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HomeMy WebLinkAbout15 - Withdrawal from the Central Net Operations AuthorityCITY OF NEWPORT BEACH CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT Agenda Item No. is November 26, 2003 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: Fire Department Fire Chief Tim Riley, (949) 644 -3101, triley @city.newport- beach.ca.us SUBJECT: Withdraw from the Central Net Operations Authority ISSUE: Should the Fire Department cease its participation as a member of the Central Net Operations Authority (CNOA); a Joint Powers Agency formed for the purpose of administering dispatch and training activities for member agencies. RECOMMENDATION: Direct the City Manager to notify the secretary of CNOA prior to December 31, 2002, that the City of Newport Beach intends to withdraw as a member of CNOA, effective September 30, 2003. DISCUSSION: Background: In 1989, the Fire Department ceased its emergency dispatch operations through the Police Department and joined the cities of Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and Westminster at their joint dispatch and training facility located in Huntington Beach. At the time, this allowed our Department to operate in an emergency communication center environment that was more compatible with fire operations than law enforcement operations. As a value added benefit, we began using the training center and participating in joint training activities as well. This gentleman's agreement allowed us to jointly benefit from a system and facility that individually we could not afford to operate. Shortly after our arrival, Seal Beach elected to disband their Fire Department and contract with the Orange County Fire Department; thus ending their participation in our joint venture. Withdraw from the Central Net Operations Authority November 26, 2002 Page 2 On July 1, 1992, the cities of Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Westminster formed CNOA; a joint powers of authority agency that formalized our dispatch and training arrangement. At this time, the funding of CNOA was based upon a formula using the population and assessed valuation of each city. As you might imagine considering our assessed valuation, this formula had Newport Beach paying the highest share of any single member and higher than Fountain Valley and Westminster combined. Since my arrival as Fire Chief, we convinced the other member agencies that a formula based upon actual incidents dispatched in the communication center for the dispatch portion of the budget and the number of personnel being trained for the training center portion of the budget was more representative of actual benefit. The 1993/94 budget reflected this new change and our share of the budget went from 39.20% of the total to 23.139% of the total; a savings of $162,070 in the first year. CNOA operated efficiently and provided a great deal of benefit to Newport Beach until 1995, when Westminster elected to disband their Fire Department and contract with the Orange County Fire Department; thus ending their participation as a CNOA member. Due to the large revenue loss from Westminster's departure and our perceived inability to continue to operate our communications center and deliver adequate services, the remaining agencies elected to discontinue the communication center portion of the JPA and join with Anaheim, Fullerton, Garden Grove, and Orange to form the Metro Cities Fire Authority and open a new communication center in Anaheim. We currently receive emergency dispatch services through Metro Cities. Value of Continued Participation in CNOA Since 1995, we have continued to participate as a member of CNOA, operating the Central Net Training Center (CNTC) and conducting some joint training activities. The cities of Costa Mesa, and, to a lesser degree, Santa Ana also participate with us but are not members and do not pay a proportionate share of the expenses. When asked to join, they state that there is not enough value in it for them to justify the expense. Costa Mesa has their own facility and Santa Ana believes it is geographically inefficient for them to participate except on a limited basis. I believe we are in the same boat now. A review of our actual operational activities, our current needs and our annual training costs will demonstrate how the cost has risen to a point where we need to ask the question "Is this the best way to spend our limited training funds ?" The remainder of this report should answer that question. Response Activitv versus Trainino Time CNOA operated for the longest time on the premise that we should train together because we operate together routinely through automatic and mutual aid response. We have worked hard to develop common operational procedures so that when we do respond together, our resources work together more effectively. However, a review of the most recent response statistics show that we do not train routinely with the people Withdraw from the Central Net Operations Authority November 26, 2002 Page 3 we actually respond with. The table below shows the number of times we responded into other jurisdictions during calendar year 2001 and number of times they responded