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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 09141993 - 2.A Contra TO: BOARD .OF SUPERVISORS . Costa n: 3 FROM: PHIL BATCHELOR ...... ,� . County Administrator ..a VA'", County DATE: September 14, 1993 SUBJECT: STATUS OF FIRE DISTRICT FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION AND PRELIMINARY APPLICATION AND CONSOLIDATION PROCESS Specific Request (s) or Recommendation(s) & Background & Justification RECOMMENDATIONS• 1. Accept report from County Administrator on status of the functional integration of the Fire Prevention Bureau activities, purchasing and "training and the development of consolidation procedures and revised options. 2 . Acknowledge the progress made in the functional integration of various activities within the five merit system districts . 3 . Determine the specific fire districts to be included in any proposed consolidations) as outlined in this report and direct the County Administrator to prepare draft Local Agency Formation Commission application (s) and circulate to all interested parties for review and comment prior to the November 1993 election. 4 . Consider final action on fire district reorganization after the impacts of the State budget and related trailer bills are finalized and the results of the consolidation advisory elections are known. REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION/BACKGROUND: On August 3 , 1993� the County Administrator provided the Board of Supervisors with a report on options for consolidating County-governed fire districts. Continued on Attachment: X YES Signature: — Recommendation of County Administrator Recommendation of Board Committee Approve Other Signature(a) Action of Board on: 9 Approved as Recommended-- -Other- The Board heard testimony from Sue Noe from the City of Moraga, William Gross from the Orinda Fire Protection District, and Mike Price, Firefighters Union 1230. The Board APPROVED the above recommendations including approval of Revised Consolidation Option C as amended to include a proposed plan for Board consideration on October 26, 1993, setting forth the procedure, standards, and criteria to be utilized as to how the volunteer fire districts would be brought into paid status; and REQUESTED staff to review the concerns of the speakers and Board members on this matter. Vote of Supervisors: I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN --�- Unanimous (Absent ) AND ENTERED ON .THE MINUTES OF THE , Ayes: Noes: ) BOARD OF SUPERVI "SORS ON DATE SHOWN. Contact: T. McGraw (646-4855) Attested: �` 7 9.3 cc: County Administrator Phil Batchelor, Clerk of Auditor-Controller the Board of Supervisors County Counsel and County Administrator County and Indep. Fire Districts /, United Professional By: ---J� DEPUTY Firefighters Local 1230 Dale Robbins, Teamsters Local 315 P.O.Box 3010, Martinez, CA 94553 The Board of Supervisors discussed these matters at length as well as the issue of advisory ballot measures regarding consolidation. The Board directed that the question of consolidation be placed before the voters of the Bethel Island, East Diablo, Kensington, Oakley and Riverview ._Fire Districts for the November 1993 election. The Board directed the County Administrator to prepare preliminary documents and information that will be required for an application to the Local Agency Formation Commission for consolidation. The Board also directed the County Administrator to report to the Board on September 14, 1993 on the implementation of functional integration of the Fire Prevention Bureau activities. Status Reports on Board of Supervisors Referrals Functional Integration: Fire Prevention Bureau (FPB) The functional integration plan approved by the Board on July 13, 1993 provided for the integration of Engineering Services (plan review) , Public Education, Exterior Fire Hazard Control (weed abatement) , Fire Investigation and Code Enforcement . The integration plan proposed the reduction of nine positions . Since the management of the merit system districts was integrated in April 1993, Chief Little and his staff have been working on the implementation of the integration of the FPB activities. As of this date, most of the FPB activities have been substantially integrated. The status of the various FPB functions is summarized below: ♦ Engineering Service (plan review) As of September 1, 1993 all land development reviews and building plan reviews within the unincorporated areas of the County will be performed at the County Applications and Permit Center (APC) in Martinez . The APC will also perform all plan reviews for the Cities of Clayton, Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda. Field inspections of new construction will be performed in three regional offices : Riverview Fire for East County, Contra Costa County Fire for Central County and the West County Fire area and Orinda Fire for the Lamorinda area. ♦ Public Education Contra Costa County Fire is assisting West County, Orinda and Moraga with fire and burn prevention education. Riverview Fire continues to provide this service to all east county. ♦ Exterior Hazard Control (weed abatement) Riverview and Contra Costa County Fire (including West County Fire) are conducting the weed abatement program under contracts which expire this year. The Bureau plans to develop a single contract proposal to cover the territory of all fire districts after the current contracts expire. Contra Costa County Fire has had a program of utilizing station personnel in conjunction with FPB staff to perform the inspection tasks of the weed abatement program. -This past year this program was implemented in both Orinda and West County Fire. Prior to the next weed abatement season, plans will be developed to implement the total integration of this program. 