Position Statement - Richard Clark

By Richard J. Clark

Greatly enhanced our financial performance, increasing our year-end fund balance from only $200,000 to just under $1,000,000 today.

Built and opened the Glenwood station, bringing quicker emergency response to the Northern end of our district, which includes the highway 17 corridor, an elementary school and the new high school.

Added engine-based paramedic service (scheduled to begin on January 1, 2003), an important public service as roughly 80% of all calls are medical in nature and the district is not adequately protected by the existing ambulance service.

Replaced all of the too-small fire hydrants in the areas served by the city of Santa Cruz water district (called "Zone A") with modern, high-flow hydrants.

Replaced both lead fire engines with state-of-the-art equipment to enhance reliability and replaced a decades-old water tender to improve our ability to suppress fires remote from city water systems.

The district is facing severe financial challenges, including drastic increases in personnel costs and the pending but unknown impact of the state budget shortfall on local service agencies. My experience with district budgets will help guide the district through this period with minimal impact on service to the public. I will:

Not let budget problems cause service cuts.

Find a way to build the new station at Mt Hermon Rd and Hwy 17 to serve the South end of the district.

Continue to support our professional firefighting team.