Merger of Windsor and Rincon Valley fire districts ending amid budget woes, discord

A five-year effort to merge management of two busy Sonoma County fire districts in order to share services and save taxpayer money is ending following years of discord, budget and staffing problems and runaway overtime costs.

The Central Fire Authority, which manages the Windsor and Rincon Valley fire districts, covering 60,000 residents and with budgets totaling about $10 million, is expected to shut down as early as next month.

While the demise does not affect firefighting services at the two agencies - which still will share a chief - it does present a cautionary tale for numerous other fire departments in the county facing their own financial issues and seeking partnerships.

At issue in the failed merger, firefighters and officials said, was a need for greater transparency, clearer development plans, better budgeting and employee support, and stronger leadership.

And the need to pick a good name. “Central Fire” was universally disliked by both fire agencies from the start, and neither wanted it as its identity.

“In simple terms, (Central Fire) has failed. In reality, (it) did not get executed well,” said Central Fire Chief Jack Piccinini, a retired Santa Rosa fire official hired last spring as interim chief following the retirement of Doug Williams, the longtime chief.

Windsor and Rincon Valley firefighters initially supported the deal but quickly turned skeptical as the problems piled up. They have backed a proposal Piccinini made to end shared management at an October meeting of the three boards of directors governing the two fire districts and Central Fire. Board members indicated they will vote to disband the joint powers authority, which could come as soon as the December meeting.

“Since the beginning it hasn’t been what we envisioned,” said John Nelson, a board member for both Windsor fire and Central Fire.

John Hamann, Rincon Valley and Central Fire board member, acknowledged that both the chief and the boards share responsibility for the missteps that caused the merger to unravel.

The new plan will likely be a simpler, shared management agreement. It’s a step back from the original idea of eventually consolidating Windsor and Rincon Valley fire districts into a single agency.

“Everyone seems to be willing to play together as long as no one mentions the words ‘Central Fire’ again,” Hamann said.

The change will alter Piccinini’s title to chief of Rincon Valley and Windsor and remove the “Central Fire” patch from his shoulder and the uniforms of other firefighters. Piccinini doesn’t think the public will notice, recounting how a friendly Windsor grocery clerk saw his Central Fire patch and asked if he was with an out-of-town agency. Central Fire has existed since 2011.

Ending it makes sense as both fire agencies face serious financial issues that are better addressed apart, Piccinini said. But he also recommended the boards not abandon the idea, citing the need to share services and curb costs.

“The real reasons for (Central Fire) still exist,” he said.

Shared management or full consolidation of fire agencies have been tried for decades in pockets of the county with mixed results.

The consolidation of the Valley of the Moon and the city of Sonoma fire departments in 2012 into Sonoma Valley Fire is seen as a success story. But an earlier effort in the late 1990s to share management among Rincon Valley, Rancho Adobe and Valley of the Moon fire agencies - called the North Bay Fire Authority and led by Williams- lasted just a few years.

The original impetus for Central Fire - to control costs and share services - came from Williams and Windsor Chief Ron Collier. The name referred to the fire agency’s geographical location in Sonoma County.

Collier retired in 2011, and Williams and the governing boards launched the joint administration.

But the vision ran into a slumping economy, and dropping property taxes reduced fire district budgets. Williams couldn’t hire as planned and manager positions vacated through retirements were left unfilled.

The lone battalion chief position remains vacant. An attempt to fill that gap by rotating captains into acting battalion chief with a bump in salary and making firefighters acting captains resulted in skyrocketing overtime costs.

In 2014, Williams and the boards were ready to move toward consolidation but ran into discord as both firefighter groups publicly blasted the idea, asking their boards to end the partnership.

“Central Fire Authority has fostered a difficult work environment that has leadership voids, ineffective communication, (and) is contentious and demoralizing to its members,” wrote a Rincon Valley firefighter union leader in a letter to the boards in late 2014.

Rincon Valley firefighters then sought a new partnership - with Santa Rosa fire - sidelining consideration of consolidation with Windsor for a lengthy study into whether Santa Rosa could absorb Rincon Valley’s sprawling district and 18 firefighters. The city eventually rejected the idea, determining Rincon Valley’s budget was too small to cover the cost. The Rincon Valley move also deepened issues with Windsor’s labor groups.

Williams, who retired this spring, was one of the county’s veteran fire chiefs and a longtime proponent of fire agencies sharing services. Disappointed by the pending dissolution of Central Fire, he said the vision was stymied by the economy’s dip, lack of command staff and unforeseen legal complications with the joint powers agreement.

“I would be less inclined to say everything was a failure” with Central Fire, Williams said. “We learned how to do things better. People are still working together. That’s the one important thing. I don’t have any regrets.”

His successor, Piccinini, was brought on to shepherd the two fire districts into early 2017. He agrees with much of Williams’ assessment but said lax oversight, inadequate planning and uncertainty caused by the 18-month Santa Rosa-Rincon Valley study were also factors.

Additionally, he urged the fire boards of Windsor and Rincon Valley to dig out of financial holes, and to consider seeking higher parcel tax rates from voters. Residents of Windsor currently pay about $130 annually and Rincon Valley residents pay $36.

Piccinini in recent months met with labor and board members to discuss moving forward, leading to the conclusion that Central Fire needed to end.

As rancor has given way to a more constructive approach between the two agencies, firefighters said there were lessons to be taken from the Central Fire effort and similar collaborations. They called for better communication to identify problems and maintain an open dialogue,

“All we’re losing is a blanket third layer of government,” said Ryan Estes, a Rincon Valley fire engineer and head of the district’s firefighter union. “The execution or lack of a plan is one of the biggest things that hurt us.”

Sonoma Valley Fire Chief Mark Freeman said a main reason the Sonoma Valley consolidation worked was the buy-in from both firefighting groups.

“Probably why we were successful is that employee groups really drove this and pushed it,” he said.

Collaboration will remain a key element for most local fire agencies going forward, said Cyndi Foreman, a Rincon Valley firefighter and Central Fire’s fire prevention specialist.

“It just has to be done right from the get-go,” she said. “Every successful organization needs a strong leader, a strong team. It’s a little bittersweet. We just didn’t get over the hurdles we needed to. Maybe a couple steps backward is what we need.”