Council Meeting Tonight

DID YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK?
You will recall that I gave you a homework assignment last Friday, HERE, which I suppose most of you failed to complete. :-) As you go back over that entry you'll see some provocative issues and a couple that will potentially affect every person living in or visiting our city. The biggest one is our fire protection.


FINALLY!
The long-awaited report on the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) proposal to provide fire and emergency medical services to Costa Mesa will be discussed at length tonight. The staff report and attachments are available for viewing on the city web site. Based on information I've received it seems like the Costa Mesa firefighters are in support of making this change, even though it will cost many of them dollars and benefits. The discussion will be interesting, for sure.

GOOD VIDEO+MORE
Here's a little video that tells you just a little snippet about the OCFA. After you watch it, also click on the most recent monthly report, because it gives you a much better feel for the organization. Take a few minutes to watch them, and others that are also available at the site.

You Can Count On Us from Orange County Fire Authority on Vimeo.

WILL COUNCIL TAKE A "FURLOUGH" DAY IN AUGUST?
I'm also going to be interested in hearing the rationale for canceling the August 16th council meeting. I find myself wondering if the council will take a "furlough" day if there's no meeting. I mean, they're asking everyone else to sacrifice in these difficult fiscal times - how about them? Will they give up half their monthly stipend in August? They could save the city a whole $2,261.00 by doing so.

WILL WE HAVE A QUORUM?
I expect the meeting tonight to be very interesting. I wonder how many council members will show up tonight and give us a rare full dais? We'll see.

Runaway Train Continues...

WHAT DID I TELL YOU?
At the end of my last post I warned you not to blink. The news this morning only affirms that admonition.



MICKADEIT QUOTES RIGHEIMER - PRIVATE PARAMEDICS
First, there is Orange County Register columnist Frank Mickadeit's piece this morning, HERE, in which he tells us of Jim Righeimer's plan to have Costa Mesa become the first city in Orange County to utilize PRIVATE paramedics - which effectively dramatically impacts the members of the Costa Mesa Firefighters Association. And, Mickadeit quotes Costa Mesa Firefighters Association President Tim Vasin as being unaware of this new issue - it was the first he'd heard of it.

IT'S ALREADY ON THE COUNCIL AGENDA
Then, almost simultaneously, I received the agenda for the next Costa Mesa City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 1, which contained this little entry under New Business:
There is no staff report attached to this item yet.

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT THE OCFA PROPOSAL?
This follows on the heels of the receipt of the proposal by the Orange County Fire Authority late last week which, it is my understanding, will be discussed at the council study session on Tuesday, March 8. Certainly, any serious consideration of the use of private paramedics will affect how that proposal is going to be viewed and, in fact, it may be a deal-breaker with the county.


FULL ASSESSMENT IS ESSENTIAL
Don't get me wrong. Having spent more than a little time going over the OCFA proposal and discussing it with folks knowledgeable about the intricacies of emergency services, I think some serious consideration should be given to the way we presently deliver those services. I don't have solutions, but there certainly are lots of questions that need to be asked.

DOES THIS MAKE SENSE?
For example, one of the weaknesses in our emergency response system is the fact that, in the case of medical aid that requires the transportation of the patient to a hospital, the paramedic from the fire truck accompanies the patient in the ambulance and the truck and remainder of the team follow along, putting them out of service. This certainly should be evaluated when considering all these new proposals.


RIGHEIMER'S CORE - DUMP UNION WORKERS
Of course, the core of Righeimer's plan is to remove as many union members as he can in whatever way he can. This plan for private paramedics is another "easy way out", which doesn't require negotiating with city union members.

BARBARA VENEZIA SIGNS IN...
Also, this morning, the irrepressible Register columnist, Barbara Venezia, takes on the issue of the probable lost of the ABLE helicopter program from the vantage point of a Newport Beach resident, HERE. She also throws into the mix the weakened position Costa Mesa will find itself in the annexation wars if it decides to shift to the OCFA. Her last paragraph says it all:

"Costa Mesa residents need to fully understand the long-term, real-life ramifications of what giving up control over fire and emergency services means to their city. This could very well be another cobblestone in that road of good intentions paved to hell."

TOLD YA...
As I said before, don't take your eyes off this Costa Mesa City Council. They're taking a page from Barack Obama's playbook and moving at light speed to re-structure Costa Mesa before the residents wake up and see what they're doing. DO NOT BLINK!

Orange County Fire Authority Proposal

LOOK FOR IT ON THE CITY WEB SITE
This afternoon the City of Costa Mesa sent out a press release announcing that the proposal from the Orange County Fire Authority to provide fire and related services to the city is now available for viewing on the city web site. I could not find it, but have since seen a copy and will give you a quick summary here. The proposal should be available to you soon.

INTERESTING, BUT STILL INCOMPLETE
First, let me say that I'm not a fire safety expert by any stretch of the imagination. And, despite some interesting numbers on the proposal, there are still some expensive issues to be negotiated between the OCFA and The City - like the required improvements to the fire stations, for example.

3 PROPOSALS
The OCFA proposal presents three options. They also presented the current costs of our fire operations for comparison. That number is $20,255,086 with a staff deployment of 29 personnel.

The three options and their costs are:

Option #1 - $18,157,231 - 25 personnel

Option #2 - $17,186,860 - 24 personnel - close Station #6

Option #3 - $16,483, 219 - 23 personnel - close Station #2

START-UP COSTS
The proposal will include one-time start-up costs of either $729,444 or $816,106, depending on the option chosen.

TRANSFERRED PERSONNEL
Regardless which option considered the proposal transfers 81 sworn and 2 non-sworn personnel.

SAVINGS
Annual savings are projected as:

Option #1 - $2,097,855

Option#2 - $3,068,116

Option #3 - $3,771,867

Projected savings over the first 5 years of the 20 year agreement are $26,279,844

Increases are capped at 4.5% annually.

Facilities will be leased to the CFO for $1.00 per year.

52 PAGE REPORT
That's the quick version of the 52 page report. I suggest you check the city web site for the actual report and do your own analysis. In my view, much still needs to be done before anyone can make the best decision for our city in this matter. As the old saying goes, "The devil is in the details". It's going to take some serious analysis beyond simply the numbers to determine if this a good deal for our city. Most cities in Orange County receive their fire protection from the Orange County Fire Authority.