LAFCO slates 12 fire departments for county fire agency

San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission has tentatively approved the inclusion of 12 fire departments, including the DeLuz Volunteer Fire Department, for inclusion in Phase I of the reorganization of structural fire protection and emergency medical services in the unincorporated area of San Diego County.

Although LAFCO voted 6-1 May 7 to approve the 12 fire agencies and volunteer fire departments for Phase I and to authorize latent powers for fire protection and emergency medical services within a zone of the county’s special district covering regional communications, the entire creation of the reorganized fire service agency will return to the LAFCO board for ratification after finalization of details transferring property tax revenue while maintaining expenditures from voter-approved assessments within the levy collection area.

“There are a lot of technical and legal and administrative processes which would ensue,” said LAFCO executive director Mike Ott.

The lone LAFCO commissioner to vote against that proposal, John Ingalls of the Santa Fe Irrigation District, had sought a governance structure with a directly-elected board of directors. The two county supervisors on the LAFCO board, Dianne Jacob and Bill Horn, preferred a County Service Area governed by the Board of Supervisors since much of the funding for fire protection services to many of the Phase I agencies is derived from a County of San Diego program.

The May 7 vote also created a four-member subcommittee, including LAFCO chair and Bonsall resident Andy Vanderlaan, to work with Ott and other LAFCO staff members on the various fiscal and other ministerial issues. The vote also reaffirmed the existing spheres of influence for the fire agencies not in the Phase I reorganization, including the North County Fire Protection District, the Vista Fire Protection District which covers part of Bonsall as well as unincorporated Vista, and the Deer Springs Fire Protection District which also covers part of Bonsall.

Although the LAFCO legal process for the reorganization began in February 2005 with approval from the Board of Supervisors to initiate a change, reorganization plans are over a decade old. “It was felt that the funding mechanism for fire districts was somewhat complicated,” said Shirley Anderson, LAFCO’s chief of policy.

In 1999 LAFCO created the Task Force on Fire Protection Services Funding after issues regarding funding for annexed territory or consolidations led to a desire to address funding and level of service needs for all fire departments. The task force was eventually renamed the Task Force on Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services and now covers issues other than funding. The task force had provided considerable input for the organizational restructuring plans.

The original proposal was to consolidate all 28 fire protection agencies in the county’s unincorporated area along with the unserved areas (territory served by a volunteer fire department but not by a public agency is legally considered an unserved area), but the LAFCO reorganization process also includes a period to submit a substantially similar proposal which may be approved by the LAFCO board. The San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association and the San Diego County Fire Districts Association submitted such a proposal to divide the reorganization into two phases, incorporating 17 of the agencies and seven volunteer fire departments in Phase I to provide service to the unserved and most underserved areas while evaluating the remaining agencies in Phase II to determine whether or not consolidation is the most beneficial option. In August 2005 the LAFCO board approved the substantially similar proposal.

At LAFCO’s December 2005 meeting the board received a macro report which presented a range of options for providing structural fire protection and emergency medical service in the unincorporated areas. Seven options were presented, and the LAFCO board selected a two-phased approach with preference toward the three options providing paid personnel at every station. In February 2006 LAFCO approved the scope of work for a Phase I micro report which covered governance, transition and implementation strategy, operations, fiscal management, capital assets, and miscellaneous issues.

“It’s been our conclusion, the staff’s conclusion, that a reorganization of these agencies is necessary,” Ott said.

The studies were not affected by the Board of Supervisors’ decisions in September 2005 and June 2006 to provide $8.5 million for contracts with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to augment service in areas not adequately protected. The county supervisors have also committed $200,000 in Community Development Block Grants each year for needs of the fire service and an additional $200,000, derived from the savings of refinancing the county’s Otay prison, into a trust fund for fire agencies. (Although Community Development Block Grant funds are restricted to eligible neighborhoods, the trust fund awards have no such restriction.)

