During the RFP process for Fire and Emergency Services which began on October 22, 2010, Staff has provided the City Council with periodic updates.  This included update memos in January and February on the RFP submittal from the City of Redwood City, the City Staff’s work on Reinstating the City of San Carlos Standalone Fire Department and Memos, Reports and Correspondence regarding potential responses from Cal Fire and the County Fire Department to the RFP. 

Staff has also provided the City Council with monthly updates on the full Fire & Emergency Services in San Carlos project.  The most recent of these monthly updates occurred at your last Council Meeting on March 28th.

Additional Developments from Friday
On Friday, the formal RFP period closed.  During that day, the City received three additional items which relate to the Fire & Emergency Services in San Carlos process.  They include:

1. A formal proposal for services from a private sector fire and emergency services firm (Wackenhut Services Inc.)
2. An update from the new Division Chief at Cal Fire that manages their Cooperative Services Agreement program
3. An email from a former Fire Chief and current Fire Educator in Florida (John Flick).  He has been watching the RFP process with interest and has some thoughts to offer.  They are attached to this update.

Here is further information on these three developments.  Copies of the materials received by the City on Friday are attached for your review.

Wackenhut Services Inc. (WSI)
WSI is a private sector firm based in Florida that has provided fire and emergency services to a number of commercial, federal and local governments for over 50 years.  This includes serving as the Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Department at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and several military and airports around the nation.

Recently, WSI was awarded a contract with the City of San Jose to become the new Fire and EMS Department at San Jose International Airport.  This part of a change at the Airport proposed by Mayor Chuck Reed that envisions replacing City of San Jose Police and Fire employees with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office (Police) and WSI (Fire and EMS) in order to address budget challenges facing the San Jose and their Airport operations.

WSI contacted the City Manager approximately one month ago and expressed their interest in the San Carlos RFP for Fire and Emergency Services.  Staff answered questions from WSI on the RFP process and suggested that they refer material on the RFP and the Fire and Emergency Services project on the City’s Web Site.  WSI reviewed these materials, expressed their enthusiasm for the opportunity to serve as the City’s future Fire and Emergency Services provider and have submitted a 48 page response to the RFP.  Highlights of the WSI response include:

• A base offer of two, 3 person Advanced Life Support (ALS) Engine Companies as well as 3 enhanced options
• The 3 enhanced options include two, 4 person ALS companies with the City’s choice of Engine Companies or Quint Companies at one or both of the City’s Fire and EMS Stations
• The 3 enhanced options also offer the City the choice of using Light Duty Quick Rescue units to respond to EMS service calls and Cross Staffed Companies to provide for multiple service calls from the station at the same time
• Option for the City and WSI to provide County Hazardous Materials Unit Services if desired
• A performance clause that will rebate 6% of the contract price to the City annually if WSI does not meet agreed upon performance standards
• Focus on fire prevention that would include community based program such as Citizen Emergency Response Training (CERT)
• Enhanced Fire & EMS Reporting including instant access by the City to the web based Emergency Reporting Records Management System
• Guarantee that the new City of San Carlos Fire Department would get a CFAI accreditation within 3 years (no San Mateo County Fire Departments have this accreditation today), WSI will pay the City a $100,000 penalty if this goal is not met
• Battalion Chiefs would take on the specialty EMS and Training functions now shared with other departments to reduce the department’s costs
• A program of Customer Service training and customer surveys
• Annual Training Plan for each Fire & EMS Department employee
• Option for the City to explore station sharing with the County and Redwood City as recommended by the TriData Report
• Provision of Grant Writing Assistance, Innovation Audits, Critical Facility Risk Assessments and Standards of Response Coverage Audits at no cost
• Option to provide unbundled services to neighboring cities and fire agencies in the County
• Information Technology, Finance, Payroll and Human Resources services included
• Contract and pricing can be guaranteed for 3, 5 or 10 years; up to 20 years on request
• Costs: Baseline option - $3.8 Million (Year 2) to $4.6 Million (Year 10), Deluxe Option 3 - $4.4 Million (Year 2) to $5.4 Million (Year 10) – a substantial reduction from the City’s current Fire & EMS cost of $7.1 Million per year and the over 30% cost increase the City has experienced in the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department over the past 5 years

City of Redwood City
The City of Redwood City is continuing to work on the development of their proposal to the City for a Hybrid Option.  This would involve providing Command, Management, Specialty and Administrative Services to the City of San Carlos.  The Fire Department employees – including Fire Captains, Paramedic Firefighters and Firefighter/Engineers would be on the City of San Carlos payroll.  Staff continues to meet and work with the Redwood City Fire Department on this option and we believe it will be ready for presentation to the City Council at the Special City Council Meeting on April 18th.

Redwood City also has the option of presenting their original Fire and EMS Services Option to the City.  This proposal was submitted on January 7th and involves providing all Fire Department employees on their payroll or through existing partnerships in the case of specialty positions such as the Fire Marshall, EMS Battalion Chief and the Training Battalion Chief.  (A copy of this proposal to San Carlos has been previously provided to the City Council and is attached for reference). 

