[0:04] I think

[0:05] I mean I definitely used to someone that

[0:07] was around. Yeah. And um false.

[0:11] I think at least the Ravi Hickey days.

[0:13] See that.

[0:14] What was that?

[0:15] >> What? I I don't know what she was

[0:17] saying.

[0:20] » It was maybe.

[0:21] >> I said discard this.

[0:22] >> There's somebody else's in here and I

[0:24] can't

[0:26] So I just I played

[0:29] And then I was then it's false.

[0:32] So maybe you have a chance to

[0:33] >> Well, it's been a long time since I've

[0:35] been up there. I know.

[0:37] >> Good stuff.

[0:39] What would you want to say?

[0:41] >> [laughter]

[0:42] >> Well, thank you.

[0:43] Probably not, but it's cool.

[0:46] >> Call to order the Gridley City Council

[0:48] special City Council meeting

[0:50] to

[0:51] June 18th, 2026 at 2:00.

[0:57] Roll call, please.

[0:59] >> Vice Mayor Johnson.

[0:59] >> Here.

[1:00] >> Mayor Farr.

[1:01] >> Here.

[1:01] >> Council Member Calderon.

[1:02] >> Here.

[1:03] >> Council Member Sanchez and Council

[1:05] Member Roberts both absent.

[1:09] >> Uh community participation forum,

[1:11] members of the public may address City

[1:13] Council on matters not listed on the

[1:15] agenda.

[1:16] City Council may not discuss or act on

[1:19] any community participation item

[1:22] brought forward by a member of the

[1:23] community. All members of the public

[1:26] will be limited to 3 minutes.

[1:29] Uh no consent agenda. I'll move to items

[1:32] of Council consideration.

[1:36] Item number one, 2026-2027

[1:40] quality fire agreement between City of

[1:43] Gridley and Cal Fire.

[1:52] » Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Thank

[1:54] you for taking your time to be today. Uh

[1:58] I [clears throat] apologize that this

[1:59] did not make it onto the last uh

[2:02] council meeting. That was because I had

[2:03] noticed the mistake in the the numbers

[2:05] and wanted to find out exactly why

[2:08] numbers weren't matching up, and so I

[2:10] had to make that uh

[2:11] had to make that correction and

[2:12] determine what the issue was in the uh

[2:14] So, yeah, that that brings us to here,

[2:16] and that's why

[2:17] uh um

[2:18] we asked you to be here today, and so I

[2:20] appreciate you taking time out of your

[2:21] day.

[2:22] So, uh City Gridley is and Cal Fire have

[2:24] maintained a cooperative uh fire

[2:27] agreement since 1991 for all hazard

[2:29] emergency response. The There are

[2:32] numerous benefits uh that maintaining

[2:34] this cooperative agreement. Uh I'll list

[2:37] them briefly here. Being a part of

[2:39] regional fire protection offers depth of

[2:41] resources available to the city. The

[2:43] fire engine is currently county-owned

[2:46] and runs majority of the calls. The

[2:48] county funds the personnel that uh work

[2:50] on the fire engine,

[2:52] >> [clears throat]

[2:52] >> whereas the city uh um

[2:54] funds the personnel on the ladder truck.

[2:56] The county owns fire station. The city

[2:58] benefits in experience uh

[3:00] from experienced chief officers uh 7

[3:03] days a week.

[3:05] And then the city receives fire and EMS

[3:07] dispatching services. Uh state covers

[3:10] unfunded liabilities. The city gains

[3:13] revenue from rentals to the state for

[3:15] wildfires

[3:16] uh totaling $824,000

[3:18] in the last 6 years. Uh contract cost uh

[3:22] versus actual bill has always been less

[3:24] uh than originally agreed upon, uh

[3:26] estimating that we'll get back uh over

[3:29] $80,000 this year. Uh we've averaged

[3:31] $82,000 over the last

[3:34] 5 years. And the city has access to the

[3:36] prevention bureau,

[3:38] uh the shop services, and the volunteer

[3:41] firefighters uh they're part of the

[3:43] county program. Gridley currently funds

[3:45] one uh communication operator that works

[3:48] in the uh emergency dispatch, and then

[3:51] one captain and four and a half

[3:52] engineers. And the uh this new agreement

[3:55] fully funds that fifth engineer.

[3:58] That was partially funded last year, and

[4:01] this will complete funding three full

[4:03] shifts on the ladder truck, which meets

[4:06] the needs of the 66-hour work week that

[4:08] the Cal Fire switched to uh

[4:12] began switching to 2 years ago.

