A Defining Moment for Mosquito Fire- Our future is determined in the next 13 days.
Attend the public board meeting Thursday, October 22, at 3:00 p.m. at Station 75, 8801 Rock Creek Road. Hear the shared-services proposal, ask questions, and join the discussion about the department’s future. An early closed session is scheduled, with the meeting returning to open session at 3:45 p.m.
MEETING AGENDA & ZOOM INFORMATION POSTED AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE
A fire chief’s work begins long before an emergency call. It includes preparing crews, managing resources, maintaining readiness, and making decisions that may matter most on someone else’s worst day.
Behind that work is a less visible requirement: a governing structure that lets professional leadership function.
As Mosquito Fire considers sharing a chief with Garden Valley, the immediate question concerns a proposed agreement. The deeper question concerns stability—and whether the district can establish the clear responsibilities needed to sustain it.
Mosquito’s documented history of instability raises a critical question: can the governing culture that has long shaped the board’s relationship with the department sustain the reliable fire and emergency services our community needs? The County and our Neighboring Public Safety Partners have given strong signals indicating that a change must happen, we must choose it, before it is forced upon the community.
The Warning Was Written Ten Years Ago
In April 2016, the El Dorado County Civil Grand Jury published a report with a blunt title: Mosquito Fire Protection District Dysfunction. It described fractured relationships, leadership turnover, failures in public documentation, and a board struggling to govern effectively.
One finding identified the boundary at the heart of the problem:
“Turmoil and turnover in the chief’s position since 2012 has led to board members directing day-to-day administration and operations.”
The recommendation was equally plain:
“The board members should support the fire chief taking control of the day-to-day administration and operations.”
The grand jury described hostility between board and community factions that damaged district stability and discouraged people from volunteering. It did not investigate firefighters’ performance during fire or medical responses. Its concern was the institution behind them. That institution has a deeply seated culture of hostility in this community, and it has persisted for many years.
The report is historical evidence, not a finding against today’s directors. It does not establish that every problem continued uninterrupted. But it gives the community a concrete standard for assessing the present: a board must provide oversight without becoming an operational adversary—one that points fingers, assigns blame, and ultimately undermines its own credibility by failing to hold itself accountable.
What Is Now on the Table
Thursday’s agenda calls for Director Maria Rodriguez to present a shared-services proposal with Garden Valley and for the board to consider conceptual approval. That would mark a step forward—not confirmation that both districts have approved or signed a final agreement.
The context matters: at its last monthly meeting, the MFPD Board removed Directors Trent Williams and Bill Buhnerkempe from the negotiation subcommittee. That decision followed feedback from Garden Valley and El Dorado County, whose official statements cited problematic interactions involving the two directors as reasons for ending negotiations.
(Read the official letter stating the failure and lack of leadership of Directors Buhnerkempe and Williams from El Dorad County below.)
The accompanying draft would make Garden Valley Fire Chief Wes Norman available to serve as Mosquito’s chief while Mosquito evaluates its long-term fire protection and emergency medical service options. Mosquito would pay $6,500 per month, or $78,000 over a full year.
Norman’s responsibilities would include personnel management, emergency response, training, budgeting, policy implementation, and regulatory compliance. Garden Valley would also provide specified chief-officer support for incident management and response.
The draft preserves Mosquito’s board-directed policies and budget while assigning the chief full operational and administrative responsibility. Employees would report through the customary chain of command.
Those provisions are more than contractual language. They describe how authority is supposed to work.
Transparency Without Competing Lines of Command
A second item on Thursday’s agenda illustrates why those distinctions deserve attention.
Director William “Bill” Buhnerkempe’s “Information Needed” issue paper alleges interference with his requests for expenditure information. He asks the board to direct Chief Bellerive to stop the alleged interference or recognize that he is resuming a previously paused public-information request. The packet presents his allegations; it does not establish them as fact.
His attachments include questions about payroll, uniforms, training, disposal charges, and other expenses. He identifies potential grant reimbursement, expense coding, and training details as reasons for some inquiries. Those are stated financial purposes that should not be dismissed simply because the requests are detailed.
But access to information and authority to direct staff are different matters.
