PFPD Watch - 2010-12-16

Updated: December 16, 2010 2:06 PM

Dec. 16, 2010:

Here we go again.

At the PFPD board meeting on Dec. 14, the district's part-time administrative assistant Sandra R. stood up to make a complaint to the board about the behavior of newly-elected board member Don Ramos.

The basis of Sandra's complaint was this: Earlier in the day, she received the following email from Ramos (here, with Sandra's permission):

From: Don And Marilyn <_ _ _ @aol.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 11:36 AM
Subject: Board Packet
To: _ _ _

It is now the morning of the Board meeting and I still have not received notice that my Board packet is ready. Your action was not only predictable, it is juvenile and unprofessional. I will not be at the meeting tonight.....I will discuss this incident at the January meeting.

Don Ramos

The email was addressed to Sandra, Chief Gill, board member Russ Sime and also to four members of the public. So what's the problem? In my opinion, and at the minimum, this:

1. For at least two years, the board packets have been available at Station 38 on the Thursday afternoon preceding a meeting. Ramos knows this.

2. For a board member to criticize the job performance of an employee in an email, and to c.c. the email out to the general public is outrageous. According to the Calif. Attorney General, the law (the Brown Act) specifically provides for closed sessions "to avoid undue publicity or embarrassment for public employees ...."

The closed sessions are intended for, among other things, "evaluation of performance," "discipline," and "to hear complaints or charges brought against the employee." Sandra has an expectation and right to privacy here, and it was blatantly violated by Ramos.

3. The email contains a veiled threat: "I will discuss this incident at the January meeting." What does he mean here exactly? That he will criticize an employee's job performance at an open meeting? Is he crazy?

As I said at the meeting, I think this is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

In my opinion: Ramos's bizarre behavior is out of control. His presence on the board creates a hostile workplace environment for the employees of the district. His actions threaten the already shaky financial status of the district by exposing it to the threat of harassment lawsuits by employees.

Keep in mind that besides Kim K., the firefighter who filed a harassment grievance against Ramos in August, Sandra is the only other female on the district's payroll.

So we have Ramos's fabricated accusations about the Chief that led to the "letters of reprimand" that the board subsequently withdrew, and for which it later apologized; Ramos's inappropriate comments to Firefighter Kim K., who's formal grievance is still pending; and now this email to Sandra. What's going to be next?

It is time, again, for Mr. Ramos to go.

In other news ...

The PFPD board has another vacancy, created when Rob Janzen resigned from his appointed seat to take the seat he won in the Nov. election. Anyone interested in being appointed to the board can find more info at the district's Website.

The board took the following actions:

- Postponed the appointment of board officers until the January meeting.

- Adopted the 2010 California State Fire Code. Director Russ Sime expressed concern about the requirement that all new homes include a sprinkler system. Chief Gill said that it is a state requirement, and the district really has no choice but to adopt the new code.

- Approved a motion to assign numbers to each of the seats on the board, in order to relieve the confusion that resulted from the abrupt resignations of three board members last August.

- Approved the "Agreement to Provide Funding for Emergency Medical Services and Equipment" with El Dorado County. The district will receive $178,590 this year from the county's Emergency Medical Services Authority, also called the JPA.