Presentation to the City Council

Fire Department Study

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota

May 13, 2013

Table of Contents

DOCUMENT MEMORANDUM

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 2 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 2 3 STUDY PROCESS 4 4 FIRE DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW 5 5 CURRENT CONDITIONS 11 6 SURVEY OF FIRE DEPARTMENTS 27 7 COMPENSATION AND STAFFING 33 8 EQUIPMENT AND CAPITAL NEEDS 37 9 RECOMMENDATIONS 40

FIRE DEPARTMENT STAFF SURVEY APPENDIX I

Fire Department Mission The mission of the Chanhassen Fire Department is to serve our customers by minimizing the loss of life and property in the City of Chanhassen from fires, natural disasters, and life threatening situations.

Fire Department Vision It is our vision to be known as an innovative, progressive and customer centric organization. We are dedicated to work with our partners to deliver effective, efficient and safe emergency services to our customers. We strive to offer the best available education and training to our members.

The Chanhassen Fire Department is committed to providing an environment which fosters professionalism and teamwork among members. We desire to have an atmosphere of open communication and a positive work environment to encourage the best possible service for our customers.

Springsted Incorporated 380 Jackson Street, Suite 300 Saint Paul, MN 55101-2887 Tel: 651-223-3000 Fax: 651-223-3002 www.springsted.com

May 13, 2013

Mr. Todd Gerhardt, City Manager Mr. John Wolff, Fire Chief City of Chanhassen To be signed when study is completed. 7700 Market Boulevard Chanhassen, MN 55317

Dear Todd and Chief Wolff:

On behalf of my partner, Pat Simpson, we are pleased to submit the Final Report for the Fire Department Study for the City of Chanhassen. The scope of services for this study was designed to create a baseline of information through an objective and comprehensive assessment of the Department. Our process model included a variety of steps and methods which provide a foundation for your policy, financial and operational discussions.

We hope that the City Council, City staff and Fire Department personnel can engage in timely and productive discussions on the future of the Fire Department. The Report helps you to understand what you have today and provides a solid framework to help you plan and forecast how you want to position the City for fire services in the future.

It has been our pleasure to work with you on this study and we thank you and all of your staff and elected officials for this opportunity. We look forward to working with you to finalize the study and Report.

Sincerely,

David J. Unmacht Springsted, Incorporated sml

Executive Summary

1. Executive Summary The Mayor and City Council of the City of Chanhassen, Minnesota created a strategic objective to conduct a study of the Fire Department. The City retained Springsted Incorporated to conduct the study. Springsted retained the services of Mr. Pat Simpson, a fire department expert, to partner in the study.

The focus areas of the study consisted of Current Conditions, Staffing, Pay and Benefits, and Equipment and Capital Needs. As part of the study the City was seeking to establish a baseline of information that will support a discussion on the existing business practices, methods and standards presently used by the Department in the delivery of fire services. The scope of services included interviewing City Council members to obtain firsthand information on their goals and expectations.

It is important for the credibility of the process and the outcomes of the study to obtain information and input from interested parties and those affected by the future decisions. Several process highlights are worth noting, they include: • Interviews with City Council, city administration and fire leadership team. • Two briefings with members of the Fire Department. • Confidential on-line staff survey • Comprehensive survey of comparable Fire Departments.

The contributions of all individuals were instrumental in providing valuable input into the study and the ultimate recommendations in the Report. The willingness of all city officials and fire department staff to offer candid insight, ideas and data helped to solidify the findings and ultimately frame and shape the recommendations.

The City of Chanhassen provides very good fire services. The focus of this Report is not on solving problems or correcting any obvious needs, rather, the document should serve as a foundation for timely operational, policy and planning discussions. Areas of opportunity include staffing and structure, mutual aid, resource sharing and collaborations. We have captured our findings and recommendations in nine (9) areas. Through our work with the city staff throughout the process we are confident that they can further refine the analysis and develop substantive and detailed recommendations for consideration by the City Council.

The contents of this Report provide the Mayor, City Council, Fire Department, city administration and the community stakeholders with a framework to consider ideas and options for the future of the fire service in Chanhassen. It has been our intention from the onset to provide the City Council with a framework of action to provide more efficient and effective fire services to residents, citizens and visitors of the City.

The City is positioned well to move to Phase Two of the analysis – shared services model. The information in this Report provides a solid baseline to reach out to other area fire departments to explore innovative and creative operational practices and business models.

If any information changes as a result of the Presentation to the City Council the Executive Summary will be updated.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 1 Purpose of the Study 2. Purpose of the Study The City of Chanhassen has asked for a review of the Fire Department consisting of four main areas of focus: Current Conditions, Staffing, Pay and Benefits, and Equipment and Capital Needs. A competitive Request for Proposal process was completed and the City selected Springsted Incorporated to lead the study. The review and assessment process began in November 2012 and will be completed in the first quarter of 2013. During the study consultants met with numerous stakeholders including; city officials, city administration, fire department staff and leadership, and outside parties who interact with the Chanhassen Fire Department.

Perspective

City governments across the country, but especially in Minnesota, are addressing a multitude of complex simultaneous challenges including identifying efficient and effective delivery systems, meeting citizen expectations, and sustaining and maintaining important municipal programs and services. This scenario is under the backdrop of an uncertain and unstable financial picture. Although there is reason for optimism as state and national economic indicators are pointing upward, these present trends do not necessarily impact or influence city leaders in the short term.

City officials recognize that it is difficult if not impossible to perform operations and business practices in the traditional methods. Local governments of all shapes and sizes, throughout the state and country, are asking tough questions and delving into issues and business practices that have previously never been raised or seriously considered. Raising these questions and probing into historical business practices is not easy nor does it result in quick changes. What the City of Chanhassen is doing today is not any different from what other governments are doing across the region, state and nation.

The City of Chanhassen is experiencing the same impacts and trends that are shaping public policy and public services across all communities. These trends directly impact the policy work of the City Council, the leadership of city and department administrators and the ability of the staff to perform their important day to day functions. The following characteristics we witnessed in the City – are common in other communities too: • Flat or declining budget resources • Increase in demand for services • Evolving citizen expectations • Demands for enhanced efficiencies and effectiveness • Higher stress levels on personnel • Interest in exploring other delivery system models

Under this backdrop city leaders developed a two-phased methodology to study the fire department services – Section A: Master Plan and Section B: Shared Services Model. The information contained in this document includes Section A only.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 2 Purpose of the Study

Four Study Areas

The goal of this study is to develop a master plan for the City of Chanhassen Fire Department with focus on the four objectives outline in the city’s RFP. The underlying assumption provided at the beginning of the study is that the City will continue to provide cost effective fire services to all areas of the City. Details of the RFP can be found on page one of the RFP document – a summary is identified below. • Establish and define the current conditions of the Fire Department o Establish benchmarks and identify how the department currently measures up to them o Identify measurable goals that balance needs of the Department with the City as a whole • Review current staffing and training needs o Use of full-time staff o Department’s overall organization structure o Paid on call staffing o Training o Potential for resource sharing/development of Fire District • Pay and Benefits o Call pay rate o Pension o Officer Compensation • Equipment and Capital Needs o Buildings o Vehicles and Trucks o Small equipment, gear, and hoses

During the discussion on the Findings and the First Draft of the Report, City staff provided direction on the format for the Final Report. Representatives from the Fire Department, Finance, and City Administration were instrumental in offering insights, ideas and candid opinions on the Findings and Draft Report. Their time and valuable advice was greatly appreciated.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 3 Study Process

3. Study Process The study process evolves until the Final Report is completed. The process used to date includes the following 17 steps: • Interviews with City Council, city administration and fire leadership team. • Two briefings with members of the Fire Department. • Site visit to meet with city personnel, Fire Chief and fire department to discuss department operations, issues and challenges. • Meeting with representatives of the Carver County Sheriff’s Office. • Conduct walking tour of facilities and space utilization. • Review of the Blueprint for Success – A Vision for the Chanhassen Fire Department. • Review of the City’s website which contains very good background information on the Department. • Telephone interviews with each member of the City Council – short summary of key inputs: o Nothing is broken; supportive of the Department – Strategy, Planning, Operations. o What is the best approach to provide fire service for the long term future? . Staffing model. . Process for appointing the Fire Chief. . Number and location of Fire Stations. o What are our present conditions of the Fire Department? . Are we missing anything obvious and doing anything too much? o Ensure we are adequately providing for today and planning for tomorrow. o Are we doing the “right thing with the right people with the right skills and structure?” o Establish a base-line to evaluate more shared services. • Comprehensive survey of comparable Fire Departments – 13 participants. • City data and information (sample includes): o Organizational chart o Map of fire stations o Apparatus o Standard Operating Guidelines o Budget data • Review of standards and benchmarks from National Fire Groups and Associations. • Extensive Review of fire department documents. • Briefing on the Preliminary Findings with the City Staff on February 22. • Confidential on-line Fire Department staff survey – 24 respondents. • Preparation of a Draft Report, submitted to the City for review on April 1, 2013. • Briefing on the Study to the Fire Department on May 8, 2013. • Preparation of the Final Report; presented to the City Council on May 13, 2013.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 4 Fire Department Overview

4. Fire Department Overview The Fire Department is a municipal department which provides fire prevention, fire suppression, and emergency response/rescue services utilizing paid-on-call firefighters. The Department is staffed with 48 members, including two full-time positions: Fire Marshal/Fire Department Administrator and Deputy Fire Marshal/Emergency Manager. The City’s website is the primary source for the Overview; input during the Findings briefing substantiated the accuracy of the data.

Mission

The mission of the Chanhassen Fire Department is to serve our customers by minimizing the loss of life and property in the City of Chanhassen from fires, natural disasters, and life-threatening situations.

Vision

It is our vision to be known as an innovative, progressive and customer-centric organization. We are dedicated to work with our partners to deliver effective, efficient and safe emergency services to our customers including: • Fire prevention programs • Fire and safety education to the public • Fire suppression • EMS and rescue services

We strive to offer the best available education and training to our members. We are committed to providing an environment which fosters professionalism and teamwork among members. We desire to have an atmosphere of open communication and a positive work environment to encourage the best possible service for our customers.

