Lea este artículo en español aquí.
On Jan. 21, the Hollister City Council rescinded a plan to end the contract that provides fire services to San Benito County and the city of San Juan Bautista. The council also rescinded a resolution committing to keep the current level of staffing in the fire department regardless of the outcome of contract negotiations that are underway. Both matters passed in a 4-1 vote with Councilmember Dolores Morales opposed.
The city had sent a notice to the county and San Juan Bautista on June 20, 2024, saying it would terminate the fire services contracts effective March 15. The move was aimed at putting pressure on the two jurisdictions to pay more for the services, according to previous council members. The most recent contracts for the county and San Juan Bautista were put into effect in 2019 and are set to expire at the end of 2025, with a clause that could automatically renew them through 2028.
The council, which has three new members, said the move was made to mend the relationship between the city and San Benito County and to provide more time to negotiate new terms.
Councilmember Rudy Picha said he believed the county was “getting a pretty good deal,” but wanted more time to analyze other options, such as creating a fire district or a volunteer firefighter program.
“If we take the time,” he said, “We can get it right.”
Mayor Roxanne Stephens said historically the relationship between the county and city has not been great, but that she had faith in the new leadership of both governing bodies. She said the termination notice set the wrong tone.
“We already started having open conversations,” she said. “Not necessarily about fire but just in general, and [we are] building those bridges and mending some fences so that we have a better, more collaborative partnership with our county.”
Morales said the termination notice was a way to get the county to negotiate because they have been unwilling to do so in previous years.
“Over the last three years that I’ve been in the City Council there’s been many attempts to engage the county to pay their fair share,” she said.
She said rescinding the notice meant that it was likely firefighters would be laid off because the city cannot continue to subsidize services by almost $4 million per year. She said that the deficit would negatively affect all city services.
The shared services contract has been a point of contention for several years, and cost the city a $2.59 million grant in 2018. Then-mayor Ignacio Velazquez urged the council at that time to create a contract that was fair for all jurisdictions. He is now on the San Benito County Board of Supervisors and part of the county’s Fire Services Committee.
Velazquez did not immediately respond to BenitoLink’s request for comment.
According to a presentation to the council in May 2024, the fire department’s budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year was $14 million. San Benito County contributed $2.2 million (16%) and San Juan Bautista $260,465 (2%) while the city of Hollister kicked in $10.4 million (74%). The majority of calls to the fire department originated from Hollister (59%) followed by the unincorporated areas of the county (37%) and San Juan Bautista (4%).
Hollister Firefighters Union Local 3395 posted a video on Youtube on Jan. 20 proposing a contract in which jurisdictions pay for services based on population. Based on the latest U.S. Census estimates, that would mean Hollister’s share of the budget would be 65%, San Benito County’s would be 31% and San Juan Bautista’s 3%.
“Call volume is unpredictable but we can use population as a rough estimator,” the union says in the video.
Firefighters are dispatched not only for fires but for medical emergencies, vehicle accidents and technical rescues, according to the union.
Staffing commitment dropped
Eight speakers, including firefighters and their spouses, urged the council to keep the resolution committing to not lay off firefighters, regardless of the outcome of the fire service negotiations.
Courtney Parrinello, the wife of Capt. John Parrinello, said she sees the dedication and time firefighters put into serving the community. She said low staffing levels not only affect the city financially with mandatory overtime costs, but also harm firefighters’ well-being. She said aside from working five to seven days straight, they now have to worry about job security.
“The reality is firefighting is an incredibly demanding job,” she said. “Increased stress and burnout can lead to high turnover rates, additional training expenses and even disability claims.”
Picha, Stephens and Resendiz said they favored rescinding the resolution promising to retain staffing at the fire department because they wanted to be fair to all the city departments.
“There is no appetite to terminate positions,” Stephens said. “With that, we still have to have all options on the table, so this is part of the overall approach to this contract negotiation.”
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 Hollister rescinds termination notices for county fire services appeared first on BenitoLink.