ABSTRACT: In the context of the City’s Interim Fire Protection Services Agreement with the City of Monterey expiring 31 December 2010, background information and links to resources are provided, including the CITYGATE ASSOCIATES, LLC Fire Department Consolidation Feasibility Analysis for the Cities of Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel, Final Report, June 12, 2007, a “high-level assessment of the feasibility of fire agency consolidation for the cities of Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel.”
Citygate Associates feasibilitystudy
CITYGATE ASSOCIATES, LLC
Fire Department Consolidation Feasibility Analysis for the Cities of Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel Final Report
June 12, 2007
ADDENDUM:
Dousing the Flames
Peninsula city managers make the case for a fire merger.
By Ray Corpuz, MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2010
Monterey Peninsula cities eye merged fire district: Peninsula: JPA's first move would be to name single chief [The Monterey County Herald, Calif.], May 30, 2010
City of Monterey Fire Department
Fire Chief Sam L. Mazza
Email: mazza@ci.monterey.ca.us
Monterey Firefighters
Fire Merger Video
Duration: 4:48
Monterey, Pacific Grove Fire Merger Becomes Official, October 8, 2008
Duration: 2:56
City of Seaside Fire Department
Fire JPA Information Site
Seaside Fire Association
A message from your Seaside Fire Fighters regarding the proposed merger of area fire services
Seaside Firefighters Questions and Answers
Merger News
(Sources of News: KCBA & The Monterey County Herald)
Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of Seaside and the Seaside Firefighters’ Association
July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2012
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)
Fire Protection
What is CAL FIRE?
CAL FIRE
Fire and Emergency Response
Local Government
What You Need to Know About Regionalizing Public Safety Responsibilities
BY J. SCOTT TIEDEMANN, JACK HUGHES AND TODD SIMONSON, Western City, THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES, OCTOBER 2010
6 comments:
Mazza's going as of December 17. Retiring. Andrew Miller next in line for Chief? That would be good.
Way back in 2007, the Citygate Study concluded the city of Carmel would stand to most benefit from consolidation with PG and Monterey. So our city administrator and mayor formally pull out of talks with both cities in January 2008 without informing Carmelites. We find out 2-3 months later. Since then many have called for proposals from CalFire, and others and public hearings on the issue to get public input. Now we have 2 months before the end of the last of the seemingly endless interim agreements and the Carmel firefighters do not even know when the council will take up the issue.
Needless to say, a competent city administrator and mayor would have educated the public on all the options long ago and scheduled agenda items on many council agendas for public input and made a decision. It is in our interest to make a decision and not remain on the sidelines so we can contribute to the ongoing tweaking of a regional agreement, for example.
Monterey Fire Chief Sam Mazza is very approchable and returns calls in a timely manner. Whereas, Public Safety Director George Rawson dones not respond to queries and is nothing but a yes man for Sue McCloud. Mazza inspires confidence, whereas Rawson does not. And having Monterey in the lead inspires much needed confidence especially since the Carmel cannot even competently handle the management issue involving Rich Guillen.
It's not so much that McCloud and Guillen are incompetent, which they are. It's that McCloud is determined to run the city with the least amount of transparency she can get away with. It would never occur to her to let residents or business people know what's going on. To do that might get in the way of her micromanaging.
The Citygate study was written for a pre-determined outcome and the numbers used in the report were hypothetical, having been changed from a draft report prior to release. The costs did not pan out and thus were changed for public release.
Thank you for the link to the Seaside Firefighters website. In checking out their home page (and not just the questions and answers section) I was able to read about why Seaside's firefighters are concerned about a JPA merger and why they formally came out against it.
Carmel's council likes the administrative arrangements they have with Monterey. Look for them to continue this arrangement. If Monterey is unwilling to continue the arrangement, Cal Fire would be able to provide administrative services as well. Not likely that Monterey would let that happen though.
The Citygate Associates Feasibility Report was uploaded for the purpose of showing a starting point to addressing a permanent fire protection services solution. It is outdated and there are some concepts which are no longer relevant. However, an attempt to assimilate the entire body of knowledge from 2007 to the present is important for the discussion and a final consensus driven solution.
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