Opinion: Lake Valley fire definitely interested in working with SLTFD
To the community,
During the March 2012 meeting of the Lake Valley Fire Protection District board of directors, I made a presentation regarding an annexation proposal for the properties within the city of South Lake Tahoe. The board directed me to make the proposal to the South Lake Tahoe City Council.
Since that time a committee has been formed with representatives from the city and Lake Valley FPD to discuss the possibilities of annexation and the various benefits and challenges of such a move.
Gareth Harris
Annexation of the properties within the city limits would mean that the current fire department tax base would go to Lake Valley FPD, which would become the fire suppression and prevention agency for residents in the city. The proposal includes the hiring of all current South Lake Tahoe Fire Department employees by Lake Valley FPD.
The result would be no increase in cost to property owners in either the city or the county, but the services of a larger, more efficient fire agency. Lake Valley’s board of directors sees this as a potential win-win situation for all involved.
Recent comments made by South Lake Tahoe City Council candidates during a community forum have indicated that the administration of Lake Valley FPD does not favor the consolidation. The purpose of this letter is to assure the residents being served by both agencies that the district has not changed its stance, and looks forward to investigating a situation which would be mutually beneficial to all citizens and agency personnel.
Gareth Harris, Lake Valley fire chief
How would this impact the new fire fee? Would county residents, unlike city residents, still have to pay the $115.00 fee.
Before the City was founded in 1965, the Lake Valley FPD was the fire department covering what is now the City. Some of us suggested this consolidation years ago as the City continued it downward spiral into fiscal ruin. Now would be a good time for the Council to swallow their pride & proceed. Maybe the Police Dept. should be considered next to free up money for more frivolous City spending.
City residents would not have to pay the fire fee.
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher
Admin, How about the county residents would they still have to pay the fee? lou
End the duplicity, redundancy, and unnecessary overlapping administrative bureaucracy.
Do it now.
I can appreciate Chief Harris’ need to correct misstatements he’s heard regarding this issue. In that same light, I feel it’s important to clarify a few points in Chief Harris’ comments.
Representatives from the City of South Lake Tahoe and Lake Valley Fire District have been discussing the concept of consolidation during the past year although the idea has been mentioned for many years. As the City faced extreme budgetary concerns brought on by the recession, the idea to pursue a consolidation partnership was brought forward again.
Chief Harris does not have sufficient information to make the statement above that there would be “no cost” to the public. We do not yet know the costs of consolidation. The City released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a consultant to evaluate the direct cost of a consolidation from the taxpayers’ point of view.
But, there is more to consider than direct costs. It is important we remember the residents of South Lake Tahoe chose to become a city for the purpose of providing improved services to the public, particularly that of police, fire and snow removal. The community’s voice has yet to be included in the discussion of whether or not to consolidate Lake Valley Fire Protection District with the City of South Lake Tahoe. Consolidation discussions arose because of significant revenue constraints. Consolidation should be considered IF costs of providing fire protection services to the public are reduced and service deliveries are improved. We need to know if there are cost savings, improved service deliveries and even if the answer to both of those questions is yes, is that what the public, fire personnel and elected officials deem best?
We appreciate and honor the dedication and service to the public by the members of our South Lake Tahoe Fire Department – I can assure them, consolidation will not happen without their involvement in the process. They have dedicated many years to this community and are an important voice in the discussion.
Equally important will be the involvement of the community; fire protection services are vitally important here in South Lake Tahoe and was one of the purposes formation as a City arose – the public’s participation will very important in the discussion.
Consolidation could occur in various formats. If there is a measurable and direct cost-savings to the public and fire protection services are improved, and the community, City Council, and fire service personnel determine consolidation would provide the best form of fire protection services for the public, then it could occur either through Lake Valley Fire Department consolidating with the City, or the City consolidating with Lake Valley, or an entirely new district, or something not yet considered.
