Lea este artículo en español aquí.
The San Benito County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 27 voted to investigate the feasibility of forming a joint powers authority (JPA) for fire services. The cities of Hollister and San Juan Bautista are expected to also consider being part of this separate, legal entity.
The jurisdictions are looking at options as San Juan Bautista and San Benito County currently contract with the Hollister Fire Department for services. In June, the city sent a 270-day termination notice to San Juan Bautista and San Benito County, and the parties have been working to negotiate new contracts. The termination of services would be effective March 17, 2025.
Hollister City Manager David Mirrione said San Juan Bautista City Manager Don Reynolds brought up the idea of forming a JPA to formalize the process and to select a contractor for a feasibility study.
“The process will often lead to a proposed governing structure which could be a JPA,” Mirrione said.
He said there is also discussion about negotiating new contracts for services at the staff level.
Supervisors Kollin Kosmicki and Dom Zanger opposed the JPA proposal, saying they were concerned the decision-making authority would go from the Board of Supervisors and City Councils to the JPA members.
Kosmicki said he supported creating a fire protection district, but was concerned about the process. He said with a JPA, the Board of Supervisors would be giving away the authority to make decisions, such as selecting a contractor for the feasibility study.
He said such a move would mean “essentially pulling the rug out” from under future boards, which “typically have authority over how to spend taxpayers’ dollars,” and handing that authority to a JPA that does not necessarily represent a majority.
He also argued the county would lose negotiation leverage because Hollister and San Juan Bautista “have essentially allied.”
He added the current structure with the Fire Advisory Committee, made up of two representatives each from the Board of Supervisors, San Juan Bautista and Hollister city councils, allows the majority of elected officials to make the decisions. The advisory committee is currently working on a request for proposal for a feasibility study on shared fire services.
Supervisor Angela Curro, who is part of the advisory committee with Kosmicki, said the county has three options: continue to contract with Hollister, contract with CalFire, or form a JPA to consider forming a special fire district.
“The options are not real great,” she said.
Supervisor Mindy Sotelo said she saw the JPA path as a way to start having conversations and collaborations as a community.
“What we have today isn’t working,” Sotelo said, “and we need to start thinking in a little broader terms and we gotta face what is in front of us.”
According to the staff report in the agenda, the county has contracted with Hollister for fire services since 2013.
The report from the 2022-23 Civil Grand Jury found that Hollister Fire Department’s resources were stretched thin because of staff shortages and equipment issues.
The Hollister City Council received a presentation on the fire department’s annual report during a May 2024 meeting. It showed that in 2023, the city accounted for 59% of fire calls, while 37% of calls went to the county and 4% to San Juan Bautista.
For those services, the county paid $2.2 million, or 21% of the fire department’s budget, while San Juan Bautista paid $260,465, or 1.8%.
Related BenitoLink articles:
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. It is expensive to produce local news and community support is what keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service, nonprofit news.
The post County supervisors exploring fire services options appeared first on BenitoLink.