While it will be months before Atherton’s consultants report back on a fiscal review of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, fire board President Peter Carpenter has made a preemptive strike against what the report might include.
Mr. Carpenter said that as a private citizen he formed in early June a state-registered political action committee. The Citizens’ Fire Services Performance Committee’s first poll, he said, asks fire district residents about what the poll calls a “proposal” by Atherton to form its own fire district.
Atherton officials insist there is no such proposal, although the fiscal review is to look at options for providing fire service to the town, including creating a municipal fire department, contracting with another fire service, or creating a joint powers agreement with other regional agencies.
Nonetheless, the committee’s poll, which local residents say has appeared on their Facebook pages, describes “a proposal to split off Atherton into its own district” including details such as the number of firefighters and fire stations in the proposed district, and that the new district would have “no mutual aid agreement” with surrounding districts.
Some of those who have seen the poll, including other members of the fire board, say they initially believed it was sent out by the town or by the fire district.
When pressed to explain where the proposal in the poll came from, Mr. Carpenter said: “This (poll) question makes no assertion that the Council has adopted a specific proposal but is rather an expert opinion on what would happen if Atherton formed its own fire agency.”
The expert opinion, he said, came from “knowledgeable people in whom I have confidence,” but he would not name them.
Mr. Carpenter also would not say if anyone else is involved in the committee, how much money it has raised, or even how the polls would be conducted, saying that information was “embargoed.”
“The Committee will make the survey methodology and results public when it chooses to do so,” he said.
Papers filed to form the PAC show Mr. Carpenter as the only person named, and his home address, phone number and personal email as the contact information.
The committee’s stated purpose on the form is “to conduct surveys regarding citizen satisfaction with current and alternative fire service models.”
Atherton Councilman Rick DeGolia said while he has “no problem with a survey,” it would be better “if it were done by a third-party organization and not by Peter Carpenter, who has been extremely vocal with his inaccurate perception that the purpose of the consultant is for Atherton to take tax dollars from the fire district.”
Mr. DeGolia said the “proposal” in the survey does not exist. The “question appears to be designed to imply that Atherton is, in fact, seeking detachment. That is wrong,” he said.
Atherton Councilman Bill Widmer said the survey’s facts and figures did not come from the town.
“I see no reason for misinformation such as is included in the questions to be circulated by someone in a responsible position. I find it troubling and irresponsible,” Mr. Widmer said.
Matrix Consulting Group, based in Mountain View, is conducting the fiscal review of the fire district paid for by the town of Atherton. The district covers Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, Atherton and some nearby unincorporated areas.
The district receives more in property tax revenues from Atherton residents than the town itself does. City Council members said they want to find out just what Atherton residents get for those tax dollars.
The $50,000 study is looking at the costs, locally generated revenues, and benefits of service to Atherton from the fire district and at options for providing fire service to the town.
Matrix says the study team includes two former fire chiefs and a project manager who has conducted more than 150 fire and emergency medical services reviews nationwide.
The report is expected to be completed in late August or early September.
