Real Facts About the Recall Opponents' Misleading Flyer

The recallees, Mackintosh, Alifano and Riddell, are ramping up their defense with the help of the union that wants to take over our fire district again, Local 2400. The union members from over the hill will again be walking our precincts and phone banking tomorrow, as they are scheduled to be doing many more days this month. They are using a flyer designed by Winning Directions, their national union campaign consultants, which contains many inaccuracies and misleading statements.

The front of the flyer begins with the words, “Don’t Let Money from Sacramento Control the Coast.” Sounds bad! Well, money from Sacramento does not and never will control the Coast. This is an absolute lie. They are referring to some campaign funds, less than half of the total contributions collected for the initial recall effort, donated by the union that represents our CAL FIRE firefighters here in this district. Local 2400, on the other hand, was ordered by IAFF, the parent organization of both unions, to cease and desist meddling in Coastside affairs, since they do not represent any personnel in our district and have not for 5 years. I believe the term is “poaching,” but I could be wrong. They used to represent the old, dysfunctional standalone department here before CAL FIRE was brought in to clean up the mess. Despite their orders, Local 2400 went to the San Mateo Labor Council requesting financial support for the recallees, and the Labor Council agreed. This is who is funding the work of Winning Directions.

The other side contains 5 so-called “Lies” and their so-called “Truths.” Unfortunately, those labels should be reversed to reflect the real facts.

1) “CAL FIRE’s union is not involved in the recall” Real Facts: As stated above, they did provide some funding for the recall effort and may help support the candidates. However, Alifano’s statement in the County Elections pamphlet that they initiated and ran the recall is blatantly false. The recall was initiated by local residents who saw that the board majority was trying to remove our CAL FIRE service and institute their own standalone department at a far higher cost to taxpayers, that they could not develop a plan in a timely manner, that they were consistently violating their own board policy manual in the process (http://keepcalfirelocal.org/boardpolicymanual.html), and that they were refusing to negotiate another contract to cover the Coast come July 1 of this year.

2) “Leaving CAL FIRE and starting a local fire department will raise taxes.”

Real Facts: The total cost of this venture is still not known, but will be at least $1.4-2,000,000 dollars per year higher than we currently pay for CAL FIRE services. This does not include a health benefit incentive package that is estimated to cost up to $4 million more, another $200,000 to re-open our CAL PERS account for new employees, the unfunded liability for all potential new hires will be many millions of dollars, and the costs of running a fire academy just for new recruits for our new standalone department. There is a legally required actuarial analysis that must be done to inform the public of these ongoing retirement and benefit costs, and which has not been done and won’t be before the election.

The benefit package is a black box in limbo, because Director Riddell has a legal conflict of interest and therefore must recuse himself from discussions on retiree benefits since he receives lifetime benefits himself and has an immediate family member also receiving such benefits from the district. He did illegally vote on a retiree benefit package in July, 2012; that vote will have to nullified for this reason, though Mackintosh at the most recent board meeting refused to address it, wanting “time to explore legal options.” In other words, he wants to find a loophole that will allow his third majority member, Riddell, to vote on issues where he has a clear conflict of interest.

Therefore, it must be said that the board majority does not at the present time know what the costs to the taxpayers will be for this plan of theirs, though we do know it will be millions more than we now are paying, both in personnel costs and in long term liability for pensions and benefits. Montara and Moss Beach residents currently pay more than three times the tax assessment that half Moon Bay and El Granada residents pay for the same level of fire and emergency services. Director Burke recently moved, and Director McShane seconded, that the assessments be equalized or dropped completely for all, since there was at the time a surplus in the budget. That was voted down by the majority, who wanted to use these funds for their personal standalone plans.

3) “When CAL FIRE leaves the Coast after June 30, 2013, we won’t have fire and rescue services.”

Real Facts: CAL FIRE’s contract in fact ended last June 30, 2012. They unilaterally chose to stay on for a year in the absence of any plan for services at that time. The board majority has on at least 3 occasions refused to extend that contract or to negotiate a new one. There is a plan being worked on, but there is nothing currently in place to provide fire and rescue services as of July 1 of this year. CAL FIRE cannot stay on any longer without a contract, and there are no personnel currently approved for hire, nor any organizational structure in place for them when that date arrives. There can be no seamless transition under these circumstances. Even if firefighters from districts over the hill agree to provide mutual aid on overtime at time and a half of their even higher salaries, paid for by our taxpayers, they will not know the area, nor could they be a stable work force. This is the ultimate lack of local control!

4) “CAL FIRE provides an adequate level of fire and rescue service.”

Real Facts: CAL FIRE really does provide more than adequate level of fire and emergency services. That is well documented every single board meeting by the Chief’s reports on Schedule E of the contract, public testimony, Grand Jury reports, TriData consultants report, and the LAFCo report. These can be found at the following links: http://keepcalfirelocal.org/keydocuments.html

and in the Board Packets at:

http://coastsidefire.org/agenda2013

http://coastsidefire.org/agenda2012

Our district has full control over the terms of our contract with CAL FIRE. We specify what services we want and the number and levels of personnel. We own the stations and equipment and are responsible for their maintenance and replacement costs.

5) “The current Board isn’t doing what is best for the Coastside.”

Real Facts: The Recall proponents are all local Coastside residents, also with families here on the Coast. They too have been here for decades. They do not answer to anyone outside the district and are beholden to no one outside the district. They have observed with their own eyes and ears the incompetent and unethical functioning of the board majority during this process, Mackintosh, Alifano and Riddell. They attend board meetings, watch the proceedings online, study the documentation and reports referenced above, study the history of fire services on the Coastside, and talk with other members of the public about their experiences and observations.

From all of this, they chose to take the unpleasant step of initiating a recall of these three men, because they are concerned for the welfare and property of themselves, their families and neighbors, and their communities. It hasn’t been fun. They endure lies and false accusations with no documentation, and try to respond with real facts.

This board majority has consistently lied to the public about what they were actually doing and what charge they had given their high priced consultants, namely to implement their plan, never to explore its feasibility. In fact, it is not a feasible plan at all, evidenced by the financial failure of other standalone departments in the area who have had to close stations and/or brown out engines before finally merging with other districts. Those mergers are a total loss of the local control the recallees say they want.

On April 9, 2013, the public will vote and decide whether to recall three incompetent and unethical members of the Coastside Fire Protection District, and replace them with three new board members who will follow the Grand Jury’s recommendations to Keep CAL FIRE and write a new contract to restabilize our fire service and keep our superbly trained and qualified firefighters here on the Coastside where we need them. They would again join their CAL FIRE colleagues to the south, east and immediately north of us who provide the same high quality services to San Mateo County, and have done so for 50 years.

The following links provide more information and documentation:

Patch's Guide to the Recall Election:http://halfmoonbay.patch.com/articles/coastside-fire-protection-district...

The Review's Compilation of articles about Coastside Fire over the years:http://www.hmbreview.com/coastside-fire-through-the-years/collection_a82fd1ec-82ad-11e2-baa0-0019bb2963f4.html 

The history of the attempt to replace CAL FIRE with another standalone department:http://montarafog.com 

The videos of Board meetings: http://montarafog.com 

The candidates: http://keepcalfire.org

CAL FIRE on the Coastside:http://keepcalfirelocal.com