TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Michael Lang, Fire Chief
Lisa Jenkins, Human Resources Director
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of Fire Department Staffing Levels and Authorization for Three Additional Full-Time Employees (2 Civilian Fire Prevention and 1 Sworn Employee) and the Over-Hiring of up to Three Additional Firefighter/Paramedics for Anticipated Vacancies (Fire Chief Lang and Human Resources Director Jenkins).
(Estimated Time: 45 Mins.)
DISCUSS AND PROVIDE DIRECTION
Line
_________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Approve proposed staffing and increase to positions within the Fire Department as follows: Addition of (1) Fire Marshal (civilian); (1) Fire Inspector (civilian); and (1) Fire Captain/Paramedic (sworn);
2. Change the position allocation of (1) Firefighter/Paramedic to Fire Captain/Paramedic (to be under-filled at the appropriate level at the Fire Chief’s discretion).
These additional positions and allocations would then be included in the Quarterly Budget update and formally adopted by way of resolution. Additionally, it is recommended that the City Council authorize the over-hiring of up to three additional sworn employees in the event that vacancies are anticipated to be filled at or below the rank in which the vacancy is anticipated, for up to a year.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The estimated salary and benefit costs associated with the proposed staffing increases are estimated to be $657,631, including:
|
Description/Position |
Cost (Savings) |
|
Savings from 12.5% Fire Marshal and Fire Inspector Assignments |
($58,932) |
|
Add Fire Inspector (Civilian) |
$138,780 |
|
Add Fire Marshal (Civilian) |
$222,828 |
|
Add Fire Captain/Paramedic |
$280,568 |
|
Reallocate Firefighter/Paramedic to Fire Captain/Paramedic |
$ 74,387 |
|
Total |
$657,631 |
If approved, the staffing changes and associated fiscal implications will be included as changes to the position allocation, with a corresponding appropriation in the quarterly budget update, currently scheduled for consideration in November.
It is also anticipated that some of the cost of additional sworn suppression personnel (Fire Captain/Paramedic, Fire Engineer/Paramedic, or Firefighter/Paramedic) may be offset by a corresponding reduction in overtime. The estimate of the cost of hiring an employee versus filling the vacancy on an overtime basis is roughly equivalent (detailed costing is attached for reference); however the actual cost or savings is impacted by a variety of factors, including leave used (e.g. injury) and overtime necessitated to account for such leave.
BACKGROUND:
Following ongoing negotiations with the Manhattan Beach Firefighters’ Association (MBFA), the City Council voted to implement the terms of its Last, Best and Final Offer (LBFO) on September 20, 2022. The stated intent of the City Council’s decision to implement provisions of its LBFO was to have the ability to increase staffing within the Fire Department at the Council’s direction and to reduce overtime within the Fire Department. While many of the City’s proposals relate to reducing overtime, two key proposals directly relate to the ability to increase staffing, including the “constant staffing” provisions and “fire prevention” allocation, which will be explained in further detail in the discussion section.
Currently, the Fire Department staffing levels are as follows:
|
Functional Area/Position Allocation |
Full-Time Employees |
|
|
|
Administration/Emergency Management |
|
Fire Chief |
1.0 |
|
Administrative Analyst |
1.0 |
|
Executive Assistant |
1.0 |
|
Emergency Preparedness Administrator |
1.0 |
|
Administration |
4.0 |
|
|
|
Community Risk Reduction (Formerly “Fire Prevention”) |
|
Fire Marshal/Captain (Sworn*) |
1.0 |
|
Firefighter Paramedic/Inspector (Sworn) |
1.0 |
|
Fire Inspector (Civilian**) |
1.0 |
|
Total |
3.0 |
|
|
|
Fire Suppression and Emergency Medical Services |
|
Fire Battalion Chief |
3.0 |
|
Fire Captain/Paramedic |
6.0 |
|
Fire Engineer/Paramedic |
6.0 |
|
Firefighter/Paramedic |
12.0 |
|
Total |
27.0 |
|
|
|
Total Fire Department Employees |
34.0 |
*Sworn fire employees include those who are trained in fire suppression and have the authority to engage in fire suppression duties, provide paramedical services, and respond to emergency situations. Sworn fire employees receive public safety benefits.
**Civilian, used interchangeably with professional, describes employees who are not trained in fire suppression but provide professional support functions for the department. Professional employees receive miscellaneous (non-public safety) employee benefits.
All suppression/EMS personnel are assigned to one of three platoons (“A”, “B” or “C” shift). Each platoon works two 24-hour shifts (48 hours) followed by four 24-hour shifts off (96 hours). In addition to three Battalion Chiefs (fire management employees) assigned to one of the three shifts, each shift currently has eight assigned suppression employees stationed at one of the City’s two fire stations: two Fire Captain/Paramedics, two Engineer/Paramedics and six Firefighter/Paramedics.
DISCUSSION:
The City Council’s Last, Best, and Final Offer that was implemented on September 20 includes changes to the constant staffing provision in the MBFA MOU as well as the staffing of the Community Risk Reduction (formerly Fire Prevention) Bureau.
Firstly, the constant staffing provision in the MBFA MOU previously maintained staffing levels at a predetermined number of eight persons per shift, as both the minimum and maximum staffing level, and guarantees a backfill of these eight positions. This language limited “over-hires” except to fill anticipated vacancies for a period not to exceed four months unless the time period was expressly waived by the Association. The change made by way of the implementation of the City Council’s Last, Best and Final Offer was to change the current constant staffing of eight suppression personnel per shift to a minimum, rather than a prescribed staffing number. The proposal indicated that removing the limitation on hiring additional fire employees was to ensure the City is able to increase staffing levels as warranted and therefore allows for hiring additional staff.
