The council’s not to blame

Chico’s firefighters are understandably upset about the temporary closure of Fire Station 5. That’s why a small number of them picketed in front of the station last week, and why a group is gathering there today (Thursday, May 3) at 3 p.m. in front of the station.

But they’re dead wrong in their main complaint—that the Chico City Council caused the closure by cutting their funding. That’s not what happened, and the firefighters look bad when they get their facts wrong.

Here’s the true story: For various reasons, including the loss of redevelopment funding, City Manager Dave Burkland needed to cut $900,000 from the rest of this fiscal year’s budget so as not to face an overwhelming deficit starting next July. He’s ordered all his departments to cut but given managers discretion. This week he announced that two people in the Housing and Neighborhood Services department who’d worked largely on RDA projects were being laid off, the first employees to be let go since the recession began.

His directive to the Fire Department was to cut $95,000. Fire Chief Jim Beery made the choice to close Station 5 temporarily and shift staff to other stations in order to cut down on overtime pay. He could have reduced the number of people on the fire rigs, as many fire departments have done in response to cutbacks, but he chose not to do so.

The City Council was not involved in any of this at any time. These were strictly managerial decisions. For the firefighters—or anyone else, for that matter—to contend otherwise is to distort the truth. If they want to blame someone or something, they should blame the fat cats on Wall Street whose greedy wheeling and dealing brought on the greatest recession since the Great Depression.