Saturday, June 27, 2015

[San Joaquin County] S.J. Grand Jury: It’s time to combine rural fire districts


Following an investigation into Mokelumne Rural Fire District operations, the San Joaquin County Grand Jury is recommending that eight rural fire districts across the county consolidate.
The Grand Jury opened an investigation into Mokelumne Fire after receiving a complaint accusing the district of illegal activities, political misconduct and bargaining in bad faith.
Many of these allegations have been addressed by a new chief and administrative assistant, the jury found.
“There was a noticeable improvement after the Shared Services Agreement with Waterloo-Morada Fire District was put in place,” the jury wrote in its report. That agreement was signed on Aug. 4, 2014.
However, the jury reported that it found evidence to support some of the allegations made in the complaint prior to the service agreement, including Brown Act violations and ineffective leadership.
Mokelumne Fire’s previous chief resigned due to pension requirements and a board member resigned abruptly after conflict on the board, the jury reported.
And finally, after district funds were spent on non-essentials, phone services were briefly cut off, forcing the chief to pay out of pocket to have them reinstated. Luckily, no calls for services from the public were lost during that time, the jury found.
While investigating the situation at Mokelumne Rural Fire District, the jury looked at other rural fire districts throughout the county, and found that several of them are in financial distress, while others have entered into agreements to share resources.
The Grand Jury is recommending the consolidation of Waterloo-Morada Fire District, Mokelumne Rural Fire District, French Camp-McKinley Rural Fire District, Montezuma Fire Protection District, Linden-Peters Fire District, Clements Rural Fire District, Woodbridge Fire District and Liberty Fire District.
“I think (consolidation) is an answer. I don’t know if it’s the answer,” said Waterloo-Morada Fire Chief Robert Tuitavuki, whom the Grand Jury has credited with turning Mokelumne Fire around. He has served as the chief of both districts since August 2014.
One alternative could be contracts for service, he said. For example, three small fire districts began contracting with the City of Stockton for their fire services instead of maintaining fire departments, he said.
A joint powers agreement could create a central board that controls the finances of all of the districts, with a representative from each fire board, he said. The districts could then share costs of service and equipment, but continue to have their own staff and board.
The shared services agreement between Waterloo-Morada and Mokelumne Fire could be a model for other struggling, Tuitavuki said.
Still, consolidation shouldn’t be discounted, he said.
“It’s not off the table. It’s something to consider,” he said.
The districts should ask questions such as how much consolidation would cost and look at successful consolidations such as the Sacramento Municipal Fire District, he said. They should do the same with other options for sharing resources.
The Grand Jury has ordered all eight of the fire districts to come together with the Local Agency Formation Commission and discuss the possibilities by Nov. 1, he said.
The jury wrote in its report that consolidation or reorganization of the fire districts could take years to fully implement. However, the situation at Mokelumne Fire prior to its shared service agreement with Waterloo-Morada shows what can happen without transparency and oversight, the jury stated.
The foremost goal for consolidation or any other action taken by the eight districts should be providing a high level of quality fire service, the jury wrote.
Tuitavuki agreed.
“At the end of the day, what we’re trying to achieve is a higher level of public service,” he said.
June 24, 2015
Lodi News-Sentinel
By Kyla Cathey

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