MESCAL, (Ariz.) — It’s been about two months since the former chief of the Mescal J6 Fire District, John Moran, announced his resignation because of feeling micromanaged. His last day with the district was about a month ago.
That same day two board members resigned and another resigned shortly after.
About a week after that, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors appointed three new board members to the district to fill their seats.
However, since there is no chief, the board has had to take on budget duties that are normally the chief’s duties.
At their board meeting on June 26, board members Debi Wise and Dana Law chose to move district funds after a former board member walked out.
On Wednesday three new board members voted to instead let the district have until next June to move the money from their operations and maintenance budget to their reserve fund so the tax rate doesn’t drop.
“It’s not our job. That’s the chief’s job,” Debi Wise explained.
It’s been a challenge for Wise to take on a budget that’s around $648,000 without a chief. The chief would normally bring board members the budget and they would ask questions. Now she’s having to make the budget herself along with other board members, but said she feels confident in their work.
“We didn’t have to do all this number crunching, whatever, like what we did this time. That’s him and then he brings it forward and we ask some questions and it was a whole lot easier,” she said.
Wise said that means some of the other issues the district is having to deal with is taking longer.
In order to help the budget process move along quicker, the board consulted with Bruce Andrews, a former board member who is also a retired accountant.
“Giving back to our taxpayers and the members of our district is just a great cause,” Andrews said.
Without a chief, Andrews felt like finalizing the budget was a challenge.
“Wasn’t really worked on since he departed so we had to pick up a couple of pieces,” he said.
During a fire at a towing company a few weeks ago, the captain had to fill the role of chief and a board member also had to step in during a pedestrian death.
“Technically your board is not supposed to be interacting with operations. That’s the chief’s job. We have to fill in that gap right now,” Wise said.
Wise said she is appreciative of Andrews' work on the budget as well as Keith Rogers, the board chairman, who also contributed. She said they mainly worked on the budget and brought it to the board so the board could ask questions, discuss, and plan it.
Rogers said when key leadership left the district, it required fast action to finalize the budget. Both he and Wise said the district is dedicated to their work so they can provide their community with safety.
Rogers said it took a lot of hours to understand and develop the budget.
She said they are already considering people for fire chief and they just sent in their budget to the Cochise County Board of Supervisors who are going to consider whether to approve it.
“As far as your calls go, that’s not going to be affected at all…..We’re all working together until we can get our chief,” Wise said.
——-
Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
- Download our free app for Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, Alexa, and mobile devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Twitter
