Resident: More Facts Needed in Canton Fire Station Negotiations

Note: the following is a letter to the editor from resident Clark Yaggy.

Dear Editor:

Let’s see if I have this right.

Originally, when the city of Canton determined it was going to operate the new Laurel Canyon fire station, it budgeted nine new firefighters to staff that station. This seemed about right, as currently 21 firefighters staff the two existing city fire stations.

When the decision was made to pursue having the county staff the new station, one would assume the nine new firefighters were no longer needed and would come out of the budget.

But not so fast, logical thinker! No, the city now says it needs nine new firefighters for its existing two stations. Never mind that more firefighters for the two stations had never been in the budget. Never mind that having 30 firefighters (the current 21 plus a new nine) for two stations, 15 at each station, exceeds by six the number thought to be needed when a new station was built. Never mind that the city manager has suggested that, even if any new firefighters are needed for the existing two stations, the proper number might be six (one to cover each of the three shifts at each station).

The mayor says he has information stating that what the city needs are 27 new firefighters for the two existing stations, not nine or six. Fifty-eight firefighters for two fire stations? When nine were put in the budget for the new station?

As they say on SportsCenter, “C’mon man!” Preposterous! That insults the intelligence of city’s taxpayers. We are told that Woodstock has 47 firefighters staffing its two stations. City Council members in Woodstock must be looking at Canton and asking whether they are overstaffed.

So what is the right number of additional firefighters needed? None? Six? Nine? 27? 26? 18? Take your pick. Pull your favorite number out of the hat. Can you say seat-of-the-pants management style? Can you say “What is going on here?”

Does anyone at City Hall have a clue? At the beginning of the budget year, the number was none. Now, because nine slots became available from the budget for Laurel Canyon, all of a sudden we need nine. And we justify it by conjuring up numbers from various places that will support our argument. Any private business that makes its decisions in this manner would fail to survive.

Nine firefighters, at a cost of about $50,000 each, has a budget impact of $450,000. This is not chump change. Arguing over giving back $24 a year in trash collection fees is chump change. Debating whether a construction change order should be $5,000 or $7,500 is chump change.

Playing fast and loose with just under half a million dollars is serious business, especially when this half million will be an ongoing and increasing expense as the years go by. This kind of decision needs more discussion, more debate, more factual backing and more thought than the current Gang of Seven is giving it.

Clark Yaggy
Canton

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