Water board selects Thomas Ace for Division 3 seat
The Ramona Municipal Water District Board of Directors selected Thomas Ace, retired fire chief for the Lakeside Fire Protection District and Ramona resident, to fill the vacant Division 3 seat during its April 14 meeting.
The board also picked McDougal, Love, Eckis, Boehmer & Foley to serve as the district’s general legal counsel, replacing Best Best & Krieger, which indicated last year it would transition out as legal counsel.
Vacant since the March 9 resignation of Arnie Cares, the Division 3 seat attracted three candidates: Ace, Robert Krysak, a former water board member and owner of Law Offices of Krysak & Associates, and Matthew Marler, a retired statistician. All three had applied for the Division 3 seat in December 2014 when Arnie Cares was selected to replace Rex Schildhouse, who resigned from that seat Oct. 30.
Board members highlighted Ace’s experience with special districts and fire service as a plus, especially as just before the applicants presented themselves, a Cal Fire chief reported that the state agency’s costs were increasing this year. RMWD, a special district, contracts with Cal Fire to staff the Ramona Fire Department.
As the former chief of the Lakeside Fire Protection District, Ace noted his 30 years’ experience with fire services, emergency medical technicians and management. He also pointed out he has a certificate in special district leadership and governance, making him “uniquely qualified” for the position.
Ace said he would bring three qualities that he thinks the board needs:
- Credibility
- Stability — “I have a very pragmatic work relationship where I work diligently and pragmatically through difficult and serious problems that are facing the Ramona Municipal Water District now.”
- Ability — “I bring 30 years experience in managing special districts.” Ace said he was also appointed by Supervisor Dianne Jacob to serve on a task force to consolidate fire services for the county and has experience with Cal Fire agreements.
Darrell Beck, board president, said that in December Ace had initially received two votes to serve as Division 3 director.
“I see a situation coming up with our fire department that’s going to be a very difficult decision to make based on what we heard here tonight,” Beck said. “And I believe Mr. Ace has the qualifications for this seat to help us on this and with his past experience with fire departments.”
The other three board members agreed and approved Ace to fill the seat.
During the meeting, a 2015-16 budget overview included a report by Cal Fire Chief Tony Mecham with the San Diego County Fire Authority on rising costs for the state fire agency with much of it due to health care changes.
RMWD Finance Director Richard Hannasch said Cal Fire’s agreement with the district is expected to increase 9.7 percent, from $5.4 million to $5.95 million.