Update: On March 20, the Board of Supervisors agreed to request the removal of the “brown out” clause from the contract with the city of Hollister. The vote was 3-2 with Supervisors Angela Curro and Mindy Sotelo opposing. At the meeting, several public speakers demanded Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez to apologize for his March 18 comment about firefighters attending the meeting. “This is the frustrating part. We have firefighters here in uniform. Are they supposed to be in a meeting when they should be working?” he said in the middle of a statement about San Juan Bautista’s use of volunteers in the past. Velazquez did not address those comments. Lea este artículo en español aquí.
The city of Hollister and San Benito County have taken a step toward continuing to provide fire services to unincorporated areas of the county. New contract terms were discussed by both governing boards on March 17 and 18, respectively, and both have scheduled a vote. The San Juan Bautista City Council is expected to discuss the new contract on March 18 at 5:30 p.m.
At the Hollister City Council meeting, about 10 people, including firefighters, spoke against the contract during the public comment period. They voiced concerns about the closing of Station 3 in north county, key stakeholders not participating in the negotiations, and the county not paying enough for the services.
Hollister Fire Department’s new contract with the county would run through June 2028. The county has agreed to pay an additional $1.1 million annually, for a total of $3.38 million, retroactive to July 1, 2024, with 3% annual increases going forward.
The county also agreed to reimburse the city up to $400,000 in eligible expenses incurred by the city for services, plus costs of ambulance service dating back to January 2019. Hollister Fire Chief Jonathan Goulding said at the San Benito County meeting that the city was awaiting Santa Cruz Regional 911, which provides dispatch services, to supply the incurred costs during that time period, which he said could be zero to $200,000 annually.
Hollister can only terminate the contract if the county fails to pay.
A major concern among the public and firefighters was a “brown out” clause which states that Hollister can temporarily close or reduce operations at Station 3, located at the Hollister Municipal Airport, in situations of staffing shortages, equipment maintenance or budgetary constraints.
County resident Stacie McGrady said closing the station will have ripple effects on the senior community Whispering Pines Inn, Spring Grove School and on insurance rates for homeowners in the area.
“I am probably going to lose my homeowner’s insurance because the insurance companies are just looking for opportunities to cancel insurance,” she said.
Firefighters said reducing staffing or closing the station could affect mutual aid and auto-aid agreements with surrounding fire departments. Goulding said mutual aid is when the Hollister Fire Department requests engines from other jurisdictions and auto-aid is an official agreement between agencies to dispatch engines to support each other.
“If we cannot guarantee proper staffing levels at Station 3 or 4, we may no longer uphold our end of the agreements, which can result in the loss of additional resources to our community in times of emergencies,” firefighter Josh Buzzeta said. “This is not only about one station being closed. It’s about the entire network of emergency response that keeps our community safe.”
Hollister City Council member Dolores Morales and county Supervisors Mindy Sotelo and Angela Curro opposed the contract terms for various reasons, but all shared their concerns over staffing. Sotelo said she could not support the deal because the county would be “paying now more, and we’re going to be receiving a lot less services.”
Curro said she wanted expert input before voting to approve the contract. Morales said the county was not paying enough, and that Hollister is subsidizing services to the county by $4 million.
Members of the two ad-hoc committees which negotiated the contract, Supervisors Kollin Kosmicki and Ignacio Velazquez, Hollister Mayor Roxanne Stephens and Hollister Councilmember Rolan Resendiz, praised the contract as a way to continue fire services and not lay off firefighters.
“The goal here really is for this contract to act as a reasonable bridge toward a long-term solution,” Kosmicki said. “I believe there is a consensus among a lot of public officials that a fire district is really the best solution.”
San Juan Bautista, Hollister and San Benito County are conducting a feasibility study on creating a fire district. Voters will decide if they want to fund a special district.
The Hollister City Council voted 3-1 to agendize the fire service contracts with the county and San Juan Bautista, but no date was provided. The Board of Supervisors, which voted 3-2 to move forward, is scheduled to have a special meeting March 20 at 9 a.m.
The proposed contract with San Juan Bautista increases the city’s rate by $150,000 retroactive to July 1, 2024 and increases annually by 11%.
Hollister seeks more money
The previous Hollister City Council, three members of which were voted out of office in November, had sent San Juan Bautista and the county a 270-day termination notice on June 20, 2024, in an effort to press both jurisdictions to renegotiate new terms. On Jan. 21, the new City Council rescinded that notice, saying it was acting in good faith and that it was intended to provide more time to negotiate.
According to a presentation to the council in May 2024, the fire department’s budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year was $14 million. San Benito County contributed $2.2 million (16%) and San Juan Bautista $260,465 (2%) while the city of Hollister provided $10.4 million (74%). The majority of calls to the fire department originated from Hollister (59%) followed by the unincorporated areas of the county (37%) and San Juan Bautista (4%).
The shared services contract has been a point of contention for several years, and cost the city a $2.59 million grant in 2018.
The county’s 2022-23 Grand Jury Report found that Hollister Fire Department’s resources were stretched thin due to staff shortages and equipment issues. Goulding told the county supervisors he had 41 firefighters including “quite a bit” on long term disability. He said two firefighters on disability are not expected to return.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, most fire departments have between 1.5- 1.8 rate of firefighters per 1,000 residents. San Benito County’s rate is 0.6.
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