Montebello officials reject studying costs of transferring fire protection to county

[ex montebello firefighter]

montebello community wrote:

<quoted text>This is a fact, city of Lakewood
Is pretty nice.

There are cities in the Antelope Valley who are also following that pattern very successfully. Just makes good business sense....

[Trash Talk]

The audited financial statemts are not imaginary.
Try and deal with reality not your fantasies.
Dio you not beleive that the code requires the citizens elected representatives to approve any expenditures in excess of the adopted budget or do you just think that "public safety" is "special" and entitled to all it can get?
Go over budget agtain and see how fast furloughs or station closures happen.
MFD killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
It's called It's all about me me me
or greed

[ex montebello firefighter]

Trash Talk wrote:

The audited financial statemts are not imaginary.
Try and deal with reality not your fantasies.
Dio you not beleive that the code requires the citizens elected representatives to approve any expenditures in excess of the adopted budget or do you just think that "public safety" is "special" and entitled to all it can get?
Go over budget agtain and see how fast furloughs or station closures happen.
MFD killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
It's called It's all about me me me
or greed

It's called fire protection and has to deal with public safety. Don't try to rationalize your absurd notions to me. Like I have told you countless times, go file your complaint.... Otherwise move on to another topic, I'm having fun making you look like a fool.

[Old Gus]

Dear Mr. Trash Talk,
I understand that you don't like overtime. Do you understand that MFD staffs 4 personnel on the fire companies? Perhaps it would make you happy if the fire dept. shut down a fire company, when there was a vacancy on that rig? If you want to run a fire dept. you need people to fill the positions. If you don't want to hire extra personnel, you will have overtime. Illegal or not, you must staff the equipment, if you expect it to work in an emergency.

[ORG]

Trash Talk wrote:

Dear Ex of short memory
recall that station closures were instituted and unlawful overtime was curtailed.
This did not just happen.
complaints were made
It could have been done a decade ago if any of the chiefs had the balls to do their job- which is to stay within the budget voted on and pproved by the peoples representatives.
The audited financial reports show budget "variances" and they clearly show that overtime spending was way over what was approved by the counci.
going over budget without council approval is against the city code- hence illegal
what is it about the budget and financial reports do you not understand?
We still insist that those that knowling approved these illegal overtime expenses (for their own benefit) year after year should be fired.

TT: Tere's a reason that no one from MFD has been disiplined or fired. It's because the investigation that was done by Narramore and Ballard found that all was above board and not only did the City Manager approve of the OT do did the Council. It's a fact that under the County Of Los Angeles Dept. of Health Services Emergency Medical Services Agency rules/ policy, a provider must have two CA State Lic. Paramedics with LA County accredadations on each Paramedic Unit. This is 24/7/365. The only way to get around that is to close the unit and notify the Agency of its closure. It can't be done on a day to day basis. You are comitting liabil and defamation by continuing this attack on the MFD. Your accusations are not based on fact and the official investigation proved that. Move on to something that is constructive and not negitive. ORG

[settle down]

Okay. Here is the scoop. First, Norma's friends are CC, who protects her, Fran, Mike and AJ. Now we now CC is a goof and we will talk about Fran in a minute to prove what a goof she is. Mike is an idiot and AJ? Don't know much about AJ other than her dept (buses) is funded mostly through prob this and prop that (all fed money) so how could youu screw that up? Back to Fran.this is great! She is going to meet with all city employees and let them ask her questions. She is even going to have them all meet in the council chambers so they fit. Even better, she is going to have two meetings that way those who can't make the morning one can attend in the afternoon. Now here is the great part. The first meeting is from 9 am to 9:30am. The second is from 2pm to 2:30pm. That's right. Two meetings, thirty minutes each. THIRTY MINUiTES! Are you kiddding me? You call a all hands meeting and encourage Q and A but you give them thirty minutes? Stupid is the word you are looking for. And she is running our city people. Good job CC, Art and Bill. Bring back Breskin

