Item A: Functional Consolidation of Fire Departments

Home Browse Search

ATTACHMENT A consolidation, producing significant savings. The total personnel cost avoidance at full imple- mentation is forecast at $851,275. Future savings realized through streamlined support opera- tions, sharing of best practices, and economies of scale would add to that number. The consultants’ report and recommendations were initially presented to you in June. There was a follow-up discussion in September, which prompted this additional analysis. Timeline and Initial Steps of Functional Consolidation The timeline and steps for Phase I (January 1 – June 30, 2010) are as follows: 1.Planning (January 1 – February 28) ? Site visits to model merged fire department systems in Oregon and California for elected officials, major stakeholders, and staff ? Preparations and moving to co-locate combined staff by functional area ? Develop preliminary assumptions for FY 11 combined budget 2.Implementation (March 1 – May 31) ? Initiate Joint Services ? Make adjustments as needed ? Prepare details for proposed combined budget ? Recommend Phase II strategy to proceed or discontinue process ? Seek recommendation of labor unions to proceed or discontinue 3.Evaluation/Recommendation (March 1 – June 30) ? Complete evaluation of all elements of combined services ? Make recommendation to city councils Creating an accurate and detailed timeline with steps for Phase II in FY 11 and beyond is directly dependent on the nature and timing of decisions that are yet to be made and is considered by staff not to be feasible at this time. In any initiative of this type, not all questions can be answered in advance. Foremost among these, and raising additional questions of their own, are the possible longer-term options for providing the service. Those could include re-separation of the depart- ments, continued consolidation under some form of joint governance board, formation of or an- nexation to a special district, or others. Future decisions will require future solutions. Baseline Assumption for Estimating Savings and Service Level Impacts FY 11 and beyond The only highly reliable information available for estimating savings is to use the FY 10 adopted budget for both departments and apply the first year savings from positions that will be held va- cant if a consolidation plan is approved. In the first year, $629,988 savings would result from vacancies and in the second year, $851,275. These figures are given in Attachment 2. (Note: Of the $629,988, Eugene Fire has already reduced their FY10 budget appropriation by $125,000.) 2 ATTACHMENT 1