Agenda Report
Fullerton City Council
MEETING DATE: APRIL 5, 2022
TO: CITY COUNCIL / SUCCESSOR AGENCY
FROM: JEFFREY W. COLLIER, ACTING CITY MANAGER
PREPARED BY: ADAM LOESER, FIRE CHIEF
SUBJECT: Fullerton and Brea fire Command Staff Shared Agreement Proposed Termination
SUMMARY
The City of Brea submitted a letter to the City of Fullerton on March 24, 2022 to terminate the Cooperative Agreement Between the Cities of Brea and Fullerton of the Consolidation of the Fire Department Command Staff (Agreement) effective June 30, 2022. Staff seeks City Council concurrence with the date initiated by the City of Brea.
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize City Manager, or designee, to terminate the Agreement effective June 30, 2022, pursuant City of Brea action.
Provide direction to proceed with re-establishing the Fullerton Fire Department Command Staff in preparation of the proposed Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget.
BUDGET POLICY PRIORITY STATEMENT
This item matches the following Budget Policy Priority Statement:
Public Safety
Fiscal and Organizational Stability.
FISCAL IMPACT
No fiscal impact in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-22. Staff will review service delivery and corresponding staff levels in preparation of the proposed FY 2022-23 budget.
DISCUSSION
The Termination for Convenience clause (Agreement Section A.2.) outlines that either Brea or Fullerton may terminate the Agreement by providing not less than six (6) months prior written notice to terminate. The City of Brea requests concurrence from the City of Fullerton to terminate the Agreement effective June 30, 2022.
Background
As cities recovered from the negative economic impacts of the 2008 recession, many cities took a more proactive approach to seek opportunities to work cooperatively with neighboring agencies. The benefits of shared services have been an ongoing conversation among local municipalities. For the Cities of Fullerton and Brea, this opportunity presented itself following several vacancies among the fire command staff for both cities, including the retirement of the Brea Fire Chief.
Brea conducted a review of Brea Fire Service Delivery Options in 2010. The Brea City Council considered two contract fire service provider options as part of the review as well as a Brea option that would, among other things, share certain command positions and functions with the City of Fullerton, thereby allowing both cities to maintain their respective fire departments and community service levels, while taking advantage of the cost savings available by sharing resources.
In 2011, Fullerton anticipated saving approximately $289,080 with the initial implementation of the Fullerton and Brea Fire Department Shared Command Staff and saving $463,270 with full implementation.
Following an extensive review of all of the options in 2011, the Brea City Council selected the option which retained the Brea Fire Department, implemented certain personnel and equipment deployment modifications and began sharing command staff (Battalion Chief) fire resources with City of Fullerton.
The Fullerton City Council approved the proposed agreement for shared fire command services between the Fullerton and Brea Fire Departments on May 3, 2011.
This agreement created a pilot program with the City of Brea for shared fire command. The pilot program lasted three years, allowing each city to assess the ongoing feasibility of the merged command structure. The shared structure under this pilot program consisted of eight full-time command staff managing both fire departments. Operational efficiencies and improved coordination of fire management made this leaner management structure possible. Recognizing the advantages of the program, the City of Fullerton entered into a formal five-year agreement with the City of Brea in 2014. In addition, the cities achieved enhanced fire and medical management through the addition of a non-sworn Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Manager position and two non-sworn, part-time Utility Drivers. Both cities benefited from further savings through shared costs of incorporating these functions into the shared staffing model, On September 28, 2014, the Governor signed Senate Bill 1251 and Assembly Bill 1783 into law, allowing Fullerton and Brea to form a new Joint Powers Authority (JPA) while preserving benefit plans or formulas for qualifying employees. The bills also allow up to three contiguous cities to join the JPA on or before January 1, 2017. This necessitated subsequent clean-up legislation, SB 354 (approved August 10, 2015), to clarify the period during which employees of the cities can transfer to a JPA and retain their benefit formulas received prior to the transfer. It deletes the reference date of December 31, 2012 and instead specifies that transferred employees will receive the defined benefit plans or formulas they received prior to joining the JPA and clarifies that if any of the three contiguous cities to Fullerton and Brea join the JPA, transferred employees with no more than a six-month break will also retain their existing benefit plans or formulas.
Council Members, City Managers, the Fire Chief, key City staff and legal counsel met regularly during this time and consulted with CalPERS to draft the agreement that would provide the foundation for a JPA. In addition, a working group comprised of the Fullerton Mayor, a Fullerton City Council Member, the Brea Mayor, a Brea City Council Member, the Fire Chief and both City Managers, as well as Fire Department Association representatives from both cities met regularly to discuss the development of the JPA. The scope of the discussions ranged from the purpose and structure of the JPA to how to best merge the day-to-day operations of the Fullerton and Brea Fire Departments under a new entity.
The group assessed other opportunities for savings and gathered data to allow for informed decision making. The shared staffing model allowed both cities to benefit from increased efficiencies and reduced staffing costs. Shared resources have created enhanced fire service operations, utilizing improved deployment strategies and new operational techniques.