2 ♦ Fire Investigation Beginning September 1, 1993, all five fire districts are being served by an integrated team of fire/arson investigators. This has resulted in the provision of 24-hour investigative service for ail .five districts. Prior to that date, 24-hour arson coverage- was only available in Contra Costa County and Riverview Fire. ♦ Code Enforcement Riverview and Contra Costa County Fire have had similar code enforcement programs for a number of years. The programs consist of developing an inventory of businesses and structures that require periodic inspection. Once categorized, buildings are inspected by fire inspectors or, in many cases, engine company personnel . This practice more fully utilizes engine company personnel and reduces the number of fire inspectors required. Since the districts were functionally integrated, fire administration has been implementing a similar program in West County Fire. Moraga, Orinda and the east county volunteer districts will be fully integrated by January 1, 1994 . In January 1993 , the Board of Supervisors approved a single fee ordinance for inspections in all fire districts . In addition to proposing the combination of like functions, the report on functional integration identified the reduction of nine positions . Through retirements and a transfer, fire prevention staffing has been reduced by five positions . With a current personnel reduction of 14% since January and with additional vacancies anticipated, the districts are well on their way to "right-sizing" through attrition. Purchasing The districts, supply procurement programs are being integrated with an expected effective date of October 1, 1993 . This will result in the standardization of supply items with an estimated savings of 10 to 15 ,percent . The bidding process for the required annual underground fuel tank testing is being developed on an integrated basis for all five districts, which should result in some cost savings. Specifications and bids for a replacement Moraga paramedic ambulance have been completed by the Contra Costa County Fire Operations staff. Training A preliminary survey of the training programs and operational procedures within Contra Costa County, Riverview, Orinda, Moraga, and West County Fire Districts was conducted to analyze the needs and requirements for functional integration of the five training programs. From the analysis, it was evident that integration of five individual training programs under one administration will be difficult and slow because of the differences in response, staffing, equipment, procedures and operational needs of the districts. The major effort of training program integration will initially focus on planning and implementing standardized company officer training, fire prevention, inspection and investigation training, in addition to mandated training required by OSHA, the California Code of Regulations, and by the Insurance Service Office. The ability to develop and administer one training program for all five districts will be impacted by the decision to functionally integrate or consolidate the districts. The time required to develop an efficient 3 training program for the five districts will be related to how fast operational standardization between districts is achieved. Revised Consolidation Options Presented below are three reorganizational options that provide for various combinations of districts : A. Consolidate Orinda, Contra Costa County, Pinole, Riverview and West County Fire District Areas Into an Existing District This option involves the four merit system fully-paid districts and the Pinole Fire District . Under this option, the Moraga Fire District would continue as a separate district and would not be included in the consolidation plan. The District could continue to enjoy many of the benefits of functional integration including less cost, unified training, standardization of equipment and fire prevention expertise as a County-governed district if functionally integrated with a consolidated fire agency. Moraga Fire would reimburse the consolidated fire district for management and other services as desired by the District . Although the Pinole District is not a merit system district, it is served by paid firefighters through a contract with the City of Pinole. The District is subject to the same financial concerns caused by the State budget actions. Fire district services' would continue to be provided to the area by contract with the City of Pinole Fire Department . The savings and operational aspects of this option would be very similar to the functional integration plan proposed in the June 15th report . Savings and improved personnel utilization would result from .shared administration and the integration of various functions such as fire prevention and training. B. Consolidate the Areas of the Volunteer Districts of Bethel Island East Diablo and, possibly, Oakley Into An Existing District The June 15th report recommended the integration/consolidation of the Bethel Island and East Diablo Fire Districts to achieve savings, improve daytime staffing in Bethel Island and better utilize personnel . While we did not recommend inclusion of Oakley in the integration plan, there appears to be some interest among involved parties in East County to include Oakley in consolidation considerations. Accordingly, the County Administrator' s Office and the chiefs of those three districts will determine the cost and operational benefits of consolidating the districts into an existing district, subject to the financial outcome of the State budget actions . C. Consolidate the four (excluding Moraga) paid districts plus Pinole Into An Existing District. Consolidate the three east county volunteer districts as a division within the consolidated paid districts This arrangement could result in salary savings depending on the organizational structure of this option. However, we recommend caution in considering combining the volunteer districts with the paid districts because of the concern that the eight stations in the volunteer districts would evolve into paid stations at a net annual cost increase of approximately $7 million. The additional cost would be far more likely to happen if the districts were consolidated rather than functionally integrated. Cost increases of this magnitude would require a new- source of local revenue. 