SFD withholds study despite union, newspaper requests
By Kara Chalmers
While all the Saratoga Fire District firefighters have been shown the most current draft of a level of services study of the district, the district has not released the draft to the public or the media.
The district is keeping the document private despite requests from both the Saratoga News and the firefighters' union's attorney, Christopher Platten, to make the document public. The district has also instructed the firefighters to not release the copies they have to the media, according to Union President Capt. Bill Morrison.
"It can't be public because it's a draft," said SFD Commission Chairman Bob Egan at a commission meeting on Aug. 24, in response to a question from Morrison on how the SFD would respond to Platten's letter. Egan said that releasing the report to the firefighters is all the district is planning to do.
The letter from the union's attorney asks the district to make the document and study committee meetings public immediately, pursuant to the California Public Records Act. The letter charges that the process the district has followed has fallen far short of the agreed upon understanding between the union and the district.
About a year ago, the district agreed to hire a consultant to study the level of fire and medical services in the district when union firefighters expressed their desire to merge with the Santa Clara County Fire Department for what they said would be a better level of service. The firefighters agreed to support a bond measure for a new fire station, as long as the consultant would study the district and make recommendations. Firefighters backed the bond measure, which passed in April 2000. They hope the consultant recommends a contract with the county.
The consulting company conducting the study, DMG Maximus, has divided it into three parts, according to Chris Carlson, the project manager for DMG. The first part is a profile of the district, the second is a comparison of the district with similar fire departments, including county, to provide context and the third will provide recommendations of what to do next. The firm is working on the second phase now.
Egan has said the district would like to keep the entire study process private until the last phase is completed.
The draft document that DMG recently released to the district was actually a second or third draft of the first phase of the study, which is the profile of the district. According to Morrison, it is an accurate description of what the fire district is. But it is an edited version of the first report, which was never shown to the district firefighters. This second version, which solely profiles the Saratoga Fire District, has still not been released to the public.
DMG released the first draft of the study in April, but the district never showed it to firefighters, citing inaccuracies in the draft as the reason. At the time, Egan said the consultant included comparisons with the county fire department, and the study was not commissioned to entail such comparisons.
The difference between the first and second drafts is that any information discussing the county fire department was removed from the second one. The first draft is still being withheld from the firefighters as well as the public.
Egan will not comment on what specific mistakes were found in the first draft of the report. One section of the first draft compares the cost structures of both departments and finds them to be similar, but the report concludes that the much larger county fire district spends less of its budget on overhead. The report also shows that the county fire district supports additional functions that the SFD does not provide, such as a training facility. The SFD spends more of its budget on salaries, wages and benefits, according to the report.
Commissioners will not specify which figures contained in the draft report were in error.
According to Carlson, his firm will compare the SFD to other fire departments during the second phase of the study, but that it just has not completed that phase of the project yet.
DMG based the profile on a review of management records, program monitoring and interviews with firefighters, SFD Chief Ernie Kraule, commissioners and management staff in the county including the county department chief, Douglas Sporleder, Carlson said.
Carlson said that DMG gathered data in talks with the county fire department that would be relevant to the second or third phases of the study, and this data would end up in the first phase draft prematurely. There is no timeline on the project that has been set.
Section 6254 a of the California Public Records Act, which covers all state and local agencies, including any board, commission or agency created by the agency--such as advisory boards--addresses drafts.
Under this act, draft documents are public records, and must be disclosed if retained by the agency in the ordinary course of business, and if the public interest in withholding the draft documents does not clearly outweigh the public interest in disclosure.
In this case, the committee would have to prove that the draft is something that would most likely be thrown out. Even if it doesn't keep copies on file, it must still show a compelling public interest in nondisclosure.
In addition, if the draft report contains facts, as well as a preliminary staff recommendation, only the recommendation may be withheld. Under the PRA, factual matters must always be disclosed.
The county fire department has 16 fire stations in all and the department serves Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Saratoga and unincorporated parts of Santa Clara County. While the SFD services half of Saratoga, the county department serves the other.
The union firefighters who want to contract with the county say there is redundancy and duplication in services between the two departments. Also, because the county department is much bigger, the chances for professional advancement for firefighters there are better.
SFD commissioners say the SFD already does a good job for the district.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
