Presiding Judge Amador County Superior Court

* The AFPA Board failed to appoint an Executive Officer and other essen- tial staff members. An Executive Officer is required to develop and prepare annual budgets, preliminary budgets, and work programs for the AFPA Board to review and approve. Because an Executive Officer was not ap- pointed, these budgeting actions have not occurred. (JPA Sections 6.7(a) and (5), 6.8, 6.9, and 8.0) Agree that the AFPA has not appointed an Executive Officer and other staff to work on budgets and work plans. However, the AFPA has no funds with which to create a budget and these positions and functions would be costly and are unnecessary. The JPA language referring to them needs to be removed from the JPA along with other language in the JPA that does not reflect how the AFPA operates or should be operating as an unfunded volunteer agency. The AFPA created a sub-committee in January of 2020 to review the JPA and to make recommendations about making changes to the language therein. This process has been slowed due to the COVID situation. * The AFPA Board failed to perform planning functions including, but not limited to, developing operational and funding strategies to enhance fire protection coverage, consolidating AFPA member networks and depart- ment operations, and develop consistent and cost effective response plans. (JPA Section 7.1.) Agree that the AFPA has not performed planning functions. However, planning is a function of, and is carried out by, each individual department. Consolidation has been discussed in the past, but currently, there are no consolidation discussions occurring. Consolidation discussions may occur in the future. Again, the language of the JPA needs to be changed. * The AFPA Board is not holding regular monthly public meetings that comply with the Brown Act (JPA Section 6.5(a).) Agree that the AFPA has not been holding monthly meetings. For a number of years, the AFPA did meet monthly, but/meetings were often redundant because no new business was occurring so it was decided to meet quarterly with the ability to call a special or extra meeting if needed. The meetings that are held comply with the Brown Act. Again, the language of the JPA needs to be changed. * The AFPA is not establishing and maintaining reports and accounts regarding funding sources and expenditures, and its members are not conducting required annual audits regarding the use of measure M funds. (JPASections 7.1(h) and 8.2) Agree in part. The County currently tracks, for the AFPA, incoming Measure M funds and the distribution of said funds to the various departments. Individual departments perform their own financial audits which include the receipt and expenditure of Measure M funds. The AFPA must develop a system for reviewing the departmental audits, and must develop a funding source for doing so. Again, the language of the JPA needs to be changed.

Measure M and Ordinance 1676 are confusing and overly restrictive, and do not allow sufficient flexibility in the use of Measure M funds by the districts for "Fire Protection and Emergency Response Safety." The Board of Supervisors does not have sufficient flexibility to modify the allowable uses for the funds. Agree that Measure M and Ordinance 1676 are confusing and overly restrictive. The use of Measure M funds is clearly delineated in Ordinance 1676 which added Chapter 3.14 to the Amador County C, specifically, Section 1C,3.14040, parts A & B. Any change to this language would require a ballot amendment.

The Amador dispatching process is inefficient and not fully supported by all Amador Fire Leadership. The protocol has several steps before actual dispatching through Camino takes place. The intermediate steps can add delays in deploying resources. Agree.

Changes AFPD made to response areas in 2019 caused confusion in response responsibilities. The changes were not sufficiently communicated or coordinated with other districts. It was believed "Area 118" was created to reclaim response areas by AFPD from other districts so the Measure M funds would follow. The response maps returned to the previous configuration partly as a result of an unwritten "temporary" 3 year" agreement between the affected districts. Agree.

New fire stations are being planned and built near existing stations, near the boundaries of districts, or in areas already well-served. Martell is an example of this occurring. Agree.

A Fire Chief routinely self-dispatches to incidents, and therefore violates protocol. Disagree. this is a vague accusation. No specifics or context is provided No "protocol" is cited. A Fire Chief self dispatching, may be positive and warranted when a Chief hears a dispatch and feels that more resources or supervision are required. Specific complaints about a Chief self dispatching and the appropriateness thereof, should be directed to the overseeing authority of said Chief, such as the City Council or the District Board of Directors, for investigation. The AFPA has no investigative authority or resources.

On multiple occasions, a Fire Chief canceled responding resources who would have been first to arrive in order to allow another department to respond, thereby unnecessarily adding to the response time. Not using the first-arriving engine resource is a public safety issue. Disagree. This is a serious but vague accusation. Specific complaints about a Chief improperly cancelling resources should be directed to the overseeing authority of said Chief, such as the City Council or the District Board of Directors for investigation. The AFPA has no investigative authority or resources.

A Fire Chief slowed down an engine arrival by intentionally driving their district/department's vehicle in front of the responding engine of another district or department. Slowing down a responding engine is a public safety issue. Disagree. This is a serious but vague accusation. The accusation contains no specifics or context. Specific complaints of this nature should be directed to the overseeing authority of said Chief, such as the City Council or District Board of Directors for investigation. The AFPA has no investigative authority or resources.

Amador County Fire Departments have been prevented from participating in training with other local departments. Disagree. This is a vague accusation. Specific accusations of this nature should be directed to the overseeing authority of the Chief being accused, such as the City Council or District Board of Directors for investigation. The AFPA has no investigative authority or resources. Grand Jury Recommendations and AFPA Responses: