California city contracts for all services
Many cities across the country are outsourcing services — such as public works, police and fire — to companies and neighboring governments, but Maywood, Calif., has taken outsourcing to a new extreme. On June 30, the day its liability insurance was scheduled to be cancelled, the city fired all of its full-time employees and now will contract out all of its municipal duties.
The city’s workers compensation and commercial insurance carrier, the LaPalma, Calif.-based Joint Powers Insurance Authority, terminated Maywood’s coverage because of its claims history over the last five years as reflected in 2005-2010 Loss Summary Statements, the city says in a statement on its website. “As a result, the City of Maywood will be unable to administer a traditional staff,” the statement reads. Shrinking grants and funding from both the state and the federal government also played a role in the decision, the statement says.
However, in the statement, Mayor Ana Rosa Rizo sought to reassure Maywood residents that they would not experience a loss of service as a result of the decision. “Our community will continue to receive quality services,” Rizo says in the statement. “Maywood’s streets will continue to be swept, our summer park programs will continue to operate, and our waste will be collected and hauled as scheduled. Further, the community will be protected and patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.”
Read the entire statement from Maywood officials on the decision to outsource all city services.
