Pt. Montara nixes HMB's ultimatum on fire consolidation By MATT KAPKO Half Moon Bay Review October 6, 2004 Consolidation of the Point Montara and Half Moon Bay fire protection districts now appears unlikely. The Half Moon Bay district's board asked its counterparts in Point Montara to pass a motion by Sept. 30, spelling out a firm commitment to consolidation. Not one of the three members on Point Montara's board wanted to formally consider the motion however. They handily decided against even bringing it up for a vote at a joint meeting between both boards. "There's no words to express how frustrated I am," Half Moon Bay district board President Tim Moran said. "After all these years I'm right back to where we started from, and even worse because I can't even talk to these people." Point Montara is contracting for service from the Half Moon Bay district. That contract expires September of 2005. Afterward the community must consolidate with Half Moon Bay, or find service elsewhere. Point Montara's board took issue with two government code sections that Half Moon Bay cited in the motion, saying it hadn't had the opportunity to discuss the codes with legal counsel and was unwilling to vote on the motion until that could be done. Half Moon Bay's board request included a set of actions that it agreed to set in motion the process toward consolidation, signaling an attempt to address some of Point Montara's concerns. A Best Management Practices Audit and complete investigation of mismanagement allegations were two key components of Half Moon Bay's proposal that it said would be taken up during the consolidation process. However, the city's board made it clear that a management audit would not occur so long as the district is involved in lawsuits with former fire employees. A group of residents from the coverage area in Point Montara's district attended the meeting to voice their discontent with the board's actions. One Montara resident, Ed Carter, believes the mismanagement allegations levied against Half Moon Bay are insignificant in the scope of the quality of fire protection services being delivered. "To my knowledge there has been no complaint about delivery of fire services from the Half Moon Bay district," he said after Thursday's meeting. He was glad to see Half Moon Bay's board force the vote for consolidation on Point Montara's board. "This Half Moon Bay board has been very generous in this whole thing," he said. At least half a dozen other residents at the meeting held the same convictions. Half Moon Bay resident Larry Kay was among the minority in the audience, urging Point Montara's board not to go forward with a merger. Gary Riddell, a director on Point Montara's board, said he has no confidence in Half Moon Bay's willingness to pursue the remedies it outlined in the motion. He's brought up many of these concerns for years. "The process with the Point Montara board has been accusations throughout the process without being specific," Moran said. Point Montara's board countered that it has been overly specific, citing a letter its board presented to Half Moon Bay's board with 16 bulleted points of concern. "They've known the issues, we've said it countless times," said Bruce MacKimmie, president of Point Montara's board, following the meeting. "To me this is like a little threat," he said. MacKimmie maintains that Point Montara's board is still pursuing consolidation, but that it's contingent on some of its concerns being addressed and resolved. "I'm not willing to say it's over," he said. "There's hope. I'm always hoping the right thing will be done." Soon into the meeting it was clear that Half Moon Bay's motion would not be voted on. Following the meetings close, Moran and Director Dave Eufusia of Half Moon Bay's board met to discuss their frustrations and the ramifications of the failed attempt to consolidate. Eufusia said the crux of the issue is a lack of trust on the part of Point Montara's board. "In my opinion there's certainly a lack of trust," he said. "I think there have been efforts made to address some of the issues that are important to (Point Montara's board) and some of them haven't," Eufusia said. Moran repeated his claim that Point Montara's concerns are ambiguous, but when asked about the lists of concerns that have been presented to him and his board, he declined to elaborate. He did confirm that Point Montara's board has made its concerns known for many years. Moran believes that Point Montara's board, including two members who are former firefighters in that district, simply disagrees with the organizational structure of Half Moon Bay's district. "There was a resistance in the layer of structure we had here," he said. "You know what it is, it's ideology. It's a difference of thinking." Regardless, both considered the motion a potential contract between the boards that could have addressed the more serious issues during the consolidation process. "We do have some administrative problems, but they're workable," Moran said. Eufusia was a chief at Point Montara for three years and he believes some of that board's concerns are valid, but he also believes the plan presented would have dealt with those concerns. "I think we had a chance to ensure the highest quality of service imaginable," he said, "but that's gone by the wayside." Home