Times: Experts: Rodeo-Hercules fire board can’t ban elected member

— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 8 July 2009 — 1 comment below »

The fire district in disarray… “Some First Amendment experts say the board of the Rodeo-Hercules Fire District exceeded its authority when it excluded one of its members from meetings for saying publicly that 5-foot-2 women are unfit to be firefighters. [...] [Bill] Prather made his comment during a Feb. 18 open-session discussion of the Pack Test, a fitness test that Prather and former Fire Chief Gary Boyles advocate and that Firefighters Union Local 1230 opposes. Prather opined that some firefighters are unqualified; when questioned whom he meant, he cited ’5-foot-2-inch females that can’t do the job,’ according to the meeting minutes. Prather has apologized publicly and repudiated his remark several times since then. [...] The Rodeo-Hercules district covers two communities with a combined population of about 33,000 residents; its five-person board is elected at large. All of the district’s 19 full-time professional firefighters, including the chief, are men; one of 15 reserves is a woman.”

It was reported earlier that Prather had the support of former mayor Frank Batara… “A gallery of Rodeo and Hercules residents, including former Hercules Mayor Frank Batara, as well as a few Pinole residents, urged the board to accept Prather’s apology and go on with the business of the district. Some questioned whether the board, which is publicly elected, has the legal right to exclude Prather from board meetings, arguing that such a decision should rest with voters if they choose to recall him.”

Bill Prather was one of three endorsers of the Waterfront Now initiative, and co-chaired Ed Balico’s recent reelection campaign. Former Mayor Frank Batara spent a considerable amount of time (nearly seven minutes at the podium) in March 2008 blasting waterfront resident efforts to scuttle the disastrous and ultimately futile alternate transit center plan (the City’s Szabo plan), a plan that was officially rebuffed with the acceptance and passing of the Waterfront Now initiative.

One comment so far …

  1. # Susan Keeffe commented on 13-Jul-09 @ 10:15pm

    How dare the sitting members prohibit a duly elected member from participation! As a tax payer, constituent and member of the community served, I am appalled. I know who I will not vote for in the next election!

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