Fire district should have fired Piccinini, reports Grand Jury

Among several findings by the Shasta County Grand Jury in its investigation of the Anderson Fire Protection District in its 2009-2010 report, it stated that the board should have fired its former fire chief Joe Piccinini for cause rather than let him resign.

Released on June 28 with investigations into several Shasta County agencies, the grand jury's 2009-2010 report included a review of the district, a variety of findings and five recommendations to improve the fire district.

The district board voted unanimously at a meeting June 25, 2009, to, as then-board chairman Keith Webster said, "invite the Grand Jury to look into (the district's) activities, not because of any identified irregularities but to demonstrate its openness to public scrutiny and to improve District policies and procedures if the Grand Jury makes recommendations for changes."

The title of the grand jury investigation reads, "Since You Asked..."

The report noted two mistakes made by the district in the hiring process before Piccinini got the Anderson job. First, the fire board's search committee failed to clarify state certification requirements in the job posting. Secondly, the training certificates presented at the time of hiring were from out of state, and "the Board did not follow up with the Chief to assure that state-required certificates were completed,"according to the report.

Piccinini created a variety of problems for the fire district and its staff by committing numerous violations of policies and illegal acts, the report notes. The report listed threatening firefighters and staff with dismissal if they complain to the board, misuse of district property and funds, publicly bullying firefighters, sexual harassment, downloading pornography onto district computers, providing alcohol to minors, driving a district vehicle drunk, providing the board with an invalid out of state training certificate and failure to complete state-required training.

Once the board learned of Piccinini's actions by a determined group of employees, the board put Piccinini of paid administrative leave and commissioned an investigation "... conducted by a former Anderson police chief, who was an experienced but unlicensed investigator," the report states.

According to state business code, the investigation should be performed by an employee of the district, an employee of counsel or a licensed investigator, the report states.

"When this was brought to the attention of the Board, it changed the status of the investigator from independent contractor to district employee," the report states.

The report also found error in the board's judgement in asking for the chief's resignation rather than following cousel's advise to dismissing him.

The report also found that "board members lacked training in matters concerning their duties and respoinsibilities. Consequently they relied too heavily on legal counsel."

The report additionally found that the board "erred in agreeing with the Chief's stipulation to seal the investigation report."

In sealing the report, the district left itself open for the following lawsuit in which the Record Searchlight won public access to the taxpayer-funded documents, the report states.

The grand jury made the following recommendations.

• Qualifications must be clearly listed when advertising for new employees.

• The district policy manual needs revision and must be enforced by the board "to ensure certification is current and valid" for all emergency personnel.

• The board "needs to exercise close oversight of the operational and fiscal activities of the District."

• The board should create a way for employees to confidentially report misconduct.

• "The board should consider contacting California Special Districts Association regarding training for all board members."

An arm of the Judicial Branch of government, the Grand Jury operates under the guidance of the presiding judge of Superior Court of Shasta County

A copy of the Grand Jury's report on the fire district is available at www.andersonvalleypost.com.