Major Shake Up in Fire Department Administration
City Manager Designates Police Chief to Temporarily Oversee Fire Operations – In what can only be viewed as a bold and brash move, City Manager Steve Pinkerton late on Tuesday announced that he has appointed Chief of Police Landy Black to temporarily oversee the Fire Department, as the city and UC Davis fully analyze the feasibility of a shared management oversight concept for the two fire departments.
The new process is expected to take up to six months.
Interim Chief’s Account Shows Firefighters’ Union Had Ample Opportunity to Participate and Give Feedback but Chose Not To – On December 20, 2012, the Vanguard reported that the firefighters used deception as a means to block staffing changes that the union leadership clearly opposed.
The year 2012 was circled and penciled, for the Davis City Council, as the year to fix the looming fiscal crisis in the city of Davis. The process actually began back in June of 2011 when the council, facing down 150 city employees, made a 3-2 vote to reduce city employee compensation by $2.5 million.
By City Staff
COMMENTARY – The argument has been presented that outdoor water use beautifies Davis. It is an interesting notion, but ultimately I think the argument falls short.
On November 13, 2012, Interim Fire Chief Scott Kenley presented an audit of the Fire Department Operations to the Davis City Council. At the time, the item was informational only. However, Chief Kenley now comes back to council with an action plan on ways that will offer opportunities for cost savings to the city, while still maintaining a high level of service.
There was a critical moment in the city council meeting on Tuesday night when Councilmember Rochelle Swanson, wrestling with the issue of the rate model, asked WAC Chair Elaine Roberts-Musser a simple question – whether the information they were receiving differed significantly from the information the WAC had received the night when they made their decision to recommend the Loge-Williams rate structure.
On Tuesday night, the Davis City Council voted essentially to pull the Loge-Williams Consumption Based Fixed Rate Model from consideration. Despite repeated efforts by Councilmember Brett Lee to at least allow the WAC to consider CBFR, Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk held firm.
Despite strong praises for the Loge-Williams Consumption Based Fixed Rate (CBFR) water rate structure, the council, fearing public confusion about their water rates during the election, essentially elected to scrap the model in favor of a more conventional model, at least for the time being, sending the issue back to the WAC for a discussion and analysis on Thursday.
COMMENTARY: There is a stunning and sobering editorial in the Sacramento Bee this morning linking the skyrocketing murder rate in Stockton to its bankruptcy. This year, there have been 68 murders, ten more than last year which was also a record, and on pace to more than triple the 24 that there were in 2008.
Concern seems to be mounting that the delays in resolving differences over new labor agreements for city employees will lead the council to attempt a compromise that will not lead to the kind of reform needed.
Commentary – June 30 was when the recent contracts for city bargaining units expired and now here we are five months later, two weeks from a winter break, and none of the major bargaining units have agreed to a contract. If the results of one of the few contracts that was signed – with the individual police management – are any indication, we will likely fall short of the goals laid out this June.
