see you on Thursday , March 12 at 6 p.m. And as always, please share this with those in our community that would be interested. If you have questions or concerns you can leave them here or reach out to me directly.