OMG
Will this gravy train never end ?
We (especially Athetonians) DO NOT NEED the best fire district in the world.
Schapelhouman's empire doth get more, and more,,,and more.

Every time you read something about this out-of-control Fire Board fiefdom it makes you sick to your stomach. It's time for the cities to stand up to their civic duty to ensure the taxpayers stop paying for the economically abuse costs run up by Peter Carpenter and the rest of Board.

Wow! It seems that working in a union-governemnt job is the new road to riches. When I consider the salaries and benefits of comparable positions in the private sector, this really gives me pause. So let me get this straight. While fire department employees get to retire early, often double-dipping in the process, and take vacations, the rest of society keeps working in order to subsidize their life style? So the real risk takers- private sector employees, small business owners must bear this burden? I am grateful for our fire-fighters and realize the important role they play in our communities, but I am nevertheless baffled by these outrageous wages and benefits. They are out of proportion with reality. Please enlighten me. Am I missing something?

What the *#?

New employees get 5 weeks off and long term employees get 8 weeks off per year?

When is the city counsel going to address the out-of-control spending and benefits by this org?

When is over-time going to have mandatory maximums?

Embarrassing.

The MPFD has at least 300 qualified applicants for every job--and still the wages and benefits keep going up and up and up.

The whole apparatus needs revamping as fire calls are minimal. Carpenter is not running again but note the board members who vote for this contract. They can't believe that this contract is good for the District and are probably courting the firefighter union for future political support.

Atherton is not the only jurisdiction getting hurt by the MPFD cost. We all are.

Can the district and its board. Make all fire district employees reapply for their jobs along with any and all job seekers. Post the positions at a fair and reasonable salary with REASONABLE benefits. And elect a brand new board with members who keep their heads and egos down to earth.

Paid time off includes sick leave. So, if they don't use all their sick leave, they get paid for it? That is an unconscionable abuse of the system. Almost every private sector employer caps the PTO an employee can accrue, and does not pay it off annually, only to start it up again the next year. Every taxpayer in the MPFD is being abused, and I am completely in favor of the Atherton Council taking whatever steps they deem prudent to try to get this situation under control or find a new way to provide the services.

Every PTO plan includes sick leave - that is the logic of a PTO program.

The maximum number of annual leave hours that may be carried as an accrual by a fulltime
employee is 500 hours of leave.

"Paid time off or personal time off (PTO) is a policy in some employee handbooks that provides a bank of hours in which the employer pools sick days, vacation days, and personal days that allows employees to use as the need or desire arises. "

"Generally PTO hours cover everything from planned vacations to sick days, and are becoming more prevalent in the field of human resource management. Unlike more traditional leave plans, PTO plans don't distinguish employee absences from personal days, vacation days, or sick days. "

Web Link

This agreement needs to be vetoed for one simple reason: The matching clause. Why should an already well compensated group get automatic matching for any benefit that any other group gets?

2.6.7 Equity Treatment Clause
Should any other non-sworn, non-safety group be granted a material condition of
employment more favorable than the condition covering the AFSCME unit in the areas of
holidays, residency stipend (excluding at-will employees), additional insurance plans or
coverage levels not part of the arrangements for cafeteria plan monies set out in this
agreement, or in annual leave or other paid leaves not related to the lack of overtime
eligibility, that condition shall be extended to the AFSCME unit as well.

******

Note that the scope if this clause is limited certain well defined benefits and it does not include basic compensation.

A red-lined version of the current contract with the proposed changes can be viewed here. Web Link

@city council:

The Fire district is just that, a district, not a city fire department. The City council has no control over the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

When did working for the government become so lucrative and beneficial? It used to be that people made the big bucks working for private industry. 12 holidays, guaranteed increases, etc. etc. No wonder this is such a cushy job at a well funded organization.

It's no wonder that they get so many applicants every time they hire. Maybe I should come out of retirement.....ha

Though now a resident of Portola Valley, I worked in Menlo Park for over 20 years. Putting the salary amounts published in this article in perspective, consider that rents for most Menlo Park apartments for the personnel in these fire district jobs would easily exceed 30% of the salary amounts published in the article. Also consider, that the value of the properties that these fire personnel are protecting have increased by hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars over the past few years. As far as private sector compensation is concerned, personnel in jobs requiring less training and involving far less personal risk at firms up and down Sand Hill Road have compensation that far exceeds the salary amounts quoted in the article. Just a few things to also consider when thinking about salary levels in the Menlo Park Fire District.

"Whatever" has the solution. Can the entire Board and leadership and start from scratch with fiscally responsible leadership. The current leadership group led by Peter Carpenter will defend its blatantly irresponsible financial stewardship with b.s. justification for its actions ingrained by years of mismanagement. The cities need to stand up as the City of Atherton is doing to clean up this mess that has gone on way too long.

The Fire District has a balanced budget, paid cash from carefully accumulated reserves for its property acquisitions , has no parcel tax and has a 98.5% approval rating from its residents.

So where exactly is the irresponsible financial stewardship?

What city/town can match the Fire District's financial and service performance?

Someone needs to reign in the MPFPD and it's over spending. I think Atherton has the right idea and needs to be followed by Menlo Park and EPA. If the MPFPD can not manage a realistic budget then we need to find an alternative.

As for PTO I have never worked for a company (and I have worked for several generous tech companies) that gave 8 weeks of PTO a year and allowed a carry over of 500 hours. Most gave between 15 and 20 days of PTO a year and allowed a max accrual of between 200 and 240 hours before you stopped accruing it. All the companies gave 10 paid holidays, though there were times they decided to give employees extra time off between christmas and New Year but that was treated as a bonus and did not happen often.

Chuck, congratulation on assuming the role of President I am hoping you do better than the last one.

There is an update on this story, with a report on the board's action here: Web Link