WESTMINSTER : Council to Consider Firefighting Changes

The City Council today will consider whether to place a proposal to contract for fire services from the Orange County Fire Department on the November ballot.

Councilman Craig Schweisinger is leading the move to let voters decide whether the city should continue to maintain its own Fire Department. Schweisinger said that preliminary studies have indicated that the city could save about $2 million a year by contracting with the county.

For fiscal 1994-95, the Fire Department, which currently has 65 employees, has a budget of $7 million. Five firefighter-paramedics are expected to be hired this month.

An assistant fire chief and two division chiefs also are expected to be appointed next month to complete a reorganization of its management team, officials said.

“People who have supported us during the recall election want us to consider transferring fire services to the county,” Schweisinger said.

Schweisinger, Mayor Charles V. Smith and council members Tony Lam and Charmayne S. Bohman survived a recall drive spearheaded by the Westminster Firefighters Assn. stemming from last year’s cuts in the Fire Department budget.

The council may consider other options to save money, Schweisinger said. Among the proposals are privatizing fire services, combining fire protection services with another city or cities, or continuing the efforts to streamline operations at the Fire Department, he said.

A citizens’ panel appointed by the council is studying the proposal to contract with the county, Schweisinger said. Last year, the Finance Review Committee recommended more than $1 million in cuts in the Fire Department budget. That triggered the recall drive.