into our jurisdiction. While we participate in a training -JPA with Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley, our actual activity is with Costa Mesa and Orange County Fire Authority (Irvine). In fact, in 2001 we did not respond with Fountain Valley at all and a limited number of times with Huntington Beach. From Newport Beach-) Other Agency-) To Newport Beach 255 Costa Mesa 282 0 Fountain Valley 0 10 Huntington Beach 25 717 Orange County Fire 222 The numbers indicate we should be spending more time in joint training with Costa Mesa and OCFA and less with our CNOA partners. Central Net Proximity When we engage in training activities at CNTC, we program a certain number of units out of service during their training and travel time (They remain in contact by radio but are not recommended for first response by our computer dispatch system.) For a two - hour class at CNTC, we need to have units out of service (and out of the city) for an average of three hours due to the extended travel time. We balance this sacrifice of good coverage against the value of the training that our fire personnel need to maintain their professional competency. This has become increasingly difficult since the addition of the Santa Ana Heights and Newport Coast stations. The table below shows the round -trip distance and travel time from each of our stations: TRAVEL TIME AND DISTANCE FROM FIRE STATIONS TO CNTC Distance Station 1 - 110 E. Balboa BI (I unit) Station 2 - 475 32nd St (3 units) Station 3 - 870 Santa Barbara Dr (4 units) Station 4 - 124 Marine Av (i unit) Station 5 - 410 Marigold Av (2 units) Station 6 - 1348 Irvine Av (i unit) Station 7 - 2301 Zenith Av (i unit) Station 8 - 6502 Ridge Park Road (t unit) Travel Time 19.64 miles 44 minutes 16.64 miles 28 minutes 24.58 miles 40 minutes 22.12 miles 46 minutes 27.5 miles 44 minutes 19.64 miles 44 minutes 18.06 miles 32 minutes 27.72 miles 42 minutes Withdraw from the Central Net Operations Authority November 26, 2002 Page 4 The average round -trip travel distance per unit is 22.16 miles and the average round -trip travel time per unit is 40.5 minutes. In comparison, when we use Costa Mesa's fire training center located at 2300 Placentia Av, the averages becomes 10.52 miles and 34.57 minutes round -trip. Finally, when we use Big Canyon Reservoir, the averages become 7.46 miles and 17.84 minutes round trip respectively. This illustrates that every time we elect to do training at the CNTC, as opposed to Costa Mesa or within the city limits, we are reducing the availability of units to respond to incidents in our city. Practically speaking, there are certain training tasks that we cannot do without a training center designed for firefighting, such as the CNTC. Recognizing this, we are limiting the times we do go to the CNTC and focusing on training methodologies that can be done with units in their first -in response areas. We also believe that we can better develop our training site at Big Canyon and further reduce the times we travel out of the city to achieve our training objectives. Cost versus Benefit As mentioned earlier, when we joined the Huntington Beach dispatch center, we also began to do some joint agency training with the cities of Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and Westminster. As a CNOA member, you had to participate in both functions: communications and training. Typically, the budget was divided between the two major functions: 84% for Communications and 16% for Training. Therefore, of the total $410,162 Newport Beach paid into CNOA in 1993/94, $78,678 went to training and $330,826 went to emergency dispatch. As illustrated in the table below, our training costs have risen 87.44% since 1992/93. In particular, our percentage cost rose dramatically in 1996/97 when Westminster withdrew as a member and the remaining agencies (Newport Beach, Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach) had to absorb some of their share of the cost without actually increasing the benefit. COST INCREASES OVER TEN YEAR PERIOD Fiscal Year Amount % of total CNOA Budget 1993/94 $78,678 28.81 1994/95 $85,007 29.45 1995/96 $86,215 28.75 1996/97* $115,569 35.63 1997/98 $117,193 36.33 1998/99 $120,438 35.90 1999/00 $123,854 35.61 2000/01 $131,574 35.74 2001/02 $160,243 35.74 2002/03 $147,477 38.00 * 1 s` budget year after Westminster left CNOA Withdraw from the Central Net Operations Authority November 26, 2002 Page 5 It is important to note that while our training expenses are rising, our actual use is going down due to an increased need to train in the city and less of a need to use the CNTC. With this in mind, we took a liberal look at what our projected Central Net use for next year would be and what it would cost if we withdrew as members and just paid their flat rental rate like any other non - member fire agency. The table below illustrates our current CNTC rental usage, the rental rate by use type, and the amount we would spend for such use if we were a rental agency and not a member: RENTAL COSTS FOR CURRENT CNTC USE Activity DaysNear Cost/Day Total Wednesday Training 12 170 2,040 Multi- Company Night Drill 12 290 3,480 Multi- Company Evaluated Drill 9 290 2,610 