March 01--VICTORVILLE, CA -- County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig recently said the department was "discouraged" over the city's seemingly unstoppable course toward an in-house option.
It's a route, now, with little to no room for re-direction.
"We have been most recently, I would say, discouraged that the conversations seem to tend more towards transition than partnership," Hartwig said during the Feb. 20 Council meeting. "We're still optimistic that there is a partnership to be worked out."
But under intense pressure to supplement fire services previously rendered by the county before a 10-year contract expires June 30, city officials have been making headway on hiring top personnel and interviewing others for a city fire department.
Last week, the Council approved procurement of five command and two paramedic squad vehicles.
Hours before the Feb. 20 meeting, County Fire did submit a "best and final offer" that Mayor Pro Tem Jim Cox said he understood to contain figures similar to the city's.
Interim City Manager Keith Metzler noted that the offer did nothing, however, to re-think the current trajectory.
Metzler also warned that the Council must not vacillate plans as it could hamper the city's ability to establish its department under a tight timeline.
"Anything that creates a sense of wavering in the decision, I think will have pretty meaningful consequences to our recruitment efforts," he said, "and could negatively impact those recruitment efforts as we're trying to get the best and most qualified candidates for the job."
For Cox, the county's final offer came a month too late, well after the Council had requested it. While suggesting the time had passed for further talks, particularly at the expense of forward movement on a city-run department, he also criticized any "purely political" efforts that could be abound.
But two-fifths of the Council continue to have major concerns about the switch, which has been cast as a financial remedy and not an indictment on County Fire's performance.
Rising public safety costs, largely due to the Sheriff's Department's budget, have outpaced city revenues, officials say.
Negrete wanted a side-by-side, 10-year projection between County Fire and a city department, which Metzler said the city's consultant would likely be unable to provide.
Negrete also sought further examination of "more lasting impacts" like pension liability, saying it was important to consider fluid information that continued to trickle into their purview.
"We had a great working relationship for the last 10 years that did not include pension liability," he said. "I mean, what's wrong with another 10 years of the status quo and then looking at future mechanisms to increase funding?"
Gomez said she empathized with County Fire, and requested that the Council seriously review the final offer -- one which Hartwig had described as a "shot in the dark" because he said County Fire was unclear what the city wanted.
Metzler said it was "surprising" to hear from Hartwig that County Fire hadn't reviewed studies by two consultants over the past year, because they were available in public agendas. He also said the studies essentially had validated the city's decision to move toward its own department, which had disbanded in 2008.
City officials have said a reactivation will reduce spending by 5 percent annually and equate to a $3.8 million savings in the first five years.
But County Fire has extolled the nature of the regional approach that only it can offer as a significant cost-saving measure.
If there was any doubt that elected officials were averse to continuing conversations with County Fire, at least formally, Negrete's recommendation to host a presentation from the agency at the next Council meeting was nixed 3-2.
Negrete had suggested it would have been a "final look" for officials as he lamented what he believed was a lack of comprehensive dialogue in the past year.
"The fact that people move here and continue to move here, and we have no way to address the increase in public safety services and the demand that we have, is maddening," he said, "when we keep focusing on things that are in the weeds instead of the big-picture issue."
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