The County of San Diego has also sponsored Senate Bill 806, authored by Dennis Hollingsworth, which would appropriate up to $40 million each year for fire protection services in unserved or underserved areas.

The initial Phase I agencies included four municipal water districts which also provide fire protection and emergency medical services; the reorganization would have retained water and sanitation functions but not emergency service functions for those districts. The study determined, however, that under state law the removal of individual powers from multipurpose special districts is not authorized. “State law does not give the authority to LAFCO to remove a latent power,” Anderson said.

If a municipal water district voluntarily relinquishes a latent power, the reorganization could include that territory. The motion approved May 7 provides a 60-day opt-in period for municipal water districts to submit resolutions requesting inclusion.

Seven additional agencies, including the Deer Springs Fire Protection District, sought to be excluded from reorganization or deferred to Phase II. All seven of those agencies have voter-approved assessments and meet the substantially similar proposal’s service levels.

Exclusion of those agencies from Phase I also reduces the risk of a successful protest petition. The dissolution of an agency includes a protest petition provision which for a LAFCO-initiated proposal would trigger an election if ten percent of the number of registered voters or landowners in any district signed the petition. For districts of fewer than 300 registered voters, the signature requirement is 25 percent. A protest election would then take place for the entire proposed consolidated area.

The seven excluded agencies include the County Service Area providing fire protection and emergency medical service for San Pasqual, which has 313 registered voters and could trigger a protest election with 32 signatures. The CSA which serves Elfin Forest has 557 registered voters and could have triggered a protest election with 58 signatures.

Eric Anderson of Elfin Forest noted that the community favors the new district and didn’t want it to be impeded by a protest vote. “In our community the dissolution of our fire department is the dissolution of our community,” he said.

The Borrego Springs, Julian-Cuyamaca and Valley Center fire protection districts and the CSA covering Palomar Mountain also requested exclusion from Phase I. The areas remaining include the CSA serving Mount Laguna, whose 62 registered voters could force an election with 16 signatures, the CSAs for Boulevard and Campo, and the East County, Pine Valley, and San Diego Rural fire protection districts.

“The plan is good. It needs a little tweaking,” said Mary Schoepfer, a former member of the CSA No. 112 (Boulevard) advisory board. “My department is the kind of department that really needs the help.”

Although the fire district would have no legal power over tribal lands, the inclusion of Indian reservations in the initial boundaries simplified the legal description. Most reservations have their own fire departments or contract with existing agencies, and the chair of the Campo Kumeyaay Nation requested that tribal land be excluded. The LAFCO board approved that exclusion, which will not affect existing mutual aid agreements involving public agencies and tribal fire departments.

Since tribal lands are not subject to property tax, the income of the new fire agency would not be affected. Although the property tax and voter-approved assessment revenue for the regional agency would be reduced from $14.1 million to $2.52 million with the exclusion of the seven agencies, the $8.5 million from the county would not be affected and the reduced demand for services to the regional agency would decrease the shortfall. The estimated cost of the model for one career and two volunteer on-duty personnel with basic life support services would be decreased from $44.9 million to $28.4 million while the estimated cost for one career and two volunteer on-duty personnel with advanced life support services would be decreased from $46.9 million to $30.3 million.

“I think we have a problem here today because we have identified no sustainable income,” said fire chief Kevin Dubler of the Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District. “I think we would be premature in taking any action today.”

Dubler noted that his district’s opposition focused on the lack of a district guaranteed to provide service as well as the existing agency. “We’ve worked hard over 30 years to get the equipment that we’ve got, to get the stations, and to get the volunteers,” he said. “We’d jump in gladly into Phase II if things are working, but we want to protect the fire service we have.”

Laurel Nicholson, who serves on the Deer Springs Fire Protection District board of directors, felt that a consolidated agency would have an administrative nightmare ensuring that assessments from each predecessor agency are kept separate. “We don’t really feel that the reorganization has lived up to the potential,” she said.