4 Preliminary Application Process to the Local Agency Formation Commission for Consolidation On August 3 , 1993, the Board directed the County Administrator to begin initial steps of developing the application to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) for the consolidation of the fire district areas into an existing Board-governed fire district . We have reviewed LAFCO applications for several prior fire district consolidations. Presented below is a general outline of the major elements required to consolidate fire district areas into an existing Board-governed fire district : The Board of Supervisors of the County of Contra Costa, acting as the governing board of both the and Fire Protection Districts, hereby requests that the Local Agency Formation Commission of Contra Costa County concurrently 1) amend the sphere of influence of the Fire Protection District, 2) approve the annexation of all territory of the Fire Protection District to the Fire Protection District, and 3) dissolve the Fire Protection District : 1 . This proposal is made pursuant to the Cortese-Knox Act, Government Code section 56000 et seq. 2 . The nature of this proposal is 1) the annexation of the entire territory of the Fire Protection District to the Fire Protection District, along with a concurrent amendment of the sphere of influence of the Fire Protection District to accommodate the annexation, and 2) the concurrent dissolution of the Fire Protection District. It is contemplated that the provision of all fire protection services will be assumed throughout the annexed territory by the Fire Protection District and that the Fire Protection District will dissolve and cease operations . 3 . The boundaries of the territory to be annexed, and of the sphere of influence amendment, are set forth in Exhibit A. (map (s) ' of area) 4 . The terms and conditions proposed for the change of organization are as follows : a. All equipment and other personal property, all real property, and all records, funding, rights, liabilities and assets, whether tangible or intangible, shall be transferred from the Fire Protection District and become the property, rights and obligations of the Fire Protection District. The Board of Supervisors, as the Governing Board of the Districts, shall take whatever measures may be necessary to effect these transfers. b. The Chief of the Fire Protection District will become Chief of the Fire Protection District . C. The Assistant Chiefs of the Fire Protection District will become Assistant Chiefs of the Fire Protection District. d. All employees of the Fire Protection Districts are employed in identical Merit Systems administered by Contra Costa County. The rules for those Merit Systems are contained in the Personnel Management Regulations which will remain in effect for all employees unchanged for the merged fire service. With merger into a single Fire Protection District under a single Fire Chief appointing authority, employee seniority will be merged into a single seniority list for each job classification and employee lay-off displacement rights will include the entire merged District. 5 e. All permanent employees of the Volunteer Fire Protection District shall transfer into the Fire District Merit System in accordance with the Personnel Management Regulations, Part 16 . 5 . The reason for this proposal lis to allow the provision of better and more economic fire protection services to the area of Fire Protection Districts . 6 . The proposal is not consistent with the present sphere of influence of the Fire Protection District or the present sphere of influence of the Fire Protection District but would be consistent with the amended sphere of influence proposed herein for the Fire Protection District . 7. The persons to be informed as to any notice of proceedings and to receive copies of any reports of the Executive Officer are: Phil Batchelor, County Administrator Attn: Terry McGraw 651 Pine Street, 10th Floor Martinez, CA 94553 Chief Allen Little Riverview Fire Protection District 1500 West 4th Street Antioch, CA 94509 Volunteer Chiefs, as appropriate 8 . It is hereby requested that, pursuant to the Cortese-Knox Act, proceedings be taken for the aforenoted annexation, the aforenoted concurrent sphere of influence amendment, and the aforenoted concurrent dissolution. The above terms and conditions are more or less standard for prior consolidations with the exception of 4e. Section 4e includes wording to deal with both merit system and volunteer districts. This section would be modified depending on the district area being consolidated. Development of an actual LAFCO application requires certain specific information not currently available. This information will not be available until the decision is made as to which districts will be involved in a consolidation as outlined above in the consolidation options section of the report . Furthermore, consolidation decisions will likely be influenced by the final district financial situation and the results of the advisory elections on the consolidation issues. 6