HomeMy WebLinkAbout04 - Authorizing Suppression/Safety and Non-Suppression Personnel to be Compensated Portal-to-Portal for Services Rendered at IncidentsCITY OF
y NEWPORT BEACH
City Council Staff Report
March 10, 2015
Agenda Item No. 4
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Scott L. Poster, Fire Chief— (949) 644 -3101, sposter @nbfd.net
PREPARED BY: Angela Crespi, Administrative Manager
PHONE: (949) 644 -3352
TITLE: A Resolution Authorizing Suppression /Safety and Non - Suppression Personnel to be
Compensated Portal -to- Portal for Services Rendered at Incidents, as Requested
through the Mutual Aid System
ABSTRACT:
The City of Newport Beach (City), as a Mutual Aid provider through the California Fire Service and Rescue
Emergency Mutual Aid System, may receive a call for dispatch of personnel and emergency apparatus
under the terms of the California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA) to incidents throughout California and
the country in the event of a local, state, or federal emergency. This resolution seeks to memorialize the
compensation practices of the City to ensure full cost reimbursement under the CFAA Agreement.
RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt Resolution No. 2015 -15, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Newport Beach Authorizing
Suppression /Safety and Non - Suppression Personnel to be Compensated Portal -to- Portal for Services
Rendered at Incidents, as Requested through the Mutual Aid System.
FUNDING REQUIREMENTS:
Initial funding for the dispatch of personnel and emergency apparatus is covered under the City's General
Fund through the adopted Fire Department budget. Mutual Aid expenditures are reimbursed through a Fire
Department revenue account by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) Fire
and Rescue Division based upon an annually submitted Salary Schedule.
DISCUSSION:
As a Mutual Aid provider through the California Fire Service and Rescue Emergency Mutual Aid System,
the City of Newport Beach may be called upon to dispatch personnel and /or emergency apparatus to
incidents throughout California and the country in the event of a local, state, or federal emergency. Once
dispatched, the terms of mutual aid reimbursement are governed by a negotiated reimbursement
mechanism called the California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA). The CFAA is agreed upon by and
between the State of California, Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES); the State of
California, Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE); and Federal Fire Agencies.
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The City has historically compensated employees requested and approved to respond to Mutual Aid
requests on a "portal -to -portal basis" defined as the time of response initiation to return to home base.
These employees include the CFAA classifications of suppression /safety (firefighters and paramedics) and
non - suppression (administration and overhead) personnel. In addition to personnel, the City has
historically received reimbursement for dispatched emergency apparatus on a portal -to -portal basis as
well.
The partner agencies have recently completed a five -year review of the CFAA and executed a revised
agreement effective January 1, 2015, and extending until December 31, 2019. One of the negotiated
changes is to the methodology for calculating reimbursement for personnel and emergency apparatus.
Under the previous agreement, reimbursement for personnel and emergency apparatus response that
exceeded 12 hours was calculated based on the entire time of commitment, beginning at the time of initial
dispatch from home base to the time of return to home base. Under the revised agreement, the
reimbursement will be based on actual time worked at the incident unless the responding agency files a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or governing board resolution indicating that it is the agency's
practice to compensate employees for all hours worked. With an incident response ranging from one to
seven mutual aid incidents annually, the proposed change will significantly impact reimbursement.
To avoid this impact, the City must formalize the practice of compensating on a portal -to -portal basis for
emergency response to incidents through the adoption of a resolution. Upon adoption, the resolution will
be officially filed with the Cal OES Fire and Rescue Division to cover any future incident responses.
Without an approved resolution, resources responding to an incident will continue to be paid by the City
portal -to- portal, but the City will not be reimbursed for the full amount from Cal OES.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
This action is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act ( "CEQA ") pursuant to Sections 15060
(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the
environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA
Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in
physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly.
NOTICING:
The agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the meeting at
which the City Council considers the item).
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Attachment A - Resolution
M
ATTACHMENT A
RESOLUTION NO. 2015—
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA AUTHORIZING
S U PRESS ION/SAFETY AND NON- SUPRESSION
PERSONNEL TO BE COMPENSATED PORTAL -TO-
PORTAL FOR SERVICES RENDERED AT INCIDENTS, AS
REQUESTED THROUGH THE MUTUAL AID SYSTEM
WHEREAS, the City of Newport Beach ( "City ") is a Mutual Aid provider through
the California Fire Service and Rescue Emergency Mutual Aid System ( "Mutual Aid
System ") and personnel and emergency apparatus may be dispatched under the terms
of the California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA) to incidents throughout California
and the Country in the event of a local, state, or federal emergency; and
WHEREAS, the past practice of the City has been to compensate employees
from portal -to- portal, defined as the time of response initiation to return to home base,
for emergency response to incidents as requested through the Mutual Aid System; and
WHEREAS, the past practice of the City has been to seek reimbursement of
portal -to- portal expenses for personnel and emergency apparatus dispatched to
incident related activities through the Mutual Aid System; and
WHEREAS, the CFAA, which sets the official guidelines for agency
reimbursement, has recently amended the reimbursement terms for responses
exceeding 12 hours in duration from reimbursing for the entire time of commitment, or
portal -to- portal, to actual hours worked for any agency that does not file an MOU or
governing body resolution outlining how City personnel will be compensated with State
of California, Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) Fire and Rescue
Division; and
WHEREAS, as a result of this CFAA amendment, the City is adopting this
resolution to memorialize the past and ongoing practice of compensating
suppression /safety and non - suppression personnel on a portal -to- portal basis when
they are requested and approved for emergency response to incidents through the
Mutual Aid System;
NOW THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Newport Beach hereby
resolves as follows:
4 -3
Section 1: The City Council does hereby authorize all City suppression /safety
and non - suppression personnel to be compensated from portal -to- portal, defined as the
time of response initiation to return to home base, for emergency response to incidents
as requested through the Mutual Aid System.
Section 2: The City Council does hereby request that the dispatch of all
emergency apparatus to be reimbursed on a portal -to -portal basis, defined as the time
of response initiation to return to home base, for emergency response to incidents as
requested through the Mutual Aid System .
Section 3: This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption by the
City Council, and the City Clerk shall certify the vote adopting the resolution.
ADOPTED this 10th day of March, 2015.
ATTEST:
Leilani I. Brown
City Clerk
F]
Edward D. Selich
Mayor
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