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News & Features
From the Idyllwild Town Crier weekly newspaper, 09.04.08 edition.
By J.P. Crumrine, News Editor
The Idyllwild Fire Department’s conference room was filled for the Aug.
28 special meeting. Local tree contractors and Mountain Communities
Fire Safe Council (FSC) members concerned with the Idyllwild Fire
Protection District (IFPD) commission’s abatement program came in
numbers to express reservations and obtain a better understanding of
the commission’s purpose and plans.
The intensity was high at both ends of the room.
The board asked the tree contractors to form an organization or
committee to represent them at future meetings, as well as formulate a
proposal for a new fire abatement contract.
“The commission wants to make it all good,” said Ben Killingsworth, new
commissioner. “You are the community and the last thing we want is to
be against the community.”
The Thursday, Aug. 28, meeting was a rescheduled regular meeting from
Aug. 26 that was canceled. Still, dozens of citizens attended and
several stood throughout the meeting.
Because of the absence of Fire Chief Steve Kunkle, all other business
was postponed until the September meeting. Nevertheless, interest in
the current abatement contract and process was sufficient to last more
than two-and-half hours.
Four local tree contractors — Randy Owen, Emily and Mike Pearson,
Jacobus Piño and Josh Whitney — had written to IFPD President
Glen McWilliams requesting that termination of the contract be placed
on the commission’s agenda.
With minimal other business, McWilliams requested to hear what the
letter’s authors had to say.
However, Ernesto Alé, a local arborist, spoke first. He
supported the contractors’ views and asked why the board had not
reported that its contractor, Fire Prevention Services Inc. (FPSI), had
contracts revoked or denied in other jurisdictions.
San Diego’s North County Fire District encountered the same complaints
— lack of communication, difficult to contact and rapacious prices —
being raised in Idyllwild. But the contractors find it inconsistent
that Riverside County Fire Department requires them to have a
contractor’s license and IFPD does not require FPSI to possess one.
Secondly, the contractors again denied that IFPD had contacted and
invited them to bid on the contract.
“Basically, this was the only outfit willing and would take the
contract,” McWilliams explained. But a chorus of “Nos” responded.
IFPD Capt. James Manietta added that the fire department also needed a
contractor with the experience to follow the chain of evidence in order
to place a lien on the property owner’s title. This is how FPSI
receives payment for “forced abatements.”
“We need someone who is sure to do the legal process. We don’t have the
budget that CalFire and the county do,” Manietta said. “We don’t have
to pay any money for the contract.”
At this point, Robert Righetti, engineer, proposed a next step.
“It might be more prudent to put out a new [contract] with all the
[selection] criteria available,” he suggested. “This would guarantee
that everyone could look at it before award.”
The commission embraced Righetti’s idea and encouraged the contractors
to form a committee to review it and the criteria. A vote was taken and
passed 4-0 with Commissioner Earl Parker abstaining.
During the meeting, Parker and Killingsworth expressed confusion on
whether a vote had been taken, but Secretary Janice Coopersmith
recorded it.
Later she said McWilliams indicated, in a conversation, that he might
recommend vacating the action due to the chaotic atmosphere and hold a
new vote in calmer conditions.
But a new contract for 2009 still left FPSI’s legitimacy unanswered. In
addition, Piño tried with no success to obtain an explanation
about why a contractor that cannot remove trees would be selected,
although Manietta had previously said its ability to successfully
obtain liens was critical.
Shirl Papaian, FPSI’s regional manager, insisted that it did not remove
any trees. When that work was required, it subcontracted with local
firms. Again the four major tree removal contractors responded in
unison that they have never received any work from FPSI.
According to Manietta, Kunkle has only approved FPSI’s abatement of
five properties. When asked if abating five properties was worth what
has happened, McWilliams replied, “After tonight, probably not.”
Even a new contract is not sufficient without some policy or procedural
changes, according to Ron Perry, Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council
1st vice president. He and others are concerned about the lack of
separation between inspection and solicitation for abatement work.
“It’s very crucial the commission look at a glaring conflict of
interest,” he advised them. “Inspectors and the same people doing
abatement doesn’t look right. You do inspections and they bid on
abatement.”
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