[montebello resident]

settle down wrote:

Okay. Here is the scoop. First, Norma's friends are CC, who protects her, Fran, Mike and AJ. Now we now CC is a goof and we will talk about Fran in a minute to prove what a goof she is. Mike is an idiot and AJ? Don't know much about AJ other than her dept (buses) is funded mostly through prob this and prop that (all fed money) so how could youu screw that up? Back to Fran.this is great! She is going to meet with all city employees and let them ask her questions. She is even going to have them all meet in the council chambers so they fit. Even better, she is going to have two meetings that way those who can't make the morning one can attend in the afternoon. Now here is the great part. The first meeting is from 9 am to 9:30am. The second is from 2pm to 2:30pm. That's right. Two meetings, thirty minutes each. THIRTY MINUiTES! Are you kiddding me? You call a all hands meeting and encourage Q and A but you give them thirty minutes? Stupid is the word you are looking for. And she is running our city people. Good job CC, Art and Bill. Bring back Breskin

How do you know there will be meetings? Is it posted? Can residents attend the meetings ?

[ORG]

montebello resident wrote:

<quoted text>
How do you know there will be meetings? Is it posted? Can residents attend the meetings ?

This person must be a Coty Employee. They know that the CM has called a meeting of City Employees cause the CM either sent out an email or a memo announcing the meeting. Met rings of City of or all employees are not required to be posted or noticed. It's an internal meeting where 30 min is about 1 to 1.5 hrs short. There is much to discuss and limiting the meetings to 30 min if that is her decision is going to only cause more problems and more distrust. ORG

[settle down]

montebello resident wrote:

<quoted text>
How do you know there will be meetings? Is it posted? Can residents attend the meetings ?

ORG is correct. I won't be there but I know some one who will so I will let you know how the thirty minute one way, I'm sure, conversation goes. Prediction is. She is going to tell everyone how she didn't want the job but she has stepped up and is ready for the challenge and that there are going to be some hard decisions to be made and we must all work together as a team etc etc. That will take thirty minutes then she will say she has to go save the city and to forward any questions to he later.

[montebello resident]

settle down wrote:

<quoted text>ORG is correct. I won't be there but I know some one who will so I will let you know how the thirty minute one way, I'm sure, conversation goes. Prediction is. She is going to tell everyone how she didn't want the job but she has stepped up and is ready for the challenge and that there are going to be some hard decisions to be made and we must all work together as a team etc etc. That will take thirty minutes then she will say she has to go save the city and to forward any questions to he later.

Haha 30 minutes? The employees are going to want to know if they are going to be employed in July. What a
Scary time to be a city employee! I'm curious if any employee will bluntly ask if they are going to be laid off or not? Last I checked Tuesday will be may 29th, that leaves one month until July, if I was a city employee I would want to know at least a month in advance if I'm getting canned or not!

I know an employee too I wonder if he will shed some light. Typically the guy keeps everything in perspective and continues to do his job. Im curious if CM will step up and tell these people to their faces that a good number have a month left of employment.

AND if they don't have only one month, can someone tell me where the 3 million dollar shortfall will be made up

??

[42 yr North Mtb resident]

I notice that the topic of increased response times is now boycotted, a topic that adversely affects the death rate of residents of Montebello, while the topic of work rules for firefighters seems to be all firefighters here care about.

Any wonder why the residents of Montebello have an unfavorable opinion of public service union activities?

[ex montebello firefighter]

42 yr North Mtb resident wrote:

I notice that the topic of increased response times is now boycotted, a topic that adversely affects the death rate of residents of Montebello, while the topic of work rules for firefighters seems to be all firefighters here care about.

Any wonder why the residents of Montebello have an unfavorable opinion of public service union activities?

