Santa Cruz County Fire Protection Districts Response Times, Mutual Aid, and Consolidation

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. Response from the Board of Directors, Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District: PARTIALLY DISAGREE ­ "Partially agree" is not permitted, but the Board does ​ partially agree with Finding No. 1. The consolidation of the Fire and Emergency Medical System dispatch services at the Santa Cruz Regional 911 center coupled with mutual aid/automatic aid agreement are major components that have created and efficient virtual single service fire district. However, as mentioned in the Report at , other factors such as continued cooperation amongst Santa Cruz Fire Chiefs via the formation of a Santa Cruz County Fire Chiefs Association and the County EMSIA have also contributed. In addition, there is a long history of California being the national leader in cooperative fire assistance agreements through guidance of FIRESCOPE and Cal OES are also additional components that have helped create a seamless single service delivery. Board vote 5­0 Partially Disagree (Finding 1) Response from the Board of Directors, Ben Lomond Fire Protection District: PARTIALLY DISAGREE ­ Partially Agree: ​ While dispatch services have been streamlined and become very efficient, it has created some potential for lag time in non­emergency responses; especially for the volunteer agencies. Career fire agencies respond to non­emergency requests quite often, in some areas as much as 12% of responses are for non­emergency, 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 non­emergency call during "non­office” hours, such as early morning hours... because said agencies are not “staffed" around the clock. Just because an incident is classified as non­emergency does not mean that there is no urgency needed in mitigating a problem. A water leak may be a non­emergency incident, however, unchecked it can and often will lead to flooding and can result in significant damage. County Communications (NetComm) should dispatch ALL non­emergency requests in the same manner; if a career agency would/will respond to such an incident during “off­hours", and is therefore dispatched immediately; the same must be the case for volunteer agencies. Response from the Board of Directors, Branciforte Fire Protection District: AGREE ­ [July 16, 2015 MINUTES NEW BUSINESS 10.1] ... After discussion all ​ ​ ​ agree on F1, ... Response from the Board of Directors, Boulder Creek Fire Protection District: AGREE Response from the Board of Directors, Central Fire Protection District: AGREE ­ Board vote 4­2 Agree ​ Response from the Board of Directors, Felton Fire Protection District: AGREE Response from the Board of Directors, Scotts Valley Fire Protection District: AGREE Response from the Board of Directors, Zayante Fire Protection District: AGREE

Shared services between fire districts have improved response times, training, and services across the county. Response from the Board of Directors, Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District: PARTIALLY DISAGREE ­ While Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District agrees ​ that shared service between the districts has improved services, we are not in agreement that this is “county wide”. Aptos/La Selva will continue to support increasing shared services where it is financially sound and increases service to our constituents and Santa Cruz County as a whole. Board vote 5­0 Partially Disagree (Finding 2) Response from the Board of Directors, Ben Lomond Fire Protection District: 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 "call­taking" 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. Response from the Board of Directors, Branciforte Fire Protection District: AGREE ­ [July 16, 2015 MINUTES NEW BUSINESS 10.1] ... After discussion … all ​ ​ ​ agree on F2, ... Response from the Board of Directors, Boulder Creek Fire Protection District: AGREE Response from the Board of Directors, Central Fire Protection District: PARTIALLY DISAGREE ­ The Board of Directors voted 4­2 to partially disagree. ​ Shared services in training, fleet maintenance, computer services and joint purchasing have created efficiencies within the specific discipline for those districts who participate in such programs. Automatic and Mutual Aid agreements do provide improved response times for those who participate in such agreements between agencies. Response from the Board of Directors, Felton Fire Protection District: AGREE Response from the Board of Directors, Scotts Valley Fire Protection District: AGREE Response from the Board of Directors, Zayante Fire Protection District: AGREE

Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District and Central Fire Protection District did not take advantage of the opportunity to pursue consolidation when the Aptos Fire Chief retired in 2014. Response from the Board of Directors, Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District: DISAGREE ­ The opportunity to consolidate or not consolidate fire districts is not ​ dependent on one fire chief retiring. As mentioned in the Report at Pages 6­7, consolidation is a complex issue that must weigh current service efficiencies against future service efficiencies, financial and contractual obligations, not to mention the political differences of opinion such as local control, subsidized Services, etc. Board vote 5­0 Disagree (Finding 3) Response from the Board of Directors, Central Fire Protection District: AGREE ­ Board of Directors voted 5­1 to agree. ​

The differences in pay scales and benefits between Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District and Central Fire Protection District are issues that must be addressed prior to consolidation. Response from the Board of Directors, Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District: AGREE ­ As mentioned in the Report at Pages 6­7, consolidation is a complex ​ issue that must weigh current service efficiencies against future service efficiencies, financial and contractual obligations, not to mention the political differences of opinion such as local control, subsidized services, etc. Board vote 5­0 Agree (Finding 4) 15 Response from the Board of Directors, Central Fire Protection District: AGREE ­ The Board of Directors voted 4­2 to agree. ​

Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District and Central Fire Protection District have a common problem resulting from excessive and unreasonable Public Records Act requests. These requests have negatively impacted the daily administration, budgets and operations of the districts. Response from the Board of Directors, Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District: AGREE ­ Board vote 5­0 Agree (Finding 5) ​ Response from the Board of Directors, Central Fire Protection District: AGREE ­ The Board of Directors voted 6­0 to agree. ​

The lack of enforced policies and procedures regarding conflicts of interest and board member interactions in district operations, has interfered with the ability of the Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District and Central Fire Protection District to consider further shared services or consolidation. Response from the Board of Directors, Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District: PARTIALLY DISAGREE ­ Prior to the issuance of the Grand Jury Report, ​ Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District has adopted a Board Policy Manual that defines board member interactions and a code of conduct. Board vote 5­0 Partially Disagree (Finding 6) Response from the Board of Directors, Central Fire Protection District: PARTIALLY DISAGREE ­ The Board of Directors voted 4­2 to partially disagree. ​ The Board of Directors of the Central Fire Protection District do not believe there has been any enforcement issues with policy and procedure regarding conflict of interest of Board Member interactions in District Operations within the Central Fire District. Current operational functions and services such as Fleet Maintenance, Information Technology has continued to functioned with minimal effect. In support of this observation is correspondence from the Grand Jury Foreperson indicating the belief that the issue does not lay with Central Fire District. The disruptive behavior caused by Board Member interference does inhibit further consideration.

The joint Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District and Central Fire Protection District Cooperative Fire Prevention Program is successful and could benefit the county if made permanent. Response from the Board of Directors, Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District: PARTIALLY DISAGREE ­ "Partially agree" is not permitted, but the Board does ​ partially agree with Finding No. 7. The CPP appears that it could be a benefit to both districts. Board vote 5­0 Partially Disagree (Finding 7) 16 Response from the Board of Directors, Central Fire Protection District: PARTIALLY DISAGREE ­ To date the CPP has been successful in identifying ​ organizational practices and procedures needed to streamline joint operations. The agencies continue to address those organizational differences. The program was never intended to serve County residents other than in those served by the two fire districts. A much larger organization including a different governance model would be required to expand services to the whole county. In addition the economic capacity to fund increased service levels and lack of service expectation of smaller agencies makes it unlikely they would become users of such a proposed model. Board of Directors voted 6­0 to partially disagree[.]

Expansion of the Central Fire Protection District’s fleet services department is needed to allow a larger number of districts to contract with this service. Response from the Board of Directors, Central Fire Protection District: AGREE ­ The Board of Directors voted 6­0 to agree. ​

Branciforte Fire Protection District’s lack of a tangible reserve or funds to pay their Fire Chief leaves them vulnerable to insolvency, which would leave Branciforte residents without a fire district. Response from the Board of Directors, Branciforte Fire Protection District: PARTIALLY DISAGREE ­ [July 16, 2015 MINUTES NEW BUSINESS 10.1] ... After ​ ​ ​ discussion … all partially agree on F9…

Scotts Valley Fire Protection District is the most logical partner for consolidation or shared services with Branciforte Fire Protection District. Response from the Board of Directors, Branciforte Fire Protection District: AGREE ­ [July 16, 2015 MINUTES NEW BUSINESS 10.1] ... After discussion … all ​ ​ ​ agree on F10. Response from the Board of Directors, Scotts Valley Protection District: AGREE

The differences in policies and procedures of the four fire protection districts in the San Lorenzo Valley inhibit future consolidation. Response from the Board of Directors, Ben Lomond Fire Protection District: PARTIALLY DISAGREE ­ Partially Agree: ​ The San Lorenzo Valley fire districts, along with other stakeholders, such as Scotts Valley Fire, Cal­Fire 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 17 prevention details in an effort to increase inter­operability 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. Response from the Board of Directors, Boulder Creek Fire Protection District: AGREE Response from the Board of Directors, Felton Fire Protection District: AGREE Response from the Board of Directors, Zayante Fire Protection District: AGREE

The continued success of Santa Cruz Regional 911 is dependant upon the successful replacement of the Computer Aided Dispatch software. Response from the Board of Directors, Santa Cruz Regional 911: AGREE ­ The current CAD system in use by SCR9­1­1 is Motorola Printrak CAD. ​ This CAD system has served (and is continuing to serve) the community of Santa Cruz since 1996. It is a robust system that currently meets all of our User's needs. Motorola has informed SCR9­1­1 that they will no longer support this version of CAD past August 31, 2018, therefore it is imperative that a replacement product be purchased, installed, and functional prior to that date. SCR9­1­1 staff has begun the process of investigating CAD systems in order to have enough information to develop a comprehensive Request for Proposal in order to acquire a replacement system.