Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 24, 2012 at 8:39 am

I agree with Peter.

Fire Depts. should be county wide (or at least North Santa Clara County). So should the police department and library services. Probably a lot more too, but then I am not an expert on how to run a cost effective city budget - just use my common sense.

Posted by curmudgeon, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Jul 24, 2012 at 9:13 am

[Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 25, 2012 at 8:45 am

It is not a dumb move. Dennis Burns is working 15 hour days and coming in to work on his days off just to keep up with all that has to be done to manage both the Fire Department and the Police Department. Yes, he's the highest paid City employee but I think he'd rather spend more time with his family, and just be Police Chief at a reduced salary.

Taking on the position as Fire Chief as well as Police Chief was supposed to be a short term temporary move until a replacement Fire Chief was found, Dannis Burns has been doing both jobs now for two years.

Posted by Peter Carpenter, a resident of Atherton, on Jul 25, 2012 at 8:52 am
Peter Carpenter is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

The issue is not Dennis Burns but the dumb decision by the city to turn its back on millions of dollars a year that could be saved by fire and emergency services consolidation. Once the city hires a new fire chief any thoughts of consolidation will be off the table for years.

Posted by Jake, a resident of another community, on Jul 25, 2012 at 7:15 pm

City Manager is doing the same old trick, They just made OES Manager who of course has assistants. Then police chief is made emergency services manager. So now there will be police chief and new fire chief under emergency services manager. And the OES manager is completely outside police and fire/ems.

More managers and less sworn people on the street.

Posted by Sharon, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jul 25, 2012 at 9:33 pm

Look at the facts

The number of residential fires has decreased dramatically

The numbers of fire department employees has increased dramatically

It is a scam--what do all those idle fire employees do with their increasingly idle time?

We can understand having teams of EMTs but we do not need so many firemen-

as Carpenter suggests we need to drastically cut and consolidate the the fire workforce-

- because they add no value

Posted by Whats going on, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jul 26, 2012 at 10:33 am

As Jake says, City Manager is doing the same old trick, They just made OES Manager who of course has assistants. Then police chief is made emergency services manager. So now there will be police chief and new fire chief under emergency services manager. And the OES manager is completely outside police and fire/ems.

And several new managers in the Development Center. And Sustainability manager.

The City Manager is padding his staff and supporters, and the cost is HUGE.

Something bad is going on. City Council needs to wake up.

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 26, 2012 at 11:22 am

As the saying goes "too many chiefs and not enough indians".

Posted by George, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Aug 3, 2012 at 2:06 am

@Resident.

You almost have it right, "too many chiefs and not enough engines."