Vista Asks Questions on Sale of Fire Station : Homeless: The City Council has called a special meeting to discuss whether protection district followed proper procedure in accepting a soup kitchen’s bid.

The sale of a surplus fire station for use as an outreach center for the homeless has sparked a special meeting of the Vista City Council tonight out of concern that fire officials failed to follow proper procedures.

The sale of the station, in the 2200 block of South Santa Fe Avenue, to Faith & Love Ministries has caused resentment among neighboring residents and business owners who complain that the converted facility would bring an unsavory element to their neighborhood. Some have threatened to sue the fire district.

City officials, however, say they have another concern--and hope to get answers to their questions at tonight’s council meeting.

“I called the meeting because we don’t know what’s going on,” Mayor Gloria McClellan said.

At issue is whether the Vista Fire Protection District, which is politically autonomous, followed proper procedure in selling the firehouse, by opening bids within a month of first advertising the sale.

The city of Vista requires a 60-day period for that process, and critics of the firehouse sale say the fire district--which buys fire protection from the city on behalf of its county residents along the fringe of Vista--should have followed those same guidelines.

Critics contend that, if the sale had been better promoted, and for a longer period, the district might have gotten a better deal than the $245,000 offered by Faith & Love Ministries.

Duane Fellows, president of the district’s board of directors, said the city guidelines are irrelevant because the fire district is not bound by them. The closest parallel the district has to another government entity, he says, is the county itself--which is allowed to sell property after a 30- to 60-day advertising period.

Muddying the issue is the fact that, about 20 years ago, the Vista Fire Protection District entered a joint powers agreement with the city, which has its own Fire Department for service within the city limits.

The agreement called for the Vista Fire Protection District to contract with the city Fire Department to provide the actual protection to the adjoining county residents. Based on a computation of how much property tax revenue is generated by the district--money that is then paid to the city for fire protection--the two agencies share the ownership of both departments’ assets, by a ratio of 75% city ownership to 25% district ownership. That means the fire protection district in effect owns a little piece of the main Vista Fire Department headquarters, and, conversely, the city of Vista owns most of the surplus Fire Station No. 2, now in escrow.

Yet the actual title to Fire Station No. 2 is in the hands of the district, not the city.

When district officials started talking two years ago of selling the 45-year-old firehouse because two new stations are being built to serve eastern Vista, they looked around for what process to follow.

Richard A. Schulman, then assistant city attorney for Vista, offered this opinion to fire district officials in an Aug. 11, 1988, memo:

“If the station is owned entirely by the fire protection district, there is nothing in state law specifying any procedures for disposition.” In fact, he said, the district could sell the firehouse without even putting it out to public bid.

But, he added, “if the city does have an equitable or legal interest in the property, there are some specific procedures that need to be followed.” One of the first, he noted, was that the site would have to be offered first to low-income housing developers, then to parks and recreation agencies.

The agreement between the district and the city declared that the city would be the “lead agency” in administering the assets of the district--with the specific exception of Fire Station No. 2.

The deadline for bids was May 31, after the sale had been advertised once a week for four weeks in three area newspapers. Bids were opened June 13. Of the five that were received, two were for less than the appraised value, and the highest was not accompanied by a $10,000 cash deposit.

In a letter last week to the fire district, City Atty. Ron Null contended that the city disposal guidelines should have been followed. Even though the city does not hold title to the station, Null said, it “has an equitable ownership interest” in it.

Because of that, he said, the fire district should not open escrow on the property.

But the district did, and Faith & Love Ministries has threatened to sue if it tries to renege on the deal.

McClellan, the mayor, is not sure what to do now, but said she would at least like to review the escrow papers.

“I don’t think it’s our business to step in,” she said. “They have the authority to do as they please. They’re not under our jurisdiction.

“But we still need to sit down with them and see if they’re proceeding in a legal manner so there’s no backlash,” she said.

Fellows says he has no problem with the sale, and isn’t about to back out of it. He’s talked to the other board members in recent days and says they, too, stand by the deal.

“We don’t believe the people who are threatening suit are upset with the procedural aspect of the sale, but with the sale of the property to someone they do not welcome in the area,” Fellows said.

“I can’t see that we’ve done anything wrong.”