HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSS 2020-11-23 Item 1B - Update - Fire Department Third Party AnalysisCity of Tukwila
Allan Ekberg, Mayor
INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
TO: Community Services & Safety Committee
FROM: David Cline, City Administrator
Jay Wittwer, Fire Chief
BY: Jake Berry, Public Safety Budget Analyst
CC: Mayor Ekberg
DATE: September 22114-,24)2-0 November 23rd, 2020
SUBJECT: Update on Fire Department's 3rd Party Review
ISSUE
This Informational Memorandum serves to update the CSS on the Consultant's activities and
progress.
BACKGROUND
Per City of Tukwila Ordinance Number 2621, Attachment 2, Item 1d: "The City will hire a third -
party consultant to review the Fire Department budgetary and management practices."
After requesting and reviewing Requests for Proposal and conducting virtual interviews, a
committee consisting of City Staff members and the CSS Chairperson partnered with the Center
for Public Safety Management (CPSM) to conduct this review.
The selection committee chose CPSM based on the proposal/examples of work submitted as
well as their longstanding expertise in providing the type of detailed analysis best suited for this
project's purpose and scope. The committee believes that CPMS was best positioned to deliver
a thorough and independent analysis of Fire's operations and management practices. The goal
of the project is to validate and supplement the extensive analysis done by City Staff and to
provide best direction for aligning Fire's current direction with one that best serves the
Community. The agreement's Scope of Services was developed to provide direction and
framework for CPSM's review and analysis. That Scope is included near the end of this memo.
While the project's thoroughness may prohibit the consultant's ability to produce actionable data
prior to year's end, this investment of City resources and funds deserves a product of the
highest quality.
For perspective, CPSM is based in Washington D.C. and was developed within the International
City/County Management Association's (ICMA) research and development division. ICMA
launched CPSM with the goal of advancing the knowledge of local governments through case -
studies, best practices, and professional development. In 2014, ICMA restructured and spun -
out CPSM to be a stand-alone entity but to remain the ICMA's exclusive provider of public
safety technical assistance. CPSM provides training and research for the Association's
members and represents ICMA in its dealings with the federal government and other public
safety professional associations such as CALEA, PERF, IACP, IFCA, IPMA-HR, DOJ, BJA,
NFPA, etc'
CPSM has assigned Tukwila's project to three key members of their team:
1 https://www.cpsm.us/about/the-association-and-the-company/
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Dov Chelst, Ph. D.
o Dov leads the auantitative portions of this oroiect. He has a PhD in mathematics
from Rutgers and a BA in Mathematics and Physics from Yeshiva University. He
has managed over 140 data analysis projects for city and county agencies.
Xianfeng Li, Ph.D.
o Li works with Dov on the data modeling and analysis. He earned his PhD and
Masters in Polymer Science within the Institute of Chemistry from the Chinese
Academy of Sciences in Beijing and a Bachelor's in Chemistry at Jilin University
in Changchun.
Mike lacona, M.P.A
o Mike is CPSM's Senior Manager of Fire and EMS and leads the qualitative
aspects of our relationship. He has 38 years of experience in the fire service with
the last 17 years as a Fire Chief. He earned his MPA and did his undergraduate
work in Urban Planning at Florida Atlantic University.
DISCUSSION
Elements of the partnership will be categorized into three areas: Administrative, Qualitative, and
Quantitative. Updates are provided below for each and a project timeline will be updated to
track progress.
Administrative:
• The agreement has been dated as September 8th, 2020 and was fully executed
September 11th, 2020.
• The execution of the agreement triggered the first of three invoices, this one in the
amount of $15,999. Tukwila received the invoice on September 16th and terms are "due
upon receipt'. The next payment will be invoiced "when the draft report is submitted" by
CPSM.
Qualitative:
• CPSM's Mike lacona conducted 16 of 20 virtual interviews during the week of
September 14th. Only four interviews remain and should be completed the week of
September 21 St. All 20 virtual interviews were completed by September 25th.
o A list of interviewees is provided as attachment "CPSM Interview Schedule"
• Documents and memos relevant to the agreement's Scope of Services are being
uploaded to CPSM's secure folders and will be reviewed and considered by the
Consultant.
Quantitative:
• Call -Related Data: Administration and Legal have approved a dataset to be compiled
from Valley Communications and FireRMS and uploaded to CPSM's secure folders. We
expect Tukwila TIS to complete the first data upload of this kind the week of September
21St. See Project Activity Timeline below for a current accounting of project
accomplishments.
• Hours -Usage Data: This set is comprised of payroll -related data that will be analyzed by
CPSM's quantitative team to satisfy several requests outlined within the Scope of
Services. Tukwila City Attorneys, Human Resources, and other Staff are working to
define the content of the dataset to comply with policy/legal constraints.
