San Marino, South Pasadena to end fire fighting partnership with San Gabriel
The four-year fire fighting partnership between San Gabriel, San Marino and South Pasadena will end after South Pasadena decided to back out last week.
The command for the cities’ firefighting services are shared by one chief, along with three division chiefs and three deputy chiefs.
But that structure led to issues for South Pasadena, said former City Manager Sergio Gonzalez, whose leaders were concerned over not being able to promote from within their own department.
“The inability to promote our own staff into command staff positions because they are filled by current employees of a different city is a significant issue,” Gonzalez said at the City Council’s May 3 meeting.
Gonzalez’s last day as city manager was Friday. He is set to begin as Hermosa Beach’s city manager May 15.
Gonzalez said returning command of the department to the city will help them recruit new firefighters. He said attracting talent was difficult when the city coulnd’t assure recruits that they’d be able to rise within the department.
San Marino is likely to walk away from the partnership this week. The City Council will vote on the matter at its meeting Wednesday, said interim City Manager Cindy Collins.
City staff recommended the city end the partnership. But San Marino and South Pasadena intend to partner again, this time only to sharing one division chief. Each city will have its own fire chief, a dedicated division chief and however many deputy chiefs each city sees fit, Gonzalez said.
The new arrangement will save South Pasadena up to $40,000 annually, Gonzalez said. San Marino would save $28,389, according to a city staff report.
“We won’t save as much as with the tri-city fire command, but we will have much more control over the department,” Gonzalez said.
San Gabriel’s City Council opted not to take action on the partnership in order to see what San Marino and South Pasadena would do first, said City Manager Steven Preston.
Preston said without the partnership, San Gabriel is prepared to resume regular command of its fire department.
“We were the largest of the three participating departments, with three budgeted division chiefs, and will be able to operate with only modest adjustments to our budget,” Preston said.
With Fire Chief Mario Rueda employed by San Marino, however, both San Gabriel and South Pasadena will need to hire their own chiefs.
South Pasadena City Councilwoman Diana Mahmud said she was proud of the effort put into establishing the tri-city fire command, something Gonzalez said had been talked about for more than 80 years.
“It’s hard to terminate something we worked so hard to make,” Gonzalez said. “It finally came to fruition out of necessity four years ago. Unfortunately it hasn’t gone as smooth as we thought it would.”
