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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 07281987 - FC.3 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FROM: Finance Committee, Supervisor Robert Schroder t and Supervisor Tom Powers (JoJICI DATE: July 23 , 1987 . @COJ* SUBJECT: East County Fire District Salary, Staffing and Related Issues SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) 8e BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION 1. Make a permanent appointment to the position of Chief of the East Diablo .Fire District. 2. If the Board desires increased administrative support for County 'Fire Protection Districts, AUTHORIZE such support by a combination of the assignment of additional County Administrator' s Office staff time and increased assistance from fire district financing consultant, both of which to be financed by the Special District Augmentation Fund. 3. AUTHORIZE discussions with the Tassajara, San Ramon Valley and East Diablo Fire Protection Districts, regarding a possible merger of the Tassajara District with San Ramon Valley and/or East Diablo. BACKGROUND/REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS: This referral to the Finance Committee began as a referral 'from the Board of Supervisors at the request of Supervisor Tom Torlakson, which had to do with salary disparity of the East County volunteer district chiefs. The initial issue of the salary disparity- was referred to the County Personnel Department for review and recommendation regarding the salary disparity question. As the Personnel Department conducted its review of the salary issue and other related issues, the study expanded to .include the above discussed related issues of the appointment of the. East Diablo Fire Chief, the need for additional administrative support for the fire districts, and the potential consolidation of the Tassajara Fire District with one or more fire districts. At the request of Supervisor Torlakson and the County Administrator, Harry Cisterman, Personnel Director, and Don Skinner, the then Acting Chief of the East Diablo Fire District, met with the chiefs and commissions of 'the Bethel Island, Byron, East Diablo and Oakley Fire Districts to gather information regarding the East County fire district issues. As a result of those meetings and discussions with Supervisor Torlakson, the County Administrator' s Office and the fire district consultant, the above recommendations were developed. Presented below is a discussion of the background of each recommendation: CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: S SIGNATURE: - RECOMMENDATION OF N ADMINISTRATOR. RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE S : ` ACTION OF BOARD N July 28 1987 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER X AUTHORIZED permanent appointment to the position of Chief of the East Diablo Fire Protection District; and AUTHORIZED increased administrative support for County Fire Districts by a combination of additional .County Administrator's Office staff time and increased assistance from fire district financing consultant, both to be financed by the Special District Augmentation Fund. VOTE OF SUPERVISORS 1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS (ABSENT 1 AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. . cc: County Administrator' s Office, ATTESTED 987- Personnel Department, PHIL BATCH LOR, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF East Diablo',, - SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR - = BY 'DEPUTY M382/7-83 Board of Supervisors -2- July 23, 1987 1. Appointment of Chief of the East Diablo Fire Protection District Paul Hein has been acting as Chief ,of the E'ast Diablo Fire District since the Board of Supervisors terminated recruitment activities to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Ray Morgan. The Board decided not to make the appointment because of questions regarding the salary level and responsibilities of the position. Supervisor Torlakson proposed that rather than filling the existing position at its then current salary level, consideration should be given to the potential of broadening the responsibilities of the East ,Diablo Chief to include administration, training and other duties for the other east county volunteer districts. Accordingly, the issue of a 11'Super Chief" was referred to Harry Cisterman and Don Skinner for inclusion in their review of salaries and other volunteer district matters. Based on * discussions with the commissions of the volunteer districts and subsequent discussions between Supervisor Torlakson, . Harry Cisterman, Don Skinner the County Administrator' s office And the County fire district financing consultant, it was decided that the salary of the East Diablo Chief should be reduced to an amount that is more in ' line with other volunteer salaries and that the duties .,should not be expanded to include responsibilities for activities in other volunteer districts but that the fire districts in general be provided additional assistance by the County Administrator. On the basis of discussions be.tween . Supervisor Torlakson, the East Diablo Fire Commission and Harry Cisterman, it was agreed to recommend that the Board of Supervisors make a permanent appointment to Chief of the East Diablo Fire ProtectionDistrict Chief position. 