[4:14] Uh so that'll bring us to

[4:16] three three shifts of two people each

[4:19] day on the ladder truck with this

[4:21] agreement being signed.

[4:24] And it brings us closer to meeting

[4:25] industry staffing standards.

[4:27] Uh the existing contract expires June

[4:30] 30th. I'm recommending that the council

[4:32] adopt the updated cooperative fire

[4:34] agreement before you for fiscal year

[4:35] 2026-2027,

[4:37] uh totaling $1,578,875.

[4:42] If you have any questions, I'd be happy

[4:44] to answer.

[4:46] >> Thank you.

[4:47] Uh

[4:48] how many Is this county How many ladder

[4:51] trucks

[4:52] is there

[4:54] I guess to say in Butte County?

[4:56] >> Okay.

[4:57] Uh there so

[4:58] >> That matter with the Cal Fire?

[5:00] >> Or with So we have one under contract

[5:02] with Oroville City. So we have access to

[5:04] that.

[5:06] Uh we currently have our old ladder

[5:08] truck, which will be uh still discussing

[5:12] with them what to do with it.

[5:14] Uh we we can sell it or we can keep it

[5:15] as a reserve. There's also potential of

[5:17] selling it to Oroville City

[5:19] or another municipality nearby. If we

[5:22] sold it to Oroville City or kept it

[5:23] within Butte County, then it would be

[5:25] able to be a reserve here kind of

[5:27] between all the different agencies. So

[5:29] that's something we're looking at. Uh

[5:30] then we have our new ladder truck. So

[5:32] we'll maintain one here, one in Oroville

[5:34] City, and then Chico Fire Department has

[5:36] two that are not uh incorporated into

[5:39] our contract, but uh we can we can

[5:42] get them through mutual aid. And there's

[5:44] this There's a one staffed, one as a reserve, also.

[5:49] So, two two under the Cal Fire umbrella,

[5:52] really one under Chico Fire.

[5:55] That makes sense.

[5:56] >> So, the fire another truck is very

[5:57] essential.

[5:58] >> Yes.

[5:59] >> In this tower.

[5:59] >> Absolutely. Yes, and a lot of people

[6:01] think that like what is, you know, what

[6:03] is a small town need with a ladder

[6:05] truck, but you look at all of our all of

[6:07] our uh agricultural facilities. Like

[6:10] none of those are reachable by ground

[6:11] ladders. Those are Those are uh you

[6:13] know, our ladder reach 105 ft doesn't

[6:15] actually get 105 ft up because it has to

[6:18] have, you know, climbing angle. So, your horizontal reach might only be 70

[6:22] ft, but your vertical reach might

[6:24] actually be 70 ft cuz you have to be

[6:26] back off of the

[6:28] building. So, yeah, there's there's tons

[6:31] of application for a ladder truck. It is

[6:33] very essential.

[6:34] >> So, I guess

[6:35] you know, how a lifeline works and is

[6:38] very being very essential

[6:40] uh and and Gridley is paying for that.

[6:42] >> Right. Right.

[6:43] >> Do we get compensated for use of that?

[6:47] For example.

[6:48] >> There is There's no exchange of money

[6:50] between the city of Gridley and the um

[6:53] and the county

[6:55] on resources moving between the two

[6:57] because it's a it's a give and take. So,

[7:00] if you have a commercial structure fire

[7:02] here, let's just say

[7:03] uh

[7:04] 110 or 215 or 281, right? You're

[7:06] If If this county were to start billing

[7:10] the city for all of those, you might get

[7:12] 15 resources there and you wouldn't want

[7:15] to obviously the city wouldn't want to

[7:16] pay for that, whereas the ladder truck

[7:19] going to another municipality

[7:22] uh

[7:23] they're not going to you know, it

[7:25] wouldn't be fair to bill there, either.

[7:27] So, so you do have a very specialized

[7:28] piece of equipment, but also you're the

[7:31] city is receiving a lot of other

[7:33] resources from the county, from bigs, uh

[7:37] you know,

[7:38] >> Yeah, I'm I'm just trying to figure out

[7:39] how we can

[7:41] squeeze a little bit more out of this

[7:43] contract. Uh But that's obviously not

[7:46] how it works.

[7:47] >> On the state side of things, by by you

[7:50] have a city having a contract with Cal

[7:53] Fire,

[7:54] we can specifically target the the

[7:57] municipalities [clears throat]

[7:58] within our umbrella to hire. So, we have

[8:01] a a city bought a Type 3 fire engine,

[8:03] which is essentially like a uh

[8:06] brush rig, you know. Uh and so, the city

[8:09] owns that, and the state we specifically

[8:12] try to rent that from the city, and

[8:16] that's a that's a big money maker.