Fire Rescue Services

Fire Suppression Fire Prevention Water Rescue • 5,500 gallons of tanked water • Fire Inspection • Through CCSO • 4,250 gpm pump capacity • Fire Education Emergency Medical/Rescue • 5 inch LDH • Fire Investigation • BLS response (Basic Life • 1 ¾ & 2 ½ hand lines • Pre-planning Support) • (4) 1,000 gpm master streams • Infrastructure: • (no transport) • Class A & B foam ○ 23 square miles • Auto Extrication Hazmat Response ○ 23,500 residents • Product ID/air monitoring • Decontamination • Mitigation

Major Resources

The major resources of the Department include: two Fire Stations, a 100 ft. Aerial Ladder, two Pumpers, one Pumper/Tanker, one Heavy Rescue vehicle, one light rescue vehicle, two brush/light rescue vehicles, an ATV equipped for grass fires, rescue boat, and a number of staff vehicles.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 5 Fire Department Overview

Apparatus

Engines Unit No. DOP Manufac. Chassis Pump Tank Crew (Pumpers) Cap. Cap. Cap.

E-11 2006 Crimson Spartan 1250 1500 6

E-12 1996 Toyne Spartan 1250 2500 6

E-21 1996 Toyne Spartan 1250 1500 6

Aerial Ladders Unit No. DOP Manufac. Chassis Pump Tank Crew Cap. Cap. Cap.

L-11 1989 LTI Spartan 1500 1500 10 (100')

Rescue Vehicles Unit No. DOP Manufac. Chassis Pump Tank Crew Cap. Cap. Cap.

R-11 1999 Ford NA NA 4

R-12 1992 LDV Chevy NA NA 8

R-21 2008 Chevy 150 3

Grass Units Unit No. DOP Manufac. Chassis Pump Tank Crew Cap. Cap. Cap.

G-11 2009 GMC K3500 150 3

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 6 Fire Department Overview

Misc. Equipment Unit No. DOP Manufacturer Other Details

B-11 2003 Rescue 1

Special Response 1999 Special Response Trailer Trailer

U-12 2006 Polaris Ranger

Other key resources include: • 5-inch diameter supply hose • Automatic defibrillators • Class A and B foam • Opti-com signal controls at all semaphores • Thermal imaging devices

Dispatching

The Carver County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) dispatches the Department on vhf channel 154.145. The Fire Department works closely with the Carver County deputies and Ridgeview Ambulance Service on emergency medical calls. The Fire Department responds to approximately 30% of all medical calls in the City. The CCSO and ambulance service responds to the remaining 70% of the calls. The CCSO uses priority medical dispatch protocols to determine the resources required for emergency medical calls. When Chanhassen Fire/Rescue are requested to respond to an emergency medical call, the average response time as posted on departmental website, is around 6 minutes.

Emergency Management Plan

The City of Chanhassen has developed a comprehensive emergency management plan for response to both natural disasters and other man-made emergency incidents. City staff conducts a table-top exercise each year and annually meets with the City Council on emergency management plans and preparedness. It is the responsibility of the Emergency Manager to maintain the plan and regularly test for readiness. The plan was developed in cooperation with county, state and federal agencies.

Office of the Fire Marshal

The Chanhassen Fire Department is very active with fire prevention activities throughout the year. In the fall, approximately 2,000 grade school children visit the fire station to learn about fire safety. Fire prevention week is followed by the annual open house which draws in excess of 1,000 residents. In addition, there are numerous activities that the Fire Department also participates in. A few of these

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 7 Fire Department Overview

include Safety Camp, National Night Out, neighborhood block parties, fire truck rides to school, fire station tours, and visits to daycare centers.

The Fire Marshal’s office staff also works closely with the building department as plans for new buildings are submitted. Plans are reviewed to ensure they are in compliance with Minnesota Fire Codes, as well as NFPA Fire Codes. During construction, fire inspections are conducted in order to ensure code and regulatory compliance. This includes fire sprinkler systems, fire alarms, smoke evacuation systems, and any other life safety requirements. Before the occupants are allowed to move into the building, a thorough final inspection is conducted. Periodic fire inspections are conducted after occupancy to ensure the building safety features are maintained and kept in proper working order to ensure employees and the public are safe. The office performed 456 inspections in 2011 and 498 in 2012. This number averages out to just less than 2 inspections per day on average. An average commonly used across the country as a benchmark is 5 inspections per day.

The Chanhassen Fire Department has two full-time staff on call to investigate all fires in the City. Fire investigations could be as simple as a 10-minute interview with a home or business owner, or more involved where assistance would be needed from the Minnesota State Fire Marshal’s Office as well as private fire investigators.

Fire Department Staff Survey

In order to obtain a wide range of input from the members of the Department, we conducted an on-line confidential staff survey. Graphs from the survey can be found in Appendix I. There were a total of 25 responses for a response rate of 51%. This response rate is relatively low in comparison to other surveys. Regardless of the response rate the information was useful and valuable. The data collected from the survey confirmed and validated the information we learned during interviews.

The following 10 questions were asked: 1. How long have you been a member of the department? 2. What role do you have in the department? 3. The level of coordination and cooperation within our department is? 4. Please rate the level of internal communication that presently exists within the department? 5. Do you have the tools and training needed to be successful in the job? 6. List what you believe are the top strengths of the department. 7. List the top two areas where you believe the department can improve. 8. What ideas do you have for recruitment of future volunteers to serve in the department? 9. In your opinion what is the number one department priority that should be factored into the outcomes of the study? 10. Should the City reach out to other area Fire Departments to explore a higher level of mutual aid, increases in operational and strategic partnerships and/or the consideration of new service levels?

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 8 Fire Department Overview

This was a comprehensive set of survey questions. Over 20 pages of data, comments and material were reviewed, analyzed and factored into the analysis and recommendations. The information which follows represents highlights of the survey data.

Survey Observations

Based on the analysis of the survey results we offer the following observations and conclusions. • With the exception of 0-3 years there was a generally equitable distribution of responses across years of service. • 75% of the staff believes the level of coordination and cooperation within the Department is Very Good or Good. o The lower ratings were generally longer tenured personnel. • 62.5% of the staff believes the level of communication is Very Good or Good. We often see a correlation in these two data sets; the distinction is worth noting and discussing. o The lower ratings in this area included some newer firefighters. • A very positive 87.5% of the staff believes that they have the tools and training to be successful in the Department. o As the Department evolves and changes it is worth noting one respondent who stated, “We do have the appropriate equipment and training to get the job done as the job is presently defined.” This individual went on to say that as the job requirements change and get redefined this question remains open ended. • As a component of a future Plan B analysis, it is worth noting that just fewer than 73% of the respondents believe the City should reach out to other area Fire Departments to explore stronger inter-relationships. • The responses to the question what is the number one Department priority includes a cross- section of insightful information including: o Determine the Fire Department’s vision for the future. o Decide on what levels of service to provide (primarily related to staffing). . Duty crews, full-time Fire Chief, staff restructuring o Increase communication. o Compensation, pay and pension benefit improvements. o Community service; make sure we continue to provide quality service. • The responses to the question about collaborations and partnerships with other departments produced a few interesting observations. Two different observations are representative of the themes. o “Stay the course for now and get all of our mutual aid partners, as well as us, developed into stronger working relationships by initiating more combined training.” o “Anytime we can offer better services for our customers I welcome it.” o A series of observations felt the existing relationships were already working well and that any change should only be made if it can be proven to improve safety and service. o There is also a clear pattern from the responses that staff wants to retain a strong Chanhassen identity.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 9 Fire Department Overview

Feedback on Positive Attributes

The top strengths of the Department based on an aggregate of survey responses include these qualities. • Knowledgeable staff • Camaraderie • Committed/dedicated • Training • Fire Chief’s Leadership • Equipment

These areas are common qualities of strength found in other organizations. It was distinctive that the leadership of the Chief was called out in a series of responses, although as is not unexpected opinions did vary.

Feedback on Areas of Improvement

Communication – there is a general theme that the level of communication can improve with the Department. This was the most common response in the survey. One respondent noted an example of, “Improving the communication of meeting schedules and details of the planned meeting activities.” Another respondent noted, “I think with a volunteer department it is difficult to keep good communication. Constant work in progress.” Finally, one staff member said, “We’d like to hear from him (the Chief) on a regular basis.”

Team work – there is a general theme that team work can improve in the Department. There were not a lot of specific comments attributed to the point, but evaluating trends indicates areas such as an uncertain future, integrating changes made by the Chief, the perception of the Leadership Team (Officer Corps) and getting members engaged and invested. One respondent made this observation, “Leadership staff working together, by agreeing to disagree when needed.”

Other miscellaneous areas noted by more than one individual, but not as prevalent as communication and team work include: • Accountability – performance • Training and resources (staying on task and on time) • Recruitment, pay and benefits

No matter how the results of the study move forward the information in the survey can be used by the Chief and his leadership team to follow-up on by engaging in discussions and conversations on the data and information.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 10 Current Conditions

5. Current Conditions The Fire Department is a paid on call organization which is providing full service fire/rescue protection to the citizens of Chanhassen. This section discusses the organization and management; operations; administrative services; safety and training, and risk, demand, and deployment of the department.

Organizational Management

The span of control is very good and the department is well separated into operations, administration, and training and safety areas at the Assistant Chief level. The Operations Division includes all personnel assigned to response duties and breaks out these assignments by responding unit. The Administration Division manages the budget, human resources, facilities/equipment/apparatus, and the Fire Relief Association. The Safety and Training Division covers all training activities, Standard Operating Guidelines (SOG’s), safety and wellness and return to duty. The organizational structure is well distributed with a clearly defined and well-designed concept.

We found that the Department is unique in that it embraces and encourages growth, development and changes. This is unique and distinct in comparable studies that we perform.

Accountability is also well defined (although as noted in the survey there was some feedback on this subject) and the Department incorporates a 360° review process to ensure all personnel have input in assessing department leaders as well as their own personal assessments. Job descriptions are up to date and reflect the overall functions of each position. Departmental guidelines and policies are also up to date and enforced.

Communications are separated into internal, external, and organizational culture and are the best reflection of the effectiveness of the present leadership in the Department. Internal communication

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 11 Current Conditions

includes how well leadership gives direction and receives feedback. This internal communications process is well designed and from most feedback received is functioning well. External communications are also performing well and interviews with outside agencies indicated the Department staff and leadership partner successfully with their peers. The organizational culture is somewhat unique in that there is a high level of excitement and anticipation with new processes initiated by the Fire Chief and staff. There is also significant pride for the department and what it stands for in the community. Some comments from the survey reflect differing views so any future improvements which may result will only reinforce the value and strengths of the Department.

