HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 2c - Resolution No. 7068 Terms and Conditions for Arcadia Fire Department•,Tz
STAFF REPORT
Fire Department
U_A 114
TO:
May 5, 2015
Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Kurt Norwood, Fire Chief
By- Michael Lang, Deputy Fire Chief
Maria Lourdes A. Taylor, Senior Management Analyst
SUBJECT: RESOLUTION NO. 7068 IDENTIFYING THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
FOR ARCADIA FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONSE WHEN AWAY FROM
OFFICIAL DUTY STATION AND ASSIGNED TO AN EMERGENCY
INCIDENT
Recommendation: Adopt
SUMMARY
The Arcadia Fire Department participates in assisting the State in various fire incidents
throughout California. The California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA) governs the
mobilization and reimbursements associated those emergency fire incidents. This year,
under the guidelines of the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, the CFAA
updated its policy requiring all its participating agencies to file a resolution to formally
acknowledge that their personnel receive compensation for "portal to portal" activities.
Failure to adopt such a resolution will result in agencies receiving significantly less
reimbursements from the State for their mutual aid assistance under the CFAA
governance. The State has always fully reimbursed the City on a "portal to portal"
basis. Adopting this resolution will simply clarify this understanding and ensure that the
current policy remains intact.
Therefore, it is recommended that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 7068
identifying the terms and conditions for Arcadia Fire Department response when away
from official duty station and assigned to an emergency incident.
Resolution No 7068 — Acknowledgment of Portal to Portal Reimbursement per CFAA
May 5, 2015
Page 2 of 3
DISCUSSION
Over the years, the Arcadia Fire Department has responded to many large scale
incidents throughout the State under the California Fire and Rescue Master Mutual Aid
System. Although primary responses were mainly for wildfire incidents throughout
California, the Fire Department can potentially be dispatched for other natural disasters
such as earthquakes, wind events, and flooding in other local, state and federal
jurisdictions where local and /or state emergencies can be declared and reimbursement
funding may become available.
The California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA) 2015, under the guidelines of the
Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), is the reimbursement mechanism
for local government fire agency responses through the California Fire and Rescue
Emergency Mutual Aid System. Cal OES is requiring local government agencies to
pass and provide a resolution by May 30, 2015, which will formally acknowledge how
Arcadia Fire personnel will be compensated for "portal to portal" activities. "Portal to
Portal" is when Fire personnel are compensated beginning at the time of dispatch from
home base to the time of return to home base. Because City personnel will be in City
uniforms, driving City equipment, held accountable to City policies, and responsible for
representing the City at all times as they travel to and from incidents, compensating the
employees for this time is essential.
The City has always been reimbursed on a "portal to portal" basis. Recently, the CFAA
has been updated to require local jurisdictions to adopt a resolution expressly stating
that their Fire Department personnel are compensated from "portal to portal ". Failure to
provide Cal OES with a resolution will result in mutual aid reimbursement and
compensation to be based on "time worked" on the incident only. This form of
calculation would produce significantly less reimbursement for what the City of Arcadia
must compensate its personnel based on the Arcadia Firefighters' Memorandum of
Understanding, and payroll and overtime practices as outlined in the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA).
"Portal to portal" reimbursement and compensation (determined through a "Salary
Survey" submitted by local agencies) is based on a per hour salary rate for straight time
and applicable overtime based on job classification and type of equipment provided
using a rate methodology set by the CFAA. This formula has worked well in that it
reimburses and compensates the City of Arcadia for overtime that the Arcadia Fire
personnel who are providing mutual aid are earning and it reimburses and compensates
the City of Arcadia for other Arcadia Fire personnel who are recalled to backfill Arcadia
apparatus to maintain sufficient coverage for the City. Essentially, adoption of
Resolution No. 7068 is necessary to ensure that the City continues to receive its full
reimbursement costs accordingly: for personnel earning overtime on the incident, and
Resolution No 7068 — Acknowledgment of Portal to Portal Reimbursement per CFAA
May 5, 2015
Page 3 of 3
for the overtime the City incurs backfilling positions for those on the incident, using the
"portal to portal" hourly rate approved by the State.
FISCAL IMPACT
Failure to adopt such resolution by May 30, 2015, will result in substantial loss of State
reimbursements under the California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA), meaning the
City will only be reimbursed for actual time worked on the fire line instead of receiving
full reimbursement or cost recovery.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 7068 identifying the terms
and conditions for Arcadia Fire Department response when away from official duty
station and assigned to an emergency incident.
Approved:
Dominic Lazzarettd
City Manager
Attachment: Resolution No. 7068
RESOLUTION NO. 7068
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY C(
CALIFONIA, IDENTIFYING THE
ARCADIA FIRE DEPARTMENT
OFFICIAL DUTY STATION AND
INCIDENT
)UNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA,
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR
RESPONSE WHEN AWAY FROM
ASSIGNED TO AN EMERGENCY
WHEREAS, the Arcadia Fire Department is a public agency located in the
County of Los Angeles, State of California; and
WHEREAS, it is the City of Arcadia's desire to provide fair and legal payment to
all its employees for time worked; and
WHEREAS, the City intends to compensate its employees portal to portal while in
the course of their employment, away from their official duty station and when assigned
to an emergency incident, in support of an emergency incident, or pre- positioned for
emergency response ( "Covered Activities "); and
WHEREAS, the City has in its employ certain Fire Department response personnel
who respond to covered activities; and who include: Fire Chief, Deputy Chief, Battalion
Chief, Fire Captain, Engineer, Firefighter /Paramedic, Firefighter ( "Response
Personnel "); and
WHEREAS, the City intends to compensate its employees overtime in accordance
with their current Memorandum of Understanding while engaged in the Covered Activities.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA,
CALIFORNIA, DOES HEREBY FIND, DETERMINE AND RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Response Personnel shall be compensated according to that
certain City approved Memorandum of Understanding ( "MOU "), Personnel Rules and
Regulations, and/or other directive that identifies personnel compensation applicable to
Response Personnel in the workplace, in effect from time to time.
SECTION 2. In the event a personnel classification does not have an
assigned compensation rate for Response Personnel, a "Base Rate" as set forth in a
City approved organizational policy, administrative directive or similar document shall be
used to compensate such Response Personnel.
SECTION 3. The Arcadia Fire Department shall maintain a current salary
survey or acknowledgment of acceptance of the "base rate" on file with the California
Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Fire Rescue Division.
SECTION 4. Response Personnel shall be compensated for Covered Activities
(portal to portal) beginning at the time of dispatch to the time of return to their official
duty station in the City when equipment and personnel are in service and available for
agency response.
SECTION 5. This Resolution shall take effect upon adoption, and the City Clerk
shall certify to the adoption of this Resolution.
Passed, approved, and adopted this
INiIOWN
City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Y'
Steph n P. Deitsch
City Attorney
Cry
day of
, 2015.
Mayor of the City of Arcadia