Vote No on the Recall for Coastside Fire Directors Alifano, Mackintosh and Riddell

By

Cal Fire has failed the Coastside Fire Protection District and now their Union started and funded the recall effort to remove directors critical of their performance

Because Michael Alifano, Doug Mackintosh and Gary Riddell have made public that CAL FIRE, a California government agency also known as California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), has failed to perform under the 2008 contract with Coastside Fire Protection District (CFPD) for the provision of fire suppression, fire prevention and emergency services and these Board members have voted not to renew CAL FIRE'S contract.

These three Board members comprise the majority of the five member Board; Doug Mackintosh is board president, Mike Alifano is vice president, and Gary Riddell, a former Half Moon Bay fire captain, is a board member. They are the only board members who have the firefighting knowledge and background necessary to carry out the mission of the Coastside Fire Protection District (CFPD), which is to "protect the lives, environment and the property of the community through fire suppression, fire prevention, emergency medical services, rescue services, public education and other related services." They are also longtime residents of the Coastside. Since shortly after the contract was entered into with CAL FIRE, these duly elected Board members have brought up the deficiencies in CAL FIRE'S performance under the contract and made repeated efforts to persuade CAL FIRE to correct the problems. It was and is their job to oversee the contract, to identify any shortcomings and to ensure that the contract is being performed in the best interests of the Coastside communities. Their efforts were unavailing, since CAL FIRE'S response to the criticisms were dismissive and displayed very clearly that its priorities were elsewhere.

The Board Opted Not to Renew CAL FIRE'S Contract Because CAL FIRE Was Not Doing the Job

Due to CAL FIRE'S continued failure to perform, these Board members opted not to renew CAL FIRE'S contract and to consider other alternatives, including (but not limited to) moving forward to a fire department which is under local management and control.

CAL FIRE, Acting Through the California Department of Forestry Firefighters Union (CDF Firefighters), Initiated This Recall in Retaliation for the Vote of These Board Members Not to Renew the Contract and Has Used This Tactic Before.

During open discussions before the Board in the months prior to the Board's vote not to renew CAL FIRE'S contract, instead of acting in good faith to deliver on the promises it made pursuant to the contract, CAL FIRE'S "front" group, the California Department of Forestry Firefighters Union (CDF Firefighters) started the Recall effort. The Union's Political Action Committee contributed over $10,000.00 to the Recall effort. (The campaign reports filed by CDF Firefighters Small Contributor PAC show that the PAC contributed $10,395.23 to the committee supporting the recall effort; the reports also demonstrate that CDF Firefighters funded the committee supporting the recall by providing more than half of the committee's funding.) It can be expected that CDF Firefighters will be contributing a lot more to the recall campaign. There can be no serious doubt that CAL FIRE is behind the recall effort; it is obvious that a California state agency cannot directly contribute State funds to a political campaign to throw out duly elected local officials----BUT A COMPANY UNION CAN---AND IS---FUNDING THIS RECALL.

CDF Firefighters has spent significant money to retire the campaign debts of the two CFPD Board members who are supporting CAL FIRE in this dispute, and it has paid for very expensive ads in local newspapers in the attempt to build support for the recall and the continuation of CAL FIRE's contract. According to CDF Firefighter's reports filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), its Small Contributor Political Action Committee (PAC) contributed $4,672 to the Committee to Elect Burke, Cockrell and McShane as CFPD directors on November 27, 2009, and another $4,672.00 to Gary Burke on the same date, purportedly to retire their campaign debts. In 2011, the PAC paid the Half Moon Bay Review $422.00 on April 22, 2011 and $8,544.00 on June 17, 2011, for full page, in color ads. Gary Burke and Ginny McShane are supporters of CAL FIRE and remain on the CFPD Board. J. B. Cockrell hopes to fill a seat if the recall election succeeds and takes credit for having been instrumental in bringing CAL FIRE to the Coastside.

This is retaliation, pure and simple, and CAL FIRE has used this tactic before. When the City of Atwater attempted to terminate CAL FIRE's 2008 contract, its District Board members were similarly threatened with a recall. The board members backed off in that instance.