Overall the Department is a high functioning and well lead department. Personnel know who and what they are and what is expected of them. Issues are identified and resolved quickly. Progressive changes are not only accepted but embraced by most personnel and participation in organization and management would be defined as inclusive rather than exclusive. It needs to be pointed out that these cultural observations, although not rare, are truly distinctive and unique, in that most Departments do not operate at this high of a level. It is our assessment that the Chanhassen Fire Department is a high functioning, well led organization and clearly in the upper 25% of departments in the country in terms of service delivery efficiency and organizational effectiveness.

Operations Division

The Operations Division encompasses the full gamut of fire/rescue services including fire suppression, EMS, technical rescue, and emergency management.

Fire Suppression Chanhassen Fire Department delivers fire suppression service from two stations with 48 paid on call personnel. The department responds to about 600 calls per year, including about 200 EMS calls and 20 to 40 fire calls. Incident Management and Safety is set out in Section 2 and response is set out in Section 3 “Response Guidelines” of the Department’s SOG’s as of January 2013.

National Standards for Fire Suppression The most widely recognized standard used in response time analysis for volunteer fire departments is outlined in NFPA 1720, Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations and Special Operations to the Public by Volunteer Fire Departments.

NFPA 1720 was updated in 2004 and addresses benchmarks to be used by volunteer organizations in the delivery of their services, including specific recommendations regarding staffing and response times.

Table 1 provides an overview of these recommendations and metrics which is explained in detail on page 24 of this Report.

Table 1: NFPA 1720 - Staffing and Response Time Standards Demand Zone Demographics Staffing/Response Times Percentage of Calls Special Risks Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) AHJ 90 Urban >1000 people/mi 15/9 90 Suburban 500-1000 people/mi 10/10 80 Rural <500 people/mi 6/14 80 Remote* Travel distance 8 mi. 4 90 * Upon assembling the necessary resources at the emergency scene, the fire department should have the capability to safely commence an initial attack within 2 minutes 90 percent of the time. Source: NFPA 1720, 2004 Edition.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 12 Current Conditions

Chanhassen, with 22.8 square miles of area and a population of 23,484, has a jurisdictional population density of 1,030 people per square mile. This population density puts Chanhassen in the “urban” demand zone classification and recommends an initial response of 15 personnel responding to fire calls within 9 minutes 90% of the time. Chanhassen’s response times are broken out later in this report.

The National Fire Protection Handbook makes staffing and initial response complement recommendations based on the number of firefighters arriving on the scene of a fire depending upon the risk of occupancy (low, medium, and high-hazard occupancy). The NFPA staffing recommendations by the type of hazard areas follows: High-Hazard Occupancies (schools, hospitals, nursing homes, explosive plants, refineries, high-rise buildings, and other high-risk or large fire potential occupancies): at least 4 pumpers, 2 ladder trucks (or combination apparatus with equivalent capabilities), 2 chief officers, and other specialized apparatus as may be needed to cope with the combustible involved; not fewer than 23 firefighters and 2 chief officers. Medium-Hazard Occupancies (apartments, offices, mercantile and industrial occupancies not normally requiring extensive rescue or firefighting forces): at least 3 pumpers, 1 ladder truck (or combination apparatus with equivalent capabilities), 1 chief officer, and other specialized apparatus as may be needed or available; not fewer than 16 firefighters and 1 chief officer. Low-Hazard Occupancies (one-, two-, or three-family dwellings and scattered small businesses and industrial occupancies): at least 2 pumpers, 1 ladder truck (or combination apparatus with equivalent capabilities), 1 chief officer, and other specialized apparatus are recommended to be available; not fewer than 12 firefighters and 1 chief officer.

The Department has the personnel and equipment resources to meet NFPA #1720 and response capabilities for low and medium hazard occupancies. High hazard occupancies would require additional outside equipment resources and likely personnel on the initial assignment. The Department’s box alarm assignments as set out in the SOG’s do address this need.

The recommendations and guidelines outlined in the NFPA Handbook should be considered, but are not necessarily the final word as the NFPA guidelines do not address how fire departments will also be able to comply with the OSHA-mandated “Two-in/Two-out” rule (discussed below). Also, the NFPA guidelines do not address OSHA’s requirement that a rapid intervention team (RIT) be on-scene at a working fire.

Chanhassen Fire Department has a full set of response policies which provide 1st through 7th alarm assignments for all fires and related emergencies. The SOG’s include mutual aid departments to provide adequate equipment and personnel to handle any anticipated incident. These SOG’s are in alignment with the NFPA standards cited above.

A study of this nature is designed to organize and represent a snapshot in time; workplace cultures vary and change all the time. In some instances by reporting this information we are memorializing what is already known, but not being addressed. In other cases the reporting of this information can stimulate ideas and action. We include this information for the purposes of the later choice.

OSHA Regulations Additional mandated requirements for staffing are related to OSHA’s regulations for firefighter safety. To protect the safety of firefighters, the United States Department of Labor and OSHA have enacted 29CFR1910.134, known as the two-in/two-out rule that requires four personnel on scene at all structure fires before initial interior attack begins.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 13 Current Conditions

OSHA – Firefighting is a dangerous and physical labor-intensive profession. Although technologically the tools and equipment used by firefighters have changed dramatically over the years, the basic goals have remained almost unchanged: to preserve life and protect property by successfully extinguishing fires—and not get hurt in the process. To accomplish this, firefighters must be able to quickly and efficiently gain access to a fire and apply an extinguishing agent (typically water, but foam and other agents are gaining in popularity). This requires emergency responders to operate in dangerous environments where they are at high risk for serious injury or death.

To protect the health, safety, and welfare of firefighters, the federal government enacted regulations to ensure that firefighters operate safely in and around structure fires. Enacted by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 29 CFR 1910.134, also known as “Two- in/Two-out,” mandates that there must be a minimum of four personnel on the scene of a structural fire before personnel can initiate interior operations. Two firefighters must remain on the exterior of the structure, properly equipped with full turnout gear and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) to act as a Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) in the event the firefighters operating inside the structure become incapacitated or trapped. Although OSHA allows one RIT member to have an additional role such as incident commander or safety officer, as long as rescue activities can be performed without jeopardizing the safety of other firefighters, a pump operator cannot make up part of the RIT unless the apparatus utilizes a positive water source, which allows the pump to be unstaffed for a period.

The Department is meeting all OSHA standards for Fire Suppression as outlined above.

Insurance Services Office (ISO) Insurance Services Office (ISO) community fire protection ratings have been a benchmark for jurisdictions for decades. The system measures the effectiveness and efficiency of three key parts of community fire protection; fire department, water distribution, and alarm notification system. However there are two key limitations of this benchmark. First is that the evaluation is only used by some insurance companies, with several large insurers doing their own risk assessment by individual occupancy. Second is the fact that residential insurance rates for participating insurers are banded for class #2 through class #8 communities. This means that the premium for insurance to homeowners is the same for these communities. The only occupancy type which has separate rates for each class number (#) is commercial occupancies where the needed fire flow is below 3500 gpm for suppression. The bottom line is that ISO ratings are a good benchmark for suppression activities of a community but do not evaluate the key areas of prevention, code enforcement, and planning and zoning which are the proactive functions of community fire defense planning.

The City is rated as a 5 and in areas where there are no hydrants a 9. The Class 5 rating in hydrant areas is on par with most jurisdictions of similar size and demographics. The Class 9 rating in non-hydrant areas can be improved by establishment of a tender task force concept for structure calls in these non- hydrant areas. (CFD currently has a tender listing in the Box Alarm section of its response guidelines this is the basis of the task force system as set out in NFPA and ISO recommendations.

The Department may want to seek a re-evaluation from ISO based upon this improved response capability in the non-hydranted areas of the City.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 14 Current Conditions

Emergency Medical Services EMS response in Chanhassen is provided by CCSO and a private EMS vendor. The Department does provide some assistance if requested for auto accidents; special rescue incidents; and mass casualty emergencies. Department personnel are trained as first responders and above and deliver their service as medical first responders. The Department is also automatically dispatched on these calls: • Cardiac • Stroke • Difficult breathing • Unconscious patient • Trauma • CCSO staff unavailable

Special Operations (haz-mat & water rescue) Special operations are the low frequency, high impact emergencies such as building collapse; water rescue; trapped in a vehicle; or release of a toxic cloud, which impact a jurisdiction infrequently but demand specialized training and equipment to safely deliver this service when needed. The Department delivers haz-mat and water rescue services to its citizens and guests as part of the spectrum of field operations.

Administration Division

The Administration division is responsible for departmental budgeting, planning, human resource policies and personnel, and equipment and facilities. The 2012 budget is $762,600 and the 2013 budget is $757,300. This was a result of a decrease in pension contributions based upon state calculations for Chanhassen.

The administration division is also responsible for human resource policies and personnel functions of the Department. The Department has excellent policies for personnel review utilizing a 360 approach to evaluations. The process includes supervisor, peer, and subordinate evaluations of staff thus developing a multifaceted view of entry and promotional candidates. This process is quite unique and this is the first time such a system has been observed by the evaluation team in a fire department

Facilities and equipment are also part of the administration division’s area of responsibility. The Department has a vehicle replacement plan which will be discussed later in this report.

Safety and Training Division

The Department has a third division which includes training and safety; this too is a novel approach to combining these two key functions within a fire department. Though this is the first time the evaluation team has seen this combination as a single division of a fire department the concept has a very logical foundation since safety and training share many values and are interrelated in a functional way in all fire departments. This division was created in July 2011.

The Department currently trains each Monday evening from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. Fire officers train on the first Monday of each month and all personnel train the remaining Monday evenings. Personnel are required to make all required training sessions and 60% of all training which accounts for 80 to 100 hours per year of required training per member plus another 100 hours of additional training. Probationary members attend 300 hours of initial training and obtain all required certifications for firefighters in Minnesota. There are 10 elements of required in house training and 15 additional outside training and certification set out in the departmental SOG’s.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 15 Current Conditions

Safety is integrated into all facets of operations and is part of departmental SOG’s. The Department has adopted the 16 Life Safety Initiatives of the “Everyone Goes Home” program as developed by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and endorsed by the US Fire Administration.

