The four local independent fire districts in Nevada County who have been working for over a year to reorganize and merge into one may have “bitten off more than they can chew,” according to Doug Wittler, Director of the Rough & Ready Fire Protection District’s (Rough & Ready FPD) Board.
A motion was made by the Rough & Ready FPD’s Board to table Nevada County Consolidated Fire District’s (NCCFD) offer and to reorganize and to move forward with plans to join Penn Valley Fire Protection District (PVFPD).
The motion was approved with four votes in favor of the motion, and one opposing vote from John Wetzel, Director of Rough & Ready FPD’s Board during a meeting at Station #59 in Rough & Ready on Tuesday evening.
Wetzel called for another attempt to meet with all four agencies before making any changes. Wetzel withdrew his motion after continued discussion.
The passing motion was for Rough & Ready FPD to take steps to merge with only PVFPD for the time being, and not to postpone the decision by waiting for another meeting with all four fire districts.
“It’s a shame to make any decisions without that meeting happening,” Matt Shockey, Acting Captain at Station #59 said. “I want to see a meeting. I want to see the ad hoc get together. It just doesn’t seem right to continue without that happening.”
The decision was made to move forward after a lengthy discussion with members of the public and fire chiefs and board members.
The merger between NCCFD and Ophir Hill Fire Protection District (OHFPD) has already been approved, according to Chief Jason Robitaille, NCCFD.
The next steps for NCCFD are to update their resolutions and modify their plans for service to reflect OHFPD and NCCFD only.
“We will prepare a draft and bring it to the two boards for final approval and then submit the final application to LAFCo for the reorganization,” Robitaille said.
The next NCCFD board meeting is slated for Thursday, April 17 beginning at 7 p.m. at Station 91, 11329 McCourtney Road in Grass Valley.
Response to NCCFD
On March 24, Keith Grueneberg, President of the Board for NCCFD sent letters to both PVFPD and Rough & Ready PFD stating that in a unanimous vote his Board of Directors “decided to table the reorganization plan with the PVFPD until a further date.”
In the letter to Rough & Ready FPD, Grueneberg requested that Rough & Ready FPD reaffirm its commitment to the proposed reorganization with NCCFD and OHFPD by April 8, 2025.
“Rough & Ready has asked a specific thing tonight which we had to speak to,” Wittler said. “But in talking to the various parties, I think the overall picture… is that we do want to all come together when the time is right.”
At last week’s PVFPD board meeting, communication breakdown was identified as part of the reason why PVFPD was “tabled” from the reorganization efforts, however, Grueneberg addressed that issue in a statement to The Union.
“The main problem is not communication, but non-compliance with our request for a five-year budget projection from PVFD,” Grueneberg said. “Chief Robitaille was 95% complete with the draft service plan which needed to be completed for our consultants to produce the final draft document for all fire district board members to review, comment, make necessary changes, and approve.”
He continued: “Chief Robitaille has completed mostly all of the plan entirely without assistance. After approval, the plan would be submitted to LAFCo along with the application for reorganization. PVFD did not comply with this request for financial information.”
During the open discussion at Tuesday evening’s meeting, Chief Robitaille was asked by a member of the public what slowed the communication between members of the ad hoc committee, and he said that they were waiting on some “data” from “an organization,” in reference to the five-year plan and the hiring of new personnel at PVFPD.
Grueneberg also told The Union: “PVFD board asked Chief Robitaille if their promoting three Battalion Chiefs was in line with the proposed reorganization plan—which none of the four boards have seen and or approved. The Chief replied in the affirmative in the context of the new district and not the current environment.”
The “current environment” means during the application process to LAFCo.
“Rather than meet with the ad hoc committees, PVFD decided to promote nine people and hire three additional employees,” Grueneberg said. “This caused a major spike in the financial plan without adequate revenues. We hope Penn Valley Director McMahan’s request (on April 1) for a five-year budget projection is completed so there is a clear understanding of PVFD’s financial situation. That is all we requested in the first place.”