Project Activity Timeline:
• July 30th: Consultant Selection Committee received and reviewed proposals
• August 4th — 15th: Selection Committee interviewed and scored consultants, ultimately
selecting CPSM
• August 18th: Scope of agreement agreed upon
• August 28th CPSM/Tukwila Kick -Off Meeting held prior to contract signing to expedite the
partnership with the hopes of delivering materials prior to end of year
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• August 31St: Mike lacona sent Information Request to Tukwila. This request included
dozens of reports, project plans, historical perspectives, etc and was fulfilled by many
City Staff members
• September 8th: Contract with CPSM negotiated and agreed -to by both parties
• September 11th: Contract countersigned by Tukwila
• September 21St: First payment of $15,999 was paid to CPSM from Fire's Admin Division
Professional Services line. Next payment of $16,000 will be due upon completion of
Milestone 4 (see Project Timeline below)
• September 29th: City Attorneys provided approval for us to send complete call -related
datasets to CPSM
• September 29th — November 13th: TIS uploaded VCC, Payroll, and FireRMS data to CPSM
servers
• October 22nd: Mike lacona confirmed that he's received all reports/information from
Tukwila necessary to complete his Operations Report. Once Tukwila has
reviewed/approved Dov's Draft Data Report, Mike will use the information within that
report to complete his Operations Report.
• November 16th: Dov estimates that the Draft Data Report will be completed and sent to
Tukwila by November 24tH
• Next Steps:
o Once Tukwila receives the Draft Data Report, the City will have ten days to
review and comment on the unedited report. During this time, the Consultant
Data Team will be available to discuss the draft report. The City will specify all
concerns with the draft report at this time. After the City has produced all
comments to CPSM, the data report will be finalized within ten days.
o Within thirty days of receiving the Final Data Report, the Consultant's Operations
Team will provide a Draft Operations Report to the City. The City will then have
ten days to review and comment.
o Once the Citv's comments and concerns are received by the Consultant. the final
report will be delivered to the City within ten days. CPSM will then present the
final report to the City via a Teams presentation.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Project is proceeding according to Exhibit B of the Agreement and is on -budget.
Total cost of the project is $39,999 and payments will be invoiced and issued as outlined below:
$15,999 upon execution of the contract.
$16,000 when the draft report is submitted.
$8,000 upon acceptance of the final draft report.
RECOMMENDATION
Provided for informational purposes only.
ATTACHMENTS
CPSM Exhibit A — Scope of Services
CPSM Project Timeline
CPSM Interview Schedule
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CPSM Exhibit A — Scope of Services
• Review the City's 2020 and 2019 " Memos to Council" and analyses of Fire Department
costs and services for background information of the past ten to fourteen years of
expenses and service levels as listed here:
1. May 20, 2020 Memo to Council re: Fire Department 1st Quarter Budget Report
2. May 18, 2020 Coronavirus Response Update: Fire Staffing and Calls for Service
3. August 21, 2019 Memo to Council re: Tukwila Fire Special Operations
4. August 7, 2019 Memo to Council re: Update Fire Department Fee Schedule
5. August 7, 2019 Memo to Council re: Sources of Revenue for Fire Departments
6. July 17, 2019 Memo to Council re: Fire Budget Discussion — Service Levels
7. May 22, 2019 Memo to Council re: Fire Budget Discussion
• Conduct virtual interviews with a minimum of the following people/positions/ groups ( if
multiple members from any group below avail themselves but cannot be interviewed due
to time or other constraints, City Administration will select the participant(s)):
1. Tukwila Mayor
2. Tukwila City Councilmembers
a. Can be conducted in groups or individually, at each member's discretion
3. Tukwila City Administrator and Director of Finance, collectively
4. Tukwila' s Director of Human Resources
5. Tukwila Fire Chief
6. Tukwila Fire Chiefs Assistant
7. Each of the three Tukwila Fire Battalion Chiefs in Suppression, collectively
8. Fire Department' s Administrative Battalion Chief
9. Tukwila Fire Marshal
10. Tukwila Fire Department Training Captains
a. To be conducted as a group if both are available
11. Two Captains from Tukwila' s Fire Department Suppression Division, to be identified
by the City
a. Then a follow-up with one Captain's crew, as a group
12. A representative from King County's Medic ALS Program
13. A representative from Tukwila' s Payroll team that is directly responsible for working
with the Fire Department
14. President (or other member of executive team if President is unavailable) from
Tukwila Fire Department's Union
• Review the Fire Department's current practices and use of leave and overtime in the
department and provide recommendations for resolving excess expenditures. This
analysis should include review of the following:
1. Use of sick leave, long-term disabilities, shift changes, training, and other uses. This
review will include an analysis of payroll data (regular, Kelly, vacation, sick, overtime,
etc) and trends for the various functions within the Department and provide
recommendations for optimization and improvement as well as areas of concern.
