BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)
The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (“District”) is currently governed by a nine-member appointed Board of Directors. Four members of the Board of Directors were appointed by the Brentwood City Council, three members were appointed by the Oakley City Council, and two members were appointed by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. California law allowed voters to change an appointed fire protection district
board of directors to a board of directors whose members are elected by the voters. The District Board of Directors adopted a resolution asking voters to decide whether to change the District governing board “from an appointed Board of Directors of nine members to a Board of Directors of nine members, elected at-large.” A majority of voters in the November 2016 election supported changing the governing board to an elected board. The District Board subsequently passed a resolution, attached hereto, establishing even-year elections and requesting to consolidate the first of these elections with the November 2018 general election.
Additionally, on November 6, 2017, the District Board of Directors adopted a resolution to conduct an all mail ballot election on March 6, 2018 to transition from a nine-person elected board to a five-person elected board and to designate the seats "at large" rather than representative of wards. Under either the prospective 9-member or 5-member elected board, the members of the District Board of Directors will be elected at the next general District election in November 2018, and the elected officers will likely take office on December 7, 2018.
The terms of office for the two Board of Supervisors-appointed Directors, Robert Kenny and Cheryl Morgan, expired on February 4, 2018.
On January 16, 2018, following a recruitment and interviews conducted by the Internal Operations Committee, the Board of Supervisors appointed Susanna Thompson (Clayton) and Mark Whitlock (Bethel Island) to the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Board of Directors effective February 5, 2018 to fill the two Board of Supervisors-appointed Director seats. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Whitlock declined the appointment.
The Internal Operations, on February 12, considered the remaining candidates and selected Sandra Strobel to fill the remaining vacancy.
| Name |
Resident of |
Current Employment |
Education |
Current Volunteering Work |
Also Applied for |
| Anthony Bargiacchi |
Brentwood |
Engineer/Firefighter, Novato Fire Protection District; Adjunct Faculty, EMT-First Responder, Los Medanos College |
BS, Columbia Southern Univ; criminal justice coursework at San Jose State Univ |
Not specified |
Not specified |
| Lito Calimlim |
Clayton |
Real Estate Broker |
BA, Econ & Psychology, UCLA |
Comstock Gardens HOA Board President |
Not specified |
| Karin Schnaider |
Brentwood |
City of Tracy Finance Director |
MPA, Public Policy Administration, CSU Long Beach.; BS, Accountancy, San Diego State Univ. |
Not specified |
Byron-Brentwood-Knightsen Union Cemetery District Board |
| Sandra Strobel |
Knightsen |
Real Estate Broker; Project Manager/Admin |
GED, community college coursework, real estate license |
Knightsen Neighborhood Watch Chairperson |
Not specified |
| Stephen F. Smith |
Brentwood |
Retired. Formerly, IT programmer analyst for banking institutions. |
MS, BS, UC Berkeley |
ECCFPD Board member since 2011 |
Not specified |
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The terms of office of the current Board of Supervisors-appointed Directors, Robert Kenny and Cheryl Morgan, expired on February 4, 2018. Unless new directors are appointed by the County, the vacancies will not be filled until successors are elected in November 2018 and assume office.