North County Fire offers services to aid Point Montara By MATT KAPKO Half Moon Bay Review September 15, 2004 Directors in the Point Montara Fire Protection District heard a sales pitch from a chief from over the hill last week and came away impressed with what they heard. For the majority of Point Montara's board, the most appealing feature of a contract with North County Fire Authority appeared to be the simple fact that Point Montara would be dealing with a new fire chief and a new agency. Some Point Montara fire officials have soured on the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District, with which they currently contract for service. "I don't have a trust issue with the management of (NCFA) at the moment," Director Gary Riddell said. Years of mistrust has brought the Point Montara board to this point - pursuing two distinctly different opportunities for the future of fire protection in its service area. The other option, which all three directors say they prefer, is to consolidate with the Half Moon Bay district, forming a single fire agency. Time is running short however, as a 12-month deadline looms nearer. In September 2005 Point Montara's contract with the city's district will be canceled. Neither option, be it consolidation with Half Moon Bay or a contract with NCFA, is perfect. The root cause of strife between the boards in Point Montara and Half Moon Bay could recur in a contractual arrangement with NCFA. Riddell and the other directors still have concerns and unanswered questions about a relationship with NCFA, but they're already privy to how things work with Half Moon Bay and none of them are pleased with that arrangement. Chief Ron Myers with NCFA said the Joint Powers Agreement, which includes Daly City, Pacifica and Brisbane, has created minimal savings. It has, he said, formed a more streamlined and efficient fire protection service. "If we can create the same efficiencies and the same economies by essentially managing those different fire services under one umbrella and we take away all the fear that people have ... then a merger can occur," Myers said. "I've been involved in a number of attempts to try and merge fire departments. There's always elements of that merger that makes it difficult. If any one of them don't work out well it falls apart. The community and how it feels about it, the employees, the elected officials, the managers and the fire chief - if any one of those can't come together then it just falls apart," he said. Myers didn't present clear figures, but said Point Montara would probably pay around 7 to 8 percent of the operating costs of NCFA, although there is no plan currently for Point Montara to join the JPA. Instead it would enter into a contract for services. "We don't commingle the budgets," he said. Point Montara would add one engine company to the 10 NCFA currently runs. NCFA determines costs and bills according to the level of service each government requires. Brisbane, which currently pays for 10 percent of NCFA's operating costs, is billed approximately $208,000 for its one engine company and Point Montara's costs would be quite comparable to that, Myers said. NCFA has experienced very little difficulty with its current JPA, he said. "I've actually heard more difficulties with departments that have merged - fully merged - than what we've done," he said. Even though they heard Myers' proposal, Point Montara's board members are still pushing for a management audit of the Half Moon Bay district in an effort to resolve their concerns and move forward with consolidation of the two districts. Half Moon Bay's board maintains that it won't pursue such an audit as long as it's facing a pending lawsuit from former firefighter Lane Lees. Point Montara's board, however, isn't buying that excuse. "They were unwilling even before Lane had a lawsuit," said Riddell. "The only reason we're here is because they chose to do nothing. "What have they done to try to fix anything in management since the last lawsuit? All I see is more lawsuits," Riddell said. Although consolidation with Half Moon Bay makes sense on the surface, Riddell isn't optimistic. "I don't' have a lot of hope in us consolidating," he said. "I have serious doubts." Home