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�CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH
City Council Interoffice Communication
To: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
From: Erik Peterson City Council Member 46 /"
Date: December 14, 2015
Subject: CITY COUNCIL MEMBER ITEM FOR THE DECEMBER 21, 2015,
CITY COUNCIL MEETING - - FIRE DEPARTMENT STAFFING
AND OPERATION STUDY
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
In an effort to have the most productive and cost effective Fire Department, it is in the
best interest of the City to have an independent study done on the staffing levels and
procedures of our Fire Department
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Direct the City Manager to have an independent evaluator report and give suggestions
on the Huntington Beach Fire Department's staffing levels and procedures Specifically,
present the effects of current minimum staffing levels on service and if minimum staffing
levels were reduced Present the primary calls for service and whether or not we are
addressing them in the best and most cost-effective manner Return the report to the
City Council for review within 90 days of this meeting
Xc Fred A Wilson, City Manager
Ken Domer, Assistant City Manager
Joan Flynn, City Clerk
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Estanislau, Robin
From:
Sent.
To:
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Subject;
Attachments.
AGENDA COMMENT
Dombo, Johanna
Monday, December 21, 2015 2 11 PM
Agenda Comment
Fikes, Cathy, Dombo, Johanna, CITY COUNCIL
FW HBFD Standards of Cover Study
Standards of Cover pdf
From: Witt, Darrin
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2015 2 02 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL
Cc: Wilson, Fred
Subject: HBFD Standards of Cover Study
Council Members,
I have had the opportunity to talk with some of you and others I have not, but I wanted to share this
information with all of you While I am not concerned with a study to look at how efficient the HBFD is,
I am concerned when there seems to be an objective to reduce staffing levels for a department that is
incredibly efficient and understaffed already While being denied to return one or more safety
positions to the HBFD in order to run safely and effectively other departments are increasing their
staffing levels HBPD is looking to add a total of 8 positions with your actions tonight, all while
continuing to deny positions to HBFD
There are many reasons to not dedicate funds to a study to look at reducing staffing in the fire
department, but one of the most compelling is that the City Council has already allocated $50,000 to
implement a study called Standards of Cover I have attached the proposal and on it you can see that
the study will determine response distribution, evaluate workload and ideal unit utilization and
measure service delivery performance to just name a few
Spending any of the public's money to perform a duplicate study at this time does not seem to be the
most fiscally sound decision
I urge you to set aside the request for a study at this point and to utilize the Standards of Cover study
that you already have allocated funds for and evaluate the results when complete
Thank you,
Darnn Witt
HBFA
City of Huntington Beach - FY 2016/16 Budget Development
Supplemental Budget Request Priority Number. 8
Supplemental Budget Request Total __50,000.00
Department/Division: Fire Department, Emergency Response Division
Prepared By: Eric Engberg Date 03/24115
Fund(s): 100
Request Title: Fire Department Standards of Cover Evaluation
Description of Request:
prrovioe a oiscnption of the request and what objective or issue it addresses)
At the January 23, 2015 City Strategic Planning Workshop the Assistant Fire Chief was assigned to develop
and recommend a proposal for a consultant to develop a "Standards of Cover" for the Fire Department for
consideration in the FY 2015/16 budget (see attached strategic plan goal and objective #2) This evaluation
would provide the following-
• Assessment of community fire and non -fire risks
• Defining baseline and benchmark emergency response performance standards
• Planning future fire station locations
• Determining response distribution
• Evaluating workload and ideal unit utilization
• Measuring service delivery performance
• Support strategic planning and policy development relative to resource procurement and allocation
• Provide a platform to address several of the recommendations contained in the City's draft general plan
This critical evaluation of Fire Department service delivery would provide the basis for any improvements
identified and help to best align resources to current and future community characteristics and demographics
Additional information related to a Standards of Cover evaluation is attached. If approved, this request W11
also require a revision of the Professional Services listing for the Fire Deaprtment
Other City Departments this Request Affects:
(List all City Departments this request would affect)
Planning and Building, Public Works
Alternatives to the Request:
Describe the impacts if not approved or options not referred
Not approving this request would make optimum Department resource alignment and deployment much more
difficult to obtain The valuable planning tools provided by a Standards of Cover evaluation would not be
available.
The draft general plan contains several recommendations that will include analysis that would be performed
during the Standards of Cover process The impact of not contracting for a Standards of Cover evaluation
would be moving the additional workload onto fire administrative staff without providing the professional
enterprise offered by a consultant who has experience and expertise in this arena.
*For requests involving full-time staffing changes, please contact your assigned Finance
Department's Budget Liaison for the budget costs. You must also submit a memo to the
Human Resources Department for review.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SUBMIT ALL PERTINENT BACK-UP DOCUMENTATI®:
ALONG WITH YOUR REQUEST, INCLUDING THE MEMO TO THE HUMAN
RESOURCES DEPARTMENT (IF APPLICABLE)
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