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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