[8:17] That's That's where that $824,000,

[8:20] that's where that comes from.

[8:21] >> So, just back down to that, but just just uh normal everyday use, there

[8:27] isn't a

[8:32] um

[8:36] » You know what I'm going to go with.

[8:37] Yeah, there there's no financial benefit

[8:40] to to having it.

[8:41] Um there there could be a slight

[8:43] possibility that if Yuba City or

[8:45] Marysville or something had a fire

[8:46] engine,

[8:47] uh they would

[8:50] you could bill them, but I think in

[8:52] general we try not to bill each other

[8:53] because at some point you might ask for

[8:55] one of their ladder trucks to come

[8:56] assist one of our fires.

[8:57] >> state The state wouldn't consider

[9:01] um

[9:03] or Cal Fire wouldn't consider

[9:06] a maybe reduction in

[9:08] >> [laughter]

[9:08] >> in the Oh, I have a question. No, the um

[9:12] No, the benefit rate and the the the

[9:14] rate that we bill, that's based on all the different

[9:19] bargaining units and how they have set

[9:20] everything up. So, it's

[9:22] um yeah, that fluctuates every year, and

[9:24] that's kind of what dictates our

[9:25] contract cost. Uh

[9:27] you know, so I I I feel like

[9:31] City of Gridley's getting, you know,

[9:33] you're getting a very reasonable deal

[9:35] because

[9:36] uh this the fire engine, which is funded

[9:39] by the county it is running about

[9:42] probably 70 to 80% of the the call

[9:44] volume here in the city. The city runs

[9:46] more calls than the county out of out of

[9:47] it as far as the station is concerned.

[9:49] So so the wear and tear for to a large

[9:51] degree is on a county piece of equipment

[9:53] that's operated by personnel paid for by

[9:55] Butte County and then the city provides

[9:57] that ladder truck which is is very

[9:59] specialized but used much less.

[10:02] >> And is there a cost is there more of a

[10:04] cost personnel to run a ladder truck

[10:06] than it would be a conventional vehicle?

[10:10] >> The personnel or the the personnel cost

[10:12] is the same. The equipment is uh

[10:17] There's some specialized equipment

[10:18] that's also expensive but we the new

[10:20] ladder truck does not have uh

[10:23] you know uh

[10:25] you know as you know that the apparatus

[10:27] is very expensive and so we we tried to

[10:29] reuse a lot of the equipment from the

[10:30] old ladder truck and so we did not have

[10:33] a whole lot of equipment costs uh

[10:35] comparatively to if we bought everything

[10:37] new. So

[10:38] uh there is there would be those

[10:40] expenses but we tried to cut those as

[10:42] much as possible to save the city money.

[10:44] >> Yeah.

[10:46] Go ahead.

[10:48] >> Just a comment and

[10:50] uh

[10:51] I appreciate the fire department not

[10:53] only not only we're used to get

[10:55] experience practical experience

[10:58] I know a few kids and last one I know

[11:00] that I know

[11:02] uh

[11:03] volunteer for the fire department and

[11:05] this uh Sam Sam

[11:07] uh

[11:08] he learned a lot in Downey.

[11:10] >> [clears throat]

[11:10] >> Uh that is really a lot

[11:15] more is more

[11:17] I would say however this

[11:19] the money justifies it.

[11:21] So

[11:23] I'm glad and I hope you continue to

[11:25] provide this kind of services to Downey.

[11:28] >> Question though.

[11:31] » I had uh number one day yeah. uh

[11:35] the maintenance on the fire trucks and

[11:37] all that's all covered by the county.

[11:40] >> No, the ladder truck is fully funded by

[11:42] the city. When it goes to our shop,

[11:45] that's where you benefit on our shop as

[11:47] they they can do a lot of diagnosing and

[11:49] not bill the city.

[11:52] Uh

[11:52] so they can go over there or we have

[11:55] some like aerial specialists that can

[11:57] look at it. They they don't necessarily

[11:59] have the capacity to

[12:01] do all the work but they can do some

[12:03] diagnosing if it's something just basic

[12:05] mechanical related with motor or the

[12:08] uh chassis or something, they can make

[12:09] those those repairs and and not

[12:11] necessarily bill the city.

