Politics & Government

City Pays $129,000 More for Regional Fire Communications

San Rafael will now be paying a proportional amount for regional fire dispatching service.

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San Rafael will be paying $129,000 extra, it’s fair share compared to neighboring agencies, for better regional fire dispatch services.

The City Council unanimously approved to extend an agreement with the Marin County’s public safety communication center for fire dispatch services at Tuesday’s meeting. The costs of the agreement will be proportional to the amount of dispatch calls in the last 24 months, of which San Rafael makes approximately 32 percent.

“This is an outstanding example of a regional effort,” San Rafael Fire Chief Chris Gray said at the meeting. “The service has been exemplary. It has been more efficient and more operationally effective.”

The Move to Regional Fire Services

San Rafael first decided to contract with the county in March 2009. Before that, three full-time dispatchers from the city’s fire department worked at a leased space adjacent to Fire Station 51. The total cost was $510,000 per year.

San Rafael firefighters respond to around 7,000 emergency incidents each year. With a staff of 23 people, the department would not be able to simultaneously handle more than a house fire, a traffic accident with injuries and a medical call, according to the staff report.

At the time the agreement took place, only two of the dispatcher's positions were filled. The dispatchers would work a 48-hour shift alone, where they would take meals and sleep by the phone.

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“I remember the old system, and it was quite frightening,” said Councilwoman Barbara Heller.

After the agreement, one of these dispatchers retired and the other was transferred to a different department.

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Now, there are three dispatchers who work 12 hour shifts and are overseen by a manager, according to Gray.

occurred at four-unit residence on 17 Harcourt St. on Jan. 15. Firefighters from the county’s different agencies battled the blaze.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do that without the other agencies,” Gray said.

New Agreement, Higher Cost

When the city and county first started the agreement, San Rafael only had to pay for its share of personnel at the county’s communication center, which amounted to approximately 2.5 full-time employees and cost the city around $291,000.

Since 2009, the communication center added a new supervisor to oversee it’s 10 employees. The new agreement also factors the amount of call activity per agency in to the cost.

In past 24 months, San Rafael’s call activity has increased by over 20 percent, and the city accounts for around 32 percent of the entire county’s calls. The new cost to the city will be around $420,000.

“We’ll continue to save around $100,000 per year with far less liability,” Gray said.

Concerns Over Equity

With the agreement’s $129,000 increase in cost, Councilmember Andrew McCullough questioned if San Rafael paying the largest share was the most effective.

When the city decided to consolidate, “we did so with the expectation that we would be seeing a substantial savings and now we are seeing somewhat less savings,” he said.

With San Rafael paying more than in the past, other fire agencies will see a proportional decrease. Gray used Novato as an example, where in 2009 the city’s cost increased by $70,000 even though they had lower calls than San Rafael.

Councilmember Marc Levine noted that the fairness and success of these agreements will play a large part in seeking out similar arrangements with regional services, like waste water management and sewage.

“We want regionalization to benefit everyone, not just ourselves,” he said.


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