HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-12-08 City Council Minutes Approved City Council Study Session Minutes—December 8, 2014
At approximately 7:00 p.m. Mayor Laurie Gere called the Anacortes City Council study session of
December 8, 2014 to order. Roll call found present City Councilmembers Eric Johnson, Ryan Walters,
Erica Pickett, Brad Adams, Liz Lovelett, John Archibald and Matt Miller.
Western Washington University Shannon Point Marine Center Presentation
Parks & Recreation Director Gary Robinson introduced the new director of the Western Washington
University Shannon Point Marine Center, Dr. Erika McPhee Shaw. Dr. McPhee-Shaw presented an
overview of the Center, its mission, and its activities. She explained that the SPMC is part of a nationwide
network of marine stations and laboratories linked to universities. She pointed out that WWU is focused
on undergraduate education and provides research opportunities for undergraduate students. Dr.
McPhee-Shaw said faculty at SPMC teach classes (undergrad and graduate level), run mentorship and
research experience programs for undergraduates, advise graduate research projects, and perform
external grant-funded research. She listed a number of courses offered, described some of the
undergraduate mentorship programs offered and the positive outcomes of those programs, outlined
current funding challenges, and highlighted a few of the many research projects underway by SPMC
faculty. Dr. McPhee-Shaw shared information about nitrogen in storm outfalls emptying into Fidalgo Bay
and Samish Indian Nation research on that subject. Dr. McPhee-Shaw discussed future directions for the
Center including more public outreach especially into the public schools, supporting routing of the
Guemes Channel Trail across the campus, and research opportunities provided by the brand new
research vessel RN Magister. Dr. McPhee-Shaw answered questions from councilmembers who thanked
her for the Center's longtime support of Fidalgo Bay Day, future support of the Guemes Channel Trail and
ongoing research into topics affecting the local marine environment.
Fire Protection/EMS Master Plan Presentation
Fire Chief Richard Curtis introduced consultant Bob Meyer who shared the results of the final draft
Firefighting and Emergency Medical Services Master Plan prepared by Citygate Associates. Chief Curtis
first provided a brief overview of the data assembled for the report and the input collected from various
stakeholders.
Mr. Meyer discussed and elaborated on the report which had been distributed to councilmembers in the
Council packet for the evening. Mr. Meyer first described his firm's scope of work. He thanked City of
Anacortes GIS Coordinator Rob Hoxie for his help in developing maps for the analysis and displayed a
number of maps depicting the location of the 24 structure fires in Anacortes the prior year, locations of
repeat EMS calls, and the Wildland Urban Interface.
Mr. Meyer then discussed in more detail Findings 1, 8, 9, 10, 15, 21, 24, 30, 31 and 32 from the Executive
Summary of the report. He stressed the importance of establishing response goals based on nationally
recognized standards and best practices. Mr. Meyer acknowledged that the level of risk is always greater
for residents outside an urban core and said national standards provide for a much more rapid response
in urban areas than in suburban and rural areas. He suggested establishing the following response goals:
90% of the time the first-due engine should arrive with a minimum of three personnel within seven
minutes of the 911 call for small fires and with a minimum of two personnel for EMS calls when
responding within the city limits; outside city limits the response time should match WAC 246-940 and
Skagit County EMS requirements. He added that for serious emergencies a multiple-unit response of at
least fifteen personnel should arrive within 11 minutes 90% of the time.
Regarding Findings 8 and 9, councilmembers discussed with Mr. Meyer opportunities to recruit, train and
deploy volunteers to free up professional firefighters for training and response. Regarding Finding 10,
councilmembers discussed with Mr. Meyer the potential use of additional part-time staff to augment on-
duty staffing. Regarding Finding 15, Mr. Meyer reported that co-location of Stations 1 and 3 would
improve the travel time within the Station 1 response area but would degrade response times to Station 2
and 3 response areas. He did not recommend pursuing station relocation. Regarding Findings 21, 24 and
30, Mr. Meyer emphasized the importance of establishing training requirements and documenting training
Anacortes City Council Study Session Minutes December 8, 2014 1
achievements. Regarding Finding 31, he encouraged review of the large Wildland Urban Interface
surrounding the ACFL. Regarding Finding 32, he suggested ways volunteers or other staff could be used
to conduct annual occupancy and fire hydrant inspections to free up shift personnel for training and
emergency response.