2. If data from other Fire Departments become available and is provided to Consultant
by the City, compare these findings with regional and national trends. This review
should cover at least the last five years.
3. The sick leave use study should also include a review of up to fourteen years to
capture the data for the 48/96 vs Modified Detroit schedules which took place
January 2008.
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• Review the Fire Department's current staffing model and service levels, including the
48/96 shift, use of Kelly days, the minimum staffing standard, and call -out procedures to
determine if there are improvements that can be implemented to best use available
resources.
• Review Fire Department use and costs of training, especially specialized trainings, and
provide a cost benefit review. Provide options, and recommendation for future training
activities.
• Based on interviews, provided documents/data, and " Tukwila Fire Department 2019
Annual Report", conduct an evaluation of the current service levels and response times.
Provide recommendations on service level adjustments with associated costs and best
practices for City Council direction. Report will also compare service levels currently
provided by Tukwila' s Fire Department with commonly accepted standards.
• Consultant will provide its standard " Data Analysis Report".
• Review and assess Fire Department revenues currently being collected and provide
recommendations for other revenue sources. These would include a review of best
practices from other agencies, how to best recover costs, and implementing fees.
• Provide recommendations on creating transparent monitoring reports for Fire
Department expenses and service levels that can be used by the City on a regular basis.
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CPSM Project Timeline
Milestone Description
Milestone 1 — Full execution of the agreement Execution Date on Agreement will identify
Milestone 2 — Project Launch
Milestone 3a — Information Gathering and
Data Extraction — 30 Days
Project Launch date.
The Parties will participate in a kick-off
meeting held via Microsoft Teams (or
telephone conference). Consultant project
leads will launch the project by clarifying and
confirming expectations/scope of work,
detailing study parameters, identifying agency
point of contacts and commencing information
gathering. The Consultant will also discuss
any information requests or data participants
wish to address.
Immediately following project launch, The
Consultant Operations Leads will deliver an
information request to The City. This is an
extensive request that will provide The
Consultant with a detailed understanding of
the Departments' operations. The Consultant
will provide instructions concerning uploading
materials to The Consultant's servers.
Milestone 3b — Data Extraction and Analysis — Immediately following the project launch,
14 Days Consultant Data Lead will submit a
preliminary data request.
Milestone 3c — Data Certification — 14 days Once the Consultant Data Assessment Team
is confident the data are accurate, the
Consultant will certify that they have all data
necessary to complete the Scope of Work.
Milestone 4 — Data Analysis and Delivery of Within 30 days of Milestone 3c, the Scope of
Draft Data Report — 30 days Work will be completed, and a draft, unedited
data report will be delivered to The City for
review and comment.
Milestone 4a — City Review of Draft Data
Report — 14 days
After the data draft report is delivered a
meeting will be held via Microsoft Teams (or
telephone conference) to discuss the draft,
unedited data report.
The City will have 10 days to review and
comment on the draft unedited data analysis.
During this time, the Consultant Data team will
be available to discuss the draft report. The
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Milestone 4b — Final Data Report — 10 days
Milestone 5 — Draft Operations Report — 30
days
Milestone 6 — Final Report 15 days
City will specify all concerns with the draft
report at this time.
After receipt of the City's comments, the data
report will be finalized within 10 days.
Within 30 days of Milestone 4b, the
Consultant's operations team will provide a
draft operations report to the City. The City
will have 10 days to review and comment.
Once the City's comments and concerns are
received by the Consultant, the final report will
be delivered to the City within 10 days.
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CPSM Interview Schedule
Date
Staff
9.14.2020
Jay Wittwer
Fire Chief
9.14.2020
David Cline
City Administrator
9.15.2020
Ben Williams
Captain/Company Officer
9.15.2020
Chuck Wooley
Union Representative
9.15.2020
Vicky Carlsen
Finance Director
9.15.2020
Bill Rodal
Training Captain
9.15.2020
Verna Seal
Thomas McLeod
Councilmembers
9.15.2020
De'Sean Quinn
Council President
9.16.2020
Diann Martinez
Asst to the Chief
9.16.2020
Elveena Narayan
Payroll Coordinator
9.16.2020
Juan Padilla
HR Director
9.16.2020
Kate Kruller
Councilmember
9.16.2020
Allan Ekberg
Mayor
9.16.2020
Jason Konieczka
BC/FD Emergency Manager
9.16.2020
Ben Hayman
Fire Marshal
9.16.2020
Lora Ueland- Executive Director
Vonnie Mayer -Deputy Director, Valley Communications
9.22.2020
Marty Roberts
Battalion Chief
On -duty Shift Forum
9.22.2020
Keith Keller
Chief, KC Medic 1
9.22.2020
Rick Burke
Chief, SKCRFTC
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