Northwest Gilroy's Sunrise Fire Station will only be open three days in the next six weeks, according to the city.
As a result of these scheduled "brownouts" at the station, City Council members voted unanimously Monday to ask the fire union to reopen negotiations about temporarily decreasing staffing ratios at Gilroy's other two stations, thereby helping to keep the Sunrise open.
"I think it's a good idea," Councilman Perry Woodward said during the discussion. "Things out there have changed. Maybe it's time to reintroduce that issue.
Councilman Craig Gartman brought up the idea after receiving a slew of e-mails about the brownouts from concerned residents. He proposed an agreement that would last through the end of 2010 only when needed to keep Sunrise open.
"It seemed like we were all striving for the same thing, but we were taking completely different political and emotional roads to that end," Councilman Craig Gartman said of the city and the firefighters union.
Sunrise Fire Station, 880 Sunrise Drive, began experiencing brownout days Nov. 1 as the result of an agreement between the city and the union. Sunrise had previously become a two-person medical response unit at most times and occasionally a three-person station after the city laid off four firefighters and eliminated two vacant firefighter positions late last year. After that, the city and fire union reached a "concession agreement" this spring in which they agreed on further personnel costs including furloughs. Cost-cutting measures within that agreement included occasional brownouts at the Sunrise station.
Union members have said in the past that they did not approve the brownouts - they merely recognized that the city had the right to close the station at times in accordance with prior city agreements.
But most council members said before Monday's meeting that the union has not budged on negotiating staffing ratios, which in turn led to the brownouts.
"I want to make sure that the public understands that we tried this before," Mayor Al Pinheiro said during the meeting.
Union officials have maintained that four firefighters per engine is a safety issue, while city officials say that Gilroy and San Jose are the only cities in the county that use that ratio.
"We're a small town," Councilwoman Cat Tucker said Monday afternoon. "We can't afford to have four (firefighters) on an engine."
Gartman's proposal specifically would allow a truck/ladder, a task force and Wildland Type 3 vehicle to operate with only a captain, engineer and firefighter when there are planned or unplanned vacancies.
No one from the fire department, fire union or the public spoke on the matter during Monday's council meeting.
However, Jim Buessing, secretary and treasurer of Local 2805, said before the meeting that the union is already in a closed contract with the city and already has made concessions including layoffs.
"Only this local is being asked for more concessions," Buessing said.
He said he could not comment further on the matter without actually seeing a proposal, though he has said the union is always willing to talk with the city.
In the meantime, Sunrise will remain closed most days through the end of this year. The station will only be open one more day this month and two days for all of next month. In addition, Sunrise will be closed seven of the first nine days of January.
"For all purposes, we're essentially going to have Sunrise closed for the month of December," Gartman said.
Jonathan Partridge Jonathan Partridge covers City Hall for The Dispatch. Reach him at 847-7109 or e-mail him at jpartridge@svnewspapers.com.
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