Mr. Meyer then discussed call response times in greater detail including how each component—call
processing time, turnout time and travel time—is measured. He pointed out a need to improve both
turnout times and travel times. He also shared statistics showing how long an apparatus is out of service
each time it responds to a call in various communities.
Mr. Meyer next discussed six major risk categories in Anacortes including marine fires and natural and
man-made disasters. He pointed out that the recommended best practice for responding to a residential
fire requires 15 people but Anacortes only staffs 7 people total during the day shift. He concluded that
Anacortes is understaffed for a fire of moderate size or a critical EMS emergency, such as a 5-patient
EMS call. Councilmembers inquired about various options for augmenting on-duty staff including callback
of off-duty staff, mutual aid response with neighboring agencies, volunteers, and part-time staff.
At approximately 8:58 p.m. Mayor Gere called a five minute recess. At approximately 9:04 p.m. the mayor
called the meeting back to order. Due to the late hour, Mayor Gere advised that the final agenda item,
Council Chamber Audio Visual Update Project, would be postponed to January.
Mr. Meyer next shared the report's EMS Deployment Analysis, noting that Anacortes is not urban but
does have pockets of urban population in the downtown core so has to respond within 8 minutes 80% of
the time. He reported that the average out of service time for an ambulance transport is 51 minutes. Mr.
Meyer observed that if the number of ambulances were reduced, the out of service time per call would
increase even more. Regarding the proposed Regional Fire Authority, Mr. Meyer encouraged Anacortes
to continue the process of exploring that option, starting with a small group of agencies that have
demonstrated interest. He reported that RFAs are becoming more and more common because they are
more economical. He said first steps towards implementing an RFA might include joint occupancy of fire
stations and appointing a Regional Training Officer.
Mr. Meyer concluded his presentation by reviewing the recommendations from the report. Step One:
Receive the policy recommendations of this fire services study and adopt revised Fire Department
performance measures to drive the effective and efficient deployment of firefighting and emergency
medical resources; research methods for providing the funds necessary to improve the current level of
emergency service and fire prevention and design a corresponding plan that is achievable over a
reasonable timeframe; develop a collaborative relationship between labor and administration to begin
revising the policies and procedures manual; and develop a collaborative relationship between labor and
administration to design and implement a modern training program. Step Two: Seek approval for the
desired funding plan to increase on-duty firefighters. Step Three: Hire a full-time non-sworn Fire and Life
Safety Inspector/Educator; and begin a phased plan to increase staffing from two firefighters per station
to four firefighters.
Mr. Walters asked if Anacortes firefighter staffing is unusually low. Mr. Meyer said yes and described the
laws that require at least three personnel for all known rescues for safety reasons. He said that agencies
being able to provide 15 firefighters on first response is very common. Mr. Johnson asked how many
more total firefighters would need to be hired to achieve Citygate's recommendations. Chief Curtis replied
that to move to 24 hour staffing at Station 3 would take four more full time firefighters. Adding part time
paid employees to achieve three staff at each station 24/7/365 would require three more FTE and to
achieve four staff at each station would require three more FTE on top of that for a total of 10-11 new
positions. Chief Curtis briefly explained the labor intensive nature of both fire and EMS calls. He added
that the new staff could be EMTs rather than paramedics which saves approximately 10% on salaries. Mr.
Johnson concluded that fully implementing the recommended staffing increases would cost roughly$1 M
per year.
There being no further business, at approximately 9:32 p.m. the Anacortes City Council study session of
December 8, 2014 adjourned.
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