The initiatives included are: 1. Define and advocate the need for a cultural change within the fire service relating to safety; incorporating leadership, management, supervision, accountability and personal responsibility. 2. Enhance the personal and organizational accountability for health and safety throughout the fire service. 3. Focus greater attention on the integration of risk management with incident management at all levels, including strategic, tactical, and planning responsibilities. 4. All firefighters must be empowered to stop unsafe practices. 5. Develop and implement national standards for training, qualifications, and certification (including regular recertification) that are equally applicable to all firefighters based on the duties they are expected to perform. 6. Develop and implement national medical and physical fitness standards that are equally applicable to all firefighters, based on the duties they are expected to perform. 7. Create a national research agenda and data collection system that relates to the initiatives. 8. Utilize available technology wherever it can produce higher levels of health and safety. 9. Thoroughly investigate all firefighter fatalities, injuries, and near misses. 10. Grant programs should support the implementation of safe practices and/or mandate safe practices as an eligibility requirement. 11. National standards for emergency response policies and procedures should be developed and championed. 12. National protocols for response to violent incidents should be developed and championed. 13. Firefighters and their families must have access to counseling and psychological support. 14. Public education must receive more resources and be championed as a critical fire and life safety program. 15. Advocacy must be strengthened for the enforcement of codes and the installation of home fire sprinklers. 16. Safety must be a primary consideration in the design of apparatus and equipment.

The Department safety programs also include annual compliance programs for: • Aerial ladder testing • Fire pump testing • SCBA (flow and fit) testing • Physical agility testing • Personal protective equipment inspection • Physical examination • Health surveillance

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 16 Current Conditions

It is a well-established fact that fire departments which train consistently will perform well on the emergency scene and departments which train less frequently or not at all will be ineffective and inefficient during emergency operations. CFD has established training and safety as a departmental priority to better serve the citizens of Chanhassen. This is not only more effective and efficient for citizens but also for the firefighters of CFD.

The training and safety programs over the last 20 months have been upgraded to meet NFPA; OSHA; and ISO standards. The Department should continue to maintain this high level of professionalism, emphasis and focus on training and safety.

Risk, Demand, and Deployment Analysis

This section includes analysis of the risks and trends in demand currently experienced by the City of Chanhassen and what the city can expect in the future. Specifically, we review the major factors that drive emergency service needs: population growth, risk and demand. The assessment of risk and demand is critical to not only the determination of the number and placement of resources, but also to the mitigation measures that may be available to the fire department.

Population Growth and Development

Chanhassen has had a fairly steady rate of population growth over the last 50 years. Figure 1 shows the actual and projected population growth from 1960 to 2030. Chanhassen had a population of 22,952 in 2010 and it is expected that, over the next two decades, the population will grow another 30 percent to about 30,800.

Figure 1: Actual (solid) and Projected (dashed) Population, 1960-2030

Figure 2 shows the current population density (compiled using 2010 United States Census data). The map shows that Chanhassen, unlike some other cities (which usually have homogeneous population densities), has a range of population densities from rural to urban. The key for providing good fire service is to make sure that apparatus deployment is tailored to these differences in population density.

According to the NFPA 1720 definition of population density, Chanhassen is mostly urban (greater than 1,000 people per square mile) with some rural area in the southern portion of the city south of Lyman Boulevard / County Road 18.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 17 Current Conditions

Figure 2: Population Density, Census 2010

Incident Type Trends

Table 2 shows incident type totals over the past three years. Although most of the incident types totals have decreased over that time period, it is difficult to attribute this to an underlying trend because of the relatively small number of incidents. With the expected population growth, it is likely that the number of incidents will actually begin increasing despite the recent decreases.

Table 2: Incident Type Totals: 2010 to 2012

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 18 Current Conditions

Geospatial Mapping of Fire and EMS Demand

This section maps out Chanhassen's emergency incident density using GIS software. This allows us to pinpoint high-demand areas (or hotspots). Figure 3 maps out all incidents recorded in the fire department's National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) database. The fire density map identifies hotspots located in the following areas:

Figure 3: Incident Density per Square Mile, 2010 to 2012

Current Station Location Analysis

This section analyses fire station locations using ESRI ArcGIS 10 software. The analysis was conducted using the NFPA 1720 standard as a guideline. This standard is generally used for predominantly volunteer or paid-on-call fire departments as used in the City. According to NFPA 1720, rural areas should have a total response time (dispatch to unit arrival) of less than 14 minutes with 6 firefighters on scene and urban areas a response time of less than 9 minutes with 15 firefighters on scene.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 19 Current Conditions

When the Department is dispatched to an incident, volunteers have to first respond from their work or home to the station. Many of the volunteers live just a couple minutes away from a station. Assuming a 4-minute volunteer turnout time, urban areas have to be reached within a 5-minute travel time and rural areas within a 10-minute travel time. Figure 4 shows the theoretical travel time from both of the current stations (Station 1 and Station 2). Areas in dark green show acceptable urban coverage because they can be reached in 5 minutes. Areas in light green show acceptable rural coverage because they can be reached with 10 minutes of travel time.

The current configuration of fire stations provides good overall coverage of the city, especially for the northern portion of the city. Only the very southern portion of the city cannot be reached within the NFPA 1720 recommended 14 minutes.

Figure 4: Coverage from Current Fire Stations

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 20 Current Conditions

Chanhassen is considering building a third fire station to better serve the southern portion of the city.

Figure 5 shows the citywide theoretical travel times with a third station located at the intersection of Lake Susan Drive and Lyman Boulevard. Areas in dark green show acceptable urban coverage (assuming a 4- minute turnout time) because they can be reached in 5 minutes. Areas in light green show acceptable rural coverage (assuming a 4-minute turnout time) because they can be reached with 10 minutes of travel time. The addition of a third station would likely improve southern coverage and may allow Chanhassen Fire Department to meet or exceed NFPA 1720 in all parts of the city.

Figure 5: Coverage from Current and Proposed Fire Stations

The location of volunteers is shown in Figure 6 and is also an important consideration in reviewing station locations. The clock is ticking while volunteers respond to the station and, ideally, the stations are located very close to the homes and workplaces of the volunteers. We have assumed a volunteer turnout time of four minutes when looking at appropriate travel times from the stations. It appears that this assumption should hold true for Stations #1 and #2, both of which have many volunteers in close

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 21 Current Conditions

proximity. The location of the proposed Station #3 is a bit more problematic with volunteers living slightly farther away. Volunteer turnout times here may slightly prolong response times from this station.

Figure 6: Location of Volunteers

In reviewing station locations, one additional consideration was made. Would it be possible to meet the NFPA 1720 response time standard with a single, staffed station located centrally within Chanhassen? Where a single unstaffed station clearly would not work because of the time required to assemble a crew, a staffed station would allow the crew to reduce turnout time to 2 minutes (from 4 minutes) and increase travel time to both rural and urban areas by 2 minutes. Assuming a 2-minute turnout time for a staffed headquarters crew, urban areas should be reached within a 7-minute travel time and rural areas within a 12-minute travel time.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 22 Current Conditions

Figure 7 shows the theoretical travel time from a possible staffed headquarters. Areas in dark green show acceptable urban coverage (assuming a 2-minute turnout time as per NFPA guidelines) because they can theoretically be reached in 7 minutes. Areas in light green show acceptable rural coverage (assuming a 2- minute turnout time) because they can be reached with 12 minutes travel time.

Figure 7: Coverage from Possible Single-Location Staffed Headquarters

It appears that the entire city could nearly be covered with a staffed crew from a single station near the intersection of Powers Boulevard and Highway 5. The one area that would not be acceptably covered is the very northwest portion of the city near Station 2. Even if the fire department could staff a 24-hour crew, volunteers would still be needed for concurrent calls and multi-unit responses. Incidents in the northwest corner of the city may need to have volunteers respond from Station 2 (as it is done now) or the use of automatic aid from Excelsior or Victoria, in addition to having the staffed crew respond. Although the viability, logistics and details of a single staffed crew would need further evaluation, it appears that a single station could meet the NFPA 1720 coverage requirement.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 23 Current Conditions

Chanhassen Response Times

Response time is the most common performance measurement used by the fire service because it is understood by citizens, easy to compute, and useful in the evaluation of end results. Rapid response is also an aspect of service quality that citizens care about. There have been a few attempts to measure the incremental value of a minute faster response time for fires and EMS calls, but there is no definitive study of the incremental benefit. Faster is better, but it is unclear how much better in terms of dollars or lives saved. In place of true measures of outcome, response time is often used as a substitute.

How Response Time is Analyzed? In this response-time analysis, we show average times, 80th -percentile times (meaning that a time standard was met 80% of the time), and 90th- percentile times. Although averages are commonly used in other fields to summarize results, average response times are used less frequently by the emergency- service industry because small numbers of very short or long response times and or data errors can distort the results. We show the average response times mostly because jurisdictions often want to know what their average times are, but fire departments should never gauge performance strictly on average response times.

The public is interested in how fast a system responds to most calls, which is better reflected in percentile/threshold times (how often the system responds within the established standard) than average times.

In this analysis we gauge Chanhassen Fire Department's response times against NFPA 17201. For “urban” areas, the standard specifies the fire department shall meet a response time objective of 15 firefighters on scene in 9 minutes 90% of the time. For "suburban" and "rural" areas the standard specifies 10 FF’s in 10 minutes and 6 FF’s in14 minutes 80% of the time. The full set of NFPA 1720 performance objectives are shown in Table 3.

Table 3: NFPA 1720 Staffing and Response Time Objectives

a Demand Zone Demographics Minimum Response Meets b c Staff to Respond Time (minutes) Objective (%)

Urban area >1000 15 9 90 people / mi2 Suburban area 500−1000 10 10 80 people / mi2 Rural area <500 6 14 80 people / mi2 Remote area Travel distance 4 Directly dependent on 90 ≥ 8 mi travel distance Special risks Determined by Determined by AHJ Determined by AHJ 90 AHJ based on risk a A jurisdiction can have more than one demand zone. b Minimum staffing includes members responding from the AHJs department and automatic aid.

c Response time begins upon completion of the dispatch notification and ends at the time interval shown in

the table.

1 Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations and Special Operations to the Public by Volunteer Fire Departments, 2010 Edition

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 24 Current Conditions

Response Time Analysis As specified in NFPA 1720, the fire department reflex time (FD reflex time) begins upon completion of the dispatch notification and ends when units arrive at the emergency. The FD reflex time segment is comprised of turnout time (time need for firefighters to respond to the station and get in the fire apparatus) and apparatus travel time (time needed for fire apparatus to travel to the emergency).

