WHAT: Attendance at the upcoming City Council Special Meeting is requested and Carmelites are encouraged to speak during Appearances in support of our Carmel Professional Firefighters and their judgment that consolidation of the Carmel, Monterey and Pacific Grove Fire Departments is “in the best interest of the citizens as far as life safety, protection of property, and level of service.”
WHEN: Thursday, April 3, 2008 @ 4:30 P.M.
Note: The regular City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 1, 2008 has been cancelled and rescheduled as a Special Meeting on Thursday, April 3, 2008 due to the City’s participation in the State Water Resources Control Board Meeting to Receive Public Policy Statements regarding whether to Adopt a Draft Cease and Desist Order against California American Water on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 1:00 P.M. in Monterey.
WHERE: City Hall
E/s Monte Verde St. between Ocean Av. & 7th Av.
Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA.
WHY: In the professional judgment of our Carmel Firefighters, the only viable option for maintaining our current level of fire service is consolidation of the Carmel, Monterey and Pacific Grove Fire Departments. The City-commissioned Citygate Associates’ Fire Department Feasibility Analysis for the Cities of Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel Final Report supports our Carmel Firefighters judgment. Mayor Sue McCloud, Vice Mayor Ken Talmage and City Council Member Karen Sharp have all publicly stated that full consolidation is not a “viable option.”
IMPORTANT REASONS FOR CONSOLIDATION OF FIRE DEPARTMENTS:
• Whatever the City may claim, in reality it has no other better or more efficient options.
• Failure to comply to NFPA staffing standards means the City is willing to accept all of the risks, including personal liability, and is willing to compromise the safety of the citizens, by having an improperly structured emergency response system
• At this time, it seems the City is willing to accept the adverse risks which come with having an improperly structured emergency response system. These risks include loss of life, property, a compromised tax base and personal liability thrust upon fire, administration and government individuals, plus the jurisdiction.
• The City’s current contract with Monterey and Pacific Grove in its current form is unsustainable due to Carmel being charged a low, good faith fee by Monterey and Pacific Grove. What we need now is for the City to make a permanent commitment to this system and pay its fair share.
• In spite of having, through this contract, an emergency response system, which is delivering the best levels of service, the City of Carmel is continuing to consider other options, all of which are cost prohibitive and result in lower levels of service. This includes possibly reverting back to a single station fire department with stripped down staffing levels of past years. The Carmel Professional Firefighters urge you to please call and write City Hall and speak up at upcoming council meetings to assure your emergency response system remains properly structured and staffed to continue providing you with the best and most efficient levels of service, which you have received for the last three years.
Source: Carmel Professional Firefighters, IAFF Local # 4579
August Beacham, President
Matt Gardner, Vice-President
Mitchell Kastros, Secretary-Treasurer
Bruce Meyer, Trustee
Ian Watts, Trustee
Ken Hutchinson, Trustee
If you have any questions, et cetera, please respond to CarmelFirefighters@yahoo.com, or call 831-596-4259 and ask for August Beacham.
2 comments:
If history is anything to go by, the City Council will ignore public comments, what the firefighters need and the safety of residents and businesses. Instead it will do what it had determined to do prior to the meeting. It would be a great change if the City Council were to do what is good for Carmel.
Interestingly, the Carmel firefighters have endorsed only Michael LePage. That tells me all of the incumbents should be throw out of office. I will vote only for LePage. And good luck to the Carmel firefighters. There is such a disconnect between our representatives on the council and what is good for us and Carmel, if this political climate remains much longer, Carmel will not be a hospitable place to live and work.
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