Secondly, the City Council’s LBFO includes a provision in which the Fire Marshal (sworn Fire Captain/Paramedic) and Fire Inspector (sworn Firefighter/Paramedic or Fire Engineer/Paramedic) assigned to fire prevention responsibilities will be converted into professional Fire Marshal and Fire Inspector staff positions. The LBFO therefore removes these as a rotational assignment for sworn employees along with the 12.5% assignment bonus, and instead assigns these as permanent full-time employees who are dedicated staff with a professional fire prevention background and career expertise. As part of this proposal, at such time that the new employees are hired, the sworn employees currently in the fire prevention assignments would return to suppression assignments to fill in for long-term injury leave vacancies until the full-time complement of sworn full-time employees returns to 24 through attrition. This element of the proposal was designed to assure the MBFA that there would be no layoffs as a result of the Fire Prevention bureau becoming civilian, and was made in the context of the existing constant staffing language that would generally preclude the hiring of more than 24 suppression employees. In conjunction with the change to the constant staffing provision, Council may at this time consider the Fire Chief’s recommendation regarding increased staffing in order to address the Council’s goal of reducing overtime within the Fire Department and enhancing services.
The implementation of these two provisions allow Council to consider and authorize additional staffing.
In alignment with the Council’s LBFO to professionalize the two positions to the Community Risk Reduction bureau (formerly Fire Prevention), two full-time positions, one Fire Marshal and one Fire Inspector, will be added. This will result in the maintenance of three full-time dedicated employees in this bureau, which includes an existing civilian Fire Inspector added during the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 budget process. The position allocation for the two new positions will be formally adopted via the quarterly budget update, currently scheduled for the November 15 Council meeting.
At tonight’s meeting, the Council can authorize making the employees currently serving as Fire Marshal and Fire Inspector part of the permanent full-time complement for suppression/EMS response within the Fire Department, which will increase the overall staffing by two employees. Additionally, because the suppression/EMS response is divided amongst three platoons, it is recommended that an additional employee allocated at the level of Fire Captain/Paramedic be added to increase the suppression/EMS staffing by one employee per shift. Further, a change to the allocation of one of the two existing positions is recommended. The two employees returning to suppression/EMS assignments from fire prevention assignments are currently at the rank of Fire Captain/Paramedic and Firefighter/Paramedic. It is therefore recommended that all three additional suppression employees be allocated at the Fire Captain/Paramedic level, with the ability for it to be under-filled at a lower level at the discretion of the Fire Chief based upon operational needs. This recommendation allows for maximum flexibility in staffing vacancies as the Fire Captain can backfill for a Fire Captain level or for a lower level vacancy.
The additional staffing will result in nine employees regularly assigned to each shift, with a guaranteed backfill of at least eight employees, in alignment with the minimum constant staffing and current Fire/EMS response. As the number of employees on per day will vary based upon how many employees are on leave on a given day, the Fire Chief will determine the staffing model for either eight or nine employees per shift.
The following summarizes the recommended staffing changes within the Fire Department:
|
Functional Area/Position Allocation |
FTE’s (Current) |
FTE’s (Proposed) |
|
|
|
Administration/Emergency Management |
|
|
Fire Chief |
1.0 |
1.0 |
|
Administrative Analyst |
1.0 |
1.0 |
|
Executive Assistant |
1.0 |
1.0 |
|
Emergency Preparedness Administrator |
1.0 |
1.0 |
|
Total |
4.0 |
4.0 |
|
|
|
Community Risk Reduction (Formerly “Fire Prevention”) |
|
Fire Marshal/Captain (Sworn) |
1.0 |
-- |
|
Firefighter Paramedic/Inspector (Sworn) |
1.0 |
-- |
|
Fire Inspector (Civilian) |
1.0 |
2.0 |
|
Fire Marshal (Civilian) |
-- |
1.0 |
|
Total |
3.0 |
3.0 |
|
|
|
Fire Suppression and Emergency Medical Services |
|
Fire Battalion Chief |
3.0 |
3.0 |
|
Fire Captain/Paramedic |
6.0 |
9.0 |
|
Fire Engineer/Paramedic |
6.0 |
6.0 |
|
Firefighter/Paramedic |
12.0 |
12.0 |
|
Total |
27.0 |
30.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
Total Fire Department Employees |
34.0 |
37.0 |
The proposed staffing plan will enable promotions to higher ranks and the hiring of employees to backfill those vacancies. There is currently a Fire Captain/Paramedic promotional recruitment close to completion, and a list will be established that can be used to promote internal employees. There is an existing promotional eligibility list for Fire Engineer/Paramedic. A Firefighter/Paramedic recruitment is underway and it is anticipated that an eligibility list will be established before the end of the calendar year. Following the establishment of a classification specification for civilian Fire Marshal, the recruitment process for the two new professional fire prevention positions will begin this calendar year. Therefore, it is anticipated that the promotions could happen this calendar year and newly approved positions could be filled by early 2023. Additionally, it is recommended that the City Council authorize the over-hiring of up to three additional sworn employees in anticipation of vacancies (primarily to over-hire for long-term injury leaves or known retirements). A similar over-hire program has been in effect within the Police Department for many years, which provides the ability for staff to recruit and fill positions during long periods of injury leave or when future vacancies (e.g. retirements) are known about in advance. While salary savings within the department or from other vacancies Citywide are generally available to cover the cost of overstaffing, the Fire Department may use over-hiring as an alternative to backfilling the position on an overtime basis, the costs of which are roughly equivalent (see attached analysis of filling a position on overtime vs. backfilling). The department may also use over-hiring in the event of an anticipated retirement, to minimize the costs associated with filling the future vacancy by hiring in advance of an anticipated retirement date.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
ATTACHMENT:
1. Costing Comparison (Backfilling on Overtime vs. Employee to Fill Position)