Live Burns 12 350 4,200 Fire Technician' 6 220 2,640 Flashover Training 6 350 2,100 Fire Technician' 4 220 1,320 EMT Recertification 15 170 2,550 Daily Trainingrrower 50 350 17,500 Daily TraininglGrounds 50 230 11,500 TOTAL 166 49,940 required safety staff As you can see, with a liberal eye towards usage, we would save almost $100,000 by withdrawing as a member and just renting the CNTC when needed. We feel these valuable training funds can be better utilized for local training activities and to better develop the training area located at Big Canyon Reservoir. Based upon improving the training area at Big Canyon Reservoir, the table below illustrates the projected use of the CNTC and the annual rental costs: RENTAL COSTS FOR PROJECTED CNTC USE Activity DaysNear Cost/Day Total Physical Ability Test 4 230 920 Entry Level Academy 4 230 920 Live Burns 12 350 4,200 Fire Technician' 220 2,640 Flashover Training 6 350 2,100 Fire Technician' 220 1,320 Engineers Test 4 230 920 Daily Trainingrrower 25 350 8,750 Daily TraininglGrounds 25 230 5,750 TOTAL 80 27,520 required safety staff Withdraw from the Central Net Operations Authority November 26, 2002 Page 6 Clearly, either through the development of our own training area or simply withdrawing as a member of CNOA and renting the CNTC (or comparable facility from another agency) as needed, we would reduce our payments to CNOA by a considerable sum and divert those funds into local training activities and facilities. In fact, we are already working with Costa Mesa Fire on some joint training activities that include the use of their training facility. Alternatives The Fire Department believes we can get more for our money by exploring a few different alternatives to continued participation in CNOA. For many years, we have used the open area at Big Canyon Reservoir, adjacent to the entrance to Pacific View Memorial Park, to conduct fire apparatus operator training. This wide -open area, somewhat isolated from neighbors, provides a great location to train. We have consulted with the Utilities Department and they agree that we could further develop this area by improving the driving surfaces and erecting a small training tower (approx $200,000) to expand the use to other training activities. This center -of- the -city location would be ideal in meeting our training needs and still keeping our units in close proximity to their response areas. We are in the process of identifying a site for a permanent fire station in Santa Ana Heights. It is possible to expand the amount of land we acquire for the fire station and add some basic training ground components. This is less than ideal due to its non - central city location. It, too, would accommodate our training needs with minimal impact to neighbors. Finally, we could formally contract with Costa Mesa to use their training center. It would meet our needs but is again remote to our station response areas. Should the City Council act on our recommendation to withdraw effective September 30, 2003, we would begin addressing our future training solutions through the FY 2003/04 budget process. Environmental Review: This action requires no environmental review, because it is not a project pursuant to CEQA.. Notice of Withdrawal: Section 10.2 of the CNOA Joint Powers of Authority Agreement states: "A Member may withdraw from the Authority and terminate its rights and obligations pursuant to this agreement by giving written notice of its intention to terminate to the Secretary of the Board no late than December Withdraw from the Central Net Operations Authority November 26, 2002 Page 7 31s' prior to the termination of the fiscal year in which the provider agency intends to withdraw. The written notice shall be accompanied by a resolution or minute order of the legislative body of the withdrawing agency specifying its intent to withdraw from the authority. Withdrawal shall be effective upon the expiration of the current fiscal year..." The current CNOA fiscal year runs from October 1, 2002 through September 30. 2003. This action, and subsequent letter of notification, meets the requirement of Section 10.2 of the Agreement. Attachment: Letter of Withdrawal Prepared by: Submitted by: Withdraw from the Central Net Operations Authority November 26, 2002 Page 8 November 30, 2002 Chairman of the Board Central Net Operations Authority 18301 Gothard Street Huntington Beach, CA 92647 RE: Withdrawal from the Central Net Operations Authority Pursuant to Section 10.2 of the Central Net Operations Authority Joint Powers of Authority agreement, the City of Newport Beach is hereby giving notice of its withdrawal as a member of the Authority, effective October 1, 2003. Attached you will find a copy of the minutes from the November 26, 2002 City Council meeting documenting this action. Our participation in CNOA has led to many mutually beneficial operational and training improvements. However, with the continuing challenge of municipal finances, we must continually reassess our spending priorities. In light of such an assessment, we believe that our continued participation in CNOA is no longer the best way to spend our limited training funds. Sincerely, Homer L. Bludau City Manager