TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Robert Espinosa, Fire Chief
Ron Laursen, Battalion Chief
Walberto Martin, Sr. Management Analyst
SUBJECT:Title
Resolution No. 15-0026 Portal-to-Portal Compensation for the City of Manhattan Beach to Continue Portal-to-Portal Reimbursements from the California Office of Emergency Management (Fire Chief Espinosa).
ADOPT
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 15-0026 Portal-to-Portal Compensation for the City of Manhattan Beach in order to continue to receive full reimbursements for all suppression personnel on a portal-to-portal basis for all mutual aid deployments throughout California.
Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Unless the City of Manhattan Beach adopts a resolution requiring the California Office of Emergency Management (Cal-OES) to reimburse the city for travel time to and from mutual aid incidents, the state will only pay for actual work time on-scene at the emergency. In August, 2014 the City of Manhattan Beach deployed five (5) firefighters in a South Bay strike team to Siskiyou County in Northern California. The total drive time to and from the incident base of operations was more than 24 hours. If this incident were to occur without a portal-to-portal agreement, the City would be responsible for more than $13,800 in costs for employee wages to and from the deployment. The unreimbursed costs would then come from the City's general fund.
Local agencies that do not have an existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), Governing Body Resolution (GBR) or equivalent, indicating that the City must be compensated for all costs, including travel to and from the site, we would not be reimbursed for travel time to and from the emergency incident location.
BACKGROUND:
Prior to March 31, 2015, Cal-OES reimbursed the City for portal-to-portal travel to and from wildland fires and other emergencies when requested through the state master mutual aid agreement. The City of Manhattan Beach is in Area G of the Los Angeles County Operational Area. When requested by the region or state, the Manhattan Beach Fire Department typically responds with one four-person fire engine and a Battalion Chief with other South Bay fire departments for mutual aid to large brush fires. These assignments are usually for 3-14 days long and the reimbursement clock does not start until after the 12th hour.
DISCUSSION:
The City must adopt Resolution No. 15-0026, Portal-to-Portal Compensation for the City of Manhattan Beach in order to continue receiving reimbursement for travel time to and from state mutual aid deployments. In previous Cal-OES agreements it was stated that if the duration of the response exceeds 12 hours, reimbursement for personnel and emergency apparatus shall cover the entire time of commitment. The current agreement states, if the duration of the response exceeds 12 hours, and local agencies do not have an existing MOU/MOA/GBR or equivalent, reimbursement for personnel and emergency apparatus shall cover only hours worked at the deployed site.
In our most recent deployment to Northern California, the City submitted a reimbursement request for $70,186 for the cost of personnel and vehicle use. Without the portal-to-portal resolution the City would only receive $56,346. This would have reduced the reimbursement by $13,840.
The new Cal-OES agreement will take effect September 1, 2015 and will apply to all agencies that do not have an MOU/MOA/GBR or equivalent.
CONCLUSION:
In order to ensure the City receives full reimbursement for mutual aid deployments, staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 15-0026 Portal-to-Portal Compensation for the City of Manhattan Beach to maintain the portal-to-portal rate on mutual aid deployments throughout California.
Attachments:
1. Resolution No. 15-0026