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heard on February 25; he said that it was not a situation of "us versus them" but of the need to <br />provide the best fire service possible. He agreed with Chief Tallon it was not the council's purview <br />to determine operational issues, but it was the council's purview to determine the level of fire <br />service it thought should be provided for the City, and fund that level. Mr. Kelly suggested that <br />was the discussion that was occurring. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly asked if it would not be more correct to shade the map showing current conditions to <br />indicate that while service might not be provided by Eugene in Santa Clara, there was service <br />from the Santa Clara Fire Department. Chief Tallon said that the map did not illustrate the service <br />provided by the Santa Clara district. However, he said that the district had put the City on notice <br />through public testimony that it was unable to provide an adequate volunteer response to fire calls <br />and meet response standards. Mr. Kelly thought the map might mislead the public that there was <br />no coverage at all in the area. Chief Tallon said that the City had canceled its contract with Santa <br />Clara, so the area was not be covered unless Eugene sent its resources to a call. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly said Mr. Nauta's February 27 letter to the council implied that the first response to calls in <br />the Valley River area following redeployment would come from the Sheldon station. Given that, <br />the fire fighters argued that the area covered by the Sheldon and Valley River was about 30 <br />percent of the city's land area, so one station would be responding to 30 percent of the land area <br />of the city, and seven stations were serving the remaining 70 percent. He asked if that "seemed <br />like a mismatch." Chief Tallon said that staff provided numbers regarding the actual number of <br />calls the station received, and call volume indicated that relocating Engine 9 to Santa Clara still <br />provided capacity for greater call volume. The department would continue to meet the call volume <br />in that area. He said that the size of the area to be served was something to consider, but the <br />time and distance numbers he provided for Engine 6, Engine 11, and Engine 1 were still adequate <br />and meet national standards to cover the area in question. <br /> <br />Mr. Pap8 also expressed appreciation for the information provided by the firefighters union and <br />command staff. He was concerned about the provision of service to the area in question but was <br />also concerned about using a serial levy to fund operations. He said that if the service was <br />important, the City needed to determine to find a way for ongoing funding to support it. He <br />suggested that the Budget Committee be asked to find additional ongoing funding. <br /> <br />Mr. Pap8 asked for information about progress on the study the City was doing about the <br />possibility of an area wide fire district. Chief Tallon said that the study would take six months, and <br />the analysis would return to the elected officials for resolution. He confirmed that the result could <br />be a special service district, and that the issue was being studied broadly, including by the City of <br />Springfield, which recently decided not to take that direction for the time being. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner agreed with Mr. Johnson's recommendation, saying that the level of acceptable risk <br />was an issue that needed to be taken into consideration. Mr. Meisner also agreed about the need <br />for community involvement and more substantive council discussion before a serial levy was <br />offered to the voters. He concurred that a serial levy would be inconsistent with the council's <br />goals and the Budget Committee's direction to staff. He had disliked using operating levies for the <br />library, and thought it was even more unacceptable to use such levies for the operations of the <br />Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. <br />Ms. Bettman also thanked staff for the information provided. She noted that during the last <br />budget process she had raised concerns about the department's ability to cover an expanded <br />service area. Ms. Bettman thought the City had been forced by circumstance to expand the <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 27, 2002 Page 3 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />