Amador County – Amador County Board of Supervisors last week agreed to set a one-year timeline on fire service consolidation for a county-wide fire department, or contracting with Amador Fire Protection District or the county will cease allocation of Proposition 172 funds to fire entities which remain separate.
Supervisor Ted Novelli requested the topic to clarify Board of Supervisors direction regarding Amador Fire Protection Authority consolidation, and current and future usage of Prop 172 money and stipends currently allocated to each agency reporting to AFPA.
Novelli said “let their boards decide” because “I don’t want to force them to do what they don’t want to do.” Supervisor Richard Forster said they “should put it down on paper that we are consolidating.” He said he didn’t want it to be a threat, but if they don’t want to consolidate, then Prop 172 money goes away.
Supervisor Chairman Louis Boitano said contracting with AFPD would be OK, and if it ceases, Prop 172 funds would go away. Supervisor Brian Oneto suggested a year for districts to decide whether they would consolidate. He said “committing is one thing, but it’s another thing to sign on.”
Supervisor John Plasse agreed with a year timeframe “because the next agenda item is a budget item where we could be spending Prop 172 money.” That was the Local Community Corrections task force issue.
Forster said “a year’s plenty of time. They should have been thinking about this.” He said they should show “substantial progress toward consolidation.”
Novelli said if some departments don’t want to consolidate, then the board needs to decide what we want to do with these funds. He said: “I don’t want to dictate. I want to see if it’s going for the right thing, and if it is not then we make that determination.”
Boitano said “I don’t think threatening them is the way to go. They need to be pushed. That’s the bottom line.” Forster agreed. He suggested Novelli get with Boitano and write a letter to fire agencies asking for Prop 172 accounting on a yearly basis of how that money was spent, along with the year timeline to decide on consolidation.
Boitano said: “I think we ought to get on the road to getting everybody consolidated. The sooner we start, the sooner we get it done.”
Novelli said some don’t want to consolidate, and if they don’t, “I do not want to force them to do it. But we should make it clear that if they don’t, the Prop 172 money will be lost.”
Boitano said he has “assured each district that it can keep its own identity.”
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
