Santa Rosa losing money in fire contract dispute

SANTA ROSA — The volunteer fire department here has lost funding as a result of a rift with the Cameron County Emergency Services District over its contract to protect the rural area surrounding the town.

The ESD contracts with city and volunteer fire departments, as well as ambulance services, to fight fires on rural county land and provide emergency medical services.

Santa Rosa Volunteer Fire Department received $125,941 for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, ESD board secretary Grace Salinas said. But the ESD withheld the last quarterly payment of $31,485 because the fire department had not dealt with questions to the satisfaction of the ESD board, she said.

ESD board attorney Brian Janis said there have been discrepancies in reports submitted by Santa Rosa Fire Chief Danny Theys.

Theys denied there is any problem with the fire department’s reports.

At the end of the 2009 fiscal year, the ESD board agreed to only fund the fire department for 2010 based on the number of calls reported in 2009, Janis said.

But figures reported to the board the following year seemed too high, and the board did not renew Santa Rosa’s contract during a meeting in November, Janis said.

Santa Rosa VFD’s monthly reports sometimes showed that it had responded to more calls than the Harlingen or San Benito fire departments, he said.

That seemed incredible to ESD board members, he said. The territory assigned to Santa Rosa VFD is smaller than other rural departments such as Los Fresnos, he said.

Theys declined to discuss the fire run reports or the ESD’s refusal to grant a contract for the 2012 fiscal year, saying those are issues being discussed in closed session at ESD board meetings and Santa Rosa Board of Aldermen meetings.

“Right now I’m not at liberty to say anything,” Theys said.

He referred questions to city attorney Gilberto Hinojosa and Mayor Ruben Ochoa.

At the November board meeting, the ESD board “was so shocked by (the reports) that it took two steps,” Janis said. “They did not renew Santa Rosa VFD’s contract and they suspended all payments.”

Board Chairman Carlos Ayala instructed Santa Rosa officials that they need to “make a complete change of leadership at the fire department” in order to restore county funding, Janis said.

The board sent a letter to Ochoa and the Board of Aldermen outlining changes that need to be made before the ESD can restore county funding, Janis said.

But Ochoa said he has heard nothing about that.

“There’s actually no letter that says anything like that, that I’ve ever received,” Ochoa said. “I’ve never read any letter that says we have to replace anybody.

“They (ESD) never said they wanted us to get rid of the chief,” the mayor said.

“The only letter we got said they wanted us to make a resolution that we’re going to do certain things. A copy of that resolution has been drawn up by the attorney (Hinojosa).

“As far as getting rid of anybody, that’s never been mentioned to me.”

Ochoa said Hinojosa and Janis are negotiating, trying to work out a solution to issues the ESD has with the fire department so that payments to the city for providing rural fire protection can resume.

A meeting was held in Santa Rosa between the Board of Aldermen and the fire department about the issues, Ochoa said.

Ochoa said there are no insurmountable problems.

“I got elected in May and we found out in July that they (ESD) were not going to renew the contract,” Ochoa said.

“I’ve never been told that there were any reports that were turned in that were” questioned.

Hinojosa said Santa Rosa VFD’s contract was not terminated.

“They did not cancel the contract,” he said of the ESD board.

Before issuing a 2012 contract, the board “wants some assurance they will be timely answering (fire) calls,” Hinojosa said.

Hinojosa said he and Santa Rosa officials are negotiating issues with the ESD board and is confident they can be worked out.

But Hinojosa declined to discuss whether reports from the Santa Rosa VFD were questioned or whether that is the reason the ESD board wants a change in leadership.

“I can’t discuss personnel matters,” Hinojosa said.