Thought I'd give everyone a little refresher! Are you sick of me yet! lol

THEN: Posted by editor Fri Apr 28, 2006 -City explores options of fire and other service coverage

According to Tehachapi City Manager Jason Caudle, the city has two choices: to contract with Kern County Fire department or to do it themselves.

“We are exploring both possibilities,” Caudle said. “We are looking at both sides of the option. The county has changed its policy and city must pay the county for fire service.”
Caudle said the question is: Do we save by using the KCFD and get rid of the city fire department?

He said it is time to either have a full-time fire department so the city can retain their employees, or have the county take over all the protection.

“It would be easy to get rid of our fire station, but if the council’s goal is about saving money, then the contract is the option,” Caudle said. “If the council's goal is to increase the level of service, then the city’s fire department may be the better option.”
According to Deputy Chief Mike Cody of the KCFD, under the present contract, the city receives unlimited resources from the county, without any cost to the city.

“We handle every type of emergency available, from petroleum fires, hazardous material incidents, structural fires and forest and wild land fires,” Cody said.“If it’s an emergency, we are going to be there.”

He also said that when a large disaster occurs, the county will pull from their resources from all over the county. Currently the county has 45 fire stations, 46 in the summer.
Numerous questions have been raised regarding why the city would want to spend that amount of money when the county presently provides the protection at no cost to the city.

Although Caudle acknowledges it is cheaper to stay with the county, he believes the city needs to look at some variables. Aside from growth and cost, the city faces another ongoing problem— the high amount of firefighters that leave to go to larger departments.

Caudle said the city foots the cost to train firefighters, yet many leave to go to other departments. He believes a full-time department would retain firefighters.
Caudle said the people of Tehachapi need more control over their emergency  services provided and that currently the county has the control and not the electorate of Tehachapi. ( Seriously, this is worth reading twice! lol)

However, the county disagrees that the city has no say in the KCFD’s operation.

In a letter dated July 18, 2005,  Thompson wrote Caudle and the Tehachapi City Council stating:

“The city manager’s concern about working in the existing Agreement regarding ‘at the fire chief’s discretion’ does not preclude ‘local control.’ If there are concerns or questions that any of the council or the city manager’s office have about fire protection issues or the services provided, this department stands ready to address those questions or concerns.”