Citizen About Town

By Nancy C. Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

E-mail: nancyarcuri@thecitizensvoice.net

Fax: 626-307-9081

My server that houses this Internet newspaper crashed and it has taken several weeks to get it up on line.  So the February issue was delayed and I am so sorry that that the news and articles were delayed for my readership.

The March 5 elections had a very low voter turnout.  Monterey Park only had 16.6% of the registered voters elected our new Councilmembers Hans Liang and Peter Chan, City Clerk Vince Chang and re-elected Joseph Leon as our City Treasurer.

The only dirty tricks in this election were played by Stephen Lam against Joseph Leon.

Mr. Lam, a longtime business owner, decided to use the medical insurance issue against Mr. Leon.

Years ago the Human Resources Department provided the elected officials the same golden medical insurance that the department heads were offered at no expense to them.

Many elected officials including Fred Balderrama, Francisco Alonso, Frank Venti, Betty Tom Chu, David Lau, Anthony Wong, Mitch Ing, Dave Barron and Joseph Leon accepted the offer for medical insurance.

When Mitch Ing decided Mr. Alonso and Mr. Balderrama should not be insured at taxpayers expense he opened a can of worms.

The current city attorney’s office made a legal decision that the elected officials are not entitled to this golden policy. The Council then voted to change the insurance policy for elected officials.  The city decided to bill all of the elected officials for the golden benefits that the city paid in their behalf.

Joseph Leon and other elected officials had their attorneys dispute the city’s request in writing.

To date there has not been a response from the city to their attorneys.

The irony is Mitch Ing and Betty Tom Chu both owe the city a refund on the overpayment of their medical insurance.

Mr. Lam had planned to be the city treasurer for two years and then run for Council.

Time will tell if he decides to run for Council in 2015.

At the March 6 Council Meeting I spoke during Oral Communications:

Thank you David Lau for your many years of service to the residents of Monterey Park as a City Councilmember and a Garvey School District Boardmember.

Thank you Dave Barron of your many years of service to the residents of Monterey Park as the City Clerk.

Congratulations to our new Councilmembers Han Liang and Peter Chan, City Clerk Vince Chang and Joseph Leon our re-elected City Treasurer.

I want to thank the City Clerk’s staff and our general employees for their dedication to this election.

A very special thank you to the residents for voting in our city election.  You realize that your vote does matter in our democratic process.

Item 7 Fire Service Initiative Petition

David Diaz a 11-year resident and a 10-year Los Angeles City Firefighter joined with the city’s firefighters in collecting signatures of registered voters to put an initiative on the ballot to see if the voters want to give our fire service to Los Angeles County.

Most of the signatures were collected on the November 6 Election Day as the firefighters stationed themselves outside of 100 feet from the polling places. Many voters believed that they had to sign the petition before they could enter the polls.

Since they collected signatures from 15% of the voters that state law demands that this issue be place on a ballot for a special election in June.

The Council had to adopt the petition after the city clerk’s certification with all four of them voting to adopt it.

The city attorney advised them if they place this matter on the ballot tonight then the city could not spend any money for this issue.

The city manager reminded them the Ad Hoc Committee would have their report and input at the April 3 meeting.

Another option was for the Council to order a report prepared by staff on the impacts of this petition on the city.

I was one of six speakers on this issue. Mr. Ruiz, city firefighter Rick Burroughs and former Councilmember Betty Tom Chu each demanded that the Council vote to place this issue on the ballot for a special election in June.

They determined that the county fire service would be best for them.

Julius Furman, Yukio Kawaratani and I reminded the Council losing our fire department would be a life or death issue.

Mr. Furman, a senior citizen, did not want to lose our Advance Life Support Paramedics and the special election was too expensive.

Mr.Kawaratani stated that the residents have been fighting this battle for the last 15 years. We voted in NO to County Fire in 1998 and 1999. 85% of the voters said NO. We voted to establish Measure J, which is a law residents are the only ones who can vote to give our fire and police departments to another entity.

I reminded them I attended every meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee and have heard the expensive costs of a county merger and the reduction of our fire services.

This Council should order a report regarding the impacts of the petition to the city for the residents to review.

$3 Million is the approximate cost of the first year of the fire merger with Los Angeles County.

$100,000 is the estimated cost of a special election for this ballot issue.

We will lose 15 firefighters from our city service if we go with the county.

We will sign a 10-year contract with the county that includes a 5% raise per year for the first 5 years and an unknown cost for the following years.

We will give the county all of our equipment and pay for any repairs over $25,000 per station per year.

We will be obligated to pay $300,000 per year into the PERs pension fund for the police officers to cover to costs of losing the firefighters’ PERs donations.

Most of all we will lose our Advance Life Support paramedic service if we go with the county.

Los Angeles County sends the first responders (EMTs) on a fire truck to treat the patient.  They can only provide Basic Life Support, which is basic first aid.  If the patient needs Advance Life Support service then they call for the paramedics who can administer drugs under the supervision of a Medical Doctor.

We will lose precious minutes as their Advance Life Support trucks will be called into Monterey Park from any location in Los Angeles County.

The Monterey Park City Council should realize that this is a very important ballot issue.

It is a matter of life or death.

The life you save maybe a family member, a neighbor or a stranger.

You cannot put a price on a human life.

The Council voted to request the study from the staff, review the Ad Hoc Committee’s report and listen to the opinions of the committee and the residents at the April 3 meeting.

The voters will have to study this issue very closely as once a city gives their fire department to the county there is no financial option to restore their city owned fire department.

Other cities have stated there is no financial savings going to the county fire service.

Residents in Pomona state that the firefighters run their city for their own financial benefit.  Any money in the city is used first to pay for the fire service and any funds left are split between the police officers and the general employees.

Voters in Pomona did not have a choice on their fire service as their Council majority gave their fire department to Los Angeles County.

They voted to establish a law that only the voters can give their police department away to another entity.

The longtime residents cannot afford to re-establish their fire department at the end of the 10-year contract with the county.

Residents of Pomona and other cities have lost their local control over the fire service because of elected officials who placed the desires of their union buddies over the health and safe of their residents.

Don’t let the fate of Pomona residents become the fate of Monterey Park residents.

Don’t let the greed of the firefighters unions determine the future of our hometown.

Please study the fire service issue carefully and vote to keep our Advanced Life Support Paramedics and fire department in our city.

This election will determine the health and safety of your family, friends, strangers and yourself.

A human life is too precious to lose.