It seems as if many, if not most, of the Atherton leaders are willing to fight this battle knowing it's a costly and lost cause.

It's not worth repeating all the reason why separating is a bad idea and won't work.

"Council member Cary Wiest said the consultant the town hired to conduct the fire services review did its job and the council needs to "continue to move forward instead of backtracking."


The Matrix study was a sham - just look at their proposal to turn the house in Holbrook-Palmer Park into a fire
station:
"The existing home in the park will require renovations
to accommodate the fire personnel and the addition of an apparatus bay. It is
estimated these modifications and additions will cost $1.5 million."

And now the Town Council wants to do a sole source contract with Matrix to do the application to LAFCO - which the Town has already been told has no chance of being approved.

"The estimated cost for the scope of work to assist in the completion of the application would range
from $25,000 to $35,000. Matrix Consulting has expressed an interest in assisting the Town with
moving forward in the process."


What are these people smoking?

If the Town’s budget is already tight, where is the money coming from to build fire stations, hire personnel and buy apparatuses and equipment?????

The proposal to detach from the Fire District may well prove to be a form of SUICIDE. No start up service can perform as well as a well established, well respected Fire Service known for its excellent, consistent service to the community. You get what you pay for. Do it on the cheap and what do you imagine will result? It’s NOT just about the money. Detachment is a STUPID idea.

Umm Bob...
Who said the Atherton budget is tight?
The millions paid annually for fire services to MP would cover all the costs, then some, to build a first class Atherton Fire Department.
Can't wait to get that survey.

"Can't wait to get that survey."

Here it the only survey that has ever been done on the issue:


In a carefully conducted, independent survey carried out last year by Zuma Strategies (which I paid for but over which I had no control) an amazing 98.5% of the resident’s (and 100% of the Atherton residents included in the survey) were "satisfied with level of service provided by our local fire department" and only 9.5% of the residents supported "a separate department for Atherton residents”.

Methodology
Survey Dates: • 6/14/2017 – 6/24/2017
Sample Size: • 202 completed surveys*
Sampling Error: • +/- 6.9% at the 95% confidence level
Unit of Analysis: • Adult Residents
Survey Medium: • Facebook
Population: • Residents within Menlo Park Fire Protection District
Screens • Age, Language (to minimize Latino oversampling)
Languages • English
Quotas • Location, Gender, Latino
Corrections • Weighting for Female Oversample (Actual pop is 50.5% female)
Principal Researcher • Craig R. Everett, PhD

*National polls typically survey about 1 out of every 200,000 people in the target population.
See: Web Link

This survey sampled 1 out of every 400 adult residents of the Fire District and did so by exactly matching the demographics of the respondents to the latest census demographics.

"The millions paid annually for fire services to MP would cover all the costs, then some, to build a first class Atherton Fire Department."

Read the staff report carefully - Atherton would only get a fraction of that amount and the property taxes of Atherton residents would not go down by a single penny. STUPID.

Final survey results with graphics are published here:


Web Link

@MEMBERONE

Have you done any pricing for buying property in Atherton, erecting fire stations, hiring staffing, and acquiring apparatuses and equipment?

Starting a new FD is very costly. According to LAFCO, Atherton would have to have all this in place BEFORE any separation could even be a possibility.

Even if funding could be redirected to the Town, this would take time since the legislature would have to approve it.

Again, I don't hear residents lobbying for this separation.

There was a movie out a few years ago staring Jim Carey called DUMB AND DUMBER !! Quite frankly, this proposal is just that. Despite a hard working group of City Council Members, it is high time, if not long overdue, to put an end to this ill advised proposal. DETACHMENT will only result in a LOWER level of service. Far more important and far more urgent issues need to be addressed. My advice, end this nightmare. Detachment is NOT the answer.

Umm Bob...
I live in Atherton...
Don't need a tutorial about the price of real estate.