West Covina : Firefighter Funds Continue

Despite an unfavorable recommendation from city staff, the West Covina City Council has decided to continue for one more month providing money to help pay for a firefighter at a station in Covina, possibly forestalling the breakup of the two-city Fire Department.

For what council members said was the last time, West Covina will contribute $8,200, or 64%, of the financing necessary to keep a fourth firefighter at the Covina station around the clock for one month. Covina will pay the remainder.

Staffing level has created friction between the two cities, with Covina officials demanding the extra position and West Covina officials objecting to it as an unnecessary expense. A Covina citizens committee is reviewing the city’s participation in the San Gabriel Valley Fire Authority, which serves the two cities, to see if Covina’s interests are being served. West Covina City Manager Herman R. Fast has recommended that his city pull out of the 2-year partnership, given Covina’s insistence over the staffing issue and the deteriorating relationship between the cities.

West Covina Councilman Robert Bacon said the monthly vote on financing the fourth position gives the cities time to negotiate and save the fire authority. The council had previously said that June was the last month money would be provided. “I’m trying to get the message across that I’m ready to sit down and work it out,” Bacon said.