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Mingee to step down as fire chief
We have a winner
BY LEA BOYD
The Fire Board unanimously voted on May 19 to release Chief Mike Mingee from his employment contract with the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District a year before its close. The fire chief’s departure, effective Aug. 1, came on the heels of the settlement of a lawsuit brought on by three firefighters against the chief as well as a failed bond election to fund new fire stations. Mingee will leave with a $150,000 severance payment, which was negotiated when he was hired in 2007. In a prepared statement he read aloud during the fire board meeting, Mingee said that plans to leave the district early have been in the works since last September. He told Coastal View News that he is “not being forced out” by the lawsuit, though his decision to leave early assisted in settling the lawsuit. He declined to comment further on the lawsuit. The suit, filed in November 2013, alleged that Mingee and the fire district failed to act in the interest of firefighter safety and retaliated against the plaintiffs, Christopher Blair, Han Domini and Michael Hayek, when they raised safety concerns. Mingee told CVN that he stands by his initial claims that the allegations in the lawsuit are false. The Santa Barbara Independent reported this week that Mingee’s early departure from the district is a direct result of the settlement. The lawsuit was settled outside of court, and the parties involved have been asked not to speak on the terms. CVN does not have details on the settlement. At the board meeting, Mingee said he had been “kind of beat up at bit in the press” and added, “They’re fishing in
Mike Mingee’s last day as CSFPD Fire Chief will be July 31. the wrong pond here; this is no scandalous issue.” Measure Z, which aimed to raise $10.65 million for a new fire station in Summerland and a remodeled Carpinteria station, failed to obtain the two-thirds voter approval necessary to pass in the May 5 election. The bond measure and station plans were of great importance to Mingee, who said he is disappointed by the outcome. “I’m convinced that the Board will continue to seek a solution to this critical issue,” he stated. The lawsuit alleged misconduct by Mingee starting in 2012 after Blair was hired as a battalion chief. Blair began reporting concerns over unsafe workplace conditions and health and safety violations, which Mingee failed to act
FIRE CHIEF continued on page 6
ROBIN KARLSSON
Judy Mulford lofts her bid number in support of scholarships at the Carpinteria Boys & Girls Club during the club’s annual dinner and auction on the evening of May 16. Mulford and hundreds of other supporters of the local youth-serving organization contributed to the nearly $100,000 raised over the course of the night. For more photos from the event, see pages 14 and 15.
Arts Center regroups without ED
The Carpinteria Arts Center has entered a transition phase between executive directors and is looking to a team of dedicated volunteers to bridge what board co-chair David Powdrell envisions as a one-year gap without a paid staff leader. Sherri Frazer, who was hired in 2013 as the organization’s first executive director, accepted a position with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History this month. Powdrell said that Frazer accom-
plished quite a bit in her two years with the Arts Center, including completing a successful rebranding campaign and expanding the center’s connection to other area nonprofits. “We’ll miss her terribly,” Powdrell said. Rather than hire a new ED immediately, the organization has opted to gather a transition team to focus on building programming, fundraising and public awareness. The “dream team” is made up of Marty
Selfridge, Susan Misemer, Zoe Iverson, Ellen Johnson, Miguel Bernal, Teda Pilcher, Michael Kramer, Chris Sobell, Aurora Valentine, Gary and Geri Campopiano, Beth Schmohr and Powdrell. One of the areas of focus for Powdrell is art classes. “Our site sits idle most of the time,” he said. “We want to radically change this during the next year … Let’s get paint brushes into the hands of all Carpinterians, ages 5 to 95.”
Plans for a city-approved, two-story building for the Arts Center site at 855 Linden Ave. have been put on hold but not dismissed completely. Powdrell said that the $6.9 million necessary to fund construction and create an endowment for operations still remains out of reach for the organization. The center has applied for a four-year deferral on its City of Carpinteria building permit. ––Lea Boyd