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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 04061993 - 2.A THE BOARD OR SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Adopted this Order on April 6, 1993by the following vote: AYES: Supervisors Powers, Smith, Bishop, McPeak, Torlakson NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None ------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Meeting with the Fire Commissioners. The Board met with the Chairs, Boards of Commissions, of. the various fire protection districts to discuss issues of concern. The Board received the report from the County Administrator on recruitment alternatives for a single fire chief and status of response to citizen concerns. (A copy of the report is attached and included as a part of this document.. ) Scott Tandy, Assistant County Administrator, reaffirmed the County's desire to have a clear dialogue as to a longterm solution and approach to f ire protection for Contra Costa County. There was discussion on the feasibility of appointing a f ire chief for one fire protection district or several fire districts; the desire to provide a high level of fire service and the. ability to respond to emergency situations; repeal .of the Special District Augmentation .Fund by the State; assurances that the Moraga Fire Flow Tax will not preclude the District from being allocated its full special district share of the tax base; early retirement options. available to certain fire management personnel; lack of support for the Service Bureau concept; functional integration; and a request to the County Administrator to pro-rate the expense of Chief Little.'s salary among the Moraga, Orinda, Contra Costa County, and West County Fire Districts. (Chief Li.ttle's salary is currently provided by the Riverview Fire Protection District. ) Chief Allen Little spoke on how he perceives his role in the management and operation of the five fire districts of which he is chief. Phil Batchelor, County Administrator, explained the recruitment options available to the Board of Supervisors and Fire Commissioners in seeking the best qualified candidates to apply for the position of Chief. There was some support for contracting with an executive search firm for the Chief's position as well as concurrence, for this matter to be again discussed at the next meeting. At the conclusion of the discussion, the Board REQUESTED the County Administrator to develop a procedure for pro-rating Chief Little's salary among the Orinda, Moraga, Contra Costa County, and West County Fire Protection Districts, The Board AGREED to meet on April 27, . 1993, 5: 30 p.m. , at The Training Institute, Martinez. hereby certify that thle Is t true and correct Copy of i action taken and entered on the minutes of the County Administrator )ard of Supervisors on tits dte shown. A(TESTED: PHIL BAT HELOR,Cork of the Board of Supervisors and County Administrator „m —&-jag" De _ #2 .A (3.: 30 p.m. ) TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS �,,�.-=s;:_.-L•;o� Contra FROM: Costa Phil Batchelor, County. Administrator .�� CountY. DATE: Apr i 1 .6, 1993 COU'Pt SUBJECT: Recruitment Alternatives for Single Fire Chief and Status of Response to Citizen Concerns SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS 1 . DETERMINE whether the recruitment for 'a single fire- chief should be conducted by an executive research firm or be-. done in-house 2 . APPROVE plan to respond to numerous citizen letters . BACKGROUND: On March. 30, 1993 the Board. approved an integrated management °structure for the five merit. system County fire protection districts on an interim basis until a more long-term plan can be determined in consultation with the chairs of each of. the five fully paid merit districts and chiefs of the. volunteer .districts . It is intended that the County. Fire Services Coordinating. Committee, the larger group whose membership consists of city, commission, private, and labor representatives, will review the functional organization ' of the . five districts . .1 . The interim integrated command and management plan designates A11'en Little the Riverview Chief. as the Acting. Chief for the other four paid districts (Contra Costa, Orinda,. Moraga and West County) . The three Assistant Chiefs in the Contra Costa County Fire District will assume duties . in the . other four districts Assistant. Chief Bill- .Cullen will be in charge of operations and mutual aid . and Assistant Chiefs Ray Miraglia. and Mike Argo will support. other districts . as required.- This arrangement is intended to. provide continuity, chain of command and a reliable structure for mutual aid on an -interim basis . CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS EBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND C ECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERE N THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS THE DATE SHOWN. s. ATTESTED Contact: PHIL BATCHELOR,.CLERK THE BOARD OF CC: _1_ SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY A NISTRATOR SEE PAG 3 BY DEPUTY . The process for recruitment for a single chief on a permanent basis can be conducted in two ways - by hiring an executive search firm or in-house by the Personnel Department. Executive Search Firm ♦ Can be done quickly and focused on likely candidates . ♦ Can provide aggressive nationwide outreach. ♦ Will give a degree of independence in the . recruitment process . ♦ Will have a one-time only additional cost. ♦ Estimated time is 90 days. In-House ♦ No additional costs . ♦ May take longer for County to. advertise and screen. ♦ Estimated time is 90 days . ♦ May provide added sensitivity to community concerns . 