Menlo Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman has recommended that the fire board reject several of the findings and three recommendations in a recent critical San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury report about the district. Discussing how the district should respond to the report is on the agenda for the Menlo Park Fire Protection District's board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 21.
The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the classroom at the district's fire station at 300 Middlefield Road.
The district has until Oct. 10 to respond to the 10 recommended actions and 19 findings in the report, titled "Menlo Park Fire Protection District: Ready for Growth?"
As all public agencies must do when they are subjects of grand jury reports, the district has 60 days to file a response approved by its governing board. If the district disagrees with any of the findings or plans not to follow recommendations in the report, it must explain why.
Schapelhouman has recommended that the district disagree with eight of the report's findings and three of its recommended actions, but his report does not give any reasons for his recommendations.
Findings
Two findings the chief recommends disagreeing with concern a report by consulting firm Citygate, approved by the fire board in February 2017. Schapelhouman says the district should disagree with the finding that the Citygate report recommended the district look for a new location for its Atherton fire station before making a final decision on the location of the Atherton and North Fair Oaks stations. (That Citygate recommendation can be found on page 13, number 3, of its report.) He also endorses disagreeing with the finding that "notwithstanding the Citygate recommendation" to move the station, the district purchased a home next door to the station "reportedly to eventually expand the station."
The chief also urges the district to disagree with a finding that because the district does not have "a strategic plan, associated financial analysis, and land acquisition plan" it "was unable to persuade" the jurisdictions it covers (Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, Atherton and adjacent unincorporated areas) "to adopt impact fees on new residential and commercial developments."
Three other findings the chief recommends rejecting have to do with the district getting money from Facebook. The grand jury report says by soliciting or accepting donations from a business "subject to inspection and regulation" by district employees, the fire district "has created the possible appearance of favorable treatment or disparate application of rules or laws."
The final two findings Schapelhouman recommends the district disagree with concern accreditation. One says the district has not "progressed beyond the first phase of the accreditation process since 2011."
A second says the district's "management and governance structure has not demonstrated the ability to balance ongoing emergency response responsibilities with administrative and planning functions" and that has proved an impediment "to completing a strategic plan and achieving accreditation."
The fire district must also respond to each of the report's 10 recommended actions, with one of four options:
• A promise to implement the recommended action with a timetable for doing so.
• A report on how the recommended action has already been implemented.
• A promise to take up to six months to further study a recommended action, before making a decision on implementing it.
• An explanation of why the recommended action "is not warranted or reasonable" and won't be implemented.
Recommended actions
Schapelhouman's report says the district should reject three of the grand jury's 10 recommended actions.
The fire chief recommends disagreeing with the recommendation to talk to officials in the jurisdictions it covers "to evaluate if impact fees on new development are necessary to adequately fund District operations in future years." That recommendation was to be implemented by the end of this year.
He also disagreed that the district should commit to completing the Commission on Fire Accreditation International accreditation process by the end of 2019.
Schapelhouman also recommends that the district disagree with the grand jury recommendation that it should adopt a policy "not to pursue or accept donations from any private entity over which it exercises any official powers, such as building or plan inspection, or enforcement of any law or regulation" by the end of 2018.
Among the actions Schapelhouman recommends the district implement is one asking the district to review the Citygate report about the location of the Atherton fire station and "re-examine the basis for purchasing the Atherton property" by June 30, 2019.
The other grand jury actions that Schapelhouman recommends agreement with are:
• Prepare an updated fire station location and land acquisition plan encompassing the entire district by June 30, 2019.
• Ensure that the district's administrative functions operate effectively regardless of competing short-term priorities caused by emergency response operations, including the establishment of an ongoing management process to track progress and results of agency goals and objectives relating to general organizational and operational programs by June 30, 2019.
• Review the consultant recommendations relative to the location of Station 3 and re-examine the basis for purchasing the Atherton property by June 30, 2019.
• If impact fees are determined to be necessary to fund district operations in future years, the district should initiate an effort to satisfy local government requirements, such as an independent analysis of the district’s fiscal condition, to implement an impact fee program, by Dec. 31, 2019.
• Once the district has been accredited, annually budget sufficient funds to cover all costs associated with maintaining accreditation, including staff resources, training, and consultant services, by June 30, 2020.
• Expand its website to include a description of special districts in general and the Menlo Park Fire Protection District in particular by June 30, 2019.
August 21, 2018
The Almanac
By Barbara Wood
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