Many Idyllwild residents take issue with any suggestion of replacing the local fire/ambulance department with any other. They feel that any outside entity taking control of the station would eliminate local control.
I think IFPD ceded local control years ago. Most of the employees are off Hill residents, just like at the two Pine Cove stations (fire and AMR).
The fire commissioners are just a mouthpiece for IFPD employees with knee-jerk defensive reactions to grand juries and an administrative law judge, and an illogical and expensive proposal to raise the property unit-fee cap from $65 to $162.50, and a lawsuit pending it likely will lose that will cost it a fortune. (A unit-fee cap increase of $130 failed to pass the voters in 2011.)
Do PC folk get lesser fire/ambulance services through county and contract? I have yet to hear a complaint. On top of that, PC’s local advisory committee recently decided to drop property parcel fees from $61 to $0 because its reserve fund is flush.
Now, out of the blue, IFPD’s negotiations with the city of San Jacinto beg the question whether Idyllwild residents protective of the IFPD sacred cow will continue feeling they have local control.
I believe IFPD employs a couple of power-hungry leaders whose personal goals stand in the way of local control. The lame-brained ideas the commissioners and finance committee members continue to put forth appear to come from these power-hungry individuals.
We’ve seen grand jury reports of misbehavior, fiscal irresponsibility and the cart leading the horse. This is the local control you want? I hope San Jacinto residents ask questions soon or they may experience much of the same.
Becky Clark, Editor