The cities contracted with Citygate and its partner, AP Triton, to review the feasibility of merging the Fullerton / Brea Command Staff under the JPA model. This study involved a detailed analysis regarding:
1) JPA formation and structure, governance and initial cost-sharing formulas 2) Staffing and deployment options
3) Transfer / merger of the Fullerton and Brea Fire Departments to the JPA, including issues of compensation equality and day-to-day operations 4) Options for joint emergency medical transport for consideration by the two cities.
Study ensured that the JPA satisfied the purposes of enhancing services to the community and achieved efficiency and cost savings. At the January 24, 2017, Fullerton City Council Special Meeting, City Council received and filed reports by Citygate and AP Triton.
The Fullerton City Council approved the Cooperative Agreement Between the Cities of Brea and Fullerton of the Consolidation of the Fire Department Command Staff with the City of Brea on the December 17, 2019 for an additional four-year term, expiring on June 30, 2024. This new four-year agreement, in partnership with Brea, enabled the City the opportunity to further evaluate and improve this model of shared fire command staffing.
In 2020, The City of Brea consulted with Messina & Associates, Inc. to conduct a high-level assessment of the current service-delivery model of the Fullerton and Brea Fire Department Shared Command Staff. As a result of the firm's report, Messina & Associates, Inc. highly recommended that the City of Brea engage in a detailed review of the entirety of their fire operations as well as a community risk profile. A Standards of Response Coverage (SOC) and a Community Risk Assessment (CRA) contain this type of comprehensive review. The Brea City Council approved a proposal with Citygate Associates, LLC. to Conduct a Community Risk Assessment / Standards of Cover Study for the Brea Fire Department.
The City of Brea conducted a review of a Brea Only Fire Command Structure as part of the study with the following results:
Administrative Systems and Management Capacity Findings and Recommendations Finding #19: The Department’s current shared headquarters team is at maximum capacity.
Finding #20 Separating fire management services from Fullerton is a decision about whether it is beneficial to partner. If separation is chosen, it will not be hard for Brea to physically separate. Separation does not generate a large negative cost burden.
Finding #21: At present costs, fire headquarters separation will result in a new ongoing expense of $810,346 and a one-time start-up capital cost of approximately $100,000.
Recommendation #5: Separating fire headquarters services is a feasible policy choice for the Brea City Council to consider and can be done in a short time frame and at a reasonable cost.
The Fullerton City Council authorized the City Manager to request a Fire Services Proposal from the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) on March 2, 2021. Subsequently, the Fullerton City Council reviewed a proposal from the OCFA for Fullerton to join its regional fire service at their January 18, 2022, Study Session. The Fullerton City Council asked staff to bring the item back at a future meeting with analysis and cost comparison against emergency fire and paramedic services currently provided by the Fullerton Fire Department.
The Fullerton City Council contracted with Management Partners, Inc. on March 15, 2022 to analyze and cost compare a Professional Services Agreement proposal from OCFA. The Fullerton and Brea Fire Shared Command Staff presently has three vacancies in (Fire Marshal, two Battalion Chiefs). The cities have found the recruitment to fill these positions difficult given three factors: the uncertainty of Fullerton Fire Department’s future, a desire for the Brea Fire Department to have their own Command Staff and the inability to formally merge Fullerton and Brea into one agency joint command structure. The third factor would require “meet and confer” from all parties and a requirement by CalPERS that one Agency (Joint Powers Agency) manage the merged agency. This also requires an additional layer of oversight, staffing and operational systems that both agencies did not embrace.
The Fullerton and Brea Fire Department Shared Command Staff has found it challenging to deal with two distinct and separate organizations in terms of processes, policies and procedures, aside from the distinct cultures of the Fullerton and Brea line level staff. Notwithstanding these items, the Fullerton and Brea Fire Department Shared Command Staff came together in 2011 when both had extremely lean budgets and both agencies needed the economic relief. Additionally, it is important to note that this agreement has lasted ten years and has rarely been done between two fire agencies. The monetary savings benefited both agencies and it was not for lack of trying by all parties to make it work in the long term.
In light of the termination letter received from the City of Brea, Fullerton can have Command Staff to oversee the management of the Fullerton Fire Department in place and operational by June 30, 2022. This plan will require the addition of a Fire Chief, but no other immediate additions in management staff or vehicles. Until Fullerton decides to either keep the Fire Department or to contract with the OCFA, the two Deputy Chiefs and one Division Chief will cover the daily Battalion Chief openings to provide the consistent oversight and management of the crews of the six fire stations. Mutual aid agreements, dispatch and communications and required technology have remained separated and do not require any modifications.
Next Steps
Based on City Council direction to proceed with re-establishing the Fullerton Fire Department Command Staff, the Fullerton Fire Department will work with Human Resources and the Fullerton Firefighters’ Association to determine the most appropriate promotional process and development steps for the Battalion Chief rank in anticipation of an organizational decision and will work with Administrative Services to incorporate additional budgetary impacts of a standalone fire department for FY 2022-23. If the City Council were to provide future direction to proceed with re-establishing a Fullerton Fire Department, Staff will include this discussion as part of the City Council April 26, 2022 budget study session.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – Cooperative Agreement
Attachment 2 –Termination Letter
Shared Fire Command Staff Termination
March 15, 2022 - Page 2