The City has struggled with structural budget deficits for many years due primarily to sharply rising costs associated with its contracts with the County of Riverside for police and fire services. Revenue generated by property taxes, sales tax, and the utility users’ tax have become insufficient to cover skyrocketing public safety costs. The City Council and City staff have explored numerous alternatives for providing quality public safety services at a cost that is sustainable for the City, including contracting with another agency other than the County, forming a fire department under a joint powers authority (JPA) with neighboring cities, closing Station 60 and paying a reduced fee to be serviced by fire stations located in surrounding jurisdictions, and starting a municipal fire department.
After receiving a Feasibility Analysis from Emergency Services Consulting International (ESCI) for the start-up and ongoing operation of a City of Canyon Lake Fire Department, the City Council determined it would be in the public’s best interest to establish a municipal fire department, owned and operated by the City of Canyon Lake. On November 4, 2020, the City Council further directed the City Manager to establish a municipal fire department that would take over services from the County of Riverside on January 1, 2022.
The purposes and intent of this chapter are to establish in the manner provided by State law a municipal fire department, to outline the organizations of ranking and non-ranking positions within that fire department and to clarify the powers and duties of the Fire Chief.
The further purpose of this chapter is to best protect the health, safety, and welfare of those who live, visit, work, and invest in the City and to provide the maximum legal protection available to the Fire Chief and firefighters.
This chapter is enacted pursuant to California Government Code Sections 38600-38611.
(Ord. 161, passed 6-24-2015; Am. Ord. 162, passed 7-1-2015; Am. Ord. 212, passed 10-6-2021)