CAL FIRE Did Not Do and is Not Doing What CFPD Needs to Have Done for the Coastside and has Used CFPD Resources to Bolster Its Other Jurisdictions

CAL FIRE'S primary mission is forest and wildland firefighting. It has contracts for provision of fire services to various local jurisdictions in California, but its focus on statewide issues which are far removed from local firefighting, fire prevention, emergency services and rescue does not serve the best interests of the Coastside communities. Our coastal towns are some distance from each other, separated by rough terrain and somewhat isolated; they are accessible only by a few highways, and on the edge of long stretches of treacherous coastline. The routine delivery of fire suppression and emergency services on the Coastside presents unique challenges, but in the event of a disaster, more than ever, we will need our personnel to be available. CAL FIRE is not serving our coastal communities, and the following examples are some, but not all of the ways in which CAL FIRE did not and is not performing the contract and is acting against CFPD'S interests.

CAL FIRE Runs Coastside with Absentee Management:

There is no local control of CFPD; the Coastside's CAL FIRE chief reports to regional State of California superiors and to no local officials. He is also chief for San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties and spends FOUR HOURS per month at CFPD. He assigned an assistant chief to manage the Coastside, but then decided the assistant chief only needed to be there half time. Most of the time, lower ranking battalion chiefs are the highest ranking officers on duty and present on the Coastside, and they cannot make important decisions without authority from the chief, causing delays which would be absolutely critical in emergency situations. We need a full time Fire Chief for CFPD, not one whose priorities are elsewhere.

CAL FIRE Sends Our Experienced and Well Trained Firefighters to Other Areas:

Coastside has repeatedly demanded that CAL FIRE pay attention to training CFPD firefighters in the specialized skills they need for fire and rescue on the Coast, such as water and cliff rescue, and even when trained, these firefighters are transferred to other areas, leaving Coastside with less experienced firefighters who need more training. High angle cliff rescue requires training over a period of four years, and in the few cases where CAL FIRE has provided this training, the firefighters have generally gone off to other CAL FIRE jurisdictions. CAL FIRE has also ignored its contractual obligation to allow well-trained firefighters who are Coastside residents to remain with Coastside, instead assigning them to other areas.

There have been problems caused by transferring in firefighters who are unfamiliar with the Coastside, slowing down response times. The qualifications of CAL FIRE firefighters are often not suited to the coast---they are trained to fight forest fires using water, while Coastside must rely on EMT, structural firefighting and cliff and water rescue training.

CAL FIRE has given little consideration to the hiring of volunteer firefighters in the area when jobs become available, and these volunteers are a great source of candidates. This is something that is important to local residents, and to CFPD, since it not only provides jobs for our local citizens, but maintains the close relationship between the fire department and coastside communities. It is not at all important to CAL FIRE, however; even when our volunteer firefighters succeed in getting hired, CAL FIRE often transfers them to other areas so that the Coastside does not benefit from their experience and knowledge of the area.

CAL FIRE Has Failed to Connect With Our Communities:

CAL FIRE is invisible in our Coastside communities; it does not participate in community training programs, Disaster Preparedness events and only rarely in county-wide disaster training exercises. The fire department has always been a resource to the community in which it is located, and under CAL FIRE, we have become a corporate fire service, where CAL FIRE is not accountable to CFPD or Coastside residents and makes decisions which benefit its other jurisdictions, giving short shrift to the needs of the Coastside communities.

CAL FIRE Failed to Hire a Fire Marshal for the Coastside for Over a Year Despite Demands of CFPD:

When CAL FIRE assigned Coastside's Fire Marshal elsewhere, it had no plan to replace him. CFPD made repeated requests for a Coastside Fire Marshal to be hired, as was required by the contract, but CAL FIRE simply refused to do so. Recognizing the need for our community to have a qualified Fire Marshal to provide public education and assure proper fire prevention measures were being taken, the CFPD decided to take corrective action on its own. It sought and received proposals for fire marshal services from South San Francisco, Menlo Park and CSG (a private contractor). Just prior to making a decision on which proposal To accept, and after Coastside had been without the services of a Fire Marshal for approximately one year, CAL FIRE relented and assigned our previous Fire Marshal back to Coastside. According to CFPD President Doug Mackintosh, "these events epitomize the attitude of CAL FIRE toward the Coastside. They demonstrate how CAL FIRE slow-walks local concerns when it believes those concerns run counter to what CAL FIRE perceives as its own needs given its extensive operations throughout the state." Board Vice President Mike Alifano's assessment of CAL FIRE'S performance speaks volumes: "CAL FIRE has ultimately determined the level of services they can provide, rather than the level set by the local Fire Board."