Table 4 shows FD reflex times and number of incidents by time of day. It appears that FD reflex times are faster during daytime hours, which is also the time that most incidents occur. The longer nighttime responses are likely the result of longer turnout times to the station by volunteers. Table 4 shows the FD reflex time for the first unit to arrive at an emergency by population density. The first unit is defined as the initial arriving vehicle, often the Fire Chief or an officer. Due to limitations with available data the results do not reflect the time it took to have additional response units arrive on scene. Obtaining data on the arrival of all assigned units is important to fully understand the Department’s overall service response times. The City should work with CCSO to determine how to obtain this information.

For RURAL areas, NFPA 1720 specifies a fire department reflex time of 14 minutes with 80% compliance. Chanhassen beats the rural response time specification by almost 5 minutes with an 80th percentile time of 9:09 with the first responding unit but data limitations did not provide the full complement response times. There were 174 RURAL responses from 2010 to 2012 or 11.4% of all calls.

For SUBURBAN areas, NFPA 1720 specifies a fire department reflex time of 10 minutes with 80% compliance. Chanhassen also performs well here with a reflex time of 8:49 at the 80th percentile with the first responding unit but data limitations did not provide the full complement response times. There were 238 SUBURBAN responses from 2010 to 2012 or 15.5% of all calls.

For URBAN areas, NFPA 1720 specifies a fire department reflex time of 9 minutes with 90% compliance. This is an area of concern for the City. At the 90th percentile, urban areas have a reflex time of 10:36 for the first unit. At the lower 80th percentile threshold, the response time for the first due unit just meets the specification with a time of 8:59. To meet NFPA 1720, Chanhassen will need to improve their urban response times. There were 1,120 URBAN responses from 2010 to 2012 or 73.1% of all calls.

Overall the Department is meeting the NFPA 1720 standard for reflex time with the first due unit at the 80th percentile, but data limitations did not provide full complement response times. Additionally, the NFPA 1720 standard calls for URBAN response at the 90th percentile. The Department needs to improve the URBAN response time at the 90th percentile by about 1½ minutes. To attain first due unit response in compliance with NFPA standards the Department should initially focus on the hours from 11pm to 7am where first due times range from 10 minutes to 13 minutes. There also appear to be total response complement issues 24/7 but data cannot accurately capture this information at this time.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 25 Current Conditions

Figure 8: FD Reflex Time (First Arriving Unit) by Hour of the Day, 2010-2012

Table 4: FD Reflex Time (First Arriving Unit) by Incident Type, 2010-2012

Response Conclusions

• The first unit is currently responding to all calls within 9 minutes 80% of the time. To attain a 9 minute response at the 90th percentile with the first due unit, as set out for URBAN population density, the Department will need to enhance responses during nighttime hours (11 p.m. to 7 a.m.). This is most likely attained by a duty crew during this timeframe. The response of the full complement of personnel and equipment was not available due to data limitations, but is certainly more than the NFPA 1720 standard and should be evaluated with improved data capture to determine other times where a duty crew would be appropriate. • Addition of a third station for would improve responses into the southern part of the city, however using automatic aid from Eden Prairie and/or Chaska and Shakopee would also improve the response into the southern area of the City at no additional cost to Chanhassen. • Developing a duty crew for responses that do not currently meet NFPA standards and enhancing automatic aid from Eden Prairie, Chaska, and Shakopee should bring the Department response times under NFPA guidelines now and likely for some time to come.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 26 Survey of Fire Departments

6. Survey of Fire Departments To put a department’s performance in perspective, it can be helpful to compare the department with other organizations that share similar characteristics. In doing so, department leaders can identify benchmarks that can be used to assess their own performance.

Jurisdictional comparisons can be difficult to interpret as there are many variables. No two jurisdictions are exactly alike in terms of geographic size and features, population dynamics, governmental organization and services provided. Many jurisdictions, however, do share some similar qualities that are useful for comparison. While these comparisons are not direct indicators of departmental performance, they do provide a valuable function in assessing a department in relation to the performance of its peers. This direct comparison identifies organizational strengths and suggests areas for improvement.

All the jurisdictions chosen for comparison possess characteristics similar to Chanhassen. The data used was obtained from websites, through direct contact with the departments and from surveys, U.S. Census 2010 estimates, and other research. Averages shown in the comparison tables were calculated without Chanhassen included. The complete survey results are presented in Appendix I which will be added in the Final Report.

How does Chanhassen compare?

This comparable jurisdiction analysis included 13 jurisdictions in the metropolitan area ranging from 7,554 to 61,151 in population; all jurisdictions were paid on call (volunteer) and combination departments; and all jurisdictions provided fire/rescue services. Based on our analysis, overall the City of Chanhassen compares very well to both the Key Financial Cities and the Neighboring Cities.

Table 5: Comparable Cities

City Firefighters 2012 pop FF/K pop 2012 Budget Cost/citizen Key Financial Cities: Chaska 42 24,002 1.75 $ 728,538 $30.35 Cottage Grove 50 34,828 1.43 $ 857,175 $24.78 Elk River 50 23,101 2.16 $ 743,500 $32.36 Farmington 51 21,369 2.39 $ 800,000 $37.94 Prior Lake 44 23,010 1.91 $ 807,684 $35.43 Rosemount 41 22,139 1.85 $ 377,000 $17.12 Savage 43 27,147 1.58 $ 730,000 $27.13 Stillwater 42 18,299 2.30 $1,300,000 $71.33 Average 45 24,237 1.92 $ 792,987 $34.56 Neighboring Cities: Eden Prairie 104 61,151 1.70 $4,029,960 $65.90 Excelsior FPD 48 15,509 3.09 $1,525,938 $98.39 Minnetonka 85 50.046 1.70 $2,188,800 $43.74 Shakopee 48 37,652 1.27 $1,816,277 $48.34 Victoria 27 7,554 3.57 $ 329,129 $43.57 Average 62 34,382 2.27 $ 1,978,021 $59.99 Chanhassen 48 23,484 2.13 $ 762,600 $33.23

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 27 Survey of Fire Departments

Several attempts were make to obtain information from two other Key Financial Cities, Andover and Centennial. No responses were provided.

Chanhassen with a population of 23,484 was just below the KFC comparable average populations. 48 personnel represent a tie for the 5th largest department and the 6th highest number of firefighters per thousand citizens served at 2.13 f/f per thousand population. The Department’s budget was 6th lowest among the 13 jurisdictions at $762,600 (2012 budget) and had the 6th lowest cost per citizen served at $33.23. This cost per citizen is below the National average of $104 and Minnesota’s average of $68.61 per citizen served.

Figure 9: 2012 and 2013 Budget

2012 Budget of $762,600

Contractual Services, $202,000

Personal Services, $515,000

Materials & Supplies, $45,600

2013 Budget of $757,300

Contractual Services, $187,800

Personal Services,

$518,900

Materials & Supplies, $50,600

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 28 Survey of Fire Departments

The Department’s budget was reduced from 2012 to 2013. As noted earlier this was a result of a decrease in the pension contribution. In all likelihood the level of funding for the Department will remain consistent unless a change in delivery system is introduced and even then the level of change is a function of a deliberate policy action.

The Department is among eight jurisdictions that have a response time requirement. The Department requires personnel to be able to respond to their respective station within 8 minutes. Comparable cities require response times ranging from 4 to 15 minutes, with an average of 10 minutes.

The Department has a part-time Fire Chief as does three of the comparable jurisdictions (Farmington, Rosemont, Victoria) while ten jurisdictions have a career Fire Chief (Chaska, Cottage Grove, Eden Prairie, Elk River, Excelsior, Minnetonka, Prior Lake, Savage, Stillwater).

The opinion of the study authors is that the Fire Chief should be appointed by City Administration and not be elected by the members of the Department. Historical practices reflected a membership driven leadership choice, but by today’s standards, present policies and professional expectations the Fire Chief should be appointed by the City Manager just like other department heads.

Figure 10: Full-time vs. Part-time Fire Chief Comparison

FT vs. PT Fire Chief

12

Full-time, 10 10

8

6

4 Part-time, 3

2

0

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 29 Survey of Fire Departments

1. Comparable Cities Apparatus The Department has 14 pieces of apparatus, while comparable cities ranged from 9 to 27 units in their inventory.

Figure 11: Number of Vehicles Comparison

Number of Vehicles 27 25

15 16 16 16 14 13 11 11 12 12 10 9

A listing of the comparable departments units by type is set out below.

Table 6: Comparable Department Units by Type

City TOTAL Engines Ladders Command Other Key Financial Cities Chaska 12 3 1 3 5 Cottage Grove 15 4 1 4 6 Elk River 11 3 1 0 7 Farmington 11 2 0 2 7 Prior Lake 16 3 1 3 9 Rosemont 12 2 1 2 7 Savage 18 3 1 4 10 Stillwater 13 3 1 2 7 Average 13 3 1 2 7 Neighboring Cities Eden Prairie 27 6 2 5 14 Excelsior FPD 12 3 1 3 5 Minnetonka 25 9 5 5 6 Shakopee 16 4 2 4 6 Victoria 9 3 0 1 5 Average 18 5 2 4 7 Chanhassen 14 3 1 4 6

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 30 Survey of Fire Departments

Vehicles and other type of equipment in the other category include such things as rescue squads, boats, four-wheel drive vehicles, etc. The Department is essentially spot on average with respect to this data set.

2. Comparable Cities Fire Stations The Chanhassen Fire Department has two fire stations. Comparable cities had from 1 to 5 fire stations. Again, in this data set the CFD is at or slightly below the average.

Table 7: Comparable Cities Fire Stations

City TOTAL

Key Financial Cities

Chaska 1

Cottage Grove 4

Elk River 2 Farmington 2 Prior Lake 2 Rosemont 2 Savage 2 Stillwater 1 Average 2 Neighboring Cities Eden Prairie 4 Excelsior FPD 2

Minnetonka 5

Shakopee 2

Victoria 1

Average 3 Chanhassen 2

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 31 Survey of Fire Departments

3. Comparable Cities Calls for Service 2011

Figure 12: 2011 Fire Calls Comparison

2011 Fire Calls

1496

1282

690 651 600 600 556 454 469 443 356 275 187

Calls for service are an excellent indicator of the relative risks within a jurisdiction per thousand population. Fire call data is available for 2011 and population data is available for 2012.

