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HomeMy WebLinkAboutC37050 - Notify County Eliminate Additional Fire Marshal Services Under Cooperative AgreementCONTRACT NO.C37050 STAFF REPORT CITY OF PALM DESERT CITY MANAGER'S DEPARTMENT MEETING DATE: April 16, 2020 PREPARED BY: Lauri Aylaian, City Manager REQUEST: Authorization to Notify Riverside County of Intent to Eliminate Additional Fire Marshal Services Provided Under Exhibit D of the Current Cooperative Agreement (Contract No. C37050) Recommendation By Minute Motion, authorize the City Manager to issue to Riverside County written notice of intent to eliminate additional Fire Marshal services provided to the City of Palm Desert under Exhibit D of the current cooperative agreement (Contract No. C37050) Strategic Plan Although Public Safetv & Emergency Service Priorities is a focus area of the 2013 Strategic Plan, the mini -vision, priorities, and action steps address the delivery of services by the Fire Department, and not by the Fire Marshal. Those priorities and action steps focus on addressing needs for new equipment, facilities, training, and technology for firefighting, and on helping the community to be better prepared for disasters and public safety emergencies. This recommendation deals with the methodology for delivering plan check and inspection services during the development process. Therefore, the Envision Palm Desert strategic plan does not address this recommended action. Executive Summary The declared coronavirus pandemic emergency has far-reaching implications for the City's budget for the current fiscal year and beyond. Staff is working to identify ways in which the budget implications can be reduced. The recommended action would trigger a waiting period of 120 days, during which the City would work with the County to transition away from the current model of providing Fire Marshal services, which includes having an office in City Hall to deliver plan check services to developers of projects in Palm Desert. At the end of the 120 days, the City would be able to discontinue those extra services, and the County would handle them through their Eastern Operations building in the Palm Desert sphere of influence area north of Interstate 10. April 16, 2020 - Staff Report Authorization to Notify Riverside County of Intent to Terminate Additional Fire Marshal Services Page 2 of 3 Background Analvsis The locally, regionally, statewide, and federally declared emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic will have significant budgetary implications for Palm Desert that cannot be fully known or quantified at this time. City staff works daily on updating projections for revenue, but those projections are dependent on the duration of the mandated stay-at-home orders, new mandates issued by the State and Federal government, and the economic conditions that will exist when the emergency passes; none of these can be reasonably predicted at this time. Staff is working to identify and analyze the impact of potential budgetary cuts and revisions that will ultimately be presented to the City Council for their consideration. However, there will be some possibilities identified that have either a long lead time for implementation, or that represent a significant deviation from the way in which the City has conducted business in the past. In either case, staff will want to solicit guidance from the City Council at an early stage, before significant resources are committed to analyzing the issue and before presumptions are made in preparation of the budget. One such item involves termination of additional services provided under contract with the County for Fire Marshal services. This contract requires a 120 day notice of modifications. For more than a decade, the City has provided enhanced Fire Marshal services for developers, such that they would have an office of the Fire Marshal in City Hall (or, previously, the Parkview Office Complex) for plan check services for projects in Palm Desert. This is a model not used by other Valley cities, and transfers some of the developer costs to the City, while the City also pays for additional staffing to facilitate this convenience. Shortly before the declaration of COVID-19 emergency, the City began a tally of the walk- in traffic to the Fire Marshal's Office in City Hall. This was undertaken as part of a review of services provided, because staff was concerned that the additional convenience to developers might not justify the magnitude of the additional cost to the City. Total visits typically varied from 15 to 20 per week, while other departments in Development Services have that volume (or more) on a daily basis. The cost of the additional services, anchored by the presence of an office of the Fire Marshal in City Hall, is approximately $500,000 annually. Termination of Exhibit D of Contract C37050 would require written notice 120 days in advance of ceasing to provide the services called for thereunder. At this time, staff requests Council authorization to send a notice of intent to the County, understanding that a more detailed analysis of the cost implications will be undertaken during the 120 day period. Although there are other cities that have this model of contracting with the County, none have the same fee structure and identical needs. Therefore, staff would use April 16, 2020 - Staff Report Authorization to Notify Riverside County of Intent to Terminate Additional Fire Marshal Services Page 3 of 3 the 120 day period to examine more closely the cost implications to the City, as well as to developers who require plan check, permitting, and inspection services. Because the Fire Marshal services do not generate much foot traffic to City Hall, and would then be delivered out of the Eastern Operations building just north of Palm Desert's city limits, the loss of presence in City Hall is not believed to be a significant inconvenience. Fiscal Analvsis There is no direct impact to the General Fund associated with the recommendation in this staff report. It the City does, indeed, exercise the option to discontinue the additional Fire Marshal services, savings in the amount of $250,000 to $400,000 annually could be realized. LEGAL REVIEW VIA Robert W. Hargreaves City Attorney DEPT. REVIEW Lauri Aylaian City Manager FINANCIAL REVIEW J4 Janet M. Moore Director of Finance ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER -Ag Andy Firestine Assistant City Manager City Manager, Lauri Aylaian: -TQ ATTACHMENTS: Exhibit D, Contract C37050 Proposed Letter to Riverside County Fire Chief Shawn Newman CONTRACT NO. C37050 EXHIBIT "D" TO THE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT TO PROVIDE FIRE PROTECTION, FIRE PREVENTION, FIRE MARSHAL, RESCUE AND MEDICAL EMERGENCY SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF PALM DESERT DATED JULY 1, 2018 PAYMENT FOR ADDITIONAL SERVICES OFFICE OF THE FIRE MARSHAL AGREEMENT The Fire Marshal Agreement is utilized in the event a CITY elects to fund locally direct COUNTY Fire Marshal personnel at the CITY to perform the duties of the Office of the Fire Marshal. These duties include: For conformance with applicable laws, codes and regulations concerning fire protection and life safety - • Review Planning and Development Cases for the CITY • Review and inspection of construction development for the CITY • State mandated Fire/Life Safety Inspections in accordance with Health and Safety Code 13146.1, 13146.2, 13146.3, 13217 and 13235 • Review, Permitting and Inspection of Special Events • Investigation of fire safety complaints • Meeting with development applicants and customers • Business license inspections • Business inspections Administrative activities - • Creation and maintenance of forms for review and inspection of construction development and fire/life safety inspections. • Provide information to customers on CITY Ordinances and Standards for construction • Creation and maintenance of Information Bulletins, Technical Policies and Standards for Fire Protection in the CITY • Provide recommendations on updating CITY Ordinances and Standards in regards to fire/life safety In the event CITY desires an increase in the Office of the Fire Marshal services provided, CITY shall provide sixty (60) days written notice of the proposed increase in services. COUNTY is under no obligation to approve any requested increase. COUNTY shall render a written decision on whether to allow or deny the increase within thirty (30) days of the notice provided pursuant to this section. It is the CITY responsibility to provide, or provide funding for, all direct operating supplies for each position in accordance with COUNTY requirements and/or standards. These supplies include, but are not limited to: • Vehicle and regular maintenance • Training Exhibit "D" CITY OF PALM DESERT Page 1 of 2 40 CONTRACT NO. C37050 • Office space, furniture, Code & Standard reference books, and general & field supplies • All IT and Communication tools (such as cell phone, computer, etc.) • Uniform costs All costs including salaries and benefits will be included in each quarterly invoice as outlined in the Cooperative Agreement. The CITY may opt out of this Exhibit D and eliminate funding for locally direct COUNTY Fire Marshal personnel at the CITY in writing with a minimum notice of one hundred and twenty (120) days. The costs will be prorated accordingly by services provided and fiscal year. It is the responsibility of the CITY to obtain cost recovery for the Fire Marshal services provided by these personnel for the CITY, through the adoption, by resolution, of City fees, including, but not limited to, permits, inspections, licenses, etc. relating to Fire Marshal services. The COUNTY shall charge the appropriate fees as adopted by the CITY and shall not unilaterally decrease or increase these fees. F:IdataIRRU County FinancelContract CitiesICOOPERATIVEAGREEMENTIPALM DESERTIExhibit D -Palm Desert 20180510.docx Exhibit "D" CITY OF PALM DESERT Page 2 of 2 DRAFT LETTER - For discussion purposes only April 3, 2020 Shawn Newman, Fire Chief Riverside County Fire Department 210 West San Jacinto Avenue Perris, California 92570 Dear Chief Newman: I hope you and your staff remain safe and well during this historic and unprecedented pandemic. Like many cities and communities across the country, Palm Desert is going to face a long economic recovery before we return to some level of normalcy. We are seeing significant reductions in revenues and will have to transfer from our reserves this fiscal year to balance our budget, and likely for subsequent years, too. In response, staff looked at various ways the City can reduce costs across all departments to meet this daunting challenge. As you know, public safety services comprise over half of the City's annual operating budget and are critical for the community we serve. The challenge is to make recommendations in reducing some of these costs, while maintaining a basic level of service that represents the quality of life that our residents, businesses, and visitors deserve. As part of that process, we have recommended to the City Council that we reconsider the City's enhanced level of Fire Marshal services. This correspondence serves as the required 120 days minimum written notice that the City is opting out of "Exhibit D: Payment for Additional Services -Office of the Fire Marshal Agreement" under the current cooperative agreement (Contract No. C37050) with Riverside County. This notice eliminates funding for locally direct County Fire Marshal personnel at the City. We understand that there may be implications to the current fee structure for plan check and inspections performed, and we hope to use this 120-day period to quantify and implement any necessary changes. I do not choose this action lightly, but given current circumstances, it is the best course to follow and allows us to provide other critical fire services while still maintaining the availability of County -provided fire inspection services. Please contact me or Stephen Y. Aryan, Risk Manager, if you have any questions related to this matter. Sincerely, LAURI AYLAIAN CITY MANAGER cc: Deputy Chief Eddy Moore, Riverside County Fire Department Lori Carney, Director of Administrative Services Janet Moore, Director of Finance Rachelle D. Klassen, City Clerk Stephen Y. Aryan, Risk Manager