07/19/2017 - City Council Finance CommitteeFINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2017
10:00 AM
CITY HALL
First Floor Conference Room
AGENDA
I. AGENDA ADOPTION
II. FIRE STAFFING STUDY
III. UPDATE ON EXCESS FIRE STATIONS
IV. 2018-2019 BUDGET UPDATE
V. OTHER BUSINESS
VI. ADJOURNMENT
Agenda Information Memo
Finance Committee Meeting
July 19, 2017
II. FIRE STAFFING STUDY
ACTION TO BE CONSIDERED
a.) Provided feedback to Staff on the fire staffing study presented to the City Council at
the June 13, 2017 Workshop.
b.) Consider directing Staff to include funding in the preliminary 2018 Budget (and
(2019) and preliminary 2018 levy for possible implementation of certain elements of
the fire staffing study, with phasing and funding schedule reviewed with the Finance
Committee before final budget adoption in December.
Facts
➢ Stewart Gary from CityGate presented the findings from the "Fire Staffing,
Emergency Services and Response Times Study at the June 13, 2017 City Council
workshop.
➢ Recommendation #1 from the study suggests consideration of funding a small career -
staffed force of three engines and one ladder truck with three personnel from the three
fire stations, 24 hours a day; seven days a week; 365 days of the year.
➢ Step I of the Study, if implemented in 2018 would include the hiring of 4 Captains
at a cost of $383,040 and 2 fulltime Firefighters at a cost of $180,192
➢ Step 1B of the Study, if implemented in 2019 would include the hiring of six
Firefighters at a cost of $540,576.
➢ Over that same two year period, the study illustrates the possible reduction of 25
Paid -on -Call Staff which would be accomplished through attrition, resulting in an
estimated total reduction of $359,125 in the budget, over that same two year period.
➢ Staff will lead further discussion on the fire staffing study and budget impact
information to the Finance Committee at the meeting.
ATTACHMENTS: Sections 5, 6 and 7 of the Fire Staffing Study. (full copies will be available
at the meeting)
III. UPDATE ON EXCESS FIRE STATIONS
ACTION TO BE CONSIDERED
None; Staff will provide an update to the Finance Committee on the status of the Excess Fire
Stations including a report on the open house meetings that were conducted at Fire Station #1
and Fire Station #5 on Monday July 10, 2017 to field questions from those who may be
interested in submitting proposals on the possible acquisition of the buildings. Proposals are due
on Monday, July 31, 2017. The update at the Finance Committee may also include the Fire
Administration Building, depending on events leading up to, and including the July 18, 2017
City Council meeting.
IV. 2018-2019 BUDGET UPDATE
ACTION TO BE CONSIDERED
None; Staff is preparing the 2018 and 2019 Budgets that will be discussed by the City Council at
the August 8, 2017 Workshop. Preliminary information on the budget and levy will be shared
with the Finance Committee at the meeting.
City of Eagan, MN
Staffing, Emergency Medical Services, and Response Times Study
SECTION 5 -RECOMMENDATIONS AND ACTION PLAN
Citygate finds the City at a crossroads on adapting both the Police Department EMS first
responder program and the Fire Department staffing model. This study builds upon the
community conversation that began over three years ago with the federal firefighter staffing
grant and the subsequent reports by the Fire Chief and the City Council indicating the City's
need to continue the career staffing past the grant funding cycle. To the Council's credit, it
commissioned this study to provide advice on sustainable fire services. At all levels within the
City, Citygate found positive involvement on these issues, transparency, and interest to continue
to do what is best for the City given its ongoing transition to a vital urban center in the greater
Twin Cities part of the state.
The current POC firefighter staffing challenges are the result of changes in America that the City
cannot avoid. Due to the support of its community-based volunteers, the City has benefited for
decades from low-cost fire services. However, for the reasons identified in this study, the total
staffing and response times of a POC firefighter system will no longer provide the City a robust
fire services system that can meet the needs of an urban community with diverse risks to protect.
Additionally, the Police Department needs its officers to spend more time on Community
Oriented Policing and not on first responder medical incidents that do not require a peace officer.
As revenues support, the City should transition to a small career firefighting and EMS first
responder force, providing a small level of immediate staffing response around the clock that is
supplemented by the POC firefighter response. Citygate recommends that the best parts of the
POC firefighter system remain during a transition period to more career staffing as long as there
are willing POC firefighters to help the City community in this manner.