Cal Fire
In January and February, Cal Fire provided cost figures and some service level information for their approach to providing Fire and Emergency Services to the City of San Carlos (January) and to a 5 City Fire Service Region (February) through the County and the Board of Supervisors Finance and Operations (F&O) Committee.  (This information has been previously provided to the City Council and is attached for reference). 

At the F&O Committee meeting in February, Board Members Tissier and Groom indicated they were not interested in providing these service options to the City of San Carlos or other cities in the County.  Since the January F&O Committee meeting, staff members and elected officials from several cities have contacted both members of the County Board of Supervisors and Cal Fire to obtain more information about these service options from Cal Fire directly.

On Friday, we received a copy of an email from the Assistant Deputy Director for Cal Fire’s contract services division indicating that Cal Fire may be interested in providing such information in the future and plans to meet with the cities in San Mateo County in the near future.  In light of the Council’s interest in all regional Fire Service options, Staff will continue to follow and monitor these developments.  (A Copy of the Assistant Deputy Director’s email is attached for your information).

John Flick, Former Fire Chief & Fire Educator and Consultant
On Friday, the City also received an email from John Flick.  Mr. Flick is a former Fire Chief in Colorado who now serves as a Fire Educator and Consultant based in Florida. 

In his email to the City, Mr. Flick discusses his background and notes that he could play a role in a future City of San Carlos Fire Department.  He also outlines his thoughts about why reinstating a Standalone City Fire Department is preferable to the current joint Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department as well as other Fire and EMS options available to San Carlos.  (A copy of Mr. Flick’s email is attached).

Staff has contacted Mr. Flick, discussed his views on the City’s Fire and EMS options.  Staff has also encouraged Mr. Flick to explore some of the Fire Services in San Carlos documents and studies on the City’s Web Site.  We look forward to hearing from Mr. Flick once he has had an opportunity to examine these documents, including the TriData report, in full detail.

Fire & EMS Services Presentations on April 18th
The next step in the Fire and Emergency Services RFP is the presentation of the proposals to the City Council.  This will occur on the evening of April 18th at a Special City Council Meeting scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. 

Staff has confirmed the availability of representatives of the City of Redwood City and Wackenhut Services Inc. to present their proposals to the City Council that evening.  Staff also plans to present to the Council our work on a Standalone Fire Department as a third option to be considered.

In terms of the many additional Fire and EMS service options being discussed in the County (5 City Proposals by City of San Mateo and Cal Fire, potential proposals to San Carlos by the County Fire Department and Cal Fire, results of county-sponsored mediation between Belmont and San Carlos on future opportunities to work together on Fire and EMS services), Staff will continue to monitor these developments with interest.  Whether any of these discussions result in options or proposals to present to the City Council – on April 18th or sometime in the future – remains to be seen.  Staff will keep the Council informed on these and any future Fire and EMS services discussions and/or options as they progress.

As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions about these proposals and our work in this area as we continue to explore Fire and Emergency Service delivery options for the City of San Carlos.

Attachments

• Wackenhut Services Inc. (WSI) – Cover - Proposal to City of San Carlos – Delivery of Fire, Emergency Medical First Response, and Related Emergency Services - April 1, 2011 (PDF, 1.25 MB)   
• Wackenhut Services Inc. (WSI) – Part 1 - Proposal to City of San Carlos – Delivery of Fire, Emergency Medical First Response, and Related Emergency Services - April 1, 2011 (PDF, 1.36 MB)   
• Wackenhut Services Inc. (WSI) – Part 2 - Proposal to City of San Carlos – Delivery of Fire, Emergency Medical First Response, and Related Emergency Services - April 1, 2011 (PDF, 1.64 MB)   
• Wackenhut Services Inc. (WSI) – Part 3 - Proposal to City of San Carlos – Delivery of Fire, Emergency Medical First Response, and Related Emergency Services - April 1, 2011 (PDF, 685 KB)    
• Redwood City – Part 1 - Proposal to City of San Carlos for Fire and Emergency Services - January 7, 2011 (PDF, 1.86 MB)
• Redwood City - Part 2 - Proposal to City of San Carlos for Fire and Emergency Services - January 7, 2011 (PDF, 765 KB)
• San Mateo County – Report on Provision of Fire Services to San Carlos by Cal Fire & County Fire Department - January 14, 2011  (PDF, 58 KB)
• San Mateo County – Report on 5 City Fire Service by Cal Fire & County Fire Department - February 8, 2011  (PDF, 119 KB)  
• Clare Frank, Cal Fire – Email to Jim Nantell, Chairman, Fire Department Shared Services Committee, San Mateo City Managers Association - April 1, 2011  (PDF, 11 KB)
• John Flick, Fire Educator, Consultant & Former Fire Chief – April 1, 2011  (PDF , 602 KB)

 cc:  Jeff Maltbie, City Manager
       Doug Fry, Fire Chief, Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department
       Joan Cassman, Special Counsel