Community Partner usefulness

The community partner section of this course was useful.  I have not had much interaction with government actors and getting that hands-on experience was awesome.  It has definitely been a focal point of my college education.  In fact, I am continuing my internship with the Belmont Fire Protection District through the summer or until I find a full-time job.  Interaction with my community partner, and in particular, the newly retired fire chief, did help put the course into perspective for me.  On more than one occasion, I would seek help form the retired fire chief to write these blogs or my research paper.  A lot of the information that is needed to complete the blogs cannot be found through research, so asking the questions directly to the fire chief yielded more accurate answers.  I particularly like how some of the definitions in the book like: capacity, jurisdiction, or state-mandate can be applied directly to my community partner.  Researching the Belmont Fire Protection District has been a really cool experience and a vital part of the class.

Governors and BFPD

Belmont does not have a governor, but it does have a city council and mayor.  The city council absolutely has the power to make an impact on my community partner’s operations.  The city council was voted to split the San Carlos Belmont Fire Department up in the first place.  Furthermore, the Belmont city council ultimately decided if the city was going to have a stand-alone fire protection district or if it was going to outsource.  The City of Belmont has a weak-mayor system, so Mayor Wozniak does not soley get to make decisions that affect the BFPD.  The entire city council has to decide on the issues as a unit.  Ultimately, when there is an important decision to be made, the fire department will go to the city council meetings on Tuesday night and speak during the “public comments/concerns” portion of the night.  The fire chief’s urge the firefighters to participate in the community meetings so that their voices can be heard.  Belmont is such a small community that group like the BFPD can always be heard.  It would be much more complex for the San Francisco Fire Department to get their voices heard or make a change.  Even presenting a concern is time consuming and tedious in a large city.  Belmont has the luxury of intimate interaction among the community actors.  

Firefighters and the constitution.

The firefighters are not constitutionally mandated.  They do not seek any kind of protection relating to their existence.  The protection that they seek is only under California legislation, but not California constitutional law.  The federal constitution says that policing powers and public safety are within the states’ scope of power.  Since firefighters are charged with protecting the public, it is up to the states to facilitate them.  The main type of protection the firefighters seek is safety in the workplace.  Safety for firefighters is not in the state constitution, but there are California laws that protect them.    

authority to tax

The Belmont Fire Protection District does not have the authority to tax the Belmont residents themselves.  They are given a budget by the city and the county and they receive that tax revenue.  Tomorrow if they needed money, they cannot go down to city hall and call for a new tax.  They would have to work with the city council and take into consideration the city’s budget.  The BFPD does have to work with Local 2400 and city council to work out the kinks of their budget.  They are in debt because the state has given them a new engine after the split with San Carlos.  The BFPD is now in debt to the state and they have to come up with a process to keep the district running in the capacity that it currently is and pay back the money for the engine to the state.  Likely, the money will come from the pocket of the Belmont citizens.  

Budgeting and Service Delivery

The Belmont Fire Protection District relies on tax money to carry out its services.  It receives money from the residents of Belmont through property taxes.  The money is consistent.  It is a long process to cut the funding to the fire department, so it remains reliable and consistent.  It is an easy process to collect property taxes.   In addition, it is weed out who is not paying.  People have to live somewhere, and the housing turn over rate is not very high in communities like Belmont, so the money stays pretty dependable.  Also, because they are a fire protection district and not just a normal fire department they are subject to more money by the state.  They also dispose of hazardous waste for the twenty-one surrounding cities, so they get more revenue because of that.  Other organizations do not depend on the Belmont Fire Protection District for money because they do not make any.  They use the money that is allocated to them to render services to the Belmont community.

judicial processes/prison system

The Belmont Fire Protection District does not have a direct connection to any prison system.  It is not within their scope of power to arrest a criminal.  The Belmont Police Department would be the local entity that has the connection to the prison system.  The BFPD, as an entity, does not usually recourse to judicial processes by itself.  If they have a problem they will contact CPF because it is such a powerful special interest group.  Any time the CPF represents firefighters, there is a power in number that one department does not have by itself.  CPF has the resources to resolve problems statewide.  However, much the opposite, is an individual firefighters feels that they are wronged, they may utilize the judicial system.  For example, currently, there are firefighters that are suing the city of San Francisco.  They allege that they were the subjects of age discrimination.  It is not uncommon for a particular firefighter to engage in a lawsuit.  It is very rare an entire department to recourse to judicial processes to resolve a problem.  

interfacing entities

The Belmont Fire Protection District often times interfaces with two other local government entities regularly.  The first is the local emergency medical technicians, which has a headquarters in Foster City, and the second is the Belmont Police Department.  The EMT partnership is very important to the BFPD because an EMT is present on the engine at all times.  Up to 90% of the calls BFPD answers are medical, so an emergency medical technician has to be present.  It is much harder to get two entities down to one call, so their partnership is essential often times to the health of the individual calling.  With Foster City being a farther distance from Belmont, having an EMT on every engine makes the response time much faster.  It could be the difference between life and death.  The BFPD prides itself on being reliable to Belmont residents and protecting them.  If they did not have a partnership with the EMTs of San Mateo County, it would not only use up more tax payer money, but it would not be providing the residents with the same quality of service. 

The other local government entity that the Belmont Fire Protection District interfaces with is the Belmont Police Department.  They share the same office space in city hall, and they are always interacting.  There is a sense of understanding between these two entities, and in a sense, they both share the same aim: to protect the Belmont community.  The BFPD and the BPD share the same jurisdiction and often times go out to the same calls.  They are constantly communicating because a call may turn into an emergency one of the entities cannot handle.  For example, at the scene of a criminal fire, the BFPD detain the suspected arsonist.  Therefore they would call the BPD.  Another example, if a fight broke out during a routine traffic stop and someone was injured, the police officer cannot provide medical services.  Therefore they would call the BFPD because an EMT is always on the runs.  The interaction of these two entities is essential to the well-being of the Belmont Community as a whole.