Free Lance Editorial: Politics trumps public safety in debate over fire contract

Self-interests were on full display last week at the San Benito County board meeting, where officials gave priority to politics over public safety.
After a lengthy debate at last Tuesday’s meeting, supervisors voted 3-2 in favor of talks with the city to contract with Hollister for fire services and likely nix a nearly 60-year relationship with Calfire.
The debate’s focal point should have been the obvious: Between Hollister and Calfire, which agency would provide the best service – particularly response times and personnel – at an affordable cost?
With the city and state offering nearly equal cost estimates of around $1.1 million annually, the core of the discussion became the increasingly tense relationship between Calfire and the San Juan volunteer department. It severely lacked the level of analysis necessary to make such a monumental decision.  
Last week’s hearing should have been confined to a breakdown of resources and response times, with a county map showing supervisors and residents a precise picture of their options.  
One potentially related outcome lost in most of the discussion is that Hollister faces a fiscal avalanche, and some county board members were more than happy, curiously, to take several steps closer to the city’s self-created danger zone.
Supervisor Margie Barrios was in the minority by taking a broader view of the comparison as opposed to simply siding with a subgroup or district’s desires, as others did – and suggesting that the county give Calfire a year to address concerns at stake in the debate. That would allow time for Hollister voters to decide – slated for the November ballot – whether they want to extend the 1 percent Measure T sales tax expiring next spring. Without it, the city has pronounced it would lay off seven firefighters and close Fire Station No. 2 on Union Road. How will that prospectively affect the county relationship and staffing levels, or the talk of building a third fire station on the west side? Somehow, it has remained a gray area buoyed by vague city assurances that the two governments will make it work either way.
It just doesn’t add up. If there ever was a no-brainer to side with caution, this was it. Yet, the county remains headed toward contracting with Hollister – and potentially walking into the path of its avalanche – come July.
It is unfortunate for the paying public that political interests trumped public safety concerns. As for county leaders supporting the Hollister merger, Supervisor Anthony Botelho, a former San Juan fire chief, wants nothing to do with Calfire and has remained intent on a breakup due to contentiousness with the volunteers there.
Supervisors Jaime De La Cruz and Robert Rivas followed a predictable course and supported the local union base, while Rivas has ties to the Hollister department through his time as a paid-call firefighter there. And although it wasn’t a legal conflict – just as the other alliances weren’t – Supervisor Jerry Muenzer has a son who works for Calfire, while not in the unit possibly affected by the move. Muenzer had one of two dissenting votes. To prevent perceptions of favoritism, he should have recused himself from the decision.
Hollister leaders such as Councilman Doug Emerson and Fire Chief Fred Cheshire, meanwhile, spoke in favor of the city merger. Hollister’s leadership – which has closed the door on a law enforcement consolidation that would save more than $300,000 annually – is looking to expand the city fire department ranks as much as possible, and perceives the contract as a way to soften the fiscal crisis and help sustain the agency’s long-term prospects.
So two local governments are itching to close a deal on a fire merger that leaves more questions than answers while slamming the door shut on the possibility of a police merger estimated to save $316,000 per year and improve efficiency.
In the case of the fire contract, it involves a chasm of varying interests drawing sharp, contrasting lines in the sand. The law enforcement consideration maintained a primary deal breaker – the Hollister police union has relatively bloated pensions compared with the sheriff’s deputies and successfully protected its territory.  
In both cases, elected officials are overlooking their utmost duty to maintain the highest possible level of public safety.
With time remaining before the June 30 end to the fiscal year – and the county’s current contract with Calfire – there is time to do the right thing: Start talks on a joint powers authority that incorporates all three agencies and provides the best service possible.