Charles Varni’s opposition to funding Oceano’s portion of the Five Cities Fire Authority put Oceano’s fire safety at serious risk, endangering the lives of Oceano citizens and property. By resisting the funding measures, Varni directly contributed to longer response times and left our community vulnerable to disaster. The safety of Oceano residents is at stake.
Varni’s opposition forced Oceano to relinquish local control of its fire and emergency services, resulting in the closure of our fire station and transferring responsibility to the county of San Luis Obispo. While grateful to the county and Five Cities Fire Authority for continuing to serve Oceano, the extended response times—increased from five to seven minutes to eight to 10 minutes—are now unavoidable due to closure of the local fire station. This has put our citizens, business owners, and visitors at increased risk, especially in emergencies where every second counts
Experience has taught us that structure fires double in size every minute, and modern materials in homes can make fires more intense. National statistics show that the first five minutes on scene are critical in determining the outcome. Under Varni’s leadership, the extended response times make a significant difference in fire containment and the safety of our residents.
The same risk applies to medical emergencies. Cardiac arrest survival rates drop by 10 percent for every minute without CPR or defibrillation, and if these critical interventions are delayed beyond five minutes, brain damage becomes likely. The increased response times in Oceano pose a direct threat to anyone suffering a medical emergency, especially sudden cardiac arrest.
The impact of Varni’s opposition negatively impacts the financial well-being of residents as well. The Insurance Services Office (ISO) evaluates the fire preparedness of communities to help insurers determine risk and set property insurance rates. As response times increase and fire services become less effective, Oceano’s ISO rating could worsen. A lower ISO rating means higher insurance premiums for property owners, further penalizing the community for Varni’s poor decision.
In addition, the county now controls the funds originally dedicated to fire and medical services, and Oceano lost valuable public properties—including the OCSD office—to cover the financial deficit. OCSD will now pay approximately $120,000 annually to rent the administrative offices from the county in addition to losing the rental income from the Sheriff’s Office substation, which the community of Oceano built.
Varni’s reckless decisions have compromised the safety of our community, damaged our financial security, and left us with slower response times and higher insurance premiums. It’s time to reject Varni’s failed leadership and elect representatives who will fight to restore local control and keep our fire services strong. Oceano can’t afford Varni.
Alyssa Hicks
Oceano
This article appears in Student Guide 2024.
This contrived hit piece is ridiculous at its premise–that I am solely responsible for the collapse of fire services in Oceano. All of this as a result of my vote against the fire tax initiative. I am no more responsible than any of the other hundreds of local citizens who voted against the fire tax increase on the basis of it was unfair and regressive, plus it wasn’t going to be enough money to pay the bills. This message is designed to manipulate and malign a particular individual using alarmist, fear based, and dramatic rhetoric. All based on one vote I made long before I was on the OCSD. The fact is that FCFA response times in Oceano are no different now that they have been in the 4 years the station has been closed.
In 2024, as OCSD President, I worked with General Manager Paavo Ogren and Linda Austin to broker a plan that was fair to both OCSD and the County, preserved existing levels of service, and relives OCSD taxpayers of a fiscal burden it could not bear. None of these decisions were reckless in the least and they were made with the health and safety of Oceano residents being the highest priority.
Broo you led the effort to defund fire! Now our station is closed, preoperty is lost and public safety is at risk. that’s on you dawg. This is why Paavo Ogren endorsed Shirley, your opponent, and not you! Its why the mayor of arroyo grande, former fire chief, ag city council member, many business and community ppl endorsed Gibson over you. Even the dem party wont endorse you. All you got now is your little bestie Jimmy. Also you are not civil, check urself out on youtube. That’s why there are signs in oceano that say Varni no bueno! Bruhhh!!
I think we can all agree that we need less divisiveness in our politics. I don’t understand people who choose to serve and then once in the arena they just choose to divide and sow division in their own community instead of building consensus and carrying themselves with class and respect. Let’s move on from the pettiness that Varni and his only supporter, the equally divisive Jimmy Paulding, stand for. This isn’t about politics, it’s about decency.
Charles I’m pretty sure that was you I saw campaigning for people to not support the tax for the fire services. You did so without doing your research. You did so without telling the people that their homeowners insurance would go up. You did so without telling people the response time would go up. I’m all for sidewalks in our community but that seems to be your priority and I would think fire services, which are an actual duty of the OCSD (not sidewalks) would be a priority. I mean, if a child is walking down one of the lovely sidewalks and a car veers off and hits the child, that extra five minutes can mean life or death. Stop telling people they are wrong or lying about you. If you really want people
To show support you should own up to your mistakes and apologize.
