Candidate for
Board Member; Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District

Thank you for taking time to review my goals and qualifications for the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District Board of Directors.

As a first time participant in the election process, it has been interesting to see how the candidates have been categorized (and sometimes endorsed) on the basis of an assumed pro-union or pro-contract stance. Being a senior member of the volunteer fire department, I was honored to have the support of the Half Moon Bay firefighters, some of whom I have worked with for many years. It is well known that the firefighters do not support outsourcing management services to an outside agency, and I share many of their concerns regarding the potential impacts to the District. However, while I acknowledge the serious problems the District is facing, I don't believe there is a single solution that will address all the problems that motivated me to enter this election. If elected, I will be flexible in my approach to meeting the objectives I have established, and I will work with board members, management and firefighters to find solutions that benefit all parties.

I hope everyone has a few minutes to review the candidate information available (on this website and the tapes of the candidate forum at montarafog.com), identify those individuals who you believe are the most qualified and open-minded in their approach to finding solutions to the District's problems, and vote on election day. Thank you for your interest in the District election.

If elected to the Board I will work to accomplish the following goals:

• Re-establish and maintain a productive and appealing work environment to attract and retain new and experienced firefighters and administrators.

• Provide cost-effective service while ensuring competitive salaries and benefits. District revenues exceeded expenses in FY 2006/07, and it is critical for the Board to balance the potential savings generated by contracting services with the impacts on District employees.

• Ensure adequate staffing to reduce overtime to a reasonable level. There have been numerous unfilled firefighter and captain positions in the last year, necessitating large amounts of overtime. While many of these positions have been vacant for an extended period of time, the District has not hired firefighters since early 2006.

• Re-establish communications between firefighters, administrators and the District Board. I believe many of the District's problems are due to a lack of open dialog within the organization.

• Provide a high level of financial management and oversight.

• Ensure managers provide strong, effective, consistent and fair leadership.

• Improve the public's perception of District operations, communication and ethics.

• Establish a committee comprised of front-line, administrative and management staff to identify cost-savings and efficiencies within the District.

• Improve public accessibility to information regarding District operations by ensuring staff reports, meeting minutes, budgets and financial reports are posted on the District's web site.

• Provide opportunities for local individuals seeking a career in public safety to live and work on the Coastside. The community is strengthened by having services provided by people living nearby, especially in times of large-scale emergencies.

• Maintain a strong, well-trained and active volunteer fire department. Volunteers have been dedicated to serving the community since the late 1800s and are a critical resource for a District geographically removed from larger cities.

• Many of the firefighters who left the department in recent years were new to the firefighting profession, including several people from the Coastside. These new firefighters attended area fire academies (and in many cases served the community as members of the volunteer fire department), became paramedics and evolved into experienced professionals, only to leave the Coastside for other local departments. As a board member I will work to create an environment that helps retain the newest employees to ensure there are experienced firefighters as senior employees retire.