Table 8: 2011 Fire Call Comparisons

City 2011 Calls 2012 Population Calls/1000 Pop. Ranking Key Financial Cities* Chaska 454 24,002 18.92 10 Elk River 469 23,101 20.30 8 Farmington 600 21,369 28.08 4 Prior Lake 443 23,010 19.25 9 Rosemont 690 22,139 31.17 2 Savage 356 27,147 13.11 13 Stillwater 275 18,299 15.02 12 AVERAGE 470 22,723 20.83 Neighboring Cities Eden Prairie 1,282 61,151 20.96 7 Excelsior FPD 651 15,509 41.98 1 Minnetonka 1,496 50,046 29.89 3 Shakopee 600 37,652 15.94 11 Victoria 187 7,554 25.46 5 AVERAGE 843 34,382 26.85 Chanhassen 556 23,484 24.22 6 * Cottage Grove did not provide fire call information.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 32 Compensation and Staffing

7. Compensation and Staffing The Department has 48 paid on call personnel to deliver emergency services in Chanhassen and respond to requests for assistance from neighbors. This staffing level is slightly above the KFC but below the neighboring cities in the comparison of similar departments.

Figure 13: Total Authorized Number of Personnel in Department Comparison

Total number of personnel in department 85 80

48 50 50 51 48 48 42 44 41 43 42

27

The Department spent a total of 17,232 hours in emergency response, training, meetings and duty crew activities which were compensated by the City. These 17,232 hours were compensated at a total of $186,211 in 2012 based upon submitted data. The hourly rate for the department as stated by City administration is $10.00. By comparison the average hourly rate in the 14 comparable jurisdictions was $11.00, with the highest being $13.76 and the lowest being $8.24.

In 2012 fire personnel accrued a total of 17,232 hours which resulted in an average of 337.88 hours per firefighter. This correlates to an average salary of $3,651 per firefighter in 2012.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 33 Compensation and Staffing

Figure 14: Firefighter Salary Range Comparison

Firefighter Salary Range

$13.76 $13.32 $12.70 $12.59 $12.00 $11.50 $10.50 $10.00 $10.31 $10.00 $10.25 $10.20

$8.50 $8.24

Below is information on the officer compensation; as you can see entities vary in how they approach this compensation.

Volunteer Recruitment and Retention

The Department currently has a full slate of volunteers and a waiting list of candidates; however this envious situation could change at any time for many reasons. This recruitment and retention section is added to the report for future reference should such need arise.

Recruitment – Recruiting citizens to become volunteer fire/rescue responders can be a daunting task if not approached in a systematic manner. This systematic approach begins with identifying the most likely demographic groups where potential volunteers may be included. Groups that are becoming more prominent in cities include: stay at home moms; college students; and empty nesters. These three groups of potential candidates are generally found in most suburban communities. Motivating citizens from these three groups to join CFD is a challenge which will involve planning by department members, City leadership, and volunteer recruiters, but the future viability of a volunteer force for CFD is at stake here and should be the focus of future recruitment efforts. This will mean looking for future members in citizen groups either under-represented or not represented in the current department roster.

As part of the Department survey the members were asked what ideas they have for recruitment of future volunteers to serve in the Department. The majority of the responses centered on communication, holding events, promotion, marketing, advertisement and “getting the word out.” One staff member noted the Department should use the “welcome package” concept and include information on the Fire Department in that new homeowner packet. Finally, under the theme of making it personal, one member noted, “I think it would resonate with candidates if we could share personal stories about how the department has impacted us, stories on the people we save, how we help the community, and the brother/sisterhood that is being a fire fighter.”

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 34 Compensation and Staffing

A very successful volunteer recruitment program in Virginia is recruiting over 300 new members annually. Their program begins using a page on the jurisdiction website, a Facebook account, and a toll free phone number. All contacts are immediately contacted by a volunteer recruiter from the fire/rescue department (within 24 hours). An appointment is set up and each candidate gets a briefing on the potential job, a scheduled ride along is set up and an application is completed. The key is to keep candidate interest high, and identify how best to use the talents of new member so they stay motivated and involved. CFD can certainly use this coordinated system to increase the volunteer cadre.

Retention – While people join volunteer fire-rescue departments for many reasons, retention issues boil down to two distinct reasons: problems that arise in one’s life and factors relating to the individual fire department or the fire service itself. To retain new and current members, volunteer departments must display four essential characteristics that address these two root problems with volunteer retention: • The program must meet the individual’s needs. • The program must provide its membership with reward and recognition. • The program must provide adequate supervision and leadership. • The program must challenge its members.

Any recruitment or retention programs that are to be considered must take into account the four aforementioned characteristics that must be present in a quality fire-rescue program.

There are numerous professional organizations that have developed model programs that can be used in this recruitment and retention effort. There is no reason to “reinvent the wheel” if tried and proven programs exist to assist volunteer fire-rescue organizations with these matters. The National Volunteer Fire Council at www.nvfc.org and the Fireman’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY) at www.fasny.com (close neighbors) both have quality programs and provide assistance that can help this program get started.

Assistance can also be obtained through the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) and the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) at www.fema.gov and www.usfa.fema.gov. Both of these organizations have published numerous free reports on Recruitment and Retention among the Volunteer Fire Service. One such resource publication, Recruitment and Retention in the Volunteer Fire Service: Problems and Solutions Final Report December 1998 outlines numerous programs and resources that have been tried and have proven successful throughout the nation. There is also a similar report titled: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Recruitment and Retention Manual written in 1995 for FEMA and the USFA that deals with these specific problems in the EMS community. Although now dated, there is still valuable information in the material.

Volunteer Incentives and Recognition – Incentive and recognition programs are very important for fire and rescue volunteers. Given the enormous time demands, training demands, and personal risks, it is easy for volunteers to burn out and quit after only a few years of service. Incentives and recognition programs are essential components to maintaining a strong cadre of experienced volunteers and to prevent a revolving door situation. For the equivalent loaded salary cost of one career firefighters, a great deal of recognition, incentive, and recruiting programs for volunteers can be implemented.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 35 Compensation and Staffing

Many local governments across the nation have strengthened their incentive programs for volunteer firefighters. The cost of incentives is small and economically justifiable if they help recruit and retain volunteers and forestall hiring more career employees. Volunteers in the fire and rescue service today are the first line defenders for any type of emergency or disaster.

Station Live-in Programs – One of the strongest incentive programs for volunteers, particularly younger volunteers, is the station live-in program. Individual volunteer departments can establish minimum standards for members to live at the station. Usually, volunteers must sign up for two to four nights per week to qualify. Live-in programs are an excellent incentive as well as a recruitment and retention tool. They not only promote participation, but they guarantee that volunteers will be at the station and ready to answer emergency calls without having to respond from home to the station. The major drawback to the live-in programs is that they are only an incentive for single volunteers since there is generally no housing available for married volunteers. Also, the sleeping areas are not very suitable for permanent residency (e.g., in most cases they are open bunkrooms instead of individual dorm rooms).

Recognition – Volunteers generally want to be appreciated and receive some form of recognition for their service to the community. Some are willing to work quietly for years and obtain satisfaction just from doing the job, helping people in need, and the camaraderie in the department. However, information obtained from surveys taken by former volunteers (as well as self-perception of the volunteers) from across the country indicates that a little recognition goes a long way. Although most volunteers never mention the desire for recognition, it is almost always well received when given and usually deleterious when withheld.

Tuition Assistance – Volunteers could be offered tuition assistance after a certain period of service, similar to tuition assistance offered to municipal employees in some jurisdictions. Some national EMS organizations make scholarships available to enhance local efforts.

Requirements of a Recruitment and Retention Program – No matter which program is selected, it is imperative that this recruitment, retention and educational effort be a well thought out, on-going, combined effort with the support and backing of all involved parties. This is not a localized or short-term concern but a long-term local and national issue that can’t be solved in a vacuum or without great deal of work. It will take the total commitment, effort and dedication of a wide range of professional, political and civic leaders to make this program a reality. Outside of the box thinking and creative program development is vital to maintaining a healthy volunteer fire-rescue program for the village.

The result of such a program failing is the need to provide this service through a paid or a subscription delivery system. Both of these alternatives will be much more costly for taxpayers than the time and efforts that will be involved in helping maintain a quality well-staffed volunteer fire-rescue system that is currently in place. It is estimated that for a municipality to transition to just one 4-person paid Fire Department, with 24-hour coverage, it would cost approximately $1.5 million dollars a year. This increase would naturally increase the tax levy and have to be sustained for the foreseeable future. Chanhassen is typical of many small municipalities in the way they provide fire-rescue using a volunteer (paid on call) response system. Volunteers are becoming scarcer for all organizations as society continues to evolve. It is incumbent on the City of Chanhassen, to take the lead, with their fire-rescue responders to plan out an appropriate strategy as to how to continue to make this fire-rescue system a viable response system. Coordination and cooperation amongst all involved parties is the only way this system can be stabilized.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 36 Equipment and Capital Needs

8. Equipment and Capital Needs The Fire Department apparatus are in good to excellent condition. They are well cared for and well maintained. The City staff is recognized for having a very good maintenance operation. A listing of apparatus and equipment was identified earlier in the document.

The Department lists its apparatus replacement program as: • 10 years for command vehicles • 25 years for engines • 30 years for ladder • 25 years for other apparatus

This replacement program is slightly below the average for comparable jurisdictions as set out in the assessment of the neighboring departments in this report. But more importantly using vehicle age only to determine replacement may present problems with units which are high maintenance and should be pulled out of the fleet sooner as well as units which though older are performing well and have minimal maintenance issues.

NFPA and APWA have developed standards to use for vehicle replacement programs which have a more holistic approach rather than just vehicle age. Capital apparatus issues could be done in an annual funding process using APWA and NFPA guidelines to develop the projected replacement years for each unit. The NFPA guidelines for fire vehicle replacement are:

“The normal life expectancy for first-line fire apparatus will vary from county to county, and city to city, depending upon the amount of use the equipment receives, and the adequacy of the maintenance program. In general, a 15-20-year life expectancy is considered normal for first-line pumping engines. First-line ladder trucks should have a normal life expectancy of at least 20 years. In fire departments where ladder trucks make substantially fewer responses to alarms than engines, a planned first-line service of 25 years may be warranted for ladder trucks. Some smaller fire departments that have infrequent alarms operate pumping engines up to 20 years with reasonable efficiency, although obsolescence will make older apparatus less desirable, even if it is mechanically functional. The older apparatus may be maintained as part of the reserve fleet, as long as it is in good condition, but in almost no case should the fire department rely on any apparatus more than 25 years old.”

