Supervisors Ask Belmont and San Carlos Fire to Make Amends

In the interest of cost-savings, many cities up and down the Peninsula agree that regionalization is the right course of action. Exactly how has each city at odds with each other.

The San Carlos City Council issued a notice of dissolution to the Belmont Fire Department in April 2010 after a three year joint powers agreement. With 30 percent increases in firefighter costs over the last five years, the city is fervently trying to cut costs, San Carlos Mayor Omar Ahmad said, and asked the board, instead, for a proposal for a contract with Cal Fire services, a state agency.

“People say consolidation means we’ll lose local control,” Ahmad said. “Well, we’ve never had local control and not regionalizing could put us in fiscal ruin.”

The committee, comprised of President Carole Groom and Supervisor Adrienne Tissier, agreed that collaboration must occur throughout the county to save costs. However, they said that the county has no interest in providing fire services because they already contract with CalFire. Instead, they want to see cities working together.

“We need to save this marriage between San Carlos and Belmont,” Groom said to the two cities’ representatives. “You need to roll your sleeves up and go back to work.”

The committee decided to hire a facilitator at no extra costs to the cities of San Carlos and Belmont. Ahmad agreed to take the matter back to the San Carlos City Council.

But the Belmont City Council recently decided to pursue a , and on Tuesday night Mayor Coralin Feierbach said she has no interest in merging a fire department with San Carlos again.

"They’re the ones that wanted the divorce, and they have done nothing to appease the situation," Feierbach said. "I think we need to be strong and say we’re doing our own fire department, and if they want to contract for our services they can."

She added that she hopes a joint powers authority would never be an option again.

"I can’t trust them, simple as that," Feierbach said. "That’s why I don’t want to go back with them, because there’s no trust in that City Council."

Vice Mayor Dave Warden echoed Feierbach's remarks, emphasizing that San Carlos initiated the dissolution to begin with, which he says have cost the city of Belmont as well as its firefighters a lot of time, money and grief.

"Because of the actions and remarks of their fire board members, I don't trust
our relationship with them anymore, and I don't want to do business with
them anymore," Warden said.

But council member Warren Lieberman, who attended Tuesday's special Board of Supervisors meeting, believes maintaining the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department is financially the best course of action for the two cities.

"When I look at the options facing both cities, it’s my belief that finding a way to continue the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department is by far the best solution for both cities," Lieberman said.

He added that Belmont simply can't afford it's own fire department and maintain the same level of services the city currently uses.

"According to city staff, if Belmont establishes our own fire department, the cost of that department is not financially viable -- it’s not sustainable," Lieberman said.

"It’s at least $1 million more than we currently pay, and the ongoing revenues we get from property taxes is not sufficient to fund a Belmont-only fire department," he said. "We have $3 million in reserves that we’d have to go through, and would go through, within a few years."

Background

Back in September 2010, San Carlos hired TriData Consulting Company, which presented the city with 36 different recommendations of cost-saving options. The San Carlos City Council ultimately decided that partnering with Cal Fire would provide the best services while also cutting costs.

Others, however, viewed this decision as a single-minded approach. Ed Hawkins, the President of the Firefighters Union strongly urged San Carlos to talk to Belmont, saying Belmont officials were open to discussion.

But San Carlos City Councilmember Andy Klein accused Belmont City Council of “not coming to the table.” He said the City Council would not let the San Carlos Police Chief speak at one of their meetings. He was also critical of the cities of San Mateo and Menlo Park for not making a bid for fire services.

“There’s a lot of talk about consolidation, but no action,” Klein said. “People can say San Carlos leaving Belmont is the opposite of collaboration, but joining Cal Fire would be another form of regionalization.”

Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said the fire district did not bid on the San Carlos model because of the complicated issue.

“We understand San Carlos’ financial difficulty,” he said. “But we’re concerned about messing around with the county’s model service that we currently provide.”

He cited the response to the San Bruno fire last September and the East Palo Alto plane crash in February 2010 as evidence of the current system’s efficiency.

Supervisor Tissier added, “It disturbs me greatly that one Belmont city council member said they do not want to discuss with other cities. No city council member should ever say ‘No way, no how.’ We’re all going to have to sacrifice to help some of our neighboring cities.”

Supervisor Groom said the San Mateo City Manager did not attend because the issue has been “explosive,” but that they are working out a plan for regionalization as well.

Peter Carpenter, director of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, agreed that county-wide discussion needed to take place.

“There will be resistance from local fire officials who feel that their empire is threatened,” he said. “But our responsibility is to the residents we serve.”

But Groom and Tissier were firm in their commitment to making regionalization a reality. The committee decided not to move any decision to the full Board of Supervisors, but to instead initiate more dialogue.

 “We’re not providing leadership. What we’re doing is dividing and hoping to conquer, but you don’t conquer this way,” Tissier said. “We need to sit down and work this out."

Lieberman responded that he believes the supervisors are taking a sensible approach to the subject.

"They’ve asked the cities to discuss their differences and try to find an acceptable solution so that they Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department will continue," he said.

Lieberman added that in the long run, he thinks it would be financially beneficial for multiple San Mateo County cities to find a way to share as many services as possible.

"The closer that the cities in San Mateo County can work together, the greater the ability for the cities to provide the best possible services at the least possible cost," Lieberman said.