Editorial:
We haven’t really heard much complaining coming out of National City over the recent announcement by City Manager Chris Zapata who selected and has appointed City Councilman Frank Parra as the next –soon to be determined title— Director of the Fire Department. Technically, Parra can’t be called Fire Chief of National City because he is not a fireman, nor has any training in this area. Because of Parra’s selection there will be a new department, which the Fire Department will come under.
Without any uproar over the announcement we have to chalk it up to National City, being National City. A recent editorial in the Union Tribune reduced the Fire Department to a glorified paramedic service. We wonder if the firefighters in National City appreciated that analogy? The characterization of the fire department was done in part to justify the appointment of Parra, so as a professional paramedic he could be qualified to lead the fire department.
La Prensa has nagging, and persistent questions about the appointment of Councilman Parra that keeps bothering us. For example the City Manager used the fact that Parra has been a council member since 2002 and that gives him the experience necessary to run the fire department. We ask ourselves, what? A councilperson requires no particular skill, and a person can serve as long as voters vote them in. Serving on the council requires one to make political decisions that are in the best interest of the city. We question where Mr. Parra’s experience is coming from?
We also question why City Manager Zapata stopped the process of interviewing other qualified candidates that would have given the city council several choices. As the deal now stands, the council has no choice but to confirm or reject Councilman Parra. In essence looking from the outside this is a done deal since Manager Chris Zapata made a unilateral decision to not present a field of qualified candidates so the council could select the best man for the job.
For Zapata as an employee to hire his boss and then have to clear his decision with his other bosses (the city council) smells to high heaven, and appears like a back room deal. This is not exactly transparent nor an example of an open form of government. So in reality, the decision to hire and approve Councilman Parra has already been made.
Does Parra have the prerequisite education to become a department head? Under normal circumstances this usually requires a Bachelors’ degree or higher. At times work experience can be substituted for education. The question then is does a background of being a paramedic supervisor and being an elected city councilperson qualify as work substitution for formal education?
Frank Parra is probably a very good paramedic supervisor, and while we don’t want to begrudge him or anyone else the opportunity, we question if his selection and appointment is in the best interest of National City? That is the question the National City Council members will have to ask themselves, when it is time to vote on his confirmation.