To the editor:

On behalf of the employees of the Mehl-ville Fire Protection District, I would like to thank the taxpayers for their support of the Proposition S ballot measure on Nov. 2.

Proposition S was the product of the district’s effort over this past summer to engage the community in a review of our critical needs in emergency fire and emergency medical services. Over 100 participants took part in a careful analysis of the district’s manpower, facilities, equipment and response capabilities.

This effort was co-chaired by four respected and successful community leaders: Gail Chatfield, Bill Cocos, Dave Sinclair and Judy Wideman. We greatly appreciate their dedication and acknowledge their contribution to community service.

Most importantly, we thank the citizens of this district. While it was gratifying to learn during our statistical sampling that 89 percent of those surveyed felt the district was providing quality services, we knew that the taxpayers had to be advised of our critical needs going forward; in short, the rising costs of maintaining and improving our level of service.

We also feared the recent spate of negative publicity in the metropolitan newspaper concerning some north county fire districts would cloud the issues presented to our taxpayers. Our fear was misplaced.

The voters of the Mehlville Fire Protec-tion District — aided by the fair and accurate reporting provided by this community newspaper — weighed the information and decided to support the continued level of service provided by our firefighters and paramedics.

We greatly appreciate this support. We pledge to be good stewards of this funding increase and we will continue to make com-munity awareness and participation a stated goal.

Again, thank you for your support.

Tom O’Driscoll

Board of Directors chairman

Mehlville Fire Protection District