Oceano residents will get to weigh in on new fire services contract 

Oceano community members will soon be able to tell the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) whether they are for or against SLO County taking over their fire services.

OCSD Business and Accounting Manager Carey Casciola said told the Oceano Community Services District (OCSD) board that the process would be similar to a Proposition 218 hearing (where residents can protest utility rate increases). LAFCO will send all Oceano residents a notice so they can attend the meeting and/or submit protests about the district's plan to divest its fire services.

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• File Photo By Jayson Mellom
• PROTEST NOTICE Oceano residents will soon receive a public hearing and protest notice from the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to voice their concerns over Oceano Community Services District's divestiture of fire protection.

"LAFCO requires the district to provide a resolution from our board endorsing the plan for service, and this will be for the LAFCO hearing. There's an estimate for it to be on Oct. 17 if all the agreements are completed by our due date of Oct. 1," Casciola said during the district's July 24 board meeting.

LAFCO also wants Oceano Community Services District (OCSD) to pay up to $9,500 for the required public hearing and protest proceedings.

"That means that our district has to cover the charges for the LAFCO staff time, which is estimated to be $3,500," she said. "Also, we have to provide funds for the mailing of the notices, which is estimated to be $6,000. That's where the $9,500 goes."

After Oceano voters shot down the idea of paying a flat parcel tax in both 2020 and 2022, which would have cost $180 per parcel owner annually to help maintain rapid response times from the Five Cities Fire Authority (FCFA), the OCSD decided to pull out of the FCFA, divest its fire services, and move that responsibility to the county.

The county recently voted to contract with the FCFA to provide fire services to Oceano.

With some OCSD board members supporting the new policy and others against it, the contract will begin on Jan. 1, 2025, and the FCFA will provide Oceano fire protection and emergency services through the Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande fire stations.

"A minimum of two personnel per engine and response times of seven to 11 minutes will come from the Arroyo Grande Fire Station and seven to nine minutes from Grover Beach to ensure that Oceano residents receive the same level of service they currently receive," according to a staff report from the June 18 SLO County Board of Supervisors meeting.

In exchange, the OCSD will have to transfer property tax revenue, impact fees, rent revenue, and additional general fund revenue to the county beginning the day the contract starts.

During the July 24 OCSD board meeting, Board Member Shirley Gibson asked General Manager Peter Brown if LAFCO can turn down the contract and what happens if they do.

"I think when we met with LAFCO and talked to them about their process and procedure, they do have to go through the protest hearing, and [in] the protest hearing procedures they go through what circumstances they could deny in the application," Brown said. "I don't know, wish I could tell you exactly what [would] happen, but we would have to scramble to come up with how we provide our service going forward."

Brown said there's still a variety of steps the board will have to take before the contract takes effect.

"There's a whole list ... that we'll be bringing back to you in your September meeting because we need board authorization to finish signing those agreements," he said. "The county will do the same in September, and then what LAFCO is saying is if you want to meet this divestiture by the end of the calendar year, we need everything finished Oct. 1." Δ