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# Council steps up to provide new ladder truck for SMFD
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/council-steps-up-to-provide-new-ladder-truck-for-smfd/
- Published: 2005-02-22T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T06:09:17.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Government & Politics, Downtown, #archive-import

*City coughing up more for downtown designs*

*By KIM CALVERT Special to the Daily Press*

(Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city’s expenditures which appear on the upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agenda. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the city council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past.) COUNCIL CHAMBERS — Elected officials are expected to spend more than $2.5 million tonight — with almost $800,000 of that earmarked for the emergency purchase of a ladder truck for the Santa Monica Fire Department.

The remaining funding will go to city employees’ renegotiated labor contracts, consultant services for the redevelopment of Santa Monica Place and the downtown area, as well as studying urban development’s effect on child care access.

The fire department’s new 100-foot tractor-drawn aerial ladder truck became a priority last month when one of the department’s two ladder trucks failed to pass a regularly scheduled inspection and certification test. The decertification left the fire department with just one truck capable of performing certain necessary types of firefighting efforts, such as rescues in multi-storied buildings, according to city staff.

The failed truck, manufactured in 1986, can’t be repaired in a cost-effective manner, according to the fire department. Although such expenditures usually require competitive bidding, City Hall can waive bidding when a purchase is an urgent necessity for the preservation of life, health or property, according to city staff.

Tonight’s largest expense — at more than $1 million — will go towards covering the costs associated with a new one-year contract with the Municipal Employees Association, one of nine unions in City Hall that represents non-sworn personnel. Included in that amount is a cost-of-living increase of 2.4 percent for the fiscal year 2005-06\. The city also will increase life insurance coverage for MEA members from $10,000 to $50,000 per employee, according to city documents.

Santa Monica Firefighters Local 1109 will receive a new contract as well. The new agreement provides cost-of-living increases, an increase to the educational incentive bonus for degrees obtained from an accredited college or university and the establishment of Urban Search and Rescue, which specializes in locating, rescue and medical stabilization of victims trapped in confined spaces. The total cost for the one-year contract is $261,400, retroactive for the fiscal year 2004-05.

The third labor contract renewal goes to Management Team Associates employees. The agreement calls for a 2.4 percent cost-of-living increase, bringing the total cost in fiscal year 2004-05 to $111,500.

Continuing with plans to redevelop Santa Monica Place, the City Council is expected to approve between $150,000 and $250,000 to fund contracts with two different consulting firms. Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc. will help design and create an outreach program that focuses on communication with the community. Keyser Marston Associates, Inc. will provide fiscal impact studies. The actual amount spent will be finalized once the scope of the public outreach work is determined and when there is a better understanding of what is needed to complete the economic analysis, according to city staff.

City Hall also is modifying its contract with ROMA Design Group to cover additional services ROMA provided to the city’s new downtown design. The original contract was not to exceed $150,000, but because the scope of the work expanded, City Hall is adding $45,000 for additional services.

City Hall is also expected to amend an existing contract with Keyser Marston, providing an additional $18,000 to complete a study that now will cost $113,000\. KMA is researching the relationship between urban development in Santa Monica and access to child care. Santa Monica’s Child Care Master Plan of 2000 noted a critical shortage of available child care in the city. The report cited the increase in new commercial development as a possible reason because non-residents may be using most of the child care resources.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 22, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/022205.pdf?ref=smdp.com)