The City Council has made it very clear, the public’s involvement and the involvement of the fire department personnel from both agencies are critical to determining the best outcome–we will listen to everyone before decisions are made.
Knowing Chief Harris, I’m sure he didn’t mean to imply otherwise, he is a valued member of the fire profession and has demonstrated his commitment to the public on a daily basis; we appreciate Chief Harris and Lake Valley Fire District as a partner in the process and as a partner to the community in providing high quality fire protection services. My comments here are to ensure our fire department personnel, the public, and our City that everyone will have an opportunity to participate in this important decision as the conversation continues.
The only fire services consolidatiion worth pursuing at the south end of the Lake would be one which removes all fire services from the erratic leadership of the City of South Lake Tahoe and its City Council and places them firmly under the control of the Lake Valley Fire District. Anything less would be a disservice to the citizens as well as the fire fighters.
Well I sure wouldn’t VOTE for the South Lake Tahoe City Council candidate who make up this erroneous statement on such an important issue!
Ms. Kerry’s response has many clues as to what the problems are:
-working on this for a year
-more consultants
-more studies
-the City Council
-bureaucratic restating the obvious
Until things actually start happening and money is acutally SAVED instead of SPENT, the City’s decline will continue. The waste is staggering. How many RFP’s does the city issue a year? How many things actually get done? From my 40-year perspective, almost everything that the city is involved in costs more than it should, is far more complicated than it should be and takes much longer than it should. Just my humble opinion.
This is from Lake Valley fire: Consolidation would not affect the Fire Prevention Fee. It’s state generated and is based on whether people reside in a State Recreational Area. Lake Valley does NOT receive any of those funds.
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher
Why not hire a private company like Rural Metro Corporation https://www.ruralmetrofire.com/
to provide fire and EMT protestion. They are in Oregon, Tennessee and Arizona now. I lived in their service area for years until someone decided the city needed their own employees. My annual fire fee went up from $350/year with Rural Metro to $900/year with the city. No added service just the overhead of government versus private industry.
The South Lake Fire Department is in shambles, their infrastructure stinks, they have no real management in place (a police chief acting as fire chief?), and a morale at all time low.
Nancy- Ask your fire department folks how many are trying to get a job elsewhere and get back to us?
PS you wont need a study-just ask!
Admin: You have a typo above, that should be “State Responsibility Area.” The city is a “local responsibility area” and thus does not pay the fee. Nothing in consolidation changes any of that.
My question is I guess will county residents get the same status as the city of SLT. where there is NO FEE.($115.00)
Lou, begrudgingly I suppose it is fair (grin) that county residents still pay the same extra fire fee that city residents are exempted from, that is in exchange for better overall services, and the higher fees and taxes that the city charges its unlucky taxpayers, shoppers, and residents.
For example, a dog license for county residents is $20/year. With the city’s surcharge, the same dog license is $30/year for city residents. And the city’s sales tax is higher than the county’s. The list goes on and on.
Ms. Kerry writes, “…we need to know if there are cost savings, improved service deliveries, and even if these questions are yes is that what the public, fire personnel and elected officials deem best…”
It appears that Ms. Kerry expects more from consolidation with the Lake Valley Fire District than are provided to the public as a city operated fire department. Has the city saved costs while improving service? Not long ago a communique was delivered from the city announcing the closure of fire station number 2. Would that have improved service deliveries? Station number 2 still appears to be open. It must cost something to keep it so. And was the communities voice or the voices of fire fighters a part of the discussion before the city’s decision was made?
The city has failed to maintain infrastructure–including the basic maintenance of our neighborhood streets; in fact we don’t have neighborhoods anymore- we live in a vacation rental wasteland. And now our city fire department has been diminished. The police chief, who has no fire fighting experience, is now our fire chief.
Most city council candidates run for office not to provide improved services to the public as the city was supposedly formed to do, but to plan and build big. The city manager shares this ambition.
Consolidate with the Lake Valley Fire District and take a big important responsibility out of the hands of the city of South
Lake Tahoe.