Commentary: CMFD staffing numbers put residents at risk
On Jan. 14, Mayor Stephen Mensinger and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer co-authored a commentary in the Daily Pilot proposing to keep Costa Mesa Fire Station 6 open (“Commentary: Let’s keep Costa Mesa Fire Station 6 open”). They had previously voted to close this station.
Why the change, and does it have anything to do with the fact that the city and the Fire Assn. are currently in contract negotiations?
In their commentary, the mayor and mayor pro tem were not completely transparent with Costa Mesa residents about their plans for the Costa Mesa Fire Department (CMFD). The commentary was published days before they voted against a money-saving plan to allow CMFD to use its own ambulances for emergency transport, a plan that had been in the works since May 2013.
Also in May 2013, the council voted to close Station 6 and reduce department staffing. Overall, 11 positions were eliminated — six captains and five engineers. However, the need for their services was not eliminated, because the city never actually closed Station 6.
As a result, overtime has mushroomed, and Costa Mesa is now paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime annually. For example, in 2014, three quarters of the captains worked 1,000 hours or more of overtime!
This averages about 20 hours or more of overtime a week on top of a fireman’s regular 56-hour work week. The mayor and mayor pro tem then complain about CMFD compensation when it is the overtime pay their decisions caused that is a chief contributor to the higher compensation.
In their Daily Pilot commentary, they don’t say outright that they don’t plan to hire additional firefighters for Station 6. Instead, they say they will work with the fire chief to “redeploy” the “staffing numbers” agreed to, i.e. the 2013 reduction.
Translation: they plan to require firefighters to continue working overtime. This is like your boss opening a second store, hiring no new workers and forcing you and other workers to work overtime to staff the second store. The mayor and mayor pro tem are demanding that CMFD staff do just that.
Mensinger and Righeimer, as members of the City Council, are responsible for keeping Costa Mesa residents safe. Continuing a deliberate policy of understaffing CMFD puts Costa Mesans at additional and unnecessary risk.
So did their original plan to close Station 6. The City Council owes the residents a properly staffed Fire Department and transparent communication with City residents.
ROBIN LEFFLER is president of Costa Mesans for Responsible Government.