Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District

LAFCO’s Role in District Formation Response: Agree The district has no authority with respect to LAFCO. Obviously, the district would like to see LAFCO work closely with the fire service to insure success in future endeavors.

District Board Selection Criteria The district is very interested in having board members with the essential skills to perform well in their positions. While the district is always attempting to locate interested parties to become part of our board, the fact remains recruiting continues to be problematic. Not many citizens are interested in getting involved with government boards, primarily due to the time commitment, and the fact that becoming a board member opens up a civil and criminal liability issue. Those that are interested may or may not have the skills needed, and the other unknown is whether they come to sit on the board without prejudice and/or a hidden agenda which may not be considerate of what’s best for the citizens of the district. In the past the district will usually only have one applicant for a board position, rarely are there more than one to choose from. There are times the district will not have a complete board sitting for months. Upon screening, some interested candidates have been turned down if the county and/or the district makes the determination they don’t have the skills needed. However, even though a candidate may look good on their resume, many times it’s hard to determine just how successful board members are until they are already appointed. The district has already been more focused on trying to recruit qualified board members, and working with the county, will be more critical of potential board members expertise. The district is also looking at possibly moving to an elected board. While this would take some time to complete, and is another way to fill a district board, the district would still face the dilemma of finding qualified candidates to run for the board positions. Finding#3 Accounting and Auditing Proficiency Response: Agree The district has had some difficulties in the past with tracking its finances and has taken some steps to improve our area of expertise and efficiency within the finance division. The district has contracted with a part-time accountant in house, and hired a full time finance accountant position, in addition to utilizing our independent auditor. The district is also in the process of changing our budget to be more comprehensive and detailed. This should make it easier to track expenditures and revenues. In compliance with the GASB 34, the district has started tracking capitol assets, and will do so yearly.

Budgeting and Multi Year Planning With a new finance division team in place, the staff has started by assuring we have a workable budget in place for this fiscal year. As mentioned in Finding #3, staff is already making changes to the way we track our finances, breaking out the county contract services, and changing our line item budget to be more comprehensive. Our goal this year is to have a financial plan in place that encompasses the long range goals and objectives of the district. This plan will include future operational needs, as well as a plan to pay down the districts debt.

County Responsibility Response: Agree, in part. As mentioned previously the county didn’t approve loans to keep the district afloat. An Ad Hoc Team was appointed to assist with getting the district through a critical period financially while the district board made adjustments to staff to keep the agency operating. All assistance from the county was greatly appreciated, and I believe the county has a moral obligation to ensure that all residents and taxpayers living in the county receive basic services to live safely; this includes fire and life safety. While financial obligations may be debated, I feel working together with county staff in the future will ensure situations such as what just transpired with the district will not happen again.