Letter: Fire boards didn’t give themselves enough time to act on proposals

The joint meeting of the Half Moon Bay and Point Montara fire boards Tuesday night was hampered by someone (probably a Half Moon Bay or Point Montara board member intent on delaying action) by limiting the meeting to the hours of 5PM to 7PM on the posted Agenda.

So, the meeting had to be continued without action on the single agenda item. No one would admit to setting a closing time for the meeting when the question was raised by Half Moon Bay FPD President, Jerry Donovan The next time all board members agreed they could be present for a meeting is on Thursday August 17.

Both fire agencies bidding for the fire services contract made good presentations. Point Montara Board President Bruce MacKimmie asked some very good questions. Unfortunately, There was not enough time for all of the board members and the public to ask follow-up questions or for the boards to take an action before the meeting had to be recessed.

It was clear that at least one director on each board was not in favor of contracting with any outside agency. One Point Montara director stated he did not want a vote on the agenda item at this meeting.

Given the LAFCO study and the grand jury report conclusions, we can only hope the two boards act to fix the problems in the Half Moon Bay firehouse before there is another serious failure to deliver emergency services on the coastside as has been alleged by a Point Montara fire board member, to have happened recently.

Ed Carter
Montara