Tension Still High in San Miguel Fire District After Election

The race to fill three board seats on the San Miguel Fire Protection District is long over, but there is still a healthy amount of tension among some of the board members.

Firefighters and incumbents Chris Winter and Rick Augustine were the two highest vote getters, with 21.7 and 20.4 percent of the vote respectively. But retired firefighter Jeff Nelson, one of three candidates (along with Kandhy Franklin and Jim Custeau) backed by IAFF 1434—the San Miguel Firefighters Union—won the third seat, with 19.3 percent.

Augustine took issue with the amount of money that the union spent trying to replace its existing board members and claims that the union was trying to buy the election.

"The San Miguel Firefighters Union spent more money on this election than at any other time in the history of the district," he said. "In our estimation, because they had three mailers—I can't guess at how many large signs they had—if you put all of their volunteer labor in there to sit at fire stations and rent fire trucks to make them look like real trucks, they probably spent close to $100,000."

He said that since the economic downturn, no one has been laid off, there have not been any brownouts, their compensation is among the highest in San Diego County, and yet it's curious that the union wanted new candidates for the board.

"No one from the union could answer that question," Augustine said. "Their hidden agenda was never shared with the public. All we heard was 'vote for these three people.' Why try and scare the public into thinking that we weren't doing a good job?"

Nelson said that there is a disconnect between the problems the union employees feel and the board agenda. He added that the board continues to spend money on programs that don't contribute to community services. At biggest issue with Nelson was the hit that response times took after the shutting down of Fire Station 15 last year.

"The union has been misunderstood and misrepresented by some of the people running," he said.

Winter said that he knows the firefighters are doing a great job, and that they are showing response times that are above the national average. He added that one of the union's priorities was to spend less on prevention and public education, but that that's where there was a real difference of opinion between the union-backed candidates and the others.

"Their candidate, Jeff Nelson, stood up and said we should get back to core values and he said 'response times' were most important," Winter said. "Well the other two core values are to serve the public and to educate the public."

"As I stated in my campaign, my first priority has to be emergency response. Anything that doesn't relate to firefighters responding to a person's home needs to be looked at," said Nelson.

The district will likely be operating with a near $1 million budget shortfall after the fiscal year, and questions abound about how to make up that gap.

"With that kind of a loss, does it all come out of salaries? One area you know will generate $1 million is a 10 percent salary cut," said Augustine. "Do we do things in different ways? Do we operate differently? We have to all be talking about those options."

Winter added that it's been their philosophy that when there is a salary reduction, it's been the same percentage districtwide.

Augustine said that if the IAFF 1434 can channel the same energy and creativity they used in trying to get three new board members elected, he thinks they are really going have some positive options. But he understands the challenges as well. He said that the local fire chiefs have already put in place mediators that will go to the fire departments to help create a positive dialogue on both sides.

In working with Nelson, Augustine added, "It's hard for me to believe he's not going to be beholden to [the union] after they spent what they did. Hopefully he'll look at the numbers and be fair."

Winter added: "I think if he's any kind of person with any kind of integrity, he will come out and do what's right, whether it's really what the union wants to see or not. But he's got an uphill battle, and being such a controversial race, he's going to have to battle to prove his credibility with the rest of the board. He's going to have to prove that he's not a union 'yes' man for us to take him seriously."

Nelson agreed with Winter and Augustine that he faces a challenge, but said he hopes to enlighten and inform the other members on how the employees really feel.

"[The current board] are satisfied with the job they are doing; I don't think they should be," he said. "They need to get better in touch with how the employees feel, not just those from the executive level."