Yuba City, Firefighters At Odds Over How Many Are Needed To Respond To Calls
YUBA CITY (CBS13) — Firefighters and the city are locked in an angry contract negotiation. Yuba City argues some stations can get away with just two firefighters responding to a call instead of three.
After 16 sessions at the negotiation table neither side could agree. At issue, the number of firefighters and a balanced city budget.
"It's hard to imagine doing some of the job tasks we do with less personnel," said firefighter Brett Geyer.
He's concerned about the Yuba City City Council's recent vote to reduce firefighters at two area stations from a team of three to just two.
"It's something that is really about the safety of ourselves and the citizens of the community we serve," he said.
Mayor John Dukes says safety is the city's concern, too. The new contract was approved by the city council in a three-to-two vote. It keeps all stations open. The alternative would be keeping current staff levels but closing stations.
"By having 5 stations open we actually decrease response time because we don't have a station that's empty and have to cover for that station," he said.
"I really do feel that response times will increase I don't believe we will be able to provide the same level of service," Geyer said.
The mayor says this is a just a temporary staff reduction. After months of negotiations the mayor said the council had to finally make a decision based on the safety of the citizens and balancing the city budget.
"What we don't want is to be a Vallejo and go bankrupt because we continued to pay and pay and not make the difficult decisions," Dukes said.
The city says the fire department will have some flexibility in deciding which stations get decreased that will happen in the next 30 days.
With these cuts, among others, the city is on track to balance its budget and eliminate its $1.4 million deficit by 2018.
