Redondo City Council stalls on fire study public review panel
by Garth Meyer
The Redondo Beach city council split 3-2 Tuesday night to approve the hiring of a consultant to review Phase Two of its county fire study, but held off on how to create a citizens’ group to give input.
Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr. made a motion to form the panel like the city’s charter review committee last year, for which each councilmember nominated a member and the mayor nominated two.
Interim Fire Chief Pat Butler made a request in his remarks.
“(Please) integrate your model so that it will have the least impact on our day-to-day job,” he said.
Butler added a note that if the citizens’ review panel is “too formalized, it begins to diminish the engagement.”
City Manager Mike Witzansky advised the council, that if an appointed oversight group is formed, that it be asked to meet no more than once per month.
Councilman Scott Behrendt asked what the advantages were of a formal vs. informal review panel.
City Attorney Mike Webb answered that it was quicker and more nimble if it was a city manager task force. By contrast, he said a city council-chosen committee would take longer but may be better received by the general public.
Behrendt then asked to make a substitute motion to Obagi’s, to approve the choice of CityGate Associates (Folsom, Calif.) as consultants but wait on the decision about how to form the citizens’ review panel.
“I’ll second that,” said Councilman Todd Loewenstein.
Behrendt, Loewenstein and Councilman Nils Nehrenheim voted in favor, Obagi and Paige Kaluderovic against.
Kaluderovic, who has expressed skepticism of the need for a county fire study, made a statement Tuesday that public input will be key to the overall decision; which could change Redondo Beach fire and paramedic services from a city operation to a contract with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Kaluderovic asked about what it would take to put the broader question to an eventual public vote (or at least an advisory vote).
Holding off, for now, on the citizens’ review panel means the topic will return to the council in late May or early June, according to Witzansky.
“We’ll be having this discussion all over again,” said Obagi.
The contract with CityGate is to analyze the Redondo Beach Fire Department on 16 items and ultimately compare its assessment to Phase Two of the County’s study.
Three firms submitted proposals for the job, including AP Triton, LLC (Sheridan, Wyo.) with the low bid of $59,000, followed by Matrix Consulting (Monrovia, Calif.) at $56,000 and CityGate $82,000.
Councilman Nehrenheim pointed out that CityGate had a harbor expert, which the others did not.
Chief Butler noted that their higher bid was a “worst-case scenario.”
The city council previously included $60,000 for this in the 2022-23 fiscal year budget.
“It’s not going to be just for analyzing the county fire proposal,” said Obagi. “It’s going to be for really looking at what investments do we still need to make to make our fire department best in class.”
The County “Phase Two of the District Fire Feasibility Study” will look at RBFD stations, vehicles, equipment and more, to find out what it would cost to shift city fire/paramedic services to the county.ER