It wasn’t until I got home and my husband asked me why I would vote no that it really hit me that my vote may have been misunderstood. He of all people knows that I support public safety and believe that it is a priority.The motion was to stay out of the Water Department’s business and not provide any monetary help from the city. It was a 4-1 vote. The lone no vote was mine.
I voted no because I understood from Fire Chief’s presentation that if additional funding wasn’t found as of July 1, 2013, Lear station will close and 3 firemen will be laid off. The Chief’s plan only works for keeping the one station opening and letting firemen go.In hindsight, I just don’t think there was enough discussion.
I suggested several times in our “discussion” that I believed the city should loan the department what they would need to get through this year wthout laying off firemen and closing Lear station. None of the other councilmembers agreed with me for their own reasons.
I think at least one of my fellow members believed we were saving the fire department from going to the county, because it was listed as an option and the City Manager continuds to state that is his opinion. That was not what the motion was. The idea of the motion was to stay out of the Water/Fire business amd leave them to sink or swim.
If I were a more experienced council member, I would have asked for a motion that repressented the true question; Are we as a city going to provide help to the Fire Department that will allow them to keep both stations open and keep our current level of staffing? In that motion my vote would have been yes.
I don’t agree with tonight’s decision, but it was the decision made. I respect my fellow council members right to their opinions and will put this behind me.
I encourage the citizens to step up and help each other.
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Bigger fish to fry than City Manager Richard Warne
Part I: Twentynine Palms City Council’s Alternate Universe on Public Safety
Yesterday Afternoon had a trash fire down the road with several burning tires…. looked like a house going up… Called 9-1-1, and headed over to the fire with my oldest son who was visiting and the next door neighbor.
Luckily the house has a well, and the power was on, because we were able to get a water hose on the fire. the fire was intense with a half a dozen tires burning intensely. The County fire department personnel took almost 30 minutes to show up.
The County fire department Station is less than 3 miles away. But you can not count on a station with only a brush truck and a crew that wants to station itself in town or even Yucca Valley because they are lonely for supervision.
By the way because of 30 minutes of aggressive work of the neighborhood the fire was contained and put out right before the brush truck pulled up.
The point of this I suppose is…. While we pay a substantial additional amount in our property taxes, we do not get anything reasonably close to adequate service from County Fire. You might as well had nothing in the way of fire services.
Well that is what you are about to get on the West end of Twentynine Palms. With the loss of Station 422 services in the community as a whole will be reduced by 50% and the quick response for accidents at Lear Road is over. The blood and lives of those who will be lost because of the inability for rescue services to be on the site of a accident on the hwy in the Golden minutes after a head on will be on the hands of those city council members who voted not to support adequate emergency services.
Thanks Cora, my take is the city has no business funding out of town fire protection (Lear station) I will go one further if the city at some point should go with a 29 city fire department they should create a new department instead of taking over the Water district fire department. A new from scratch department would be free of the costly seniority, legacy pensions, and wage structure.
Administrators and supporter using the fear factor is getting old and is a disservice to the public. The future generations have a right to a prosperous lifestyle not bogged down with ill-conceived bonds, and legacy pensions acquired by the asses of my generation.
29 has very little to offer those coming out of school, let’s not burden them further.
They do have a responsibility to make sure that the Quail Springs Area of the city has the same fire response time as Raymond Way.
How many in the quail springs area bought before Lear was manned? If you believe living next to a fire station lessens risk maybe should pay the piper and move out of the high risk area you are now in.
Why do the supposed conservative want bigger, more government services, why do they look to the taxpayers to give them a risk free society. That expectation of a risk free society has put this country in the sad shape we find ourselves.
The option to leave public safety to the water district, a “sink or swim” attitude — took nearly a year for councilmen to finally level with the public.
That in itself is shameful and malignant. Compounding their stupidy, they even had the unmitigated gall to misrepresent the true question by wraping it in a vote to stay out of water business.
We have four neophyte and unsophisticated councilmen willing to pay the price of expected disaster raining down upon the residents.
Why did it take so long? Cora writes, “I just don’t think there was enough discussion.” Their minds were made up nearly a year ago. They just were playing games all these months like politicians do in Congress.
Lets all keep in mind the city not only has $12 million in reserve for public safety use, but another nearly $10 million in CAFR money stuffed away, all of which is available and targeted for (immediate) public use.
Stockholders of the incorporated city of 29 may believe money has been saved but throwing the dice with life and property is a bad gamble.
Four councilmen gambling with public and fire safety is gross negligence and a manifest derelict of their duty to protect and serve the public and business sector.
It’s not over. It will never over until the city helps fund a fire department in order to protect the public from expected disasters and fires.
Should tragedy strike and the loss of life happen because of a malignant breach of public safety, these four councilmen will pay the price the remainder of their lives with blood-soaked hands.
On the positive side, they finally had the guts — after nearly a year of insulting resident whom put their trust and confidence in them — to come out of he closet — to vote against public safety of every man, woman, child, school, church and businesses.
Now the city will cheat local businesses: They pay their usual Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT or bed tax), but the city guts public and fire safety by one-half of its present level. I believe this is ripe for a law suit.
Lets call it a enforceable lawful covenant. Hotels and motels pay their TOT taxes with the expectations the city will not leave them adrift.
Why the complacency of the 29 Chamber of Commerce? They failed miserably to stand up for their members? Not a peep for the public safety of hotels and motels — and their the guests.
I offer to buy city manager a full tank of gas if he get out of town. He and his four hapless sycophants are have done more harm to 29 than any accumulations of event in a hundred years.
Bet on it, election day will will come for each of you.
Meanwhile, every resident ought to have buckets and a water barrel ready.
Talk about 1984 doublespeak at last nights CC meeting…
They passed a vote “to Stay Out of The Water Department’s Business. Translation: If your house burns down, not our problem. If your business burns with a heavy loss of stock and trade, not our problem.
If one of your churches burns, not our problem. Should s school burn and fatalities occur, that is not our problem either. It’s “water business.”
More ironically, the cc members all know that the TPWD — by law — cannot fund the fire department.