County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved the release of a request for proposal to examine and evaluate future fire service options.
Consideration of a joint powers authority or special district fire department has come about recently due to funding concerns. The Hollister Fire Department currently contracts to provide services to the county and City of San Juan Bautista.
San Benito County and the cities of Hollister and San Juan Bautista entered into the current fire contract in 2013. It was renewed in 2015 and is now set to expire in September 2018.
During an update to the supervisors, San Benito County Emergency Services Manager Kevin O’Neill said the current contract states that all parties would continue to evaluate the feasibility of a joint countywide consolidated fire department through either a joint powers authority or special district. The county and San Juan Bautista recently passed resolutions to move forward in examining future fire service options, but Hollister has not.
At a meeting in November, Hollister council members unanimously agreed to hold off moving forward with an agreement because the proposal stated the city would pay 40 percent of the costs, but didn’t specify a dollar amount.
“Along with the resolutions that the county and City of San Juan (Bautista) passed came a funding stream to pay for a consultant to do a feasibility study for us,” O’Neill said.
According to O’Neill, the RFP is looking to evaluate the following:
Technical feasibility of the formation of a joint powers agreement or special district for fire protection.
Determine whether the options are feasible within current cost.
Examine potential future cost through sales tax, grants, etc.
Research the current residential, commercial and agricultural growth in the county.
Determine what kind of department is needed.
“We have written the RFP in such a way that if the City of Hollister does choose to not participate, it will still seek to accomplish all those things I listed, and everything else that’s in the RFP, just for the county and City of San Juan Bautista without the incorporated areas of the City of Hollister,” O’Neill said.
The deadline for submittals is mid-January, after which the results will be brought back before supervisors, he said.
The only comment from the board came from Supervisor Margie Barrios, who noted corrections needed to be made to a couple dates in the proposal.
