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San Mateo County, CA June 8, 2010 Election
Smart Voter

CONSOLIDATE Services

By Matt Grocott

Candidate for Supervisor; County of San Mateo; District 3

This information is provided by the candidate
For the sake of affordability, we need to consolidate services where we can, where it makes sense to do so. In the area of public safety, the opportunity does exist, particularly with fire & paramedic. Already in San Mateo County we have:

  • A common dispatch center for fire & paramedic calls

  • Dropped boundaries, so the closest available equipment responds to an emergency call, regardless of department

  • Departments training together and drilling disaster preparedness exercises together

  • Cities consolidating with their neighbors; we once had 22 fire departments in the county; today we have 14

In consolidating fire & paramedic service, the savings would come from reducing the number of chief officers, general management and redundant services, not from closing fire stations. In other words, one chief, fewer deputy chiefs, fewer battalion chiefs and a smaller management team.

Savings to tax payers from this kind of plan would be upwards of $8 million annually.

Why hasn't a plan like this been carried out already? My belief is, it has lacked leadership; leadership that needs to come from the county. As your supervisor, I pledge to step forward on this issue and lead.

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