Old Julian Library Closing; State-of-the-Art Building Opens September 14

by Bobbi Zane

The historic 1888 schoolhouse that houses the Julian Branch of the San Diego County Library at 2133 4th Avenue closed its doors at the end of the day on Saturday, August 21 in preparation for the move to a new state-of-the-art Julian Library building at 1830 Highway 78, adjacent to Julian High School and a block from Julian Elementary and Middle Schools. The book drop at the old 1,270 foot library will be available for customers from Sunday, August 22 through Friday, August 27 and at the new library from Saturday, August 28 through Tuesday, September 14.

The public is invited to the grand opening ceremonies of the 9,573 square foot joint-use library, scheduled for Tuesday, September 14 at 3:00 p.m. Groundbreaking for the $3.89 million project took place on May 22, 2003. Despite the devastating fires that struck the area last fall, the branch is opening on schedule because of the dedicated work of local contractor Randazzo Construction.

California State Librarian Susan Hildreth will join Supervisor Dianne Jacob in dedicating the building, the first Proposition 14 funded building completed in the state. Dignitaries will include Jan Mattias, President, Friends of the Julian Library; Brian Bristol, Superintendent, Julian High School District; Kevin Ogden, Superinten-dent, Julian Union Ele-mentary/ Junior High School Dis-trict; and Marilyn Crouch, San Diego County Library Director.

NTD Architects describe their design as follows:

The Julian Library is a contemporary interpretation of “turn of the century” western mining town. While Queen Ann was the popular style on the East coast, the West produced a more Spartan ethic. Decoration such as fish scale shingles and a water stop base were common features and are incorporated into the new library. The building itself derives much of its form from the Early Elementary School (1887) with short overhangs, pitch roofs and multi-pane windows. With the advent of the trans-continental railroad in 1857 industrial products flooded West. Architecturally, the most signification was corrugated sheet metal. Of note is the natural finish on the metal roofing at the Julian Library alluding to this early time. All of these elements plus the use of technology in the modern library produced an architectural style best described as “Julian Modern.”

RDK Associates served as project managers for the facility. For more information, contact San Diego County Library Deputy Director Valerie Rodak, (858) 694-3786.

Supervisors Send Advisory Fire District Consolidation Vote to Ballot

by Joe Naiman

With the devastating effects of the 2003 fires still evident, voters in November will be asked for feedback on whether they want consolidated fire districts in unincorporated San Diego County.

On Aug. 3, county supervisors voted to call for an advisory election on the issue of consolidating fire protection and emergency medical services in the unincorporated area. A separate vote Aug. 3 directed the county’s Chief Administrative Officer to find $50,000 to share the costs with the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, in determining fire and emergency medical needs and to develop a model fire protection system for the county.

“This advisory measure will let the voters of unincorporated areas in San Diego County tell us if they want to bring fire departments together, or if they are content with the way things are now,” Supervisor Dianne Jacob said.

Regionalization has been the focus of several meetings of both the county supervisors and the county’s Task Force on Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services. A task force conference on April 30 included fire officials from other counties that have implemented regionalization, and on May 18, supervisors took action to support, in principle, the regionalization of fire protection and emergency medical services.

“Today’s action is the final step,” said Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who chairs the task force.

“Unincorporated area voters will be asked in November if they would support the consolidation of 35 agencies into a single agency, provided that a consolidation results in a better-coordinated and enhanced delivery of fire protection and emergency medical services for your area.”

The advisory vote will not be binding.

Regionalization and consolidation could take several forms. In addition to possible administrative consolidation, other options include functional consolidation or a joint powers authority. In other words, some form of consolidation could be considered regardless of the outcome of the election.

“I don’t think any decision has been made on whether there would be a jurisdictional consolidation or a functional consolidation,” said Michael Ott, LAFCO executive director.

LAFCO, which is responsible for jurisdictional boundary changes and reorganizations, will examine all options.

“We’ll also examine the needs of the region and what the remaining requirements will be,” Ott said.

Since consolidation would involve every fire protection agency, the advisory vote for consolidation could pass in the entire unincorporated county but fail in one or more individual districts.

The county has 17 fire protection districts, seven county service areas providing fire protection, and five municipal water districts that provide fire protection, along with two county service areas which provide paramedic services and involve multiple fire agencies. Fire protection also is provided by incorporated cities, Indian reservation fire departments,

military fire departments, the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and volunteer fire departments.

“I think there’s some consolidating and streamlining that could be done,” Supervisor Bill Horn said.

The supervisors’ Aug. 3 motion authorized up to two members of the board to sign a ballot argument on behalf of the consolidation.

Because Horn and Jacob have a significant amount of the unincorporated population in their districts, they were designated to sign the statements.

“I think we should study it, and I think we should put it before the voters,” Horn said.

A major obstacle in consolidation, especially when volunteer fire departments are involved, is equalizing firefighter pay throughout a consolidated fire department.

The task force work, which dates back to 2002, recognizes that a shortfall would exist in a consolidated department with a level of service including full-time staffing at each station.

“It’s a very expensive proposition,” Horn said.

Supervisor Ron Roberts, whose district has no unincorporated areas, has supported regionalization but was not designated as a signer of the ballot argument.

“It really is an issue in the unincorporated area,” Roberts said.

“I’ll always be a big supporter of this issue,” he added. “It doesn’t in any way diminish my enthusiasm for bringing together and consolidating the multiplicity of districts that we have.”

The task force was created in 1999, partly to address a lack of revenue for fire districts absorbing unserved areas.

“This board is already on record supporting the concept of regionalization of fire and emergency medical services in San Diego County and we continue to work with LAFCO, the County Fire Chiefs Association and the Task Force on Fire and Emergency Medical Services in developing a model fire protection and emergency medical service system in San Diego County, and proposals for a long-term stable funding source for regionalization,” Jacob said.

“Whether it is the Grand Jury, the Fire Chiefs Association, the Task Force on Fire Protection and Emergency Services, the Blue Ribbon Commission or the 2003 Fire Siege Review, there seems to be a consistent and more vocal call for reducing jurisdictional lines and enhancing the delivery of fire service.”

Administrative consolidation would not only merge existing fire protection agencies but would include territory not served by an existing agency, including volunteer fire department areas.

The consolidation would not include U.S. Forest Service, California Department of Forestry, or Indian reservation land, nor would it include Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, the county’s only military base not in an incorporated city.

“We owe it to firefighters, law enforcement, disaster officials, the many volunteers and especially the fire victims to make improvements to fire protection and emergency medical services in this region,” Jacob said. “We can no longer afford to have countless fractures...we can no longer afford to have inequities.”