City Council to hear more details on SPFD finances at Tuesday meeting

The Santa Paula City Council will hear an update related to the future of the Fire Department at the Tuesday meeting.

The meeting was pushed back to February 21 due to Monday’s Presidents’ Day federal holiday. 

Council members will meet at City Hall with the meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers. The meeting will be broadcast live on Spectrum Cable Channel 10 and replayed according to schedule. The session will also be live-streamed on the city’s website and archived for viewing on demand.

Although the agenda for the February 21 meeting was not completed by press deadline, Santa Paula Fire Chief Rick Araiza said the council would hear a report on the SPFD pension payment option and a current financial breakdown of the SPFD and its costs to the city. The financial impacts of possibly merging with the Ventura County Fire Protection District and what the scenario would be if the SPFD stayed under city leadership but with adequate funding will also be addressed. 

The future of the SPFD, founded in 1903, has been a focus of council discussion for more than two years. 

The department had been relying on a federal grant to keep staffing up but the November 2014 Santa Clara Waste Water-Green Compass explosions and fire west of Santa Paula knocked out an engine company — two firefighters, including a captain, later had to retire due to exposure to toxic chemicals — and, through contamination, ruined the department’s then newest fire engine. 

Later, Vice Mayor Ginger Gherardi wrote a White Paper on the fire department and the council ordered an at times controversial study. In November voters approved the 1-percent Measure T sales tax to benefit public safety, youth programs and roads, a new source of revenue that undoubtedly will be discussed by the council Tuesday.