Novato fire board candidates look to move district past recent turmoil

Oct. 10--Despite its recent history of acrimony and upheaval, the Novato fire board has no shortage of people eager to serve on it.

Seven candidates are competing for four seats on the board, which oversees the Novato Fire Protection District and its annual budget of about $27 million. Three of the open seats are for full four-year terms; the other open seat is for a short term of two years.

The Nov. 3 election comes as the district tries to transcend some of the most troubled times of any public agency in Marin. The highlights of the past few years include: the board forcing out former chief Marc Revere after questioning his spending decisions; Revere suing the board for alleged defamation; deputy chief Eric Nickel exiting for the chief's job in Palo Alto; the district reaching a $250,000 settlement with a former battalion chief who claimed verbal abuse and retaliation by Revere and Nickel; board member Brad Beedle getting voted out of office after his colleagues questioned his handling of the Revere matter; Beedle running for re-election and narrowly winning; and Beedle resigning amid accusations he used Novato dispatch information to warn a track coach he was under criminal investigation for alleged sex crimes. That investigation is continuing and no charges have been filed.

Last year, the accumulating turmoil earned the board the distinction of its own Marin County Civil Grand Jury report: "Novato Fire Protection District Board: A Cautionary Tale."

While the day-to-day affairs of the 79-member fire department appear to have calmed under the current chief, Mark Heine, the memories of board conflict remain fresh as Novato residents prepare to cast their votes.

The four-year seats

The candidates for the four-year terms are incumbents Jim Galli and L.J. Silverman, former director Steve Metcho and newcomer Gordon Lewis.

Galli, 59, is a retired Kentfield battalion chief who has been on the Novato fire board since 2007. He said he deserves re-election because he served "for the past eight years through some of the most difficult economic times the fire district has seen," working to cut retirement liabilities from $30 million to $15 million and reducing medical insurance costs.

Galli said the departure of the old top brass, the installation of Chief Heine, and the promotion of new supervisors have given the district "one of the strongest professional certified management teams I have seen in my eight years as a fire board member."

"The citizens of Novato should be very proud of how the Board of Directors and a new management team have solved the challenges we have seen in (the) past few years," he said. "Our monthly customer service survey consistently shows that our firefighters are delivering a high level professional services to the public."

Silverman, 62, a retired firefighter/paramedic, has been on the board since 2003. Like Galli, he claims his work reducing pension liabilities and shoring up the district's finances as reasons he should get a new term.

"As a district we've had a few hiccups over the past few years, which we've overcome and have become stronger for it," he said. "The courts ruled in our favor and cleared the district completely. We have a new administration and are doing very very well with new policies and procedures in place. We have a balanced budget and are fiscally sound."

Metcho, 72, is a retired Novato firefighter and supervisor who served on the board from 2003 to 2007, including a year as president. He said he hopes to rejoin the board to "sustain the high quality of emergency service" in the district and to help "bring harmony back" to the board.

Metcho said he thinks the district is "definitely on the right track" after the discord of recent years.

"The District has made many positive changes to ensure transparency, accountability, and redundant oversight," he said in an email. "As stewards of the public's trust and money, the District has made great strides in reducing pension and healthcare costs while still providing excellent service to and for our community, and all with a balanced budget. In my opinion, the results of the upcoming election could provide the cohesive well run Board the organization and community deserves."

Lewis, 62, describes himself in county elections materials as a retired business executive who advises nonprofits, and has also submitted an application for a vacant seat on the board.

He has a son, Kirk Lewis, who works as a firefighter-paramedic for the Novato Fire District. Gordon Lewis said he would recuse himself on matters that directly affected his son, but he noted it was because of his son that he has gained insights into district operations.

"That's how I began to understand the challenges of being a firefighter and the challenges of governance on the district," Lewis said. "I have limits to what I can do relative to recusing myself when it comes down to issues that could directly impact my son. If you set that aside, I could bring other benefits to the board."

Heine has done a great job leading the district, Lewis said, but the district's overall governance could be better.

"There's always room for improvement," he said. "There have been great strides in improving the district's budgeting process," he said, but his experience in the private sector could help "improve the district's budget process and fiscal accountability." The two-year seats

The three candidates for the two-year seat are Bill Brennan, William Davis and Worth Fenner, who goes by the name "Skip."

Brennan, 71, is a retired stockbroker campaigning as a "taxpayer friendly" choice who wants better fiscal discipline.

"I am running to bring a little diversity to a board that has, in my opinion, been overly employee friendly at the expense of taxpayers," he wrote in an email. "If my unofficial polling is anywhere near accurate the vast majority of Novatans have no idea the NFPD exists as a separate entity from city government, has it's own budget and has it's own decision making board of directors. I'd like to see a lot more transparency in the board's actions especially in matters of salary, benefits and pensions."

Davis, 73, is a retired emergency room nurse. He attributed the upheaval of recent years to "some high-handed, poor decisions," but says the issues seem to be mostly resolved. He said he would be a "dedicated, knowledgeable, fiscally conservative member" of the board.

"As an E.R. nurse, I had much first-hand experience of working with the firefighters and paramedics of the Novato Fire Protection District, so I have seen the top-quality service they provide," Davis said in an email. "They are one of the best departments in the state, and I want to help keep them there by giving them the support they need."

Fenner, a retired insurance broker, is an incumbent by virtue of an appointment to a vacancy in June 2014. He said he wants to extend his service on the board.

"I'm openminded. I don't have an agenda, and I've been here long enough to see the progression of the fire district," said Fenner, 72. "I'm familiar with what they do and how they do it."

"I think the leadership is taking us in the right direction, not that we won't have some bumps in the road," he said. "I think we're on the right track."

The seat Beedle abdicated in August remains vacant. The board is scheduled to appoint a replacement on Monday, and Davis and Lewis are among the applicants. Two others are Mary Stompe, executive director of the nonprofit PEP Housing, and Erica Beedle, a management consultant and paramedic who is married to Brad Beedle.

If the board appoints one of the candidates already on the Nov. 3 ballot, and he goes on to be elected, he will complete Beedle's term and then serve his own term.

IJ reporter Stephanie Weldy contributed to this report.

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