Ten of 11 fire board candidates agree to disagree

Ten of 11 candidates for the Anderson Fire Protection District's first independently elected governing board met in public forum Thursday, Oct. 8, to express their different views and answer questions from members of the community. The forum, attended by 30 members of the public, was sponsored by The Shasta County League of Women Voters.

Only incumbent candidate Marsha Kelly was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict.

In their opening statements, candidates discussed their qualifications and their backgrounds. A few even made comments about the direction the current fire board was headed.

In May, the fire board placed Fire Chief Joe Piccinini on administrative leave and spent more than $40,000 to hire an investigator to look into unspecified allegations regarding Piccinini's management practices.

Piccinini resigned in June for what he stated were personal reasons. The fire board then tried out two of its most senior employees as Acting Fire Chief for one month each prior to appointing Assistant Fire Chief Andy Nichols as Fire Chief.

The fire board was ordered Thursday, Oct. 8, by Shasta County Superior Court Judge Stephen H. Baker to turn over the investigator's report to the Shasta County Grand Jury, although it has not yet complied with similar requests from interested media outlets including the Valley Post.

Joe Weekley said he was pleased with the direction the fire board was heading and happy with decisions the board has made so far. Weekley added that he would like to continue moving things along in the same direction.

Retired Fire Chief Donald Matheson also stated he was pleased with how things are going and that the board has done a great job thus far.

Jessica Delaney felt more transparency was needed within the district. Corky Keenan's main point in her opening statement was to establish accountability for funds and have on-going training, especially creating a disaster relief program. Christian Hughes said he wanted to implement a standard for physical fitness, bring back swift-water rescue and build a centrally-located station.

Incumbent Paul Bosetti said he would like to remain on the board because he can "see the light at the end of the tunnel." Bosetti said he can finally see the district being able to build another fire station and would like to push that through because the district already has the land, it just needs a building.

James Sauve said his three top priorities for the district are building another station, having good equipment and hiring more firefighters.

Many of the candidates agreed with these points, but Jeff Hogue said he would also like to have more fire training and to bring back swift-water rescue.

Christian Hughes and Jim Cahill both wanted to create more incentives for volunteer firefighters.

When the topic of funding was brought up, all agreed that the parcel tax would need to be increased at some point in the future. However, some candidates felt that should be the last option and one that fire district should vote on.

Most candidates thought that looking at grants for funding was also an option to help supplement money already being received, but all agreed that grants could not be the main source of funding for the district because they are not always available.

Another area where the candidates agreed was physical fitness.

Many candidates felt it was important not only for the safety and well-being of the firefighters, but also for the welfare of the community.

Only Joe Weekly said that only paid firefighters should be mandated to be in good physical condition while volunteers should not be held to the same standards.

The 10 candidates also all agreed that another fire station needs to be built, but that money is the biggest inhibitor for undertaking an expensive project such as that.