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RESOLUTION IDENTIFYING TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR FIRE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL COMPENSATION FOR PROVIDING RESPONSE TO THE CALIFORNIA OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES (OES) INCIDENTS AWAY FROM THEIR OFFICIAL DUTY STATION OUTSIDE OF THE CITY OF STOCKTON
recommended action
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council approve and adopt a resolution identifying the terms and conditions for Fire Department personnel compensation assigned to a mutual aid incident in response to the California Office of Emergency Services away from the official duty station outside the City of Stockton and San Joaquin County.
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Summary
The City of Stockton Fire Department adheres to the California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA) for reimbursement of out-of-county mutual aid responses. In 2014, the Fire Department responded to 25 requests for mutual aid throughout California. The total amount for these responses was approximately $450,000, reimbursed entirely by the State of California.
The CFAA has been revised with a new agreement being implemented in advance of the 2015 fire season. The new CFAA establishes new requirements to ensure adequate reimbursement for mutual aid responses.
Adoption of this resolution is necessary to maintain compliance with the 2015 CFAA and to ensure that the City receives compensation for actual hours worked from the time of departure, through time returned to the official duty station. The elected bodies of all California fire agencies that participate in out-of-county mutual aid are compelled to adopt resolutions in order to ensure proper payment.
DISCUSSION
Background
The State of California Office of Emergency Services (OES) serves as the broker between local government fire departments and the requesting State and Federal agencies for mutual aid responses. Financial reimbursement for the local government fire department’s mutual aid responses are set forth in the 2015 CFAA. The 2015 CFAA requires participating fire departments to have a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on file internally that describes the wages and benefits of all employee classifications that will respond to a mutual aid incident. The City of Stockton Fire Department has an MOU on file for its respective labor groups.
Additionally, the Agency is required to have a resolution on file that states that Fire Department personnel are paid for all hours, commonly referred to as portal-to-portal, and that our reimbursement procedures are in accordance to the 2015 CFAA. Adoption of this resolution will ensure our ability to recover costs related to mutual aid responses.
Present Situation
With increasing frequency, the State of California Fire Department, known as Cal Fire, and the United States Forest Service, continue to depend on local government resources to assist with large-scale wildland fires. Additionally, as California’s growing population continues to expand into the wildland areas, urban interface fire activity is expected to increase in frequency and severity.
The City of Stockton Fire Department is a signatory contractor for OES. OES has assigned a Fire Engine, Water Rescue trailer with tow vehicle, and a medium rated Urban Search and Rescue trailer to the City in the event of a major incident, that overwhelms local resources. City of Stockton Fire Department personnel are trained to respond to these types of emergencies, statewide. OES allows the Fire Department to utilize this equipment within the City when conducting drills, or during an emergency, both of which are great resources and provide an additional service to our community.
Historically, the Stockton Fire Department has been compensated for OES responses away from our normal duty station, from the time of departure, until our arrival back at our regularly assigned duty station. This practice is known as portal-to-portal compensation. This entire cost is reimbursed by OES under the CFAA. The CFAA is also used for volunteer and combination, paid/volunteer, fire departments across the state. Volunteer and Combination departments do not necessarily hire back for personnel that are assigned to an OES assignment, and thus do not require the same compensation.
When the City of Stockton Fire Department assigns personnel to an OES incident, the Fire Department immediately hires back off duty firefighters to fill the voids and maintain the required staffing to serve the City of Stockton. The passage of the proposed resolution confirms past practice and provides the required documentation by the CFAA to ensure the City of Stockton Fire Department is properly reimbursed portal-to-portal.
This process has also been vetted by the Firefighter Local. This action does not conflict with any current Labor MOUs.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
This resolution, if approved and adopted, will satisfy the terms and conditions of the 2015 California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA) for continuance of the portal-to-portal reimbursement to the City of Stockton for out-of-county mutual aid incident responses by SFD personnel. Portal-to-portal payment under the California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA) is designed to fully compensate the City for the cost of providing resources, including the overtime impact of filling shift vacancies in City of Stockton Fire Department stations, while crews are deployed. Compensation associated to the CFAA for out-of-county mutual aid responses are credited to Wild Fires/Mutual Aid Reimbursement account 010-2620-331/334.20-01.
Failure to adopt the proposed resolution may result in less than full compensation to the City of the cost of providing resources while crews are deployed.