YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 16, No. 30
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Town welcomes new officers by Dawnmarie Fehr Correspondent
The Delta Station of the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department has some new officers patrolling Discovery Bay. Delta Station is located in Oakley, and deputies stationed there patrol in Discovery Bay, Knightsen, Bethel Island, Byron and parts of Antioch and Clayton. Lt. Matt Foley is the new Delta Station commander. He will oversee operations from Delta Station, attend community events and respond to calls. Prior to this assignment, Foley worked as a sergeant at Main Jail in Martinez. He also has experience in administration, civil unit and special victims unit and as a detective. Law enforcement hasn’t always been Foley’s career path. He began his professional life as a certified public accountant (CPA) and spent 15 years crunching numbers
FOLEY
ROBB
before trading in his calculator for a badge. “I did not find (my job) rewarding, and I did not feel a connection to the community,” Foley said. “I had always wanted to be a police officer to serve the community … 9/11 was the final push.” Foley’s plans for Delta Station are to keep up his predecessor’s good work, focusing his energies
on two main projects right now. “There are currently two projects in the works (at Delta Station) – the license plate readers for Discovery Bay and the station’s move to Brentwood,” he said. “I will be assisting my captain with these projects until completion. Other than these projects, I hope to get out and be in the community and build on the relationships we cur-
rently enjoy.” Since joining the sheriff’s department, Foley has kept up his CPA business on the side, providing tax services and business consulting. Foley lives in Clayton with his wife, Sandi, and their son, Tyler. In his spare time, he enjoys home improvement, fitness, hiking Mount Diablo and coaching Tyler’s football team. Another new face at Delta Station is community service officer (CSO) assigned to Discovery Bay, Brandon Robb. Robb has been with the CSO program in the sheriff’s department since its inception and helped design the program itself with fellow CSO Dan Jordan. “I met with Dan, and we got the paperwork together and answered the questions of how much time we would spend patrolling, writing reports and tickets – those kind of things,” Robb said. “Dan see Officers page 30
July 27, 2018
Candidate Season Is Here
November elections are around the corner, and the race for local seats has begun. Page 7
A Seussical Performance
Ghostlight Theatre Ensemble Performing Arts Youth Academy debuts this weekend. Page 10
Public may be ready to reconsider fire tax Martial Arts by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
East County residents disapprove of current fire service levels and may be willing to open their wallets to fund a solution, according to the results of a district strategic planning survey. Only 18 percent of 643 respondents approved of existing fire service levels, and 69 percent said they’d support a voter-approved tax to fund three additional stations. Fifty-five percent are in favor of a tax initiative to fund six additional stations. The district’s current three stations cover 249 square miles and 114,000 residents. “At least this segment of the population that voluntarily went on the survey to respond to it showed they may be willing to look at tax
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... it showed they may be willing to look at tax increases to increase response-time standards, at least for this current population.
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Greg Larson, Management Partners increases to increase response-time standards, at least for this current population, if not for the future as well,” said Greg Larson, a partner of the management consulting firm Management Partners, which is helping the district create a strategic plan. The survey results released last week during a district strategic planning meeting in Knightsen also revealed that about 35 percent of respondents support reallocating property taxes from schools and education or city and county services
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to the fire district. Additionally, 79 percent approve stopping all new or increased development until the district can meet fire service standards. “The biggest challenge the district has is financial equity,” said Hal Bray, co-chair of the grassroots East County Voters for Equal Protection, which supports property tax reallocation. “The district gets 7.5 percent of the property taxes distributed in this area. The average for the county is 14 to 15 percent. You can’t do it any better unless you
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get some funding.” The district’s property tax allocation was cemented after State Proposition 13 was approved in 1978 during a time when volunteer departments were sufficient to cover far East County. That move eventually wreaked havoc on the agency, forcing it in part to diminish from eight stations in 2008 to three today. In turn, about 90 percent of the time, it takes district firefighters about 10 minutes to respond to urban areas of the district (Brentwood and Oakley), which is about 2 minutes, 30 seconds slower than is recommended. In suburban areas, like Discovery Bay, the 90 percent response time (13:28) is two minutes slower than standards. In rural areas, the resee Fire page 30
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A fourth-grader at Orchard Park School wins state tae kwon do championship. Page 21 Calendar................................31 Classifieds.............................26 Cop Logs................................29 Entertainment.....................11 Food........................................10 Health & Beauty..................13 Milestones............................15 Opinion..................................20 Pets.........................................24 Sports.....................................21
Insurance Scam
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Several county restaurants cited for failing to provide employee compensation.