The results of a special mail-in election held for property owners who live within the 87-square-mile Julian-Cuyamaca Fire Protection District were certified as official Thursday.
Before the end of the year, and more likely within the next couple weeks, the San Diego County Fire Department will assume control of the last remaining volunteer fire department in the county.
But probably not without a legal battle given the lawyer the volunteer district has recently hired.
The final election results: 774 voted yes (54.01 percent) to have the county’s fire department assume control, while 659 (45.99 percent) voted to stick with the volunteer department, which has been serving Julian and surrounding communities since the 1980s.
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Next Monday, the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), which oversees special districts, is scheduled to accept the results and set a date, within the next nine months, for the transition of power to take place. Officials say the technical transition itself will likely happen that afternoon.
But the volunteer district is not going quietly. A few weeks ago, it hired Cory Briggs, a well-known local public interest lawyer who specializes in challenging and suing governments.
“I have no comment about what we’re going to do moving forward,” Briggs said Thursday, “but I can tell you LAFCO has no authority to do what it is trying to do.”
Keene Simonds, the executive officer of LAFCO, said he doesn’t know what Briggs is referring to.
He said the process that has led the commission to this point has been as open and transparent as possible. He also said that at Monday’s meeting, should the county indicate it can assume control of the fire district right away, he will recommend no delay.
“My thinking is do this now,” Simonds said. “I see no reason to put this off any longer.”
Fire Authority Chief Tony Mecham said he expects the legal transition will take place Monday after papers are signed. The physical act of the county moving into the district’s 5-year-old station off state Route 79 a few miles south of downtown Julian will likely take a bit more time, he said.
Representatives of the Julian district have refused to communicate with the county or LAFCO since the election ended, he said.
“I was scheduled to meet with their chief last Friday, but received a cease and desist notice from Cory Briggs,” he said.
Mecham said the county needs to get into the fire station to do an inspection before moving personnel and equipment in. He said he is concerned for the safety of his firefighters and wants to install some security features, as well as replace a few pieces of equipment, like a call alert system.
“It could be two days before we get into the station or two weeks,” he said.
How the situation in Julian got to this point is complicated.
In 2018, the leadership of the volunteer department, after rejecting overtures from the county to take over, voted to make that happen, citing ongoing financial issues.
The decision infuriated many in the community who were loyal to the volunteers and who believed it is the volunteers, not the county, that will do a better job of protecting the area. The volunteers are local people who know the area and its residents, they said.
Last September, the LAFCO Commission unanimously voted to dissolve the volunteer district, but slightly more than 25 percent of the area’s voters signed a protest petition, forcing a special election which came to an end on March 19 and was certified Thursday.
“Every single registered voter got a chance to cast a ballot,” Simonds said.
Meanwhile, the makeup of the volunteer district’s board of directors has now completely changed with all now opposed to the county transition.
New Board President Mike Menghini declined to comment Thursday and referred all questions to Briggs.
Briggs said only that he was sitting at his desk Thursday trying to get caught up on the issue.
“I’m trying to wrap my head around things,” he said. “I’m the last person to this party.”
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