The Mountain-Ear regrets that there were errors in the Golden Gate Fire Protection District article in the March 9 edition. Members of the District Board have offered their corrections:

The chief gets paid as the article reports. The firefighters all receive LOSAP funds and monetary stipends.

Number of calls: The December 2022 Chief’s Report indicates that we had 110 incidents through December 13, 2022. This does not categorize the incidents. Current and previous Chiefs made public statements that if GGFPD is dispatched, with/or without Auto Aid from another district, it is an incident for our District.

The Chief’s Hiring Committee was formed. It was discovered that a procedural step did not occur. However, the Board discussed and accepted a Hiring Committee in the September meeting and the recording makes that clear. (Transcript provided to The Mountain-Ear.)

In October, November, and December the Chief provided updates from the Hiring Committee in his posted and public Chief’s Report. All Board members received the same Hiring Committee updates as the rest of the Board and community.

In January, Steve Green interviewed the candidate; in the February meeting he approved of and voted to hire Chief Benson. He was also present in the February Executive Session. Immediately following that Executive Session the Board provided a public statement with the salary offered to Chief Benson.

In that February Special Meeting, the Board entered Executive Session and returned with a Public Statement on the Chief’s salary and benefit package.

The exact motion that passed: “Motion 1: Prohibit the current board from raising the mill levy or utilizing Issue A for the remainder of the term (through June 2023).

A member of the community made a Public Comment requesting Steve Green’s resignation. There were many other public comments made about a variety of other topics, issues, concerns, and action items.