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ATTACHMENT A <br /> <br /> <br />M <br />EMORANDUM <br /> <br /> <br />November 25, 2009 <br /> <br /> <br />TO: Mayor Kitty Piercy and Eugene City Council Members <br /> Mayor Sid Leiken and Springfield City Council Members <br /> <br />FROM: Eugene Fire & EMS Chief Randy Groves <br /> Springfield Fire & Life Safety Chief Dennis Murphy <br /> <br />EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: METRO FIRE SERVICE CONSOLIDATION <br />SUBJECT: <br /> <br />This document will provide an overview of the proposed initiation of functional consolidation of <br />Eugene and Springfield Fire Departments. This is the first step towards merging two separate <br />operations into a single sustainable organization that consultants and fire departments believe <br />will improve service efficiency while saving money. If there is support from elected officials for <br />further efforts, opportunities that exist today must be captured in the first six months to succeed, <br />as critical personnel vacancies are not sustainable long-term. <br /> <br />Background <br /> <br />Eugene and Springfield completed a functional consolidation of emergency response capabilities <br />in June of 2007. The new operation, known as the Three Battalion System, combined the field <br />response capabilities of both departments for dispatch of the closest personnel and equipment, <br />regardless of jurisdictional boundaries. This succeeded in faster response times to emergency <br />calls and better backup in event of a large incident. Since the fire stations were well located to <br />serve both areas, there were no changes to fire stations, personnel, or equipment. The only added <br />expense was the marginal cost for signage to renumber apparatus and fire stations into a single <br />cohesive system and rework dispatch computer files to reflect the changes. <br /> <br />In order to determine if this successful strategy could be applied to other functions of the fire de- <br />partments, Emergency Services Consulting International was hired to perform a feasibility study. <br />In their report, the consultants concluded that circumstances are favorable for the two depart- <br />ments to combine their administrative and support functions. In particular, ESCI noted, several <br />positions in both departments are either vacant or soon to be vacant, and could remain so under <br />1 <br />ATTACHMENT 1 <br />