2 . Status of Proposed Response to Constituent Concerns . During the period for property owners to protest the benefit assessment, the County received numerous letters not only protesting the proposed assessment, but inquiring about the process itself; the organizational. structure of fire protection; the existing salaries and benefit structure; breakdown of budgets in paid . districts; how . vehicles are utilized; and allocation of existing property .tax and Special District Augmentation Funds . As you recall a question and answer fact . sheet tailored to individual districts was printed on the benefit assessment (see attached) . Many of the issues that people are interested in were not addressed. We would propose that a model fact sheet be developed in which individual districts would provide the specifics on budget and operations . related' to their district. These fact sheets should be made available to citizens and provided as a public service at fire. stations, libraries, and other public facilities . We also support the idea of a scheduled public forum held in the evening in each district. The fact sheet should contain. the following basic information: ♦ Board of Supervisors goal to reduce in .management and labor an additional 10% in total operational costs .' ♦ County fire management and firefighters salaries compared with other- fire agencies and public safety agencies. ♦ Board of Supervisors intent to .not fill vacant management positrons in order to reduce management costs . ♦ Fire district organizational changes since 1970 ' s . ♦ Salary and benefit savings by integrating management. ♦ Feasibility of civilianization of certain positions where professional fire background is not required. ♦ Restrictions and constraints on state and federal funds that prevents use for local fire and�'police protection. -2- ! State and federal mandates which limit .flexibi1ity in use of local general -fund dollars for fire and police.' An example of this type. of information was delivered to the Mayors ' Conference at their meeting in Pinole on April 1, 1993 .(see attached) . Contact: Scott Tandy 646-4087 cc: Chief Allen Little Personnel Department All Fire Advisory Commission Chairs Local 1230 County Administrator -3- o FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT Benefit Assessment Information Sheet Commonly.Asked Questions, About-Fire Benefit Assessment:- 1. Why is a benefit assessment being proposed? Fire protection is funded by your local property taxes. During the current Fiscal Year 1-992-93 the State took away approximately 10% of fire district property-taxes. Now to help balance the State Budget;- beginning. July 1, 1993, Governor Pete Wilson has proposed a plan to take away 55% of fire districts' remaining property tax. Revenue loss of this magnitude would have a devastating impact on the local districts' ability to provide fire protection and related emergency services. 2.. What is a benefit-assessment for-fire.suppression? As provided for in State law, a benefit assessment for fire.protection is an annual charge .on: property owners that pays for fire protection services. A contingency plan for a benefit assessment- is being proposed to provide replacement revenue if citizen outrage over this seizure of their property tax does not change Governor Wilson's mind. 3. What will happen without the fire protection assessment? If the State takes your property tax•,-this will force.severe reduction of your fire protection which would include laying off firefighters and closing fire stations unless local.replacement _ revenue is provided by the benefit assessment procedure. This proposed State action not only undermines the local efficiency measures taken by the Board of Supervisors to merge districts, reduce administrative positions and combine management to reduce costs, but threatens!the very existence of local fire service as we.know it today. 4. Can the assessment for be used for other purposes? No. Thero osed assessment would represent replacement dollars due to property tax P P taken away by the Governor and :State. Legislature.— The -law requires that benefit assessment revenue be.used,solely-in,the district where raised. 5. How will I be billed for the benefit assessment? The benefit-assessment will be identified.separately.and appear on your property tax bill, and will be collected;along with•_your property taxes. 6. Will the assessment remain constant? If approved the assessment will have a cap and will only provide replacement revenue taken by the State. The maximum base 1993-94 Fiscal Year amount may adjust annually to reflect changes in the U.S. Consumer Price Index and population. The benefit assessment would.be in effect for five (5) fiscal years and terminates after Fiscal Year 1997-98. • ' V The Board of Suervisors Phil Batchelor p a Clerk of the Board on r and County Administration Building County Administrator 651 Pine St., Room 106 Costa (5,0)646_237, Martinez, California 94553County Tom Powers,1st District Jeff Smith,2nd District Gayle Bishop,3rd District Sunne Wright McPeak 4th District •.- Tom Tortakson,5th District sr'4_couiN TO: Mayors Conference .Members FROM: Tom Torlakson, Chair, Board of Supervisors DATE: April 1, 1993 0 SUBJECT Cost Savings and Efficiencies in Fire Services The Board of Supervisors has a long history of supporting cost reductions, district mergers, and efficiencies in areas of the County where the Board provides fire services or where municipalities found . it to their advantage to transfer responsibilities. These actions have taken -place over the years and have occurred in East, West, South and Central County areas (see Attachment A) . The Board recently set a reduction goal of 10% (approximately $4 .450 million) for FY 1993-94 . . This goal follows combined reductions of 15% over the last two years in operational costs! In addition virtually no allocation has been possible for capital replacement in the last two years. This week the first phase of the 10% reduction plan was implemented when the Board streamlined district operations to reduce administrative costs through early retirements (see Attachment B) . TT:lmj Attachments cc: Board of Supervisors ' Attachment A Fire District Organizational Changes Savings/ District Action Personnel Reductions Contra Costa Merger of several Elimination of County district and city management (Consolidated) fire departments duplication Riverview Antioch and Pittsburg Consolidated to one City Fire Departments administration ..merged West County Managed by Richmond One Chief and two Fire Department Assistant Chi e f s 1980 to October 1992 West County Managed by Contra Costa $100,000 per year County Fire October 1992 East .Diablo Brentwood and Eastern One Chief merged Tassajara Annexed to San Ramon One Chief and two Valley Assistant Chiefs Byron Merged with East One Chief Diablo IA !. b Attachment B Salary and Benefit Savings District/Position Monthly Annual Total Contra Costa ♦ Chief $8,779 $105,348 $151,701 . Q Riverview ♦ Assist. Chief 7,202 86,4'24 124,450 ♦ Assist. Chief 71202 86,424 124,450 Moraga ♦ Chief (Acting) 61721 80,652 116,139 Orinda ♦ Chief 71587 91,044 131,103 ♦ Assist. Chief 6,401 761F812 110,609 Annual Savings 758,452 Cost of Early Retirement 400,000. First Year Savings $358,452 NOTE: 1. Benefits are estimated at approximately 44% and will vary slightly depending on position. 2 . Orinda Chief was vacant and not subject to early retirement .option 3 . Cost of early retirement is estimated at average $80,000 per. position and will be a one-time cost and may be funded over a two-year period.