A special meeting of the Madera County Civil Service Commission on April 25, 2025, focused on a union grievance over whether master mechanics and a parts assistant were required to be on standby, the department’s practice of permitting technicians to take county service vehicles home, and an employee-created on-call calendar.

The grievance, filed with the commission and discussed in testimony, seeks clarity on whether mechanics received mandatory callback duties and standby pay or whether taking a county vehicle home remained an optional benefit. The commission heard two county witnesses: Matt Watson, who served as assistant chief for Madera County Fire operations until February 2023, and Ryan Knoll, the department’s fleet manager.

Watson testified that during his tenure the master mechanics and the parts assistant were not assigned to formal standby. “There was never a reason. I never saw a reason,” Watson said, describing standby as a formal status that would require availability and additional obligations. He said battalion chiefs and on‑duty engine crews were the only personnel assigned continuous duty or mandatory response time, while master mechanics and the parts assistant were not required to answer phones or return to duty outside their regular schedules.

Watson said take‑home service vehicles were a longstanding operational practice intended to save travel time and support the department’s workday—not a payment or replacement for standby. He testified he discussed with the mechanics the option of formal standby pay but told them that, if made mandatory, take‑home vehicle privileges would be reconsidered because the county would no longer receive the same operational benefit. Watson said he would have raised any change in pay or assignments with the county administrative officer and the union to confirm budget and contract conformity.

Knoll, the fleet manager, told the commission he did not have authority to assign formal standby and that the county administrative officer (CAO) must authorize that status. He said the on‑call calendar in evidence was created at mechanics’ request as a rotational phone list to show “who would be called first,” and that the calendar did not impose a mandatory obligation to respond. “Meaning of standby to me is pretty simple … you are required to come back to work, and you are required to answer the phone after hours when you are on standby,” Knoll said, then reiterated that neither he nor Watson had placed the shop employees on standby.

Both witnesses described operational alternatives that reduce the need for immediate mechanic callbacks: county engines carry fuel and certain cards for after‑hours purchases; battalion chiefs can call local tow services; and the department keeps reserve engines so a station can remain in service even if a front‑line engine is out. Knoll said towing a fire engine to the shop can cost several hundred dollars—a recent example he cited was about $485—and that, in recent years, actual after‑hours mechanic callouts were rare. He estimated the busiest year produced roughly six callouts for all mechanics combined and said records show four emergency after‑hours work orders between mid‑2021 and the end of 2024.

Witnesses also described how the parts assistant’s phone number came to appear on the calendar: Knoll said Ashley Diaz asked to be listed so battalion chiefs and station personnel could contact her during normal business hours for parts runs and deliveries; he said Diaz was not expected or required to respond after hours except in rare, voluntary circumstances. Watson and Knoll both described county payment cards (CalCards and fuel/WEX cards) and purchase orders as the expected ways to accomplish emergency buys rather than making the parts assistant a mandatory after‑hours responder.

Commissioners questioned witnesses about the calendar’s scope and how dispatch actually places calls. Both Watson and Knoll said the emergency dispatch center commonly cycles through phone numbers in a fixed order and that the calendar primarily documented the mechanics’ requested rotation rather than established a contractual or disciplinary requirement to respond.

No finding was made at the hearing; commissioners agreed to continue the evidentiary record. The commission voted 5‑0 to add a continuation of the hearing on the commission’s next business meeting agenda for April 29, 2025.

The commission will reconvene to hear the county’s remaining witness and receive closing arguments before deliberating on the grievance.