Approval to use $75,000 from 1999 Operating Budget to hire Consultant

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: May 6, 1999

Author/Local: W. Ferguson 665 6054
RTS No. 00654
CC File No. 1377

Council: May 18, 1999

TO: Vancouver City Council

FROM: General Manager of Fire & Rescue Services/Fire Chief

SUBJECT: Approval to use $75,000 from 1999 Operating Budget to hire a Consultant

RECOMMENDATION

THAT Council approve $75,000 funding within the 1999 Operating Budget to hire former Deputy Fire Chief, Paul McDonell, to assist the Fire Chief/General Manager of Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services in the:

1. Implementation of the TRIDATA Deployment Study.
2. Transfer of the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Dispatch service to the Regional Emergency Communications Center.
3. Development and implementation of a Career Development Program.
4. Development of a Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service Succession Plan.
5. Development of a Department-wide Performance Management Model.
6. Implementation of the computerized Staff Management System.

DISCUSSION

City Council on July 25, 1995 authorized the Development of the Emergency Operations and Communications Centre. The building is now complete and 911 and the police dispatchers are now operating out of this building. Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services requires a consultant to manage the transfer of our dispatch function to ECOMM. In addition, a portion of the consultant’s time will be spent reviewing and monitoring costs to the City of Vancouver for the services rendered by the new ECOMM facility. The transfer of this function will take place in July of 1999 and monitoring of costs, standards and procedures will occur for up to one year.

In April of 1996, Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services completed an operational review of staffing, equipment, deployment and fire hall locations carried out by a consultant, TriData. City Council endorsed the VF&RS apparatus and staff re-deployment proposal as outlinedin the TriData study, option 6. The 14 Quints and 8 LSU’s needed to implement Option 6, are now going into service in the recommended deployment. A significant amount of work is needed to complete the implementation with the majority of this work to be completed in the 12 month period between April 1, 1999 and March 31, 2000.

City Council on July 8, 1997 approved a recommendation that Council endorse the Fire and Rescue Services organizational review of the senior management structure as outlined in the Sommers Consulting Inc. Report as a guide to the evolution of the Department. The recommendations of the Sommers Report deal directly with three of the services to be provided by the consultant to the Fire Department. These are:

1. Assist the Fire Chief to develop a comprehensive Career Development program which specifies minimum qualifications for officer positions as well as education and training requirements.

2. During the interviews by the consultants, the pressing need for a succession plan was the second most frequently mentioned topic by VF&RS personnel. They commonly made the point that they and others in the organization want to know what they should do to prepare for advancement. The consultant will prepare a succession plan which will assist the VF&RS to develop and maintain a succession management system which tracks and manages the development of qualified candidates for all management positions within the organization.

3. The Sommers report refers to the various VF&RS strategic plans for its recommendations on Performance Management. These plans recommend a participative system which involves staff members in defining the expected results of each job in the Department, followed by the negotiation of specific goals for each person and a final linkage to annual performance reviews. The consultant will assist the Fire Chief in developing a Department-wide Performance Management Model that will effectively identify employee’s strengths and areas needing improvement. Vancouver Fire and Rescue has received funding through Supplementary Capital and the Service improvement Reserve Fund to internally develop a Staff Management System which will computerize the management of staff changes between the 20 Fire halls and Firefighters assigned to training and the specialty teams. In addition, the system is designed to record attendance for the 860 firefighters and eventually link to the city-wide SAP system. The Consultant will work with Information Technology at VF&RS to implement the distribution of this system to the 20 Firehalls and ensure staff receive the necessary training.

CONCLUSION

Council’s direction to proceed with the implementation of the Tridata Study, the Sommers Report, the Staff Management System and the construction of the Emergency Operations and Communications Center will improve the delivery of fire suppression to the citizens of the City of Vancouver. To complete these projects an external consultant is required to provide assistance to the Fire Chief. Funding will be supplied from the Fire Department Operational Account.

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