Deadlines ahead
All agencies face deadlines with the latest decision for Rough & Ready FPD to join with PVFPD.
“I feel at this time that Penn Valley actually has a plan for Rough & Ready,” Wittler said, “and Consolidated, although we appreciate them reaching out and wanting us to organize with them, I don’t see a plan, and I just can’t, I can’t recommend walking through a door that I don’t know is on the other side.”
NCCFPD and OHFPD may feel a sense of urgency in their request for a “reaffirmation” from Rough & Ready FPD with the deadline for the final paperwork to LAFCo due in December 2025.
Possible property assessment increases
If there are any proposals to increase the rescue tax for PVFPD and Rough & Ready FPD property owners, it must be submitted by August, according to Shauneen Deschaine, Board member for Rough & Ready FPD.
The rescue tax helps to keep the ambulance service in operation, according to Joey Jordan, Chair of PVFPD’s Board.
A separate tax increase based on the value of a property, called the ad valorem, may also be needed, according to Wittler.
PVFPD is underfunded by the ad valorem taxes, according to the determinations made in the Municipal Service Review (MSR) required by LAFCo which examines the adequacy of services provided by local agencies, including fire districts.
One resident of Rough & Ready told the board and the public that she would rather pay an increase in her property tax than pay an increase in her fire insurance when and if Station #59 was forced to close.
“We’re a poor district,” the speaker said. “Sorry, we don’t have the money… The fire district doesn’t end at the edge of Rough & Ready, obviously, it goes throughout the whole area. We’re all in this together, really. It’s concerning, though, when some of the budget issues don’t seem to have been brought out in the open or discussed prior to changes happening; that’s a concern. I hope it can still be worked out, and I hope the funding can be shared more equitably throughout the county and the area.”
Closing the doors of Station #59 was not an issue, Wittler and others assured the members of the public in the meeting.
Still, property owners may have to approve a benefit assessment to keep Station #59 opened into the future. If Rough & Ready does not join another fire district, its 712 parcel owners would need to pay “another $1,000 a piece to keep our fire station,” according to Wittler.
Joining with PVFPD, and increasing the per parcels assessments, often referred to as taxes, by $2.22 for the upcoming fiscal year, would still keep the cost for property owners under $140, said Wittler.
“I know it’s bad news, and I appreciate nobody bringing rotten vegetables to throw at me, but it’s the only way that I see that we can help make a consolidation happen,” Wittler said.
Other comments from the public supported making the decision “now” and if the board voted to wait for another meeting with all four districts, it would only be “kicking the can down the road.”
Wittler provided the room full of attendees, many of whom were firefighters and board members from other fire districts, with the history of the proposed reorganization including the $1 million of gap money that the Nevada County Board of Supervisors gave to Station #59 to keep it fully staffed and operational for two years.
That money is running out, and by the end of the year it is expected to be exhausted, according to Chief Don Wagner.
“When you look at possibly a $600,000 deficit,” Grueneberg said, “and then looking at some of the numbers, it goes into millions of dollars on the deficit side. We’ve got to start making some educated business decisions here.”
Chief Jason Robitaille recognized the efforts from all the fire districts and the Supervisors, even though the plans were ambitious, perhaps dividing the reorganization plan into two parts is a solution for now.
“The day that we came together to staff Station #59, it was one of the highlights, not only of my career, but others,” Robitaille said. “We have really good intentions. This is not the result that we were hoping for. I knew it was ambitious, but bifurcating the process...We respect your decision, and that’s really my ultimate goal, and Chief Wagner’s is that we just want stations open. I don’t care what patch (is worn on uniforms), we just want when people call 911, get air in the lungs and water and fire as fast as possible.”
Robitaille also stated that the situation has also been a catalyst in the fire service in that he and Chief Wagner, and all the fire chiefs in the county, just recently signed a county-wide response plan that recognizes closest resource dispatching.
They are trying to implement a deployment strategy that is county wide, regardless of who’s managing what.
“That vision will not go away as long as I’m here,” Robitaille said.