Monterey Peninsula cities eye merged fire district: Peninsula: JPA’s first move would be to name single chief [The Monterey County Herald, Calif.]

May 30--Fewer chiefs and shared duties can add up to big savings, which has led city officials on the Peninsula to consider seriously a consolidation of firefighting services.

If a regional fire district is formed to serve the Peninsula, the most likely members would be the cities of Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel and Seaside. All four cities have experience in sharing firefighting resources with their neighbors, but the current economic crunch, which has dried up much of the revenue stream that pays their bills, has them looking harder at ways to save money.

A joint powers agency aimed at uniting their fire departments is being talked up as just such a money saver among the four cities -- as well as by the Monterey Peninsula Airport District.

If such a merger occurs, the small cities of Sand City and Del Rey Oaks would probably become members. Sand City is currently served by Monterey for fire protection, and Del Rey Oaks by Seaside.

Monterey and Pacific Grove merged their fire departments in 2008. Monterey has long provided fire protection to the Presidio of Monterey and Naval Postgraduate School, and the city of Carmel shares fire administration services with Monterey and Pacific Grove.

The Pacific Grove City Council voted unanimously May 12 in favor of joining a regional joint powers agency that would eventually consolidate firefighting services throughout the Peninsula.

At that meeting were Monterey City Manager Fred Meurer and Mayor Chuck Della Sala,

Seaside City Manager Ray Corpuz and Mayor Ralph Rubio, Del Rey Oaks City Manager Daniel Dawson and other city officials, fire chiefs and firefighter union representatives.

Della Sala, Meurer, Rubio and Corpuz all spoke in favor of a joint powers agency and said other municipal services, such as police protection and public works, might also be consolidated on a regional basis in the future. Rubio cited Monterey's contract with the Army to extend fire protection and public works services to the Presidio of Monterey as a successful example of what could be done regionally.

Draft in July

The Monterey City Council followed Pacific Grove's lead and voted Wednesday to pursue an agreement. The council is expected to review a draft proposal by early July at the latest. Pacific Grove City Manager Thomas Frutchey plans to present a report on such a merger to his City Council in June.

"Del Rey Oaks is all for it," Dawson said, adding that his city has been part of a working group to form a joint powers agency since its inception early this year.

"Eventually there will be a lot of cost savings," he said, by having a single fire chief in charge of the Monterey, Carmel and Seaside fire departments, instead of three.

Savings add up

Monterey, for example, estimates it could save $340,000 a year after 2011 if the four cities join.

The agency would be formed in three phases, Dawson said: first, eliminate two chief positions and establish the overall chief's position; second, eliminate duplicating staff positions by attrition; and third, combine equipment and firefighter personnel.

Savings would come in the form of standardized equipment purchases and training, he said, and larger orders of equipment would create an economy of scale.

"We all need to take advantage of this," Dawson said. "Budgets are tight. This is a good first step."

Sand City Administrator Steve Matarazzo described such a merger as "a good idea."

Trickle down

If formed, he said, the city would contract with the regional agency and "the cost benefits of the economy of scale would trickle down to our contracts."

His City Council is scheduled to discuss the idea next month, Matarazzo said, after seeing how the cities that provide the firefighters, fire trucks and rescue equipment decide.

"So far, they're positive," he said.

The first phase of forming the joint powers agency -- naming a single fire chief -- could be accomplished by July 1, according to Corpuz, along with formation of a joint powers agency board.

Authority over each city

"The JPA fire chief would be the agency's fire chief," he said, "and have authority over each of the fire departments on the Peninsula."

Consolidating staff would take another year, he said, and full implementation of fire service under the unified command could be accomplished in July 2012.

"It's very complicated," Corpuz said, "with different collective bargaining agreements, requirements of CalPERS (the state Public Employee Retirement System), what's the right staffing pattern, how many positions we really need to perform a regional fire service."

More shared services

Seaside and the airport district also have been talking about shared services, Corpuz said.

In 2005, he added, Seaside approved a merger with the Marina Fire Department, but the Marina City Council rejected it.

The Marina council, at its Dec. 15 meeting, voted to continue having city staff participate in talks about the joint powers agency, but did not recommend joining it.

The airport district "is absolutely interested," said its deputy general manager, Raymond Akins, who runs the airport fire department and public safety division.

"We're on the bottom floor, and we've got quite a ways to go," he said, "but it could potentially work out to be a good thing for us."

Talks of single department

Carmel has its management contract with the city of Monterey, Carmel City Administrator Rich Guillen said, after having a similar contract with Pacific Grove before those two cities merged their fire departments.

Discussions of a single fire department, he said, have revealed "some challenges with risk management." All the cities have different risk management -- insurance -- companies, "and to have a JPA, those need to work."

An initial look, Guillen said, indicates that a merger might cost Carmel more money than the current system.

The cities of Seaside, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Del Rey Oaks and Sand City may well form an "inner ring" of a regional fire department, he said, with Carmel, the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Pebble Beach Community Services District and Cypress Fire District forming an outer ring.

"We still don't know if it's the best option for us," Guillen said. "We have a pretty good deal right now, but the concept (of a JPA) makes a lot of sense."

Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416 or [email protected].

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