Council Votes To Contract With Montebello Fire Department
After several months of extensive research and analyzing the Los Angeles County Fire Service contract in comparison with the Montebello Fire Service proposal, the Commerce City Council overwhelmingly voted 4 to 1 in favor of changing their existing fire service providers.
City Administrator Tom Sykes, who recommended that the City vote in favor of the Montebello Fire contract, said, “This was not an easy decision to make by staff and the city council because of the long history of services, that had been provided by the Los Angeles County Fire Department. However, given today’s need to provide the best level of public safety to the members of our local business community and residents, with regards to the highest level of quality fire protection services, we could not ignore the innovative and competitive proposal being offered by the Montebello Fire Department.”
Mayor Rosalina Lopez said, “As responsive civic leaders, sometimes we have to make difficult decisions, but what makes these decisions more comforting is knowing that the council and staff carefully studied the issue, listened to all the expert and professional opinions, without putting our community at risk. The Montebello Fire Department was able to offer a much more in-depth proposal that would enhance more fire and paramedic services made readily available to our community and save our city millions of dollars.”
Councilmember Hugo Argumedo, who made the motion to vote in favor of Montebello, explained his decisions in the following manner. “As a city council we spent countless hours, days, and months analyzing both proposals. In the final analysis, I voted in favor of the Montebello Fire proposal because they offered to provide additional firefighter personnel to be stationed in Commerce, along with a 300 percent increase in paramedic services. Overall, Montebello offered Commerce more local control and enhanced quality services, without jeopardizing the health and safety of our community.”
Councilmember Ray “Gordy” Cisneros said “This proposal will allow Commerce to have its own fire department, while working in conjunction with the Montebello Firefighters Association, giving our community enhanced services at reduced costs. Most importantly, the response time will be equal if not faster by our own Commerce Fire Department.”
The Commerce Industrial Council, as was stated in an article earlier this year, was appreciative of the manner in which the city discussed the question. The Council was invited to be a party to discussions, and both the Montebello Fire Dept. and L.A. County Fire Dept have made presentations to the board of directors.
The Fire Service transition between Los Angeles County and the Montebello/Commerce Fire Department is estimated to take from nine to twelve months.