Fire board member says board president is 'going after' her

Mr. Carpenter is in fact the person unsuited for the Fire District Board and certainly the President of the MPFPD. He has shown time and again in the last year that he can not make good decisions and has lead a board that continues to make mistakes, alienate the city councils and let down his constituency. I hope that there is a way to force him out before he can do more damage.

While I don't always agree with Mr. Carpenter, I have to say that I'm disappointed in Mrs. Kiraly's most recent fire board representation. Previous Boards have been able to make decisions on appointing a director at the established meeting. If she wanted more information she should have asked for it prior to the meeting -- it's called doing one's homework. She and Chuck Bernstein were a poor showing of our elected officials.

Additionally -- serving on 2 elected boards -- really?! Isn't that kind of greedy or boosting one's ego. If she is really that "experienced" she should have known better to do her homework and been better prepared.

Sounds like maybe cleaning house would be a good idea or establishing term limits.

[Portion removed; don't speculate on the identity of other posters.]

(Rob Silano), People elected you to make decisions. Please have the courage to stop being Carpenter's "puppet" and think for yourself. Calling you Carpenter's "puppet" wasn't Kiraly's finest moment, I'll give you that, but she said what everyone thinks. At least, she had the courage to call a spade a spade. If the fire district is going into union negotiations with the firefighters, as Kiraly said, do what's best for taxpayers. That may be hard for you since the firefighters union funded your first campaign. Hopefully you won't be too much of the firefighters union's puppet either.

Poor Commissioner/Director kiraly, picked on again. I’ll wait to vote for her twice for re election to both the fire board and harbor district in 2020. She will save on political materials. Why don’t you Virginia do as Peter Otacki did, when he won a seat on the Menlo Park Council, he resigned from the fire district.

Be an adult, do the right thing, step aside, now is a great time. There are many to choose from to take your place.

Dirctor Silano, I couldn't agree more that there needs to be housecleaning. I think it's time for Peter Carpenter to go, and if you can't think on your own, it's also time for you to go.

@Gimme -- despite what you may think, I am not Mr. Silano. I was commenting on fire and community activities even before he was elected to the fire board. If you were to look at other comments throughout the online version, you would see that I am not Mr. Carpenter's puppet.

I'm sure you really didn't mean to draw an inaccurate conclusion.

Some relevant information that was not included in this article:

1 - From: Peter Carpenter
Subject: My statement
Date: October 6, 2017 at 11:28:33 AM PDT
To: Richard Hine <rhine@almanacnews.com>

"I have recently received a copy of a proposed lawsuit by John Ullom which challenged Virginia Kiraly’s simultaneous service on the Fire Board and the Harbor Board. That lawsuit apparently did not proceed solely because Mr. Ullom did not have the funds to do so.

Upon reviewing the extensive and careful documentation in that propose lawsuit I believe that there are reasonable questions regarding Virginia Kiraly's simultaneous service on the Fire Board and the Harbor Board and I urge her to seek a written opinion from the California Attorney General in order to remove any uncertainty on this matter.

I make this statement as a resident of both the Fire District and the Harbor District and not as a member of the Fire Board or on behalf of the Fire Board.”

2 - The Ullom suit
Web Link

3 - Legal Opinions of the Attorney General - Opinion Unit

"As the chief law officer of the state, the California Attorney General provides legal opinions upon request to designated state and local public officials and government agencies on issues arising in the course of their duties. The formal legal opinions of the Attorney General have been accorded "great respect" and "great weight" by the courts."

Two other long posts below for a different article that are worth reading because I think they outline what Mr. Carpenter is trying to do, which is control the majority of votes on the board. The process to fill the vacancy left by Mr. Ianson seems to be flawed, and it has Mr. Carpenter's fingerprints all over it. Sounds like he is retaliating against Ms. Kiraly for calling out his unethical and bullying behavior because she wants a fair process to appoint the fifth member of the fire board.

Mr. Carpenter: your and Mr. Silano's behavior is very disappointing for men in leadership roles on an elected board.

As board president, instead of trying to bring your board together, you let your pride get in the way and bring up old news, trying to hide behind John Ullom, who doesn't even live in the fire district. Shame on you! At least, Mr. Ullom was man enough to call you for what you are, a "traitor", for retaliating against Ms. Kiraly because you aren't getting your way with filling Mr. Ianson's seat and exhibiting very childish and petty behavior.

