For City Council Meeting [April 9, 2019]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Sean Grayson, Interim City Administrator
FROM: Brian Park, Interim Fire Chief
Title
Request City Council to Adopt a Resolution No. 7495 to Add the Chino Valley Independent Fire District as a Party to Consolidated Fire Agencies (“CONFIRE”) Joint Powers Agreement.
(ACTION)
Body
BACKGROUND:
The City of Rialto is currently one of six local jurisdictions that have collectively formed a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) to provide regional emergency and non-emergency communication services for their fire departments. The six-member agencies of the JPA include the cities of Rialto, Loma Linda, Colton, Redlands, Rancho Cucamonga and the County of San Bernardino. These member agencies comprise the policy making authority for the JPA and retain joint ownership of all JPA assets. In addition to the six-member agencies, there are nine contract agencies that pay a fee for the services of the JPA commensurate with the volume of calls for service that their agency generates. Although these contract agencies enjoy the same level and type of services as the member agencies, they are not directly represented in the policy making process, nor do they have any ownership of the JPA’s assets.
The Chino Valley Independent Fire Protection District (CVIFD) is currently one of the contract agencies. However, in accordance with the bylaws of the JPA, they have requested to become a formal member agency. Approval for membership requires all current member agencies’ local governing bodies individually approve a resolution amending the current JPA agreement to accept the CVIFD as a member agency. Additionally, the CVIFD must agree to pay a membership fee of $412,423.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION:
On May 15, 1990, the cities of Rialto, Colton, Loma Linda, Redlands, and the County of San Bernardino (formally known as the San Bernardino Consolidated Fire Agency) entered into an agreement establishing a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) to create a regionalized emergency communication center for the fire departments of each respective jurisdiction. The formal name adopted for the JPA is “Consolidated Fire Agencies of the East Valley,” and is commonly referred to as Confire. The primary objective of the JPA is to provide the community members of each respective agency with a regionalized approach to the deployment of fire and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) resources. This regionalized approach improves efficiency and reduces each agency’s costs associated with delivering these services. The joint services include providing a secondary 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), the purchase and maintenance of a Computer Aided Dispatching (CAD) system, delivery of specialized Emergency Medical Dispatching (EMD), information technology services, and the employment and oversight of all human resources needed to maintain operations.
The City of Rialto makes full use of these resources and pays an average annual amount of approximately $750,000. Rialto’s portion of the financial obligation is based on a formula that allocates the total annual operating cost of the JPA to each member and contract agency based on the number of emergency calls for service processed through the Confire communication center. Rialto’s fee also includes the fire department’s Information Technology (IT) and cell phone services. These portions of the fees are based on actual services provided and the cost of hardware, software, and IT infrastructure.
Article III of the JPA’s bylaws provides for non-member agencies to become a formal voting member after a minimum of one year as a contracting agency, and providing that all existing member agencies agree and sign an amended Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement. Membership is also contingent upon payment of a “buy in” fee to the joint ownership of the JPA’s assets. The fee amount must be determined and agreed upon by a majority of the JPA’s board of directors.
On February 13, 2019, the CVIFD made a formal request for full membership in the Confire JPA. The proposal was presented to the JPA’s board of directors and approved on April 2, 2019, along with a proposed buy in fee of $412,423 (Attachment 1). The fee amount was based on CVIFD’s average percentage of calls for service in relation to the total number of calls for service processed by the JPA over the three previous calendar years. The fee amount was then calculated using this percentage (5.42%) of the JPA’s total assets and reserve accounts.
The final step in the formal acceptance of CVIFD as a member agency is to have the elected bodies of each current JPA member agency individually adopt a resolution approving CVIFD’s request for membership (Attachment 2). Although each jurisdiction need only have a simple majority vote to ratify their individual resolution, all jurisdictions must pass a resolution approving the action. Should one or more of the member jurisdictions fail to pass the resolution, the action would not move forward.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
The request is not a Project as defined by Section 15378 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). A “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. By definition, a Project does not include: The creation of government funding mechanisms or other government fiscal activities which do not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment according to Section 15378 (b)(4) of CEQA.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY:
5:7: Maintain a high level of emergency response capability.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed and approved this staff report
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Operating Budget Impact
There are no increased costs to the City associated with this item. Because the CVIFD is currently a contract agency with the JPA, the contract fees that they have paid and the offsets those fees represent to the City’s contribution to the JPA are already factored into the 2018/19 budget.
Capital Improvement Budget Impact
No Impact to Capital Improvement Budget
Licensing
This action does not require a business license.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council Adopt a Resolution to Add the Chino Valley Independent Fire District as a Party to Consolidated Fire Agencies (“CONFIRE”) Joint Powers Agreement.