It was Trash Brain who continuously attempts to divert the focus of this topic with his unfounded accusations. My personal stand is and will always be to decrease response times by properly equipping and staffing the fire department. My offer still stands to personally meet with you to address your concerns

[42 yr North Mtb resident]

ex montebello firefighter wrote:

<quoted text>
It was Trash Brain who continuously attempts to divert the focus of this topic with his unfounded accusations. My personal stand is and will always be to decrease response times by properly equipping and staffing the fire department. My offer still stands to personally meet with you to address your concerns

Thank you for you offer, but I believe it would be more productive to wait until the next step in the MHSP proposed condo development saga, whether that be the announced premature city council workshops, a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report, a resubmitted DEIR, a revised development application, or whatever.

As none of the details of the proposed development have been settled on yet, in depth discussions at this time would be somewhat fruitless. That is why I tried to get alleged firefighters to weigh in on the subject of increased response times in general, and how that would relate to a specific development which would cause greatly increased response times, according to the developer.

I just thought it was somewhat odd that city councilmembers who are trying to get the city through a fiscal crisis are accused of causing deaths by allegedly increasing response times, while a developer who has apparently inveigled union representatives with a their speculative siren song of cash for union members gets a free ride with THEIR proposed increases in response times.

[Trash Talk]

Ex as to your comment on doing business in Montebello
compared to LA City or LA County Montebello is heaven

[ex montebello firefighter]

Trash Talk wrote:

Ex as to your comment on doing business in Montebello
compared to LA City or LA County Montebello is heaven

Really? Based on what? Another fallacy? Do you need a bus pass to go file your false accusation?

[What a waste]

The three stooges (Bill, Art and Christina) seem to have a mess on their hands. The city is near financial ruin, there is no long-term plan to stay out of bankruptcy, there is yet another city administrator and these three clowns are the leaders who are to give direction? Give me a break. A high school class has better ideas than these three.

[Trash Talk]

Old gus does not understand
he wrote
"Dear Mr. Trash Talk,
I understand that you don't like overtime"
Actually I love budgeted overtime
I worked to increase overtime budget
I got nowhere witht eh previous administrations- they prefered smoke and mirrors.
The current council has increased the overtime budget.
What I do not like is the MFD brass increasing their overtime without council approval- which is illegal
Old Gus writes
"Perhaps it would make you happy if the fire dept. shut down a fire company, when there was a vacancy on that rig?"
That's exactly what now happens if the MFD goes over their budget.
It is presumptious to spend a years overtime allotment in a few months and then continue running up debt unaccounted for.
Knowingly approving OT when there is no money to pay for it should be grounds for dismissal.
Excess was over $10,000,000.
The previous administration illegally spent funds from restricted accounts to pay for it.
The city has been upside down with this practice for years but the chickens came home to roost with the revenue droping in 2007-2008.
That was the time to cut quickly and cut hard.
Putting it off just made matters worse.

[Trash Talk]

ex montebello firefighter is beating a dead horse
he spins yet again
"It's called fire protection and has to deal with public safety. "
It calld a budget and living within the amount allocated.
You can only have the public safety you can afford to pay for so quit hallucinating.

"Like I have told you countless times, go file your complaint.."

complaints filed years ago
Illegal practices curtailed with furloughs and closing fire stations.
What we're talking about now is holding the guilty parties responsible.

Thank you Sandy Shimkus

[Trash Talk]

Org
The so called investigation by the Chief from Alhambra was cursoary.
Narramore never gave teh paractice a clean bill of health.
The Chief or City Administrator does not have the authority to approve excessive OT and the Council never did.
At teh end of the Fiscal Years the overages were rolled into the Capital Improvement fund where they could not be easily seen.
There was no accountability.
City is on "pay as you go"

[Trash Talk]

ex montebello firefighter puts on his white hat
"My personal stand is and will always be to decrease response times by properly equipping and staffing the fire department."
OK I agreee- now how are you going to pay for it.
Given this years budget how would you re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic?
Projecting next years budget
what would you cut?