As the POC firefighter and career programs transition, the Department should consider
converting the POC firefighter program, which pays a stipend and partial retirement savings, to a
part-time firefighter program. For the number of annual hours a POC firefighter provides, paying
a locally appropriate part-time hourly wage, without benefits, would be fairer to them and could
generate greater availability for standby shifts.
Another issue with the current POC firefighter system is that the current authorized POC
firefighter pension pays everyone the same annual amount regardless of their actual annual
amount of timely emergency responses and not just station coverage. When POC firefighters
leave before they are fully vested in their pension, their accrual is transferred to the pool for
others to share, again regardless of the remaining members' actual ability to respond quickly to
emergencies. In Citygate's experience with the latest generation of younger, part-time
firefighters, many newer personnel are looking for greater pay versus a pension in which they
never intend to be fully vested. Personal lives and employment patterns are very different today
Section 5—Recommendations and Action Plan page 47
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City of Eagan, MN
Staffing, Emergency Medical Services, and Response Times Study
from the more traditional model of spending much of a work life with one employer or living in
the same neighborhood for decades.
The career firefighters with emergency medical technician (EMT) training—and eventually some
with paramedic training—can serve the EMS first responder role as is common in the United
States. When the career staff arrive at fires and other technical emergencies, they can quickly
begin to understand and set up to solve the problem, and when the balance of the POC
firefighters arrive, they will fill out the staffing needed to safely and effectively execute the plan
needed to control the incident. Thus, the City evolves to be the very definition of a "combination
staffed" fire department.
Given our findings and overall summary opinions, we make the following specific
recommendations.
5.9 RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation #1: If the City Council and community choose to deliver urban best practice
outcomes to building fires and life-threatening medical incidents, the
City should consider funding a small career -staffed force of three
engines and one ladder truck, with three personnel each from the three
fire stations, 24/7/365.
Recommendation #2: If the policy choice is made to maintain and possibly grow career
staffing, then during the staffed times of the day, the Fire Department
should handle all EMS first responder incidents to increase the EMS
trained personnel to the incident and allow police officers time needed to
perform primary police functions.
Recommendation #3: Adopt Citi Council Deployment Measures Policies: The City's
elected officials should adopt updated, complete performance measures
to direct fire crew planning and to monitor the operation of the
Department. The measures of time should be designed to save patients
where medically possible and to keep small but serious fires from
becoming greater -alarm fires. With this is mind, Citygate recommends
the following measures for urban population density best practices
outcomes:
3.1 Distribution of Fire Crews: To treat medical patients and control
small fires, the first -due unit should arrive within 7:30 minutes, 90
percent of the time, from the receipt of the 9-1-1 call in the
dispatch center. This equates to a 1:30 -minute dispatch time, a
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Section 5—Recommendations and Action Plan page 48
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City of Eagan, MN
Staffing, Emergency Medical Services, and Response Times Study
2:00 -minute company turnout time, and a 4:00 -minute drive time
in the most populated areas.
3.2 Multiple -Unit Effective Response Force for Serious Emer xencies:
To confine fires near the room of origin, and to treat up to five
medical patients at once, a multiple -unit response of a minimum of
three engines, one ladder truck, and one Battalion Chief, totaling
13 personnel, should arrive within 11:30 minutes from the time of
9-1-1 call receipt in fire dispatch, 90 percent of the time. This
equates to a 1:30 -minute fire dispatch time, a 2:00 -minute
company turnout time, and an 8:00 -minute drive time spacing for
multiple units in the most populated areas.
Recommendation #4: Absent an expansion of the current limited career staffing, the City
should at least continue the current limited career -staffed two -unit plan.
Recommendation #5: The Department should conduct a detailed audit of dispatch and crew
turnout times to identify opportunities for electronic time keeping and
procedural improvement, with the goal of meeting best practice
recommendations.
Recommendation #6: The City and Department should review and align POC firefighter
response expectations to the community's needs to ensure the
investment in training and long-term retirement stipends deliver staffing
when needed on primary responding apparatus. This could result in
fewer, but all active personnel.
Recommendation #7: To better incentivize POC's that can immediately respond when needed,
the City and Department should study converting the POC firefighter
flat annual payment pension program to (1) a part-time firefighter
program that pays firefighters an hourly wage that does not include
benefits, or (2) the State of Minnesota's Public Employee Retirement
Association (PERA) part-time employee system that is based on the
amount of hours worked.
