Page 5 - The Friday Fyer • June 12, 2015

JUNE 12, 2015 THE FRIDAY FLYER A-5 City’s Hall talks about fire contract dispute
Before accusing the Canyon Lake City Council and staff of being “incom- petent” with regard to attempted negotia- tion on public safety contracts, residents are invited to understand the history of the Fire Services Contract dispute.
An article in The Press Enterprise, dated June 3, had this headline and opened with these words: “County to withhold $2M amid Fire Department dispute – Riverside County plans to withhold nearly $2 million in property tax revenue from Canyon Lake because the city has refused to pay its bill for fire- fighting and paramedic services since late 2013, county officials declared his week . . .”
Has the City “refused to pay its bill?” Perhaps. But here’s why accord- ing to Acting City Manager Ariel Hall, who read the following statement at the June 3 City Council meeting. If readers follow the timeline, they will see what the City has had to endure at the hands of Riverside County Fire. Ms. Hall said . . .
“I want to start by stating that the City’s financial problems have not been caused by mismanagement of the City’s funds; they have been caused by the in- creasing costs of public safety. This issue is not unique to Canyon Lake, and many cities are facing these same problems.
“Status: The City Council will take the necessary steps to keep fire protec- tion for the City. It is difficult to talk about this issue since they involve liti- gation. Contrary to the claims of the County, the City has not been stalling. The City has been working diligently on both the litigation with the County for Fire services and exploring alterna- tive service options to provide our resi- dents with the best, most efficient and
economical fire and emergency medical protection going forward. It is difficult to have a completely open discussion with pending litigation.
“Background: When the City realized that the cost of the three-person engine was increasing beyond its ability to pay (due to personnel costs), the City acted responsibly to live within its means.
“The City has attempted to negoti- ate with the County for over five years in an attempt to control the increasing costs of providing services, and noth- ing has been successful to date. The City has tried payment and negotiation as well as the recent non-payment and negotiation.
“The City has given notices to reduce services and notice of termination. All have been either ignored or rejected. The County has given notice of termina- tion and revoked it.
“The litigation and current status are the result of the County’s absolute re- fusal to consider any other level or form of services, despite contract language that provides for such reductions. There is a large binder detailing the correspon- dence between the City and County; that does not include numerous meetings, conversations and recent litigation docu- ments.
“It is important to note that the City repeatedly has offered to make payments to the County. The County has refused to accept any partial payments.
pass, the City sent notice to the County that the City needed a reduction in ser- vices as the County had indicated was possible if the City was unable to fund the increase in service that the County requested in 2006. Those conversations continued through 2012.
'The County has offered the City a new and different contract (for fire services) for the upcoming fiscal year. The contract tries to correct the legal issues with the contract being litigated. The new contract contains provisions that the City simply could not agree to.'
suggested closing Fire Station 60 and receiving services through neighboring cities’ departments while allocating the City’s fire funds to those cities. In Au- gust 2013, at the Chief’s direction, the City served the County with its required 120-day notice to reduce services. That reduction would have left no staffing in Station 60 (which the City does not have the power to close, as it belongs to the POA).
and indicated the station should stay open; the City attempted another special tax measure.
notified the City that its “request for a reduction in services” (actually) was a “notice of termination,” which requires a 12-month notice, and indicated Station 60 would close on August 8, 2014.
the City a letter reiterating that the Sta- tion would be closing in August 2014.
notice to the City that the station would in fact not be closing unless by a vote of the people or until an acceptable alter- native was established and accepted by the County; and requesting a 12-month
ARIEL HALL, CITY MANAGER
notice of whether or not the City in- tended to enter into another 5-year con- tract with the County.
letter to the County asking for them to identify how they intended to implement the reductions in service that the City had continually requested.
- sponded to the City stating that it would not reduce the level of services provided in the current agreement or in any new agreements, despite language and re- quests to the contrary.
notice to the County that it intended to enter into a new agreement with the County at a changed and reduced service level. The City then invoked the arbitra- tion clause of the agreement.
County through its fire expert, but ac- cess has been blocked repeatedly. The City entered into a confidentiality agree- ment to allow that access, but still was blocked. The County has refused to re- duce services in any manner or to dis- cuss any options of any kind. This has made it difficult to implement a number
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