“We believe that continuous improvement will be eliminated or slowed under the reorganization,” Nicholson said. “Being part of Phase I represents a significant step backward.”

The Deer Springs Fire Protection District was also represented by Paula de Sousa of the legal firm Best Best and Krieger. de Sousa noted that under the 2000 state legislation governing reorganizations LAFCO must consider whether existing agencies can provide a better level of service to the affected area. “Deer Springs is already meeting and exceeding standards,” she said.

Five of the seven agencies desiring exclusion from Phase I are in Horn’s supervisorial district. “I think we have to honor their requests,” Horn said. “I think the goal here is to bring the county together, not separate it.”

The number of fire departments in the reorganization was also reduced from initial plans when the Warner Springs Volunteer Fire Department was dissolved during Summer 2006. The Sunshine Summit Volunteer Fire Department, which is 12 miles away, has taken over coverage of Warner Springs, and the Warner Springs Ranch Resort has a private fire brigade which serves the resort exclusively.

The Phase I agencies have a combined total of approximately 400 volunteer firefighters. Volunteer fire department personnel also include fundraisers, non-profit organization boards, mechanics, radio operators, and public information officers.

“In my district they do a tremendous job. I don’t think we can replace the volunteers,” Horn said.

The use of one career firefighter complementing volunteers allows for the retention of volunteer firefighters. “Our volunteers in our backcountry area have been like gold,” Jacob said. “They do need some help, but I think the basics of any program must revolve around a strong volunteer firefighting force.”

All of the governance options would have retained the autonomy of volunteer fire departments. That is already the case in Rainbow, where in 1986 the Fallbrook Fire Protection District merged with the County Service Area serving Rainbow to become the North County Fire Protection District. Vanderlaan, who is now LAFCO’s public member, was the fire chief of the Fallbrook Fire Protection District at the time. That consolidation also included annexing the Gavilan Mountain area and was intended to increase service to territory which was not being served.

The exclusion of the seven agencies reduces the number of stations in the new agency from 41 (not including the Harbison Canyon fire station which was lost in the 2003 Cedar fire) to 29, and mutual aid agreements will still allow for coverage from other agencies.

In addition to the advantage of Board of Supervisors oversight of county-supplied funds, a County Service Area is not restricted from contracting with a private volunteer company for fire protection services while the state’s Public Contract Code specifically prohibits a fire protection district from contracting with volunteer companies. A regional fire protection district would have a board of directors directly elected by voting district residents. Neither a fire protection district nor a County Service Area zone may create new tax revenue without voter approval.

The creation of the new agency as a County Service Area zone does not preclude future conversion into a fire protection district. In 1993 LAFCO approved the reorganization which dissolved County Service Area No. 4 and formed the Majestic Pines Community Service District, which provides administration and operation of the water system serving the Kentwood-in-the-Pines and Whispering Pines communities on the eastern outskirts of Julian.

The county’s program to enhance fire prevention is currently being administered by the Department of Planning and Land Use, although the county also has an Office of Emergency Services and many special districts are under the Department of Public Works. LAFCO does not have purview over which department would administer the regional fire agency.

County Service Area No. 135, the San Diego County Regional Communications System, was formed in 1994 to provide the authority and financial framework to institute the 800 megahertz radio communications system used for public safety and other public service. The RCS allows emergency and public safety agencies to communicate with each other and includes various cities as well as the entire unincorporated area of San Diego County.

The LAFCO subcommittee which will handle details of the reorganization consists of four board members. Vanderlaan spent 32 years in the fire service, including 19 as chief of what is now the North County Fire Protection District. Jacob, who also chairs the county’s Task Force on Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services, will also be on the subcommittee, as will Horn. The subcommittee also includes Andy Menshek, who serves on the LAFCO board as a board member of the Padre Dam Municipal Water District and who is professionally a battalion chief with the San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District.