CC Minutes - 01/26/05 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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council should be conscious of its role in the community and that money for human services should not be thought of as a contribution. She averred that services such as adaptive recreation services were a piece of Eugene's livability and tourism; Eugene drew people to it because it was this kind of city. City Manager Taylor acknowledged that the City was meeting a need, but said there was more need than the City could meet. He hoped the presentation would help provide more visibility for the programs to both potential program users and to the council. He noted that Lane County Senior and Disabled Services was falling victim to the State budget shortfalls. He anticipated this would increase the need for some of the adaptive recreation services. Mr. Poling, noting the length of time the recreation staff members had worked for the City, commented that one needed to remember that the City had valued employees who put in much of their life in this work. He said when the City had a person in a specific department for a long time it should prepare for the person's departure so that the institutional memory would not be lost. Mr. Pap~ concurred. Mr. Pap~ acknowledged that United Way had more programs to fund than funds to spend. He remarked that it was not so much whether the City should continue these services, but rather how such services could be continued. Ms. Harnly remarked, in closing, that when staff did fundraising, people saw recreation services as the City of Eugene and did not perceive a great need on the part of the City for more money. B. WORK SESSION: Fire and Emergency Medical Service Standards of Response Coverage City Manager Taylor recalled that the City had undergone a process as part of the Public Works Depart- ment accreditation. The results were so valuable in terms of service provision that the City was now engaged in a similar process with the Fire and Emergency Medical Services (Fire/EMS). He introduced Fire Chief Tom Tallon and asked him to speak to the standards of coverage. Chief Tallon said the standards of coverage had been presented in 2003 as a way a community could measure existing risk and then plan to cover that risk and also as a piece toward the larger goal of getting national accreditation. He noted that out of several thousand fire departments, less than 200 nationwide had attained accreditation, a national standard supported by the International City Managers Association (ICMA), International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the Insurance Service Office (ISa). He said the accreditation helped the ISa to determine local insurance rates. He stated that Chief Ruth abadal had been working on this process and asked her to speak about it. Chief Obadal said Fire/EMS was currently considered an applicant City. This consisted of a very thorough self-analysis which, after a year, was now completed. She stated that the Standards of Cover document was required to be submitted along with the department's Strategic Plan. She explained that the next step consisted of an assignment of a peer review panel to conduct a site visit. She shared the goal of Eugene Fire/EMS, which was to complete the process before summer. Chief abadal discussed the Eugene Fire & EMS Department Standards of Coverage, December, 2004, noting that the document was an updated version of the one presented to the council in 2003. She reported that response time goals were spelled out in Section 5. She said the document indicated what level of service the community could expect. She indicated that should current goals be unattainable, the department would not reach accreditation. She stated Section 12 included recommendations to improve the level of service and MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2005 Page 3 Work Session