Moreover, CAL FIRE had publicly taken the untenable and dishonest position that there had continuously been a "Fire Marshal qualified employee" overseeing relevant activities. But in a May 2013 report by the Unit Chief reviewing the status of CAL FIRE'S performance of specific contractual obligations, it was noted in several areas that particular tasks had been placed on hold "pending the appointment of a new Fire Marshal." CAL FIRE has not hesitated to lie about the situation, just as it is lying to the public now. CAL FIRE has been so bold as to say, when called to task by the CFPD Board about not providing contracted for services, that CFPD should not complain, since it is not being charged for the services not provided and therefore, CAL FIRE is saving CFPD money!

CAL FIRE has been extremely unresponsive to CFPD'S protests over CAL FIRE'S nonperformance and lack of cooperation. This would not happen with a fully accountable and locally controlled fire department.

CAL FIRE Cannot Be Trusted to Provide Adequate Fire Suppression, Fire Prevention and Emergency Services for CFPD

CAL FIRE was very recently discovered to have concealed approximately $3.6 million from the State of California, which should have gone into the State's General Fund. (See article by Jeff Gottlieb, "Fire Agency Hid $3.6 Million from State", Los Angeles Times, January 25, 2013.) Soon after, it was reported that CAL FIRE used part of this "off budget" fund to purchase $22,000 in metal detectors, $30,000 for GPS units, and to pay $33,000 for a conference at a Pismo Beach resort; CAL FIRE Director Ken Pimlott denied knowing that the $3.6 million fun was hidden from State leaders and the Department of Finance. It was also revealed "funds came from a variety of businesses facing allegations that they were to blame for past wildfires. The biggest payment was $794,763 from Sempra Energy in 2011 related to 2007 fires in the San Diego region." (See article by Kevin Yamamura, "California Fire Funds Paid for GPS Units, Pismo Beach Conference", Sacramento Bee, January 30, 2013, modified February 5, 2013.) Who knows what else CAL FIRE uses this "slush fund" for? It is outrageous for a state agency to engage in this kind of unethical behavior, and indicative of CAL FIRE'S attitude regarding its obligations. It is therefore not surprising that it would show the same arrogance and lack of concern for its performance under the contract with CFPD, and that its supporters, CDF Firefighters included, are retaliating against CFPD Board members who oppose CAL FIRE'S actions by attempting to recall them for doing their job for the citizens of the Coastside communities. CAL FIRE has shown itself to be a rogue agency and it is not good for the Coastside. We are better off with a local fire department over which the citizens have genuine control.

A Locally Controlled Fire Department Will Serve Coastside Communities Better and The Budget Will be Under Local Rather Than State Control

True to form, the campaign for CAL FIRE and its cronies are spreading lies in order to convince Coastside residents not only that there is nothing wrong with how it provides services, but also that its services are less expensive. As a California state agency, CAL FIRE has control of the budget and determines how much fire services cost. The budget of a strictly accountable fire department under local control will serve the Coastside better.

There is a good reason why every major City in Northern California operates its own, locally controlled fire department. The leadership of a fire department must be accountable to the citizens it serves, and local needs must have priority. CAL FIRE is dedicated to fighting forest and wildland fires, and has roughly 31 million acres in State Responsibility Areas (SRA) under its jurisdiction. It is no wonder that CFPD and service to the Coastside communities is not a priority and CAL FIRE has proved that its priorities lie elsewhere.

Your duly elected representatives have taken their obligations to the Coastside very seriously. The best approach to locally controlled fire suppression, fire prevention and emergency services is still under consideration. One thing is clear----CAL FIRE has not produced and cannot provide these services.

PLEASE VOTE NO ON THE RECALL!

Mike Alifano Vice President Coastside Fire Protection District Email: mike@alifano.com Direct: 650-726-5555 Mobile: 650-504-4400

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alifano

Website: http://www.coastsidefire.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoastsideFire