Item A: Functional Consolidation of Fire Departments

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ATTACHMENT A Springfield office handles approximately 20,000 bills per year; the Eugene office, approximately 11,000.) There would be one billing supervisor and one assistant supervisor. Both would report to the Administrative Services Bureau Manager. Further analysis will be needed in order to identify the most effective means of developing a consolidated ambulance billing operation under a merged department. It is expected that the wealth of experience on the respective billing staffs can lead to significant reduction of redundancies and possible staff savings through attrition in the future. Springfield personnel will continue to be responsible for administration of the FireMed ambul- ance membership program on behalf of both agencies (1 Management Analyst, 1 Program Tech- nician, temporary help as needed). This arrangement would continue unchanged, except that membership record-keeping could be consolidated. Training – Springfield Training staff would relocate to the Emergency Services Center office space vacated by the Eugene ambulance billing staff. The Eugene Training Chief position is cur- rently vacant and Springfield has the management capacity to handle both. This creates an addi- tional savings currently at $136,820. Training is another area that is already well positioned for consolidation. Joint training drills have been occurring for some time, though not on a fully systematic basis. These joint exercises have led to consistency of emergency procedures on-scene, familiarity with each other’s equip- ment, and familiarity with each other’s personnel. nd Eugene’s training facility at 2 & Chambers is more than adequate to accommodate a fully con- solidated training program, and would be a major improvement for Springfield firefighters, whose current training facilities are not adequate to meet future needs. Consolidation would save Springfield the expense of future development of adequate training facilities. Additional advantages of a combined training operation would include a reduction in overtime backfill for line personnel assisting in training, plus the savings realized by conducting combined firefighter recruitment and training academies. Joint recruitment and selection would also pro- duce savings by eliminating process redundancies. A larger organization with more openings could also be expected to attract a greater number of quality applicants than the present two- department service model provides. Special Operations – This service area involves the two departments’ Water Rescue and Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams, in addition to other responsibilities provided by Eugene such as regional hazardous materials response team (Haz Mat), aircraft rescue and fire fighting (ARFF), special event safety, and protective details. The Special Operations Division exists or- ganizationally only in Eugene Fire & EMS, and would remain in existence under a consolidation scenario. In both departments, Water Rescue response is presently delivered by crews shutting down sup- pression companies to staff rescue boats with Surface Rescue Technicians who are members of 6 ATTACHMENT 1