Whether Ross will reopen a firehouse is the top issue driving a contest for two Town Council seats on Nov. 3.

The council closed the century-old fire station last year, following the advice of staff, consultants and fire officials who said nearby stations sufficed. Ross has committed to opening a paramedic facility by 2029.

The firehouse question comes as Ross prepares to rebuild its public safety center and town offices.

Mayor Julie McMillan, who is seeking another term after a decade on the council, has defended the decision to close the fire station.

McMillan is opposed by Bob Herbst and Paul Roesler, who criticized the town’s handling of the issue and are running as a ticket to unseat her and reopen a station.

Herbst is a real estate developer and president of Friends of Ross Firehouse, a community group. Roesler is a private equity real estate investor and president of the Ross School Foundation board.

The firehouse issue has caused political tensions for more than a year. Friends of Ross Firehouse said residents are at risk because of slightly longer response times.

Last winter, the group presented remodeling plans and got a ballot measure qualified to ask voters if the station should be reopened.

In response, a citizens advisory committee of architects, developers and builders crafted a compromise solution. They designed an expanded Spanish-style campus with the capacity for a fire operation. The issue of funding would be discussed later.

In April, the council unanimously approved the proposal. In August, seeing progress, Friends of Ross Firehouse withdrew the initiative.

McMillan said her “main priorities have been emergency preparedness and the town facilities.”

“I wholeheartedly embrace the legacy Gensler concept and look forward to completing facilities for paramedics, police, staff and public works for the next 100 years while allowing space for a fire station later if operational funding is secured,” she said.

Gensler, an architectural firm, helped the advisory committee propose and present a civic center design. The town has since hired the firm to update its master facilities plan as a step toward developing plans for the campus makeover.

“The Town Council, led by Mayor McMillan, voted to demolish the 100-year-old state-registered historic building,” Herbst said. “They ignored what the response time impacts were going to be for moving our firefighters out of town.”

“They had the data in hand and proceeded regardless,” Roesler said. “Then, instead of taking the citizens initiative seriously, when 400 residents signed a petition, the council spent months resisting it before eventually landing on their own nonbinding citizens advisory committee concept, which notably looks a lot like what FORF proposed in the first place.”

“I think the Town Council did make missteps along the way,” McMillan said. “Primarily, we did not explain information about the needs and the wants versus the cost, and the situation was taken over by a lot of emotion, and the real facts were not conveyed.”

Ross pays $2.7 million to the Ross Valley Fire Department for fire protection services. McMillan said operating a fire station would be an additional “heavy burden” costing about $3.5 million annually “and it would entail a parcel tax increase of about $4,000 per parcel and require two-thirds of a vote by our citizens.”

“We don’t want to raise taxes on ourselves,” Roesler said. “We can do it cost-effectively and we will do it without saddling our residents.”

“I don’t support paying an additional $4,000 per residence,” Herbst said. “What I do support is fair and equitable cost-sharing services in the Ross Valley Fire District.”

“The idea of renegotiating the fee agreement with Ross Valley Fire is really fraught with error and misassumptions,” McMillan said.

The fire district’s other members — Fairfax, San Anselmo and the Sleepy Hollow Fire Protection District — would all have to agree, she said. McMillan noted those jurisdictions recently spent more than $7 million to renovate two fire stations without Ross contributing, and their annual share of fire district costs “have gone up with the closure of the Ross fire station.”

The Nov. 3 election ballot also lists a fourth person, Jeff Kuhn, but he was appointed to the council on Sept. 23. He will finish the remaining two years on the term of Bill Kircher, who resigned on Sept. 11.

Kuhn said he had expected the appointment and planned to withdraw his candidacy before the county ballot deadline in August. However, Kircher’s resignation was delayed, and Kuhn’s name remained on the ballot.

Kuhn said he is only interested in serving the balance of Kircher’s term and shepherding the town center project toward completion and addressing other infrastructure needs. He said people could end up voting for him, but he does not consider himself a candidate.

“I have no aspiration to serve for four years or longer,” he said.

Candidate bios

Bob Herbst

Age: 59

Occupation: Real estate development, construction, management

Education: Bachelor’s degree in economics, Harvard; master’s degree in business administration, University of California, Berkeley

Experience: President of Friends of Ross Firehouse; member of civic center citizens advisory committee

Julie McMillan

Age: 66

Occupation: Attorney

Education: University of California, Los Angeles; Stanford Law School

Experience: Town Council member since December 2017, and current mayor

Paul Roesler

Age: 61

Occupation: Private equity real estate

Education: Bachelor’s degree in economics and Spanish, University of California, Berkeley

Experience: President of the Ross School Foundation board; San Francisco Maritime National Park Association trustee

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