Agree X Partially Disagree - explain disputed portion below Disagree - explain below Response explanation (required for*

The consolidation of Fire and Emergency Medical System dispatch services at the Santa Cruz Regional 911 center and mutual aid agreements between districts have created an efficient virtual single service district for those services in the entire county. AGREE X PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain disputed portion below DISAGREE - explain below Response explanation (required for responses other than "Agree"): Partially Agree: While dispatch services have been streamlined and become very efficient, it has created some potential for lag time in non-emergency responses; especially for the volunteer agencies. Career fire agencies respond to non-emergency requests quite often, in some areas as much as 12% of responses are for non-emergency, public service requests/calls; in fact in Santa Cruz County that percentage stands at 9%. The lag time comes into play for volunteer agencies, where some dispatchers are very hesitant to dispatch a non-emergency call during "non-office" hours, such as early morning hours... because said agencies are not "staffed" around the clock. Just because an incident is classified as non-emergency does not mean that there is no urgency needed in mitigating a problem. A water leak may be a non-emergency incident, however, unchecked it can and often will lead to flooding and can result in significant damage. County Communications (NetComm) should dispatch ALL non-emergency requests in the same manner; if a career agency would/will respond to such an incident during "off-hours", and is therefore dispatched immediately; the same must be the case for volunteer agencies.

Shared services between fire districts have improved response times, training, and services across the county. X AGREE _ PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain disputed portion below DISAGREE - explain below Response explanation (required for responses other than "Agree"): Partially Agree: Unsure exactly how "shared services" would lead to improved response times; shared services are usually prevention, maintenance and in the case of the county, dispatch services. A centralized dispatch probably improves call handling times, which would lead to more efficient dispatching, however travel times are what they are... any improvements due to dispatching would show in the "call-taking" time where an incident is triaged, located and then appropriate agency(ies) are dispatched. Shared training and joint purchasing have been around for a little while now and lead to better efficiency in skills and more purchasing power with apparatus and equipment. These would not have any affect, however, on response times (with the exception of perhaps newer, safer apparatus). What could lead to improvements in response times, from a 'shared service" point of view would be/are improvements to mutual aid, such as the concepts of "boundary drops" where the closest apparatus is dispatched, regardless of jurisdiction.

The differences in policies and procedures of the four fire protection districts in the San Lorenzo Valley inhibit future consolidation. AGREE X PARTIALLY DISAGREE - explain disputed portion below DISAGREE - explain below Response explanation (required for responses other than "Agree"): Partially Agree: The San Lorenzo Valley fire districts, along with other stakeholders, such as Scotts Valley Fire, Cal-Fire and Branciforte Fire have created a "District Council" where various chief officers and or board members/administrators meet to discuss challenges facing these areas specifically. As direct result, "joint policies" have been formulated to address such concerns and bring all stakeholders into greater consistency with policies. These agencies also participate in joint training and prevention details in an effort to increase inter-operability and efficiency. The biggest inhibition to future consolidation of the SLV fire districts is that most districts serve as the sole representative of "local government" for said town (or geographic area). The fire stations serve as the meeting location for various civic groups active in those towns (or geographic areas). This creates a feel of autonomy for each town, all of whom are unincorporated; and serve as a great source of local pride. This has been alluded to in the previous Grand Jury report.