No Need to Change Fire Authority

The Orange County Fire Authority does its work largely out of the limelight, except in an emergency, when it becomes the agency of the hour. At a time when redistricting is on people’s minds, one Orange County Republican assemblyman whose district is being eyed by Democrats has decided to focus his high beams on the authority’s governance structure. If he were to get his way, it could weaken the oversight of cities. This is a case of something that isn’t broken and doesn’t need fixing.

Assemblyman Ken Maddox (R-Garden Grove) is one of the most conservative members of an already conservative county delegation in Sacramento. Were he not a likely target of redistricting in need of friends such as members of firefighters unions, he would be an unlikely initiator. He says this is not about politics, but rather government efficiency. But his plan is being seen as an attempt to strengthen union negotiating power with the authority by making it easier to influence a smaller governing board.

Maddox has complained that the board is unwieldy and unresponsive with its current 23 members, and has sought to streamline it to five. Accordingly, he filed a “place-holder” bill that would aim to restructure the board. The authority makes a good case that its current structure is working fine. Its board of directors is made up entirely of elected officials, most from city councils and two members of the Board of Supervisors to represent unincorporated areas. This keeps the authority connected to the people who are elected by recipients of fire protection.

The argument over size seems disingenuous. There is an even bigger board in the county, the Orange County Sanitation District, with 25 members. As a joint powers authority formed in the aftermath of the 1994 county bankruptcy, the fire authority shares in decision-making and provides coordinated services that relieve each individual community from having its own fire department.

In a related venture, Maddox recently called on the Orange County Grand Jury to have a look at authority expenditures in Irvine. On March 28, fire authority officials went before the grand jury to explain that one of the member cities really had spent funds to clear fire hazards. Maddox had suggested that money was being misspent on general tree-trimming rather than going for work related to fire protection, namely clearing dead trees and brush.

The question of Irvine’s spending came up because as the largest donor among 21 cities, it gets money back from the authority to spend on fire services. Its payments to the authority routinely exceed the amount it receives each year for fire services. Under a compensation system devised by the authority, the city gets some money back for fire-related purposes.

Representatives of several key cities have said the board operates fairly and resolves issues quickly. There does not appear to be any need to overhaul the way it is governed.