The district needs a process that protects both transparency and staff capacity: clear reporting expectations, a reliable method for follow-up, and an understood distinction between asking for records and assigning operational work.
The grand jury’s recommendations support both sides of that balance. Alongside support for the chief’s operational authority, it called for timely agendas and minutes, ethics training, and additional instruction in effective governance.
Accountability should make an organization stronger. It should produce answers, identify problems, and support corrective action—not leave responsibilities permanently contested.
Protect the Momentum. Build the Stability.
Dysfunction does not stay in the boardroom. The 2016 grand jury documented how hostility undermined district stability and discouraged volunteers, while turmoil in the chief’s position blurred the boundaries between governance and operations. Those findings describe an institutional cost—not simply a clash of personalities.
That cost deserves the community’s attention. Preparing someone to respond competently to medical emergencies and fires takes substantial time, money, and commitment—from both the individual and the department. People willing to train, gear up, and answer a neighbor’s call for help are not easily replaced. Recruiting them becomes harder still when a department carries a legacy of conflict and a reputation for a work environment that discourages prospective recruits.
These first responders are more than names on a roster. They represent an investment in this community’s safety and a personal commitment to its people. Our community cannot afford to treat any of them as expendable—or allow preventable dysfunction to drive even one away.
For a fire department, the stakes extend beyond workplace morale. Stability helps sustain the people, preparation, and professional judgment on which dependable service rests. When responsibilities are constantly contested, attention shifts from the work to the conflict. And the department’s reputation affects more than its leadership: it becomes part of the environment every firefighter, employee, and volunteer enters when they choose to serve.
This year’s renewed community events and firefighter engagement have offered an encouraging counterpoint. People have gathered, participated, and connected with the department again. That participation does not, by itself, establish that recruitment or staffing challenges are solved. But it is a visible expression of interest—a foundation worth nurturing rather than taking for granted.
The task now is to turn that energy into stability and reimagine Mosquito Fire to a higher standard of service for the community, and an experience for our Firefighters to be proud of.
People willing to contribute need more than an invitation. They need an organization where expectations are clear, their work is respected, and disagreements are addressed without defining the workplace. They also want to be part of something meaningful—something that inspires excitement, pride, and a sense of possibility. The fire service offers that opportunity, and Mosquito Fire has the potential to become a place where aspiring firefighters want to begin and build their careers. Professional leaders need accountability, but they also need the authority to fulfill the responsibilities entrusted to them.
That is why the district’s governing culture matters as much as the shared-services agreement. The proposed arrangement places operational and administrative responsibility with the chief while preserving the board’s authority over policy and budget. But that division can succeed only with clear boundaries, mutual respect, and consistent conduct—standards the district has too often struggled to uphold. Those documented failures are historical concerns and have contributed to the departure of qualified professionals, weakening the department and the community it serves.
Don't underestimate the significance of this election. It is an opportunity to change course—not endorse the continuation of past mistakes, regardless of who made them. The question is larger than any individual: will the district continue a culture that has driven people away and struggled to acknowledge its own failures, or choose leaders willing to take responsibility and build something better? That means electing people who can admit when they are wrong, recognize genuine accomplishments, and bring the community together through their actions—not simply their empty promises.
Our greatest opportunity in the coming days is not merely to bring the right people through the station doors. It is to build a department where they can serve this community, grow professionally, and take pride in belonging to something that was meaningful, not only to themselves but to hundreds of people who may need them, their skills, and dedication at a life-defining moment. A place that gives them reasons to stay—and, when their careers take them elsewhere, reasons to remain connected. That is how Mosquito Fire can build not only a strong department, but a lasting network of trusted professionals invested in this community’s future.
Stand with those who stand with our firefighters. Come to the meeting on 10/22 at 3:00 pm and vote for all four Mosquito Fire Board candidates: Jamae Lacey, Jackie LeMasters, Linnea Uggla, and Selah Valiente.
MEETING INFORMATION
Click HERE for the Meeting Agenda
Meeting ID 891 3558 2912
Meeting passcode 223344
One tap mobile +16699006833,,88473746957#,,,,*223344# US (San Jose)
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