Even though the Northwest Fire/Rescue District is the state's largest non-municipal fire department, it's proving difficult to find people willing to be part of its five-member governing board.
The district covers more than 140 square miles and serves more than 110,000 residents.
The board accepted the resignations of two members last month, with longstanding fixture James Doyle's tenure ending this past Monday and Terri Winger set to step down Oct. 1.
Doyle's seat was one of three up for election in November, while Winger — who just joined the board in December — wouldn't have been up for re-election until 2010.
Adding to the fire board turnover: Chairman Pat Jacobs was disqualified from the Nov. 4 ballot because the Pima County elections department determined 29 of the required 250 signatures he turned in on his petition had come from out-of-district signees.
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Jacobs' removal from the ballot left only three candidates in the running for three seats.
That prompted the fire board to vote Aug. 26 to ask the Pima County Board of Supervisors to allow it to cancel its board election and instead appoint current Northwest fire board member Richard Nassi and newcomers George Carter and Anka Mischel to terms that begin Dec. 1.
Vote set for next week
The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on Northwest's request. Officials estimate having no election would save about $34,000.
"If it's going to save the taxpayers money to not have an election, I'm all for it," said Mischel, 45, a district resident for five years who teaches music and is also a paramedic.
The turnover comes as Northwest is dealing with the fallout from open-meeting-law violations reported to the Pima County Attorney's Office by district watchdog Mary Schuh.
Schuh's scrutiny caused the fire board to receive four hours of training on open-meeting-law procedures in early August.
The board's first meeting after the training had an air of tension and apprehension, as board members occasionally cut each other off to prevent one another from going off topic and, consequently, opening themselves up to another violation.
"It's not one of the most relaxing environments to work in," Fire Chief Jeff Piechura noted. "This is the tightest that I've seen them."
Watchdog taxpayer
Schuh is a member of the Pima Association of Taxpayers and has attended Northwest board meetings since the mid-1990s. She has called the district out on various infractions as a way to hold accountable an organization she believes is financially mismanaged and lacks administrative control.
"They're very careless, they think they're above the law," Schuh said of district management. "They don't care if they step on toes, bend the rules. And the board has no control of its money. When they are doing something that's absolutely uncalled for, I'll caution them."
Piechura, though, said most of the mistakes Schuh ends up pointing out are a result of someone misspeaking, or inadvertently straying from the subject listed on the agenda.
"The citizens that get elected to these positions are not professional politicians," Piechura said. "It's a human environment, mistakes will be made."
If he were a new board member coming on right now, outgoing chairman Jacobs said, he'd meet with a lawyer to ensure he knew what he was getting into.
"Every word you say and every action you take will be reviewed," Jacobs said.
Two welcome oversight
Neither Carter nor Mischel, who both attended the Aug. 26 meeting, believe watchdogs will get in the way of their duties.
"If there's someone who's scrutinizing what we do and how things are done, I think that's better for the public," said Carter, 36, a Border Patrol agent.
Added Mischel: "All it does is serve as a reminder that the community is involved."
Doyle, a fire board member for all but two years since 1986, did not return calls made by the Star. His resignation letter didn't cite a reason for leaving, but district spokeswoman Katy Heiden said Doyle failed to turn in signatures in order to run for re-election.
Winger, who cited family reasons for her resignation, said she wishes more people would want to be part of the fire board.
"Most people want to go about their lives and just have fire protection," Winger said, admitting she didn't know fire board was an elected position when she moved into the district.
Even before Nassi retains his seat and Carter and Mischel come on, what's left of the current board will need to appoint someone to replace Winger.
That is expected to occur either at a special meeting Oct. 7 or at Northwest's regular monthly gathering on Oct. 21.
