Comments by Ed Carter

Coastsider endorses Boyd, Slater-Carter for MWSD

The Review's position on the MWSD race was obvious early on when they ran an incendiary cartoon in the September 5th edition slamming MWSD for not providing water hookups to houses with failed wells. Then on September 19th they printed the story about the Skowron's failed well at their Moss Beach residence. In their 10/24/07 edition the Review ran the story about Slater-Carter being delinquent on property taxes on her Nevada vacation home. The article did not mention information they had been given…

Coastsider endorses Donovan, Taborski, and Silva for HMB Fire and Williams for Pt Montara

We need people on the fireboard who are decisive, committed and independent. Bert Silva, Vince Williams, Jerry Donavan and Ron Taborski are the clear choice. At the last fireboard meeting half of the board walked out while the remaining board members listened to a presentation from a hired consultant on an item on the agenda concerning funding of retiree medical benefits. The board members who walked out did the honorable thing and recused themselves. Regardless, I do not believe it is in the best…

Coastsider endorses Donovan, Taborski, and Silva for HMB Fire and Williams for Pt Montara

What a pleasure to tune in to a civil discussion!

Letter: The straight facts about fire protection and the CDF

Bruce MacKimmie’s letter is an excellent discussion of the careful consideration our two coastside fire district boards of directors are giving to maintaining and improving fire and emergency services on the coastside. Bruce was the one who first pointed out the excessive costs we were paying under the HMBFPD arrangement with AMR for coastside ambulance service. This has now apparently been fixed. The directors of both boards have worked hard in often tense and confrontational meetings to find…

HMB fire board responds to union critics

Thank you for the facts on salaries Jeanne. I posted the following comment on Coastsider last July 21st in response to Barry Parr's Editorial calling for a clean-up of the fire department mess: "This past year $6.886 million dollars or 87% of all (HMBFPD) expenditures were spent for salaries and benefits. This was $207,627 over budget. If we take out $1,000,000 for Chief officer and administrative salaries and benefits and use the number of firefighter positions authorized in the department, the…

HMB fire board responds to union critics

The press release does mention firefighter salaries. Since you raise the issue of Chief Coles' salary Mr. Hawkins, would you care to post the 2005 earnings of all HMBFPD employees by name here for all to see? How much does the San Francisco Fire Chief make? How much do you make? You call the promotion of Paul Cole to acting Fire Chief scandalous. Does that mean you are calling for his replacement? Do we need a fifth fire chief within the past year? How can you pretend to be able to negotiate with…

HMB fire board responds to union critics

The HMBFPD board has over the past several years tried its best to reach out and accommodate the firefighters complaints about department management practices by having a management consultant do an assessment of management practices. During this period the community has elected new directors to the board. The board has recently engaged outside consultants to implement the suggested management practices and provide new management leadership. Board sub-committees have met with firefighters to discuss…

HMB fire board responds to union critics

It is good to see the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District (HMBFPD) board issue a press release explaining their rationale for pursuing a contract for fire services with The California Division of Forestry. I hope the Point Montara Fire Protection District (PMFPD) board will issue a statement in support of the HMBFPD action. For those of us who have followed the coastside fire service soap opera over the past decade, contracting out for services is the only viable option. It is all about money…

Fire boards vote to negotiate contract with CDF

There is a myth that needs correcting. The myth is that firefighters cannot afford to live on the coastside. The 1999 median household income in Half Moon Bay was $82,735. Last year the Fire district paid out $4,764,200 in salaries. If we subtract $600,000 for the 4 chiefs and divide the balance by the 39 authorized firefighter positions, the average firefighter in the district received at least $106,774 in salary last year. This number is low because the department was short staffed last year and…

Fire boards vote to negotiate contract with CDF

The decisive action by both fire boards last night after a full discussion of the issues provides hope that better days are ahead. Both CDF led by Chief Ferreira and City of San Mateo Fire"s Chief Kelly were impressive and responsive to all questions put to them. It was obvious either agency could provide the services we need. In the end the reality of the financial condition of both fire districts won the day and the lower bid from CDF was accepted. A point that was made by one firefighter who spoke…

Editorial:  It’s time to solve the Coastside’s firefighting mess

We learned at the Half Moon Bay fire board meeting Tuesday night that the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District spent $400,000 from reserves and $371,000 in non-recurring income last year to fund a district with serious problems and still was over budget on expenditures. The district has spent some $600,000 of its own money on firefighter lawsuit expenses including attorney’s fees over the past several years according to the Grand Jury report and the fire board. The district cannot afford to continue…

Editorial:  It’s time to solve the Coastside’s firefighting mess

Your editorial is a good analysis. We need a professional fire service not endless turf wars. It is time to solve this problem by negotiating a contract for services with the lowest bidder. All fire agencies have to meet the same fire code standards. Both agencies who have submitted bids are currently meeting these standards in San Mateo county. The competative bid process is used to ensure the community receives the best value for its tax dollar. Ed Carter

Interim Fire Chief condemns deficiencies, recommends contracting out fire service

The Point Montara board may have had advance notice of Chief Bonano's memo when they went into closed session at the beginning of their Regular Board Meeting on March 14th. The closed session Item was labeled: Evaluation of employee, Fire Chief (closed session held pursuant to government code Section 54957.1b) The strange thing is, Point Montara Fire Protection District has no employees! So, was this a legal closed session? I got to the meeting at about 7:32PM and they were already discussing other…