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HomeMy WebLinkAboutVII(E) Approval and Authorization to Pursue a Contract with Orange County Fire Resuce for the Provision of Fire and EMS Dispatch Services - City Manager Jim Gleason Agenda 01/20/2004 C .. Item VII E ommlSSlOnemu Danny Howell, District 1 Scott Anderson, District 2 Rusty Johnson, District 3 Nancy J. Parker, District 4 Mavor S. Scott Vandergrift STAFF REPORT TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Commissioners Pete McNeil, Assistant Fire Chie~ January 9, 2004 ( W FROM: DATE: RE: Orange County Fire and EMS Dispatch Contract ISSUE The Ocoee Fire Rescue Department is requesting approval from the Ocoee City Commission to pursue a contract with Orange County Fire Rescue for the provision of fire and EMS dispatch servIces. BACKGROUNDIDISCUSSION Prior to 1998, the Orange County Fire Rescue Department provided fire and EMS dispatch services to the Ocoee Fire Rescue Department free of charge in exchange for utilizing Ocoee fire apparatus as needed in their jurisdiction. This system was found not to be beneficial for the City of Ocoee due to the over-utilization of Ocoee units in the county. In 1998 the Ocoee Police Department Communications Division assumed the duty of Ocoee fire and EMS dispatch. This was done without the appropriate addition of both personnel and training. Fire and EMS dispatch is uniquely different than police dispatch. The procedures, verbiage and frequency of calls are far different than that of police dispatch. The Ocoee Communications Division has made sincere attempts to meet our dispatch needs. However, to date, our needs are not being met. Even the addition of the approved two new communications personnel will not provide us with a dedicated fire dispatcher. The fire console operator continues to be utilized as the communications center call-taker and unintentional dispatch confusion is common. This is why Ocoee fire management and Ocoee LA.F.F. Local 3623 would like approval to pursue a dispatch services contract with Orange County Fire Rescue. Dispatch services should not be confused with joint response. Orange County will only dispatch Ocoee units in the manner that we have programmed into the system. This will help prevent the potential over-utilization of our units as in the past. In addition, Orange County has recently added two fire stations to our western part of the county as well as Winter Garden adding one station. That will also help with the previous issue. However, it is our intent to also pursue an equitable fire response agreement with both Orange County and Winter Garden to improve our efficiency and meet the response requirements ofNFP A 1710. Orange County proposes to provide Ocoee with the following services and benefits: . OCFRD would provide high quality fire and EMS dispatch. All of their personnel are trained exclusively for fire and EMS operations, are all certified in Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) and attend frequent training. . The City of Ocoee would gain the benefit of using expensive OCFRD systems and technology at a very low cost. These include access to their Computer Aided Dispatch System (CAD), Mobile Data Terminal System (MDT), Automatic Vehicle Location (A VL) system and Fire Station Alerting System (FSA). OCFRD funds the entire cost of the technology infrastructure, while the City of Ocoee only has to purchase the equipment for our individual vehicles and stations. . The City of Ocoee would enjoy faster responses from surrounding agencies, including fire and EMS resources from the City of Winter Garden and Orange County. Currently, there is an approximately two minute delay when Ocoee, Winter Garden or Orange County units are needed to respond into the other agency's area. . The City of Ocoee would not be billed for any dispatch services in the current fiscal year. The formula for cost sharing is always billed a year after the services are rendered. If OCFRD assumes fire dispatch during this fiscal year, (FY 03-04), the first invoice would be sent in October of 2004 (FY 04-05) for a prorated amount. . The formula for fire dispatch is based on splitting the cost of dispatching between all participating cities. This means that the cities of Eatonville (now covered by Orange County), Maitland, Winter Garden and Ocoee all share in the payment plan. This results in a lower cost to each city for a very high quality service. . Any accepted contract will include an opt out clause that would allow the City of Ocoee to terminate the agreement with, or without, cause by giving Orange County eight months notice during the month January in each year. The following initial one-time and annual recurring costs are approximate and are based on fully equipping all fire apparatus and vehicles with MDTs and A VL. In addition the cost of a high- speed data connection line to the Orange County server is also included. According to Information Systems, this connection will also benefit other City of Ocoee departments that could utilize the connectivity with Orange County. Therefore, those associated costs could potentially be shared among participating departments. It should be noted that approximately $72,000 could be made available to help cover the start up costs from the unused FY 03-04 salaries of the two additional communications officers. These positions will not be filled if we make the move to county dispatch. In addition the Communications Division has already exhausted their entire FY 03-04 overtime budget. As of today, they have paid $27,062 in overtime, which per Communications Manager Kathy Simanski, is directly related to dispatching for the Fire Department. Also, there is approximately a $3,000 per year EMS dispatch training expense currently incurred. The total of these known costs is $102,062. The approximate initial one-time start-up cost is $96,650. $36,600 of this amount is for the alerting systems for the fire stations, which will be purchased, installed and maintained by Orange County. That amount can be deferred to FY 04-05. The estimated total annual cost for dispatch services including recurring costs is currently $113,825. However, based on a tentative start date of April 1, 2004, the amount for the first year will be prorated at approximately 50% and payable in October 2004 (FY 04-05). We will not incur a full year fee until October 2005 (FY 05-06). There are other advantages to the City of Ocoee that are relevant to this issue. If the over- burdening responsibility of dispatching for the Fire Department is removed from the City of Ocoee, the Communications Officers will be able to put 100% of their efforts towards police communications. This theoretically will increase the efficiency of the police communications. Thereby, increasing the safety of our Police Officers. Also, the stress level for the Communications Officers should be lowered by allowing them to focus on one type of dispatch. That may decrease the turnover rate and amount of unscheduled absences with-in the division. RECOMMENDATION Based on the above information, we recommend the approval of the Commission to continue with the process of pursuing a contract with Orange County Fire Rescue for fire and EMS dispatch services. If approved, the contract and associated costs will be presented to the Commission as soon as possible.