Section 5—Recommendations and Action Plan
page 49 G rie f flSSOCINKS.
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City of Eagan, MN
Staffing, Emergency Medical Services, and Response Times Study
JHASED STAFFING CHANGES
Gathering community input, designing and approving a funding plan for increased career
staffing, and recruiting and hiring all take time. Given the cost and administrative burden on a
small agency to grow and gradually obtain the full funding needed, Citygate offers this phasing
plan, which can be executed on a per -fiscal -year basis:
Step 1A: Expand one of the current two units staffed with three career firefighters to be
24/7/365. (This would require adding six career staff and three part-time firefighters
across three shifts and could result in the attrition of 12 POC firefighters.)
Step 1B: Expand the second of the two units staffed with six career firefighters to be 24/7/365.
(This would require adding six career staff across three shifts and could result in the
attrition of 13 POC firefighters.)
Step 2: Add a third engine staffed with three career firefighters to be 24/7/365. (This would
require an additional nine career staff across three shifts and could result in the
attrition of another 15 POC firefighters.)
Step 3: Add a ladder truck staffed with three career firefighters to be 24/7/365. (This would
require an additional nine career staff and could result in the attrition of another 15
POC firefighters.)
Step 4: Add three career Battalion Chiefs for 24/7/365 incident command / safety
supervision. (This could occur earlier, funding permitting).
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City of Eagan, MN
Staffing, Emergency Medical Services, and Response Times Study
SECTION 6 -PLAN COSTS
6.1 COSTS of INCREASED CAREER STAFFING BY STEP
The following costs are total annual compensation per position:
Table 12—Costs of Increased Career Staffmi� by Step
Step/Position
Step 1 A – 2018
Added Reduction
Career POC Staff from POC Staff Cost
Total
pensation 1 2
Captains
4
$383,040
Firefighters
2
$180,192
Career Staff Total Costs:
Step 2 Net Costs: +9
$563,232
Part -Time Firefighters (3)
$420,000
POC Reduction
-12 ($172,380)
Step 1 A Net Costs:
+6
$810,852
Step 1 B – 2019
Firefighters 6 $540,576
POC Reduction -13 ($186,745)
Step 1 B Net Costs: +6 $353,831
Ste 2 – 2020
Captains 3
$287,280
Firefighter 6
$540,576
Career Staff Total Costs:
$827,856
POC Reduction
-15 $215,475
Step 2 Net Costs: +9
$612,381
Ste 3 – 2022
Captains 3
$287,280
Firefighters 6
$540,576
Career Staff Total Costs:
$827,856
POC Reduction
-15 $215,475
Step 3 Net Costs: +9
$612,381
Step 4 – 2024
Battalion Chiefs 3 $375,000
POC Reduction -3 ($43,095)
Step 4 Net Costs: +3 $331,905
Total 1 33 1 35 remaining ($833,170) $2,729,350
1 This table only includes wages and benefits for Captains and Firefighters in Total Compensation. Training, overtime
for absence replacement, uniforms, and equipment are not included.
2 The table uses POC costs of $14,365/year, Firefighter Level 8 annual salary and benefits of $90,096, and Fire
Captain Level 9 at $95,760/year.
Section 6—Plan Costs page 51
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City of Eagan, MN
Staffing, Emergency Medical Services, and Response Times Study
SECTION 7 -NEXT STEPS
The City can continue its current level of fire services or enhance them as the community
desires. The purpose of this assessment is to compare the City's current firefighting and
emergency medical response abilities against the local risks to be protected, as well as to
compare against nationally recognized best practices. This analysis of performance forms the
basis from which to make policy choices for changes in staffing and programs, if any.
As one step, the City Council should adopt updated and best practices -based response time goals
for the Department and provide accountability for the Department personnel to meet those
standards. The goals identified in Recommendation 43 meet national best practices.
Measurement and planning as the City continues to evolve will be necessary if the City chooses
to meet such goals. Citygate recommends that the City's next steps be to work through the issues
identified in this study:
Absorb the policy recommendations of this fire services study and adopt revised
Fire Department performance measures to drive the deployment of firefighting
and emergency medical resources.
♦ Develop a staffing -to -revenues forecast for the four steps and program dates for
adding fire crews.
♦ Implement the low- to no -cost recommendations in this study within the next
year.
Section 7—Next Steps page 53 i°
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