[12:13] Uh but if it were to get sent to a

[12:15] specialized shop like a firm truck or uh

[12:19] another large shop within the city, we'd

[12:21] have to pay for that. But we anticipate

[12:23] with the new purchase of the new ladder

[12:26] truck, the old one's 19 years old and so

[12:31] those maintenance costs were starting to accumulate and starting to

[12:35] have more issues with it. It actually

[12:36] went out of service

[12:38] last week. Uh the aerial uh

[12:43] the aerial wasn't functioning anymore so

[12:45] it had to put [clears throat] one of the

[12:47] rams had to be replaced so

[12:49] uh yeah, so those are starting to add up

[12:51] and so obviously if we're not running an

[12:53] old ladder truck anymore all the time,

[12:55] we're

[12:55] running something newer, we anticipate

[12:57] that the the maintenance costs are going

[12:59] to go down on the new ladder truck.

[13:03] » I I'm not sure if my numbers are right.

[13:06] >> I think uh

[13:08] last year your budget was somewhere

[13:09] around 1.2 million.

[13:13] >> Uh for the 1.

[13:15] for the contract itself?

[13:17] >> Yeah.

[13:17] >> Our

[13:19] total last year was 1 uh 1.42.

[13:24] The 1 million 427.

[13:27] >> What is it for year?

[13:29] >> 1,578,000

[13:32] So that's the number

[13:34] the

[13:36] rate didn't really go up

[13:38] much at all. The this is just us

[13:41] finishing what we what my understanding

[13:43] is with

[13:45] Chief Fowler, the agreement to start

[13:47] working toward filling that third shift

[13:50] for the 66-hour work week. This is just

[13:53] finishing paying for a position that we

[13:55] partially funded last year.

[13:56] >> That's what the increase of purchase

[13:58] amount too.

[13:59] >> Correct.

[14:01] >> Okay.

[14:02] That's what I was wondering, what caused

[14:03] that

[14:04] increase to come up. I forgot about

[14:05] that.

[14:07] 66-hour

[14:08] >> Yeah. I I would expect, you know, every

[14:10] year, just like everything, things are

[14:11] going to go up, but that's why this is more this year is

[14:15] because we're we're sticking with the

[14:18] plan to increase that

[14:20] position.

[14:23] >> So kind of everything is doubled since I

[14:25] first sat in this chair.

[14:27] Literally.

[14:29] >> [laughter]

[14:32] » Any other questions from council?

[14:34] >> No, sir.

[14:37] » Thank you.

[14:38] >> [clears throat]

[14:39] >> Yes.

[14:43] Hey, administrator, [clears throat] did

[14:44] you have anything to add?

[14:46] >> Yeah, um I wanted to mention um in the

[14:48] staff report, we we do have some um

[14:51] fiscal impact um

[14:54] information that we placed there, just

[14:56] um notifying and and letting for the

[14:59] record know that we are um as a city

[15:03] um ensuring and trying to ensure that we

[15:05] are continuing to look for funding

[15:07] sources for uh fire fire services and

[15:11] police services. Uh we did apply for

[15:13] safer grants. We did not we're not

[15:15] successful um this year, but we're going

[15:18] to continue to go after the the safer grants to assist with uh fire

[15:24] and police protection services.

[15:27] So, we're taking a few We're also

[15:29] reviewing um

[15:31] also what areas we could potentially

[15:34] this year we cut back a lot in the

[15:36] general fund and so

[15:38] we were successful in bringing forward a

[15:39] budget that was not at at a negative

[15:42] we're in the red on anything. So,

[15:44] but moving forward because we were

[15:47] mentioned that trajectory of this

[15:48] general fund we need to ensure that

[15:50] we're being proactive

[15:52] in monitoring that.

[15:55] >> City of Gridley definitely needs a good

[15:57] fire department. I feel like we do have

[15:58] a good fire department.

[16:00] We appreciate all your efforts.

[16:02] >> Thank you.

[16:03] >> Yeah.

[16:06] » We don't pay more than anything.

[16:10] Is there any talk about

[16:13] It's an action item.

[16:14] >> Yes.

[16:17] » I'll make a motion to accept the uh

[16:22] I'm glad we finally got between City of

[16:24] Gridley and Cal Fire. A motion to

[16:26] approve resolution 2026-R-023.

[16:32] » I'll second.

[16:33] >> Roll call, please.

[16:35] >> Councilmember Cabrera?

[16:36] >> Yes.

[16:37] >> Mayor Farr?

[16:38] >> Yes.

[16:39] >> Uh Vice Mayor Johnson?

[16:40] >> Yes.

[16:43] » If there's

[16:44] nothing else

2026.06.18 Special City Council Meeting

Transcript