Ledger-Dispatch

By Roger Phelps (rphelps@ledger-dispatch.com)=20

A party in November 2008 celebrating = passage of=20 Measure M included, from left, Sutter Creek Fire Chief Butch = Martin, Holly=20 Boitano and her father, Supervisor Louis Boitano.

Photo by: File=20 photo
The feat of brokering a deal among = four local=20 fire agencies will command a fee that taxpayers will fund.

"It = boils down=20 to a turf war - who gives up a chief, who will be the Indians," said = Connie=20 Gonsalves, board member of the Amador Fire Protection Authority. =

The=20 agency plans to hire a consultant to solve the problem. Officials have = said the=20 fee probably would exceed $30,000.

"Paid firefighters failed = before=20 because there was no structure," said authority member Louis Boitano. = "Three=20 gentlemen went in at the same rank - there was no boss = around."

If the=20 hire comes, taxpayers in question will include those who might believe = Prop. 172=20 money should pay only for the salaries of public-safety personnel. = Efforts to=20 post more paid fire personnel locally are helped by money available from = two=20 pieces of legislation - state Prop. 172 and Amador County Measure M. = Measure M=20 money is earmarked entirely for personnel salaries. Prop. 172 money is = not -=20 rather, it can be used for an array of public-safety purposes, including = salaries, Gonsalves and Boitano said.

Much of the firefighting in = rural=20 Amador County is done by volunteer firefighters.

To pay local=20 firefighters, required is a financial structure and a hierarchy among = officials=20 from Jackson Fire Department, Sutter Creek Fire District, Lockwood Fire = District=20 and the Amador Fire Protection District, said Gonsalves, a Jackson City = Council=20 member. Jointly serving unincorporated communities and surrounding areas = and to=20 the city of Plymouth, the Amador Fire Protection District was organized = in 1990=20 by voter approval, to be governed by the county board of supervisors, = which=20 includes Boitano.

Officials are authorized to spend Prop. 172 = money as=20 they see fit, while staying within the measure's legal strictures. =

To=20 those who might make a moral or practical objection to some of it going = to a=20 consultant instead of to a firefighter, Boitano said, "The moral part of = it is=20 we have to develop what we're going to do. We have to figure a wage = scale and=20 they'll probably want a bargaining unit. I don't know whether it can't = be done=20 without a consultant, but what you want is a good product."

Roger = Phelps