Excessive Heat Continues For Next 7 Days

 
SATURDAY, JULY 29, 2023 

VOLUME 17 NO. 30VOLUME 17 NO. 30

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SIERRA MADRE NEWS 
THIS WEEK

FIRE DEPARTMENT AND CHIEF GET 
BOOST IN PAY

City and Union reached an agreement for cost-of-living 

increases and incentives.By Kevin McGuire

REMEMBERING

SIERRA MADRE 
ICON 

ROBERT 
HATFIELD

EDITORS NOTE: 

Re: Correction

In last week's print edition 
of the Mountain 
Views News, there was an error in the spelling of Mr. 
Hatfield's name. We have apologized to the Hatfield 
family for this human error. We are reprinting his 
Remembrance in its entirety on page 2. 

Mr. Hatfield was the operator of Arnold's Hardware 
until his retirement in 2003, Mr. Hatfield passed away 
on July 4th.

The Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, July 
29th at 3:00 pm. 

 Location: Claremont Kingdom Hall 
450 West Claremont St. 
Pasadena, CA 91103 
All are welcome to attend! 

A gathering with refreshments will follow from

 5-7:00pm. 

 Casual Attire Welcome 
599 Camillo Rd. Sierra Madre, CA

Again, our sincere apologies.

Susan Henderson, Publisher/Editor

Mountain Views News


City Council, at its' last meeting before 
summer break, approved two resolutions 
adopting the Sierra Madre Professional 
Firefighters Association (SMPFA) Memorandums 
of Understanding (MOU) and approving 
the amending of the Classification 
Plan and Salary Matrix.

 In a presentation on Tuesday, July 
11, 2023, Assistant City Manager Miguel 
Hernandez discussed the results of several 
meetings with SMPFA, including a proposed 
cost-of-living increase, paramedic 
license incentives, and a request to remove 
language to include Fire Captains in the fiscal 
year 2024-25 salary adjustment which 
was previously negotiated. City Council 
adopted this through Resolution 23-53.

 In addition, city staff was seeking approval 
to amend the Classification Plan and 
Salary Matrix to adjust Range 39 to be the 
same as Range 43 and add the creation of 
the part-time Emergency Services Coordinator 
and EMS Coordinator positions. 
City Council passed Resolution 23-54 to 
address these issues.

 The cost-of-living increase will be 
a 20% increase in salary for all association 
members going into effect retroactively 
to June 4, 2023. Sworn personnel 
holding a position of Firefighter/Paramedic 
who currently maintain a valid 
paramedic license shall receive a 15% 
salary adjustment. Sworn personnel 
holding a position ranking higher than 
a firefighter/paramedic (Fire Engineer or 
Fire Captain) who currently maintain a 
valid paramedic license shall receive a 
10% salary adjustment, according to the 
presentation by Hernandez. 

 Hernandez applauded these increases 
stating the city “closed the gap 
considerably” between other area Fire 
Department salaries in the area, such as 
San Marino (within 15%) and South Pasadena 
(within 5%). “It will bring us close 
to market and be competitive as well,” 
Hernandez said. 

 This incentive is set to promote 
retention and provide greater benefit to 
having out-of-rank fire personnel maintain 
their paramedic license and implement 
a value to attract prospective applicants 
when vacancies occur. Hernandez 
stated that these incentives have already 
helped improve morale at the Fire Department 
and helped retain current personnel 
and obtain qualified applications 
for open positions. The proposed paramedic 
incentives will be retroactive to 
July 2, 2023. 

 Lastly, the city staff is recommending 
approving the change in the 
salary range for the Fire Chief position. 
The Fire Chief's salary range is the lowest 
of the Executive Management positions. 
To stay within the market for similar Fire 
Chief positions, it is encouraged to move 
the salary range to match that of the Police 
Chief’s salary range. 

New Positions Filled

Assistant City Manager Hernandez announced 
that the following two part-time 
positions have been filled within the Fire 
Department. 

•Emergency Services Coordinator

The Emergency Services Coordinator will 
be vital to the City and community, ensuring 
the City is better prepared to respond to 
natural, manufactured, and technological 
disasters. In this role, the new Emergency 
Services Coordinator will coordinate the 
plans and operational readiness of the various 
components of the emergency management 
system—fire, police, emergency 
medical services, public works, parks and 
recreation, volunteers, and other groups 
contributing to managing emergencies. 

•EMS Coordinator

The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) 
Coordinator will analyze, plan, design, 
budget, implement, and administer EMS 
programs and other department- and 
community-oriented programs. The coordinator 
researches and analyzes current 
and future medical and EMS issues and 
trends to ensure quality medical services; 
and represents Sierra Madre Fire Department 
(SMFD) at Regional, Statewide, and 
regulatory agency/committee meetings. 
EMS Coordinators accomplish overall 
goals through program management, provider 
and system evaluation, and quality 
assurance. 

 Hernandez also noted that interviews are 
underway to fill the open Assistant Fire 
Chief position, which has been vacant for 
some time. 

 Mayor Pro Tem Kelly Kriebs praised the 
hard work and effort made to complete this 
deal. “I really want to congratulate the city 
and the union for really jumping on this. 
The work done on both sides is really to be 
commended,” she said.

 Mayor Edward Garcia stated how well-deserved 
these incentives are for motivation 
and to keep an experienced staff in place. 
“Public safety is a priority, and we are representatives 
of the public. And, job number 
one is to keep them safe,” Garcia said.

 The Council agreed that this is a good 
deal for the Fire Department but also 
voiced concern over the possibility of budget 
woes in the future. But that discussion 
is for another time, Garcia noted. 

BODY OF MISSING HIKER, 
COLIN WALKER, 53, FOUND


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Sierra Madre Search and 
Rescue announced on 
Facebook earlier this week 
that the body of Collin 
Walker had been found. 
According to various reports, 
Walker was found 
Tuesday night down a ravine 
in the Angeles National 
Forest's Lower Clamshell 
area. 

 “While the outcome of 
the search is not what we 
hoped for, the team never 
wavered in our commitment 
to finding Mr. Walker,” 
reads the post from 
SMSR. 

The search and ultimate 
recovery was a joint operation 
which included 
SMSR, the Pasadena Police 
Department, the LA County 
Sheriff's Department, 
and Los Angeles County 
Fire Air Operations.

Walker was a resident of 
South Pasadena.

“Mr. Walker shared this 
passion for the outdoors, 
and we are deeply saddened 
by his loss,“ the 
SMSR post reads. 

File Photo

SIERRA MADRE PUBLIC

WORKS PROJECTS 
CONTINUE

.......A Word from Director Chris Cimino

Business owners and residents,

 The project is in full swing, the contractor spent the 
week potholing for all existing underground utilities. 
This practice in Public Works construction is to identify 
in advance all buried utilities like the sewer lines, 
gas main, SCE conduits, communication conduits 
(fiber), and irrigation lines.

 The next steps are to survey, locate the new water 
main in the right location and install the tapping 
sleeve on the existing water main on Baldwin Avenue. 
This will be performed beginning next week. Starting 
Wednesday, they will start laying pipe from Baldwin 
towards Hermosa.

 Please continue to observe the detours and parking 
regulations for a safe work area.

Thank you for your patience,

Daniel PettyYvonne Rosas PettyHenry TorresWelcome to the newest members of our Team! 
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