1) Posted by Randy
a resident of Menlo Park: Linfield Oaks
on Oct 5, 2017 at 2:45 pm
This process has been flawed from the start.

1. The district gave different stories about Ianson's resignation date. The date is important. It determines the deadline by which the board must fill the vacancy, in this case 60 days. If the board doesn't act in time, it goes to the board of supervisors.

2. Peter Carpenter at first wanted Ianson to vote with the rest of the board on his replacement. That was ridiculous since Carpenter -- who is always telling other people what the rules are -- ought to know that would be impossible under the Government Code 1780 (d) (1). The board can only consider a vacancy after the vacancy occurs.

3. Based on the video, the interviews were inadequate. It was like the board was going through the motions. Nobody would hire an employee for their business using such a superficial process, so why should we put somebody on an important local board this way?

4. There was a confrontation at the Sept. 19 meeting between Carpenter and Kiraly over whether the board should vote that night on a replacement or take more time. The board appeared to split 2-2 on this question, with Kiraly and Bernstein wishing to take more time, while Carpenter and Silano wanting an immediate vote.

5. [Part removed. Please avoid negative characterizations in Town Square posts.]

[Part removed. Please avoid speculation in Town Square posts.]

I believe Nachtscheim was on the board several years ago when the district has having so many labor issues. One of the questions they should have asked Nachtscheim is what did he learn from the district's legal dispute with the firefighters' union? What mistakes does he believe were made when he was on the board? It's a fair question since the fire district was fined by PERB for several law violations in how they dealt with the union. (I'm not a fan of the union, but when it comes to collective bargaining agreements, it's important for both sides to obey the law.)

[Part removed

2) Posted by Randy
a resident of Menlo Park: Linfield Oaks
on Oct 5, 2017 at 3:25 pm

I apologize Mr. or Ms. Censor for my characterization of two MPFPD directors. Please let me rephrase my point.

1. Why isn't Rob Silano more independent of Peter Carpenter? Tapes of previous meetings show that Silano seems to frequently echo Carpenter but he does not contribute his own ideas.

2. If appointed, will Nachtscheim he be independent of Carpenter's influence?

Again, I apologize for phrasing my point in a politically incorrect way. I work with my hands, and I'm used to calling a spade a spade and not mincing words.

Don't forget to come to the Pancake Breakfast at Station 1, from 7:30 AM to 11:00 AM. All invited!!!!!!

Bob, According the the article there were problems with the candidates that prevented the board members from choosing a replacement. For example it says the applications were only vetted by two people and only two of the applicants supplied a resume. I don't think it was the fault of the two members who felt they needed to do due diligence as much as it was Mr. Carpenters fault for not having the proper materials ready or involving other elected members in the vetting process.

Sorry the above comment was meant to be addressed to Bob not meant to use his name as the "Posted by"

I waited a day before wading into this mess.. simply because I cannot think of two more unlikable local politicians.

Nationally, of course, one can think of a more unlikable and belligerent politician. At least he doesn't use the Almanac as his personal twitter-trumpet.

[Editor's note: Parts of the post below have been removed because they involve (1) negative labels that are not conducive to productive discussions or (2) allegations of legal wrongdoing. Town Square is not the appropriate venue for such comments.]


@The guy who usually loves everybody. You nailed it.

[Part removed.] I can show you the email (Peter Carpenter) sent me where he denies ever using his personal email to Fire District Business. I can also show you the hundreds of emails Peer Carpenter sent using his personal email address that a PRA request revealed.

Peter Carpenter [part removed] often brags about his genetic connection to the author of the Brown Act so as to burnish his self assigned transparency rating of "10". Yet he uses his personal email account to do the business of the fire district. He gossips with the Chief about Bernstein. He complains about Kiraly. He rants about local City Council members. He also does the same with his personal email address and local reporters. Carpenter used his personal email because he knew it was shielded from PRA disclosure. Except now it isn't per recent court rulings.

Carpenter has known about my suit regarding Kirlay's dual office since I filed it. Now that Peter and Virginia are in a tussle, suddenly Virginia's enemies are Peter's friends. Or at least that is what Peter thought. Here is the email he sent me the other day in hope of enlisting my cooperation against his fellow board member:

"John,
What was the disposition of the incompatible offices claim that you filed re Virginia?