These NFPA guidelines have proven to be reasonable in practice and tend to be followed by most fire departments that have neither extremely high nor extremely low numbers of runs or vehicle mileage. They are a good benchmark for “best practices.”

The guidelines provide some latitude in determining useable life for a fire service vehicle. Age and accumulated mileage are the most important variables to consider in vehicle replacement. The numbers of calls to which a vehicle responds and the frequency and quality of preventive and other maintenance received can also affect vehicle lifespan.

As a rule of thumb, an annual replacement review process should be undertaken for any piece of front- line fire apparatus more than ten years old to determine whether replacement is warranted. More heavily used apparatus may need to be replaced sooner than less heavily used pieces. Apparatus can be taken out of front-line service and placed in a reserve status for a few additional years of life, as long as such vehicles can still be safely used for their designated purpose and still meet ISO and NFPA performance standards. Modern safety features also are important to consider. Older vehicles may lack important new

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 37 Equipment and Capital Needs

features (e.g., enclosed cabs, and older aerial ladder may not have interlocking safety devices), which may be significant reason not to wait until the end of a replacement cycle to order a new vehicle, even if the current vehicle is in good condition.

APWA Replacement Scoring System – Some fire departments use a scoring system developed by the American Public Works Association Fleet Service Committee for assessing fire apparatus for replacement, or a scoring system similar to it. The system entails considering a combination of variables that include age, mileage, maintenance costs, and operating conditions. A replacement score is calculated for each vehicle based on the sum of its scores for age, usage, and condition. The data for these calculations are usually obtained from computerized vehicle maintenance records and work orders.

The age of the vehicle is scored by assigning one point for each month from the date on which it was purchased. The usage score assigns one point for each 1,000 miles traveled or 3.5 points for each 100 hours of use, whichever is higher. The condition of the vehicle is scored on a scale of one to five (with one being the best and five the worst) for each of five aspects- body, interior, functionality, maintenance/repair cost, and mission. These values are summed with the points assigned for age and mileage to obtain the overall vehicle score. If the overall score exceeds the point limit established for the respective vehicle category, the vehicle is recommended for replacement.

The critical component in any service-life-assessment system is the absolute requirement that a vehicle must be able to safely and reliably perform in a manner consistent with the vehicle’s design purpose, regardless of mileage or hours of use. Elected officials and organizational leaders must remember that fire service vehicles are subject to much more demanding operational conditions than other vehicles in a jurisdiction’s fleet. Rapid acceleration and deceleration, hard turns, quick stops, and other extreme demands are placed on fire apparatus on a regular basis. Additionally, fire apparatus are almost always fully-loaded with equipment. The water carried on a pumper can easily weigh several tons (over 12 tons in the case of a pumper-tanker), and aerial ladders may weigh more than 40 tons. Public works type trucks are not always at their maximum load, which reduces wear and tear on suspension, brake, and driveline systems.

Other equipment such as turnouts, SCBA’s, fire hose, defibrillators, nozzles have service life recommendations set out by NFPA which have been well researched and should be considered the applicable best practices to use for each.

Chanhassen Fire Department Apparatus Evaluation

For this evaluation of CFD apparatus we used the scoring system developed by the American Public Works Association Fleet Service Committee for assessing fire apparatus for replacement. The system entails considering a combination of variables that include age, mileage, maintenance costs, and operating conditions and a replacement score is calculated for each vehicle based on the sum of its scores for age, usage, and condition.

The age of the vehicle is scored by assigning one point for each month from the date on which it was purchased. The usage score assigns one point for each 1,000 miles traveled or 3.5 points for each 100 hours of use, whichever is higher. The condition of the vehicle is scored on a scale of one to five (with one being the best and five the worst) for each of five aspects- body, interior, functionality, maintenance/repair cost, and mission. These values are summed with the points assigned for age and mileage to obtain the overall vehicle score. If the overall score exceeds the point limit established for the respective vehicle category, the vehicle is recommended for replacement.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 38 Equipment and Capital Needs

Table 9: Maximum Recommended Vehicle Points before Replacement (APWA System)

Vehicle Category Maximum Vehicle Points Sedans, station wagons, and jeeps 162 Light-duty trucks 196 Medium- to heavy-duty trucks (including ambulances) 220 Fire apparatus 225

Table 10: Chanhassen Apparatus Scores

E-11 E-12 E-21 L-11 R-11 R-12 R-21 G-11 When Built 70 204 202 318 165 270 48 82 Current Mileage 27 11 27 14 23 12 4 2 Body Condition 1.3 1.3 2.3 2.0 3.0 2.7 1.3 1.3 Interior Condition 1.7 2.3 3.0 3.0 2.7 2.0 1.3 1.3 Functionality 2.0 2.0 2.5 2.0 3.0 3.5 1.5 1.5 Maintenance & Repair 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.5 1.5 3.0 1.5 1.5 Mission 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 4.0 1.0 3.0 Total Score 105.5 224.1 240.3 343.5 200.2 297.2 58.6 92.6

When built – unit gets 1 point for each month from date of manufacture Current Mileage – unit gets 1 point for each thousand mile Body Condition – score 1 through 5: 1(excellent), 2 (good), 3 (fair), 4 (poor), 5 (replace) Interior Condition – score 1 through 5: 1(excellent), 2 (good), 3 (fair), 4 (poor), 5 (replace) Functionality – score 1 through 5: 1(excellent), 2 (good), 3 (fair), 4 (poor), 5 (replace) Maintenance & Repair – score 1 through 5: 1(excellent), 2 (good), 3 (fair), 4 (poor), 5 (replace) Mission – score 1 through 5: 1(excellent), 2 (good), 3 (fair), 4 (poor), 5 (replace) Total Score – add entire column

Results of assessment: The replacement plan for apparatus is a decision made by city elected officials with input from city administration and Department leadership. The plan must look at apparatus condition based upon quantified criteria but also based upon municipal financial resources. This process is also part of the City CIP which includes needs city wide. This evaluation provides this quantified vehicle information. The timing of replacement is now a task for municipal staff and leaders. Presently the City does not follow the standards, but considers these are guides and good suggestions.

Based upon the APWA scoring system, Ladder 11 with 343.5 points should be considered for replacement as well as Rescue 12 with 297.2 points. Engines 12 and 21 very near the point threshold and should likely be in the capital plan for replacement in the next three to five years. Engine 11, Grass 11, and Rescue 21 are at less than half of their respective service lives and will like not be due for replacement in the next 10 years.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 39 Recommendations

9. Recommendations 1. An overall impression of the Department is good. The Chanhassen Fire Department provides very good fire service. Based on our analysis and many years of experience, both professionally and in consulting, it is our view that the Department functions at a strong level. Factors to support this include: visual impressions, interactions with personnel, and comparisons to industry standards and benchmarks. The Department delivers quality service at a cost per citizen below surveyed comparable jurisdictions, below state averages for cost per citizen served, and well below national average cost per citizen served. The Department provides the full spectrum of fire suppression, fire safety, and associated public safety programs. The Department has a strong training program in place. Survey indicated some communications issues related to internal communications. While this is to be expected in an organization of 50 personnel, it is important to have a consistent input and feedback mechanisms in place. RECOMMENDATION: Develop an internal communication strategy. Meet with the officers and staff to explore ideas and opportunities. A communication piece (e.g. newsletter or memo) from the Chief outlining current events in the Department would go a long way to bridging this gap. Additionally all officers meeting, monthly general meeting, and special meetings should have minutes taken and posted for personnel to review. It is also advisable that the Chief develop a protocol or method to ensure that all personnel are receiving information in a timely manner. Impact of Policy Changes The Department recently approved a change of administrative procedures which now aligns their policies with other city departments most notably personnel guidelines such as hiring, firing, and other general human resource issues. It is always prudent to monitor the change in processes especially early in the transition. RECOMMENDATION: City Administration and the Chief or his designee should meet at least monthly to discuss this change and keep the Department on track as the transition to a traditional city department is realized. 2. Does the Department need an administrative assistant? The Department currently has a quarter time office assistant who also serves an account clerk in the Finance Department with a salary range of $18 to $22 per hour for 10 hours weekly. Interviews indicated that currently many clerical functions of the Department are now being handled by the administrative chief and program staff. These include certification tracking, incident records, training records, and exposure tracking. One question that needs to be answered before any staff are added is how efficient and effective are these tasks being done currently. Our study process did not get into that level of detail – that is a discussion that should take place between the Chief and the staff. There is value to having additional support staff skills and the workload in all likelihood will not decrease. The presumption is that with a full-time administrative assistant these critical records (training, education, certifications, reports, etc.) would be monitored and concise records maintained. This would serve two purposes; first freeing up experienced personnel to deal with operational programs, and second, maintaining a level of record tracking sufficient to satisfy legal requirements of regulatory agencies.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 40 Recommendations

What is the benchmark to know when this may be needed? Several considerations are used to evaluate these needs: 1) How does the clerical duties in the Fire Department compare to how other departments are doing clerical duties? 2) Are there important duties not getting done that should be (at all levels)? 3) Are mistakes or errors being made due to lack of skills or poor use of higher skills? 4) What is the availability of budgeted resources; and 5) Are there other ways to address day to day clerical needs without adding permanent staffing? RECOMMENDATION: City Administration and the Fire Chief should evaluate the need for this position. It may be advisable to raise the support level from ¼ to ½ time initially – starting with a half time clerical person and adjusting the hours to fit needs. During our discussions the idea was introduced to explore the possibility of sharing other city staff to determine if that can produce intended results. This should be explored before any new permanent staff is added. 3. Does the Department need a volunteer duty crew or a career crew? If so what are the criteria? A duty crew, volunteer or career is a complement of firefighters who are on duty at the fire station that will ensure that adequate personnel are at the station to get the first unit out within 2 minutes of notification of a call. Currently response is taking about 6 minutes at the 50th percentile; 9 minutes at the 80th percentile; and 10.5 minutes at the 90th percentile to get the first apparatus to the scene. A duty crew in addition to responding to fire calls could also handle EMS, carbon monoxide, service calls and most non-structure fire calls without paging out 48 personnel. This outcome can save both time and money. The key is to establish how much can be saved by a duty crew response versus a full all-call response and from this how many personnel can be assigned to a daily duty crew. The Department does not need to move to a full time personnel model. The number of calls (below 600) and response times do not justify this business model now or in the foreseeable future. Career staffing is the most costly way to get adequate staffing to calls within benchmarked time standards. This option could be considered in the future if after duty crew, resource sharing and automatic aid policies fail to meet industry response benchmarks. Current loaded salary and benefits for a fulltime firefighter in the metropolitan area ranges from $70,000 to $75,000 per year and 3.5 career personnel would be needed to fill 1 position 24/7. . This equates to an annual cost of $245,000 to $262,500 for one position 24/7. By comparison, a 24/7 position using Paid On Call staff would cost (8760 hours times $10 per hour) $87,600. RECOMMENDATION: The Department has a very complete Mutual Aid Box Alarm (MABAS) system for all types of emergency operation. By designating automatic dispatch for specific high risk calls you can achieve the equivalent of a third station response on first alarm by neighboring departments. Additionally, it would be advisable to establish a duty crew starting with nights from 11pm to 7am which currently have the longest response times and expanding to 24/7 duty crew of paid on call staff as needed. The current system is considered overloaded because the Department is unable to meet call time and staffing compliment requirements of NFPA 1720 guidelines. This response model will also likely require a larger cadre of paid on call personnel and thus a higher importance of recruitment and retention strategies. Based upon amount of build out and current call volumes, there is likely no need for career staffing. Like all fire departments this decision is a function of other options and the viability of retaining enough personnel to operate a paid on call department. Presently the only data that is retained is the first unit that arrives on the scene and that is typically a command vehicle. It is important for the Department to obtain additional data on the response times for all units arriving on a scene. We recommend that the City work with Carver County to determine how to accurately and efficiently obtain this additional information.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 41 Recommendations