2. Increased Administrative Support for All County Fire Protection Districts As discussed in Number* 1 above, there was an initial proposal that the duties of- the East Di'ablo Fire Chief be broadened to include certain administrative and training responsibilities for the other east county volunteer districts. However, it was later decided that if additional support is desired by the Board, a preferable Alternative would be for additional staff support to be provided by the County Administrator' s Office. It is suggested that the proposed additional staff support be provided by increasing the fractional position currently assigned to the fire districts to full time with periodic assistance from the County' s fire district financing consultant. The time demands of the special district assignments, especially in the case of the fire districts, have increased to the point that lower priority fire issues have not received an appropriate level of attention. It .is anticipated that the additional time spent on special district matters would allow for the provision of an adequate level of ' support to the fire districts. Additionally, the assistance of the County' s fire district financing consultant on an intermittent basis to deal with special projects will assure a consistent level of service to , the- districts. The increased support would be funded out of the Special District Augmentation Fund. 3. Consolidation of the Tassajara Fire District with San Ramon Valley and/or East Diablo Fire Districts The East County Fire Issue Study Team came to the con'clusion that consideration should be given to some kind of reorganization with respect to the Tassajara Fire District. The Tassajara Fire District is a small ..district which serves a relatively low number of households. Because of the low number of developed properties- within the district,' the property tax revenues have not been adequate to provide funds for the district for facilities and equipment. Due to the low call volume experienced in the district, the district has not been able to justify allocations of Special District Augmentation Funds to purchase needed emergency response Board of Supervisors -3 July 23 , 1987 apparatus. The geographic area of . the district has .decreased due to annexations to the City of San Ramon, which involve . concurrent annexations to the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District. Accordingly, the potential for growth in the Tassajara District is minimal because new development that would result in increased proPerty tax revenues is typically annexed to the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District. It appears that the position, of the Tassajara District is one of static property tax revenues, declining geographic territory, ' increasingly inadequate equipment and apparatus, and questionable. future viability. On July 20 , 1987, the County Administrator reported to the Finance Committee on the above issues. The Administrator' s report also recommended the approval of job specifications for Volunteer Fire District Chief and Assistant Chief positions, and the adoption of a resolution establishing a policy on setting pay rates in the volunteer districts. Presented below is a discussion of these two issues: Volunteer Fire District Specifications The Personnel Department has developed job specifications for Volunteer Fire District Chief and Assistant Chief positions that differentiate between districts that are staffed with full time, i.e. , personnel that work a specified number of hours. per week and part time staff that do not work a required number of hours per week. The two separate sets of specifications provide the basis for setting pay rates as discussed below. . Resolution Setting Salary Levels and Establishing Policy for Pay Rates for Volunteer Districts Although the study began in relation to East County fire chiefs, it was deemed desirable and appropriate to include, all six of the volunteer districts . in the study. Accordingly, the. proposed resolution prepared by the Personnel Department deals with the salary structure and salary setting policy for all six volunteer districts. The resolution sets current salary levels . for Chief and Assistant Chief positions in East Diablo and Bethel Island., which are full-time, by defining the existing parity relations of these positions to their counterpart classified County jobs. These two districts have fora number of years tied the salaries of full-time employees to County classifications including Firefighter, Senior Firefighter and Fire Captain. The proposed resolution recognizes this practice and will result in no change for any full-time positions except the East Diablo Fire Chief. The East Diablo .Chief- position was equivalent to that of a County Group II Chief at the time it was vacated by the death of Ray Morgan. It is proposed that the salary level be reduced from its present range of $4,780 - $5,810 and tied to the level of County Fire Captain plus 140 levels ( $3 ,413 - $4,148) effective July 1, 1987. The current acting incumbent receives the June 30, 1987 top stop of County Fire Captain ( $3 , 535) . With respect to the four volunteer districts, the resolution establishes a dual-range extended salary schedule which provides for some flexibility in Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief compensation among the districts. This flexibility considers, differences related to organizational structure, population, geographic configuration, assessed .valuation and philosophy and requirements of the District Commissions regarding responsibilities of the Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief. The resolution also contains guidelines and criteria for compensation of all volunteer fire district positions which parallel salary allocation factors applicable to the classified service. These factors include, but are not limited to education and training requirements, level of responsibility and authority, relative hours required or spent performing assigned duties, relationship to similar positions. in other districts, amount of supervision given or received, consequence of error and technical expertise required. Board of Supervisors -4 July 23 , 1987 It was agreed that the proposed job specifications and salary policy be presented to the volunteer fire district commissions for review and approval prior to submission to the Board of Supervisors for adoption. County Administrator' s Office and Personnel Department staff will meet with the commissions to seek approval of the job specifications and salary policy. County staff will also review with the commissions any. proposed salary adjustments for recommendation to the Board.