Nobody needs to “Save Oceano” from my good deeds. The anti-Varni propaganda campaign of Shirley Gibson, which is being paid for by a dark Political Action Committee, is based character assassination, untruths, exaggerations, fear mongering, and manipulation in a desperate attempt to seize control of the OCSD Board of Directors.
I worked long hours to help OCSD divest from the Five Cities Fire Authority (FCFA) and negotiate with the County a deal for them to take over emergency medical and fire services for the community. The entire Board of Directors (including Gibson and Austin) agreed to this action which was initiated by retired General Manager Will Clemens. The contract we have is fair to all parties and we will be finalizing portions of it at our Sept 18 meeting.The commonly expressed goal of all parties is to have the Oceano fire station operating full time in the near future. I fully support this goal and will be working to make that a reality over the next four years. Additionally, emergency response times are no different in Oceano than they have been over the past three years when the station was not staffed even though Oceano taxpayers were contributing $1,200,000 yearly to fund FCFA operations.
With regards to the very large potential project of having to relocate the wastewater treatment plant due to sea level rise and flooding risks, this topic is absolutely front and center for OCSD as we are a government member of the sanitation district’s Board of Directors, along with Arroyo Grande and Grover Beach. OCSD’s Water Advocacy Policy, adopted in 2019, clearly states that we will be doing everything in our power to inform the Oceano community of what is being proposed regarding any changes in wastewater management or operations. The citizens served by the three mentioned government agencies pay the all the operational costs of the sanitation district through their sewer bills and taxes. OCSD has a fiduciary, legal, and ethical responsibility to provide policy and financial oversight of the sanitation district. I have consistently promoted and supported transparency and community education regarding regional water management and want OCSD to be a role model and advocate for that. Shirley Gibson has consistently opposed and demeaned that point of view—to what end I do not know. Does she think covering up and keeping citizens uninformed is a good thing? The sanitation district has legal responsibilities and mandates to engage in robust community engagement, education, and outreach in the planning for a possible relocation of the wastewater plant. Their first 10 year progress report on this effort is due to the Coastal Commission in May of 2027. Estimated costs for this project are upwards of $400 million. I have no reason to think the sanitation district does not take this responsibility seriously and look forward to hearing their report at the OCSD October meeting.
Dude… they HAD TO divest because you led the effort to defund the fire station!!! You not only lost our fire trucks, you lost our freakin buildings too! You gave our fire trucks to arroyo grande, our buildings to the county, and tried to give our whole town to grover beach!! If you are so hot on fire, how come the fire chief and every other person thats worked with you endorses Gibson??? matter of fact, why dont you get some more friends cuz your like dislike ratio is ridiculous. If there is a pac against you, tell us where to send the money! HAHAHA And for gods sake stop giving our stuff away this is insane
I can safely say that a lot of people are tired of Charles Varni, and I’m not just talking about Oceano residents.
We’re talking about someone who continues to expose the Oceano Community Services District to millions of dollars in legal liabilities. Varni brazenly violated the California Brown Act. Varni openly fought with district staff to the point when it nearly ended in actual physical violence. Varni harassed women he disagrees with, and hides behind the cheap facade of “civility” when his misconduct is called into question. Varni is a weak man who does not have the fitness to serve in public office let alone have a fundamental understanding of how government actually works.
And I shall await a long-winded response from him that isn’t plagiarized from a press release.
And what the heck is the deal with Paulding endorsing this guy?? does Varni have a pic of him in a tutu or something?
I appreciate the thoughtful column on fire safety by Ms. Hicks. It is telling that our local leaders who deal with public safety and good governance and who have worked with both Mr. Varni and Ms. Gibson, have given their endorsement to Ms. Gibson. This includes FCFA Fire Chief (ret) Steve Lieberman, Mayor of Arroyo Grande Caren Russom, Arroyo Grande City Council Member Kristen Barneich, and Former OCSD Manager Paavo Ogren. Although I am puzzled by Supervisor Paulding’s endorsement of Varni given that his stated priorities are public safety, good governance and civility, I of course respect that it’s his choice to make.