Grand jury finds nothing wrong with fire district

By Oakley Brooks

A citizen grand jury has determined that the Saratoga Fire District (SFD) did not hold illegal, secret meetings, nor did it involve itself improperly with the campaign for a $6 million station construction bond in 2000, or fail to keep adequate financial statements.

The Santa Clara County civil grand jury received citizen complaints about the district from Saratogans in July of last year, as debates raged over fire service in the city and construction of the new fire station in the run-up to the November fire commissioners' election.

In a one-page report, the grand jury concluded, "None of the issues identified in the citizen complaints were found to violate the law." The report was dated Jan. 3 but released to the fire district on March 14.

Citizens who lodge complaints are not named by the grand jury. Those who serve on the yearlong investigative body are instructed not to discuss details of their findings beyond the report.

Grand jury foreman pro tem Norman Abrahams, a retired Saratoga orthodontist and Los Gatos resident, echoed the report's finding that the boundary drop agreement between the SFD and the county fire department had solved many of the issues that led to citizen critique of the district.

Abrahams said the jury had spent "hundreds of hours" interviewing members of the public, district administration employees and other local officials. Saratoga City Manager Dave Anderson and members of the Retired Saratoga Volunteer Firemen were questioned in the process, according to the report. Donations by the nonprofit foundation of retired firemen to the station bond campaign were checked out, and deemed legal.

Tom Blaisdell, a member of the Firefighters and Citizens Task Force and an outspoken critic of the district, said, "I'm not unhappy" with the report's findings. But he was skeptical of its depth. In referring to violations of the state's open meetings law, Blaisdell said the report "danced around" possible past infractions by stating, "The grand jury found that the SFD commissioners are currently conducting the business of the district within the requirements of the Brown [open meetings] Act."

Blaisdell said he was pleased with some change he's seen recently in the conduct of the district's three commissioners.

"They got religion," he said.

Commissioner Jay Geddes insists there weren't any changes to be made.

"The [task force] accused us of everything but taking the king's crown," said Geddes. "We told them they were full of it, and the grand jury has now verified that."

If the grand jury finds any wrongdoing on the part of public agencies, it can recommend measures of reform. But, because the charges against the district were found unsubstantial, the jury made no recommendations.

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For more information on the entire 2001-02 grand jury report, which included investigations of other agencies and departments in the county, call 408.299.3608.

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