Egkan to chair 2022 NCFPD meetings

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Jeff Egkan will chair the North County Fire Protection District’s board meetings in 2022.

A 5-0 NCFPD board vote Dec. 14 selected Egkan to be the board president and Cindy Acosta to be the vice-president for the 2022 meetings.

“I think it’s going to be an exciting year in the district,” Egkan said.

Egkan was elected to the NCFPD board in the November 2020 election. “Last year was my first year and it was a nice learning experience, and I think we accomplished a lot as a board,” he said.

The fire district’s activities during 2021 included labor negotiations, approval of the redistricting map, and the selection of a new fire chief. When Steve Abbott retired as the NCFPD fire chief, the board looked at two candidates who were already on the NCFPD staff before choosing Keith McReynolds. “I think most districts are fortunate if they have one good candidate,” Egkan said.

The 2021 activities also included a $900,000 State of California grant for the replacement of Station 3 in Rainbow, and the 2022 activities will include the process for a new Rainbow fire station. “There are other grants coming in,” Egkan said. “Hopefully down the road we can do something with Fire Station 4.”

Station 4 is in Pala Mesa. Since the fire board promoted from within after Abbott’s retirement, additional promotions and hiring will also occur. “I’m looking forward to the changes here,” Egkan said.

“It’s going to be an interesting year,” Egkan said. “It’s a pretty exciting time to be on the board.”

Egkan is originally from the Los Angeles suburb of Cudahy (near Downey). He lived in Rancho Cucamonga for eight years before he and his wife moved to Carlsbad when their children were young. After 20 years in Carlsbad, Egkan and his wife moved to the Gird Valley area eight years ago.

The move to Fallbrook involved his wife’s parents, who are now 94 and 90. “We had to get them closer to us,” Egkan said.

Gird Valley living allowed a guest home to be built for his wife’s parents. “We needed some more space and we were able to do that in Fallbrook,” Egkan said.

His wife has horses, which also made Fallbrook attractive. “Kind of nice to have the space to move around,” Egkan said. “We enjoy Fallbrook.”

Prior to retiring, Egkan had worked for United Parcel Service and his wife was a counselor for Palomar College. They own property in Big Bear and now have a wedding venue there.

Egkan was involved in Citizens for Accountability in Taxation and Education which opposed two general obligation bonds the Bonsall Unified School District placed on the ballot. In 2016, Measure DD was supported by 50.63% of the voters, which was not enough for passage (a general obligation bond for a school district requires support by at least 55% of the voters for passage) and, in 2018, Measure EE received the support of 42.51% of the total vote.

Egkan was more supportive of Proposition A, the proposed parcel tax the North County Fire Protection District sought in a 2019 mail ballot election. That measure did not pass, but Egkan worked with proponents of Proposition A including NCFPD staff members and provided advice based on his own ballot measure experience.

The 2019 activities of the fire district also included transitioning elections from at-large seats to electing directors by zone. A board member must live in the election zone he or she represents. Zone 4 includes Gird Valley, and while Zone 4 resident Ruth Harris was on the board at the time, she opted not to run for re-election in 2020 after four terms on the board. Egkan sought the vacant seat and was unopposed.

Egkan noted that having one director represent each zone increases the connection between the fire district and the community. “I’m able to reach out to the people who live here,” he said. “We can do that as board members much more easily.”

That includes community forums, community awareness activities, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation courses.

John van Doorn was the NCFPD board president for 2021 meetings. “John van Doorn is a great guy and did a good job as president,” Egkan said.

As a board member, Egkan became familiar with the NCFPD staff members. “It’s a great group of people in the district, both on the safety side and the admin,” he said. “It’s a real family atmosphere there.”

The NCFPD board normally meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month. If a special meeting is not called the first NCFPD board meeting of 2022 will be on Jan. 25.