Thanks,

Peter"

And that's all you need to know about Peter Carpenter.

But then we have [part removed] Virginia Chang Kiraly. Virginia as a puppet for South San Francisco. She will vote the way her puppet masters in South City instruct her when it comes to subsidizing the sinking dump by the bay called Oyster Point Marina.

And PRA requests that distract? Too funny! Virginia Chang Kiraly filed a PRA request against two fellow board members on the Harbor District. Yep. That's right. The same Virginia Chang Kiraly who takes Peter Carpenter to task for filing PRA's against other districts, filed two against her own. Worse even, the contents of Virginia's request closely mimic the a PRA request filed by the [part removed] who screwed up the Mavericks Surf contest. Cartel Management [part removed] are lashing out at both myself and Harbor Commission member's who have since Cartel showed up three years ago, have been pointing out Cartel were a bunch of [part removed].

Just like Peter tried to co-opt me, Virginia aligned herself with Cartel in hopes of damaging her rivals on the Harbor Board. Cartel went broke and ripped the contest off from the locals. Virginia is still trying to force fellow Board Members to respond to HER PRA request. A request that looks one heck of a lot like the one filed by Cartel.

Rant as I have, nothing will illustrate better the petty mean girl nature of both Virginia and Peter than this short cringe inducing clip:-- Web Link

Please fact check this Almanac story. It's my understanding that the SMC Harbor District's attorney has NOT provided a letter stating that Virginia Chang Kiraly is eligible to serve on both the Harbor Commission and the Fire District boards.

California law requires an automatic vacancy in the first office held by an individual if the two elected offices are assumed to be incompatible. An incompatible office is identified by California law as one in which the duties of two offices overlap so that their exercise by one person may require contradictory or inconsistent actions to the detriment of the public interest.

To avoid the appearance of serving two incompatible offices the Fire Director/Harbor Commissioner should resign from one board. Continuing to serve on both elected boards diminishes the integrity of California special districts.

The lack of accountability regarding incompatible office should be investigated by the SMC Civil Grand Jury.

For reference:

1999 SMC Civil Grand Jury report regarding Concurrent Holding of Two Elective Offices: Web Link

Final 1999 SMC Civil Grand Jury report recommendations: Web Link

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe should have investigated this on the first day and solved it.

There should be town hall debate where Brennan and Carpenter lay out their case why there is a conflict of interest. Kiraly could lay out her case why there isn't a conflict. Invite the public and the press. Let us decide.

Brennan and Carpenter should make a public invite to Kiraly.

Ms. Brennan:
The Almanac always checks facts before a story is printed. In this case we viewed copies of the written opinion and a staff report repeating the basics of the written opinion.
To quote from the memo from Steven D. Miller, the harbor district's general counsel, dated November 13, 2105. "In sum, I do not think that a court would find the position of Harbor Commissioner to be incompatible with that of a member of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District."
"None of the factors (in the relevant law) appear to be present here. First, no Commissioner has any supervisory power or control over any employee or officer of the Fire District and vice versa. Second, there does not appear to be any foreseeable scenario in which there would be a clash of duties between the two offices."

In addition, the harbor board received a staff report dated November 16, 2016 from General Manager Steve McGrath which says in part: "Your staff and counsel believe that there is not an incompatible office issue as there is not authority of one agency over the other; there is no foreseeable clash of duties; there does not appear to be a public policy issue."

To quote from the memo from Steven D. Miller, the harbor district's general counsel, dated November 13, 2105.

This is the same attorney from the same law firm that, allowed 3 commissioners to motion and vote to issue a 5 year permit when that was NOT on the Agenda. The cost of that still to be determined approaching the $1,000,000 mark.

San Mateo County Elected Officials voting for things not on the Agenda is more common than you would think.

[Post removed. Town Square is not the venue to make allegations and speculations about legal wrongdoing.]

The DA has not charged anybody with a Brown Act violation. Get your facts in line before making rhetorical accusations.

Brennan has never had control of anybody on the Harbor Board. I doubt you have ever witnessed Kiraly in action at the Harbor District.

Hello Barbara,

Thank you for the information. Please publish Steven Miller's 2015 opinion letter. I don't recall reading it.

The Nov. 16, 2015 staff report said, “If an issue of incompatibility is found to exist, Ms. Chang Kiraly forfeits her position on the first Board, in this instance the Menlo Park Fire Protections District.”