Published on January 21, 2020
New Fire Board President, the first to come from the City of East Palo Alto, in the District’s 104 year history, will be Sworn in at Fire Station 2, in East Palo Alto on January 21, 2020 at 7 pm.
Menlo Park Fire Protection District
On January 21, 2020, Robert Jones will be sworn in as the first resident and African American, who lives in the City of East Palo Alto to become the Fire Districts Board President in 104 years. In acknowledgement of this accomplishment, the other Board members have agreed to hold their monthly Board meeting at Fire Station 2, located at 2290 University Avenue, in East Palo Alto, so members of Roberts family and members of the community can more easily attend this celebration and event. The meeting starts at 7 pm.
Since its inception in 1916, the Fire District has provided essential fire and emergency services to the Town of Atherton, Cities of East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Unincorporated areas of Southern San Mateo County, including North Fair Oaks. Today, seven fire stations are spread across this 29 square mile area, which also includes a contract for services with the SLAC National Accelerator and Laboratories. In 2019, the Fire District responded to over 9,000 emergency incidents. The Board oversees the Fire Chief and a $60 million dollar budget with a service population of over 100,000 occupants in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Fire Chief Schapelhouman said, “I made the suggestion to have the January Board meeting in East Palo Alto and all of the Board Members liked it. In addition, I have added an outreach proposal to hold similar monthly, off-site, Board meetings in Atherton, Belle Haven, North Fair Oaks, Sharon Heights and Down Town Menlo Park. President Jones and I agreed that to be more responsive to community members, the Board should hold more meetings in our other Fire Stations, other than Station 1, our historical meeting location. I think it will be a good and new way to bring the Fire Board, and its Governance responsibilities, to each of the communities and people we serve, so we can listen to what they have to say about how we are serving them”.
Board President Jones has a background in real estate and was both a founder of EPA CAN DO, a community homeowner preservation program and then he stepped up as its executive officer to fill a leadership and financial stewardship role, until his retirement. He has also served on the Boards of the East Palo Alto Community Legal Services and the Senior Center groups. His background in civic engagement led him to seek out emergency preparedness training and become a member of the Fire District’s Community Emergency Response Team or CERT Group for East Palo Alto. A group he would eventually play a leadership role in evolving, directly exposing him to the Fire Service and Fire District’s members and Leadership.
Jones was first appointed to the Fire Board to fill a vacancy in 2018, but then became the top vote getter when he successfully ran to fill one of two vacant elected seats. He served as the vice president in 2019 and is looking forward to being the Board President addressing the exciting beginning of a new decade of challenges, changes and opportunities in providing cutting edge and innovative emergency services to all the communities served by the 141-member, independent Fire District.