Public safety commission involved in rift in fire department

By Kara Chalmers

During the oral communications from the public section of the Saratoga City Council meeting Oct. 18, two residents spoke about their concerns with the Saratoga Fire District. They were two of three people present at a meeting that the union firefighters from the SFD held on Oct. 11, to talk about their wishes to contract with the Santa Clara County Fire Department.

The council referred the matter to the public safety commission, which had already heard testimony from residents on this subject at the meeting October 12. The commission at that time placed the item on the agenda for its November meeting and should come back to the council with a recommendation.

According to union president, SFD Capt. Bill Morrison, the people in the city are the union's last hope for getting what they want--a merger between the two departments. The firefighters think the county could offer residents and firefighters better services for less money than the SFD can.

In Saratoga, the SFD serves one part of the city, while the county fire department serves the other.

When the firefighters said they would oppose a bond measure for a new station over a year ago, SFD commissioners agreed to pay for a study of the district's services, so the firefighters backed the bond.

According to the SFD commission chairman, Bob Egan, the study is supposed to explain to the commission how to improve the level of service for the community and while the study does not evaluate the county, he said it is logical that a merger with the county would be addressed in the study.

The next draft of the study is due within two weeks, according to Chris Carlson, the consultant who is working on the project. Carlson said that depending on comments he receives on this next draft, the study might be close to being done.

But Morrison fears the study might not make a recommendation either way about contracting with the county. That is part of the reason the firefighters decided to set up meetings to appeal to the people of the city to support the firefighters' wish to merge with the county.

"Basically you're our last hope," said Morrison to the group of Bohlman Road area residents who met with the firefighters on Oct. 11. "We've gone as far as we think we can go with it. We tried to convince them to do certain things, do a study and it wasn't really coming out right so we really basically need your help to convince the board that this may be the way to go."

According to Egan, the job and the goal of the SFD is to provide the best service possible for the community, not what's only best for the firefighters.

Since the firefighters backed, and the voters of Saratoga passed, the $6 million bond measure for a new station in April, the district is going ahead with plans for the station, which include trying to obtain a property in back of the fire station by eminent domain. The district would use this building as a temporary fire station when construction starts on the station, and would also use it as a training room after the new station is built.

The district filed suit in December 1999, and a trial date has been set for Nov. 6. On that date, a judge will decide whether there is grounds for the district to claim eminent domain, which means the property would be put to a public use. Then a jury will decide how much to compensate Charles Hackett, the property owner, for his property. A judge already denied a request by Hackett, to delay the trial.

Hackett said he does not want to sell the building, which he used to rent to Contempo Realty and for which he said he has had several people interested in buying or renting.

He has owned the property since 1973 and, according to him, it has been appraised for more than $3 million.

According to Egan, the only two appraisals he has seen of the property both came in below $2 million.

Hackett said that if there is a merger between the county and the SFD in the future, he believes that the building would just duplicate the services that the county would already provide and that the expense would be a waste of taxpayer money.

"I think there's a lot of people in the community unhappy with this and I think they need to let the commissioners know what their feelings are."

The residents who spoke to the council on Oct. 18, had concerns about the property, as well. Aaron Katz, questioned if there would be enough money left over after attorney's fees are paid to build the station.

John Keenan, said that the county would provide two temporary trailers during construction of the building, so the back building would not be necessary. He said the district should have a public hearing on the level of service study and asked the council to apply pressure on the district to organize a hearing.

Ed Farrell gave the council a copy of the first draft report that the consultants sent out, which included cost comparisons of the county and the SFD.

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