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Agenda Item 5.

City Council Meeting

Meeting Date:	02/15/2022
FROM:	Bill Gallardo

Subject:

Citygate Associates, LLC. Standards of Cover and Community Risk Assessment Study Findings and Recommendations

RECOMMENDATION

Receive and file; gather further direction for the implementation of recommendations provided in Citygate’s Standards of Cover.

BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION

The City of Brea (City) is committed to providing the most effective service to the community and upholding efficiency in the organization. The modern fire service is more complex than ever before, as the nature of the all-risk, emergency service model places more expectations on agencies responsible for the delivery of these services. Currently, the City is reviewing many aspects of the Shared Command Staff between the Brea and Fullerton Fire Departments. As part of this review, Messina & Associates, Inc. was consulted to conduct a high-level assessment of the current Shared Command Staff. As a result of the firm’s report, Messina & Associates, Inc. highly recommended that the City engage in a detailed assessment of the Brea Fire Department as well as a community risk profile. This type of comprehensive review is contained in a Standards of Response Coverage (SOC) and a Community Risk Assessment (CRA).

Based upon this recommendation, the City retained Citygate Associates, LLC (Citygate) to conduct a comprehensive SOC and CRA study, to review current organizational conditions, analyze future service demands and service delivery options, and provide recommendations for the Fire Department (Department) to guide future decision-making for the next three to five years. The scope included a command staff assessment to model the City’s needs if it were to separate from the shared fire command partnership with the City of Fullerton. Citygate utilized multiple sources to gather, understand, and model information about the City and Department, and requested a large amount of relevant background data and information to better understand current costs, service levels, history of service level decisions, and other prior studies. Citygate also utilized various National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and Insurance Services Office (ISO) publications as best practice guidelines, along with the self-assessment criteria of the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI).

The report provided by Citygate includes technical information about how fire services are provided and legally regulated and how the Brea Fire Department is currently deployed and operates. This information is presented in the form of recommendations and policy choices for consideration by the Department and City. Citygate proposed an approach to address both current needs with effective and efficient use of existing resources and longer-range needs. The result is a framework for enhancing Department services while meeting reasonable community expectations and fiscal realities.

Overall, Citygate provided 21 findings and 5 action item recommendations. Citygate’s full list of findings and recommendations is included in the attached Standards of Cover and Community Risk Assessment Study. Recommendations and the next steps of this process take time and fiscal capacity. As such, Citygate offers the following suggested sequential steps.

Near-Term

Review and absorb the content, findings, and recommendations of this report.
Adopt revised response performance goals as recommended.
Direct staff to return with costs and timing to make personnel additions.
Continue the plan to staff Station 4 with three personnel per day.
Choose how to provide headquarters services for the long term.

Longer-Term

Add a two-firefighter/paramedic low-acuity EMS squad.
Monitor response time performance against adopted goals.

Upon City Council direction, City staff can conduct any final cost and fiscal analyses needed as typically completed in the City’s normal operating and capital budget preparation cycle.

FISCAL IMPACT/SUMMARY

For the Near-Term recommendations, the Fiscal Impact to institute a Brea Fire Command Staff involves upgrading the Deputy Chief title and the addition of two Battalion Chiefs and a non-sworn Fire Marshal. City Finance staff worked with the Fire Chief and Citygate to calculate these costs which resulted in the added personnel costs of $810,346. The City will also need to expend one-time funds for start-up capital equipment costs of approximately $100,000 (principally Battalion Chief vehicles). Additionally, the City is currently budgeted for a deployment plan to hire one Firefighter per year through FY 25/26. By the end of this deployment plan, Station 4 will be staffed with three personnel per day.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

William Gallardo, City Manager
Prepared by: Yerika Ambriz, Management Analyst
Concurrence: Adam Loeser, Fire Chief

Attachments
Standards of Cover and Community Risk Assessment Study for the City of Brea
Map Atlas