Fire board member steps down
Weeks after being on the losing end of a close vote to end the San Miguel fire district’s contract with CalFire and bring fire and medical services back in-house, Dan McMillan resigned from the East County agency’s board of directors.
McMillan, one of three directors to oppose canceling the CalFire contract, tendered his resignation in a brief letter dated Aug. 16.
In an interview Monday, McMillan said the 4-3 vote had nothing to do with his decision to vacate his seat months before he would have been up for re-election. Instead, he said he was in the process of downsizing and had moved into a home outside the district boundary.
“I would have liked to stay and fight the good fight,” he said. “Now I have an opportunity to run for the Helix Water District.”
McMillan plans to seek the Division 1 seat held by Helix board member John B. Linden.
The San Miguel fire district seat vacated by McMillan will likely remain open until November. It is one of four seats up for grabs on the Nov. 8 ballot, with three incumbents and six others vying for the open positions.
McMillan’s home on Cerro Sereno in El Cajon is the subject of a notice of default filed last month. The two-page foreclosure notice lists a debt of just over $364,000 on a $900,000 loan McMillan signed in 2006.
The former San Miguel trustee said the action was actually a “friendly foreclosure” aimed at generating a higher sale price. “It basically comes down to money,” McMillan said. “This is a hell of a deal.”
McMillan said he moved from Cerro Sereno to a home inside the Helix Water District boundary earlier this year but did not formally changed his address until earlier this month.
The San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District covers 47 square miles from Spring Valley and Casa de Oro to parts of El Cajon and La Mesa. Facing a revenue shortage in 2012, the board decided to outsource services to CalFire and staff firefighters became state employees.
In recent years, as the district’s financial fortunes improved, a majority of board members sought to bring services back in-house. The board notified state fire officials of its decision last month.