4. What is the best number of fire stations for Chanhassen? There are two factors to consider in assessing this question. First what is current and projected coverage in Chanhassen as compared to industry benchmarks? Second what would coverage be if a duty crew is added? Also of interest is what would be the cost of building and maintaining a large single station as compared to building and maintaining a third station and eventually rebuilding the current main station and station #2. RECOMMENDATION: The current two station system along with enhanced automatic aid and a duty crew should handle emergency calls in alignment with NFPA standards. Should this system fail to meet NFPA standards in the future expanding the hours served by a duty crew of paid on call personnel will meet the standards. With a duty crew and expanded use of mutual and automatic aid the Department could also look to a single station system and still meet the time requirements of the standard. 5. Does the Department need a fulltime Fire Chief and how to balance with fulltime Fire Marshall and Deputy Fire Marshall? The survey of neighboring similar jurisdiction found eight jurisdictions had a full-time Fire Chief and three had a part-time Fire Chief. The average pay for a full-time Chief in surveyed jurisdictions is $97,717. The survey also found the cost of a full-time Fire Chief to be:

Figure 15: Current Salary of Full-time Fire Chief Comparison

Current Salary of FT Fire Chief

$118,000 $117,884 $93,124 $97,717 $100,000 $93,546 $89,357 $92,325 $92,400 $86,174 $86,000

The City currently has a Fire Marshal and Deputy Fire Marshal, as well as a quarter-time Administrative Assistant, but the Fire Chief is a part-time position. This structure is very strong for inspections and code enforcement but weak for departmental administration and supervision. By comparison 8 of 11 comparable jurisdictions currently have full-time Fire Chiefs, including all

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 42 Recommendations

jurisdictions with a population above 22,000 and Stillwater and Excelsior, two jurisdictions which are even smaller.

One option is for the City to evaluate the work load of the Fire Marshal’s Office. A question to raise is can the work of the Fire Marshal’s Office be accomplished with one staff position and the second position then be changed to that of a Fire Chief. This option does not increase your staff complement. Currently the Office handles less than 500 inspections per year. National benchmarks put the average number of inspections per day per employee at 5 inspections. One of the fundamental questions for the City is what premium do you put on certain administrative services? And, what are your highest priorities? RECOMMENDATION: Chanhassen should begin the process of hiring its first fulltime Fire Chief. If there is no resources in the 2013 budget the position could be funded in 2014. The need is clearly there for departmental supervision and administration; enhanced communication, emergency operations safety and command; a fulltime presence in the City administrative team for operations and strategic planning purposes. With less new homes and businesses starting up the need for two personnel in the Fire Marshal’s office is not as strong as it once was. The workload may be handled by one fire inspector and if, in the future this need changes, adding a part-time position or outsourcing parts of the tasks would make good business sense. 6. What is the future of a merger and/or a consolidation? And what might be the distinction between merging and sharing of services and resources? Chanhassen like many Minnesota cities is exploring the viability of merging or consolidating fire services with neighboring jurisdictions. Today, the City has effective and strong partnerships with neighboring fire departments. The move toward fewer and larger fire departments is a national issue, but has found very few successful applications to date. The chief reasons are both operational and political. However, at the same time, the move to greater service sharing and expanded partnerships remains strong and highly possible. Operationally it takes extensive planning, ongoing interaction, and a strong collaborative culture to make these relationships work. Most consolidations do not result in fewer personnel or less apparatus. There are also as many situations where more fire stations are needed as where fewer stations can be effective. Larger organizations also require more administrative positions to guide and monitor the functions of the new department. These new positions are also usually career positions with salaries and benefits versus volunteer positions in many smaller departments. Finally apparatus will see much higher demand and thus need more frequent replacement than is the case in smaller departments. RECOMMENDATION: Begin an in-depth study of the shared services concept with neighboring cities as cited in Part B of this RFP. This is a good next step for the Department. Recently fire services in Minnesota and in most other states are seeing the implementation of shared services as the most effective and efficient way to get the best value and best service for the citizens in all affected cities. This is clearly a reasonable and practical route for the City and the main component of Section B. Many states including Minnesota have state level funding to study shared services in fire services. This shared service concept includes multi-jurisdiction operations, joint capital purchases, shared training, multi jurisdiction recruitment, expanded fire prevention and safety education programs, and standardization of IT functions such as run reports and incident analysis. The Fire Department already has shared services with several neighbors which can be expanded easily and at a pace which will be comfortable to all.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 43 Recommendations

7. Paid on call wages and pension program. The Department currently pays volunteers $10.00 per hour for their services during response, training, meetings, and similar activities for the City. There are also a set of stipends for officers and certain other personnel such as fire inspector, training captain, training coordinator, coordinator and secretary. The average hourly rate of volunteers for surveyed cities (Figure 14) was $11.00 with a range of $8.24 to $13.76. The current hourly rate is lower but still competitive with comparable cities.

The paid on call structure used is one of the most effective and efficient models in use in the fire service today. The cost per citizen served of $33.23 in Chanhassen is less than the St. Paul cost per citizen served for fire protection of $217.75; national average of $104; and Minnesota average of $68.61, as cited in a recent study conducted for Stillwater, Lake Elmo and Mahtomedi.

However there may be a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) issue with the stipend program. The Fire Department is a municipal department and pay must be consistent for all hours worked. Paying an officer or specialist a stipend for the additional responsibility and authority of an office or position may need to be at an hourly rate and not an annual amount. The City should follow-up to determine if this is an issue.

Figure 16: Firefighter Salary Range – Key Financial Cities Comparison

Firefighter Salary Range

Key Financial Cities $13.76 $12.70 $12.59 $12.00 $11.50

$10.31 $10.25 $10.00 $10.00

Chaska Savage Elk River Prior Lake Stillwater Chanhassen Farmington Rosemount Cottage Grove

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 44 Recommendations

Figure 17: Firefighter Salary Range – Neighboring Cities Comparison

Firefighter Salary Range

Neighboring Cities

$13.32

$10.50 $10.00 $10.20

$8.50 $8.24

Chanhassen Eden Prairie Excelsior Minnetonka Shakopee Victoria

Pension Program The purpose of the Firefighter’s Relief Association is to provide retirement relief and other benefits to its members and dependents. The Board of Trustees of the Relief Association is charged with the fiduciary responsibilities and activities of the Association. Benefit coverage provided by Volunteer Firefighter Relief Associations is covered by Minnesota Statutes, Section 424A.02 Subdivision 2. The percentage of the accrued or earned benefit must be set forth in the articles of incorporation or the By-laws of the relief association. The statutory regulation of volunteer firefighter relief associations largely consists of specifying certain minimum eligibility requirements and certain benefit maximums. To be eligible for a full service pension, a member must: • Be at least 50 years of age • Have retired from the Department • Have completed at least 20 years of active service with such department before retirement • Have been a member of the Association in good standing at least 5 years prior to such retirement The pension program is $5,050 with partial vesting after five years. The average of the cities in our study is approximately $5,519. The value of the pension is based on a Maximum Benefit Worksheet that is submitted to the State Auditor’s Office. This report analyzes the make-up of the membership, years of service of each member of the department, and its assets versus liabilities. Requests for changes to the value of the pension is based on this report and generally initiated by the Relief Association.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 45 Recommendations

Between 1979 and 1989, ten years of service were required as the minimum service requirement for entitlement to a partial service pension. In 1989, the ten year service requirement was reduced to five years. Annual pension amounts and the vesting schedule is included in the Relief Association By- laws. The vesting schedule for lump sum volunteer firefighter relief associations and monthly benefit volunteer firefighter relief associations is as follows:

Table 11: Vesting Schedule

Completed Years of Service Non-forfeitable Percentage of Pension Amount 5 40 percent 6 44 percent 7 48 percent 8 52 percent 9 56 percent 10 60 percent 11 64 percent 12 68 percent 13 72 percent 14 76 percent 15 80 percent 16 84 percent 17 88 percent 18 92 percent 19 96 percent 20 and thereafter 100 percent

The By-laws of the Association may be amended at any regular or special meeting thereof by a favorable vote of two-thirds of the members present and voting, provide a quorum of 50% of voting members are present and have been provided proper notice. If the amendments to the By- laws change the amount of benefits or pensions, the amendments shall be submitted to the City Council for approval. The By-laws were last amended by the Relief Association on May of 2006. At that time the value of the full service pension was adjusted as follows: January 1, 2006 $4,350 January 1, 2007 $4,700 January 1, 2008 $5,050

The Department follows state guidelines for the minimum service requirement for entitlement to a partial service pension. Four other communities in our survey follow the same guidelines. Seven communities do not begin the vesting schedule until after ten years of service (at 60%). Three communities in our survey have had special legislation enacted to provide for vesting schedules other than that provided by statute.

In 2009, the City of Minnetonka implemented an additional pension model (defined contribution plan) that supplements its existing defined benefit plan. This plan applies to duty crews only. It is mandated that $2.00 per hour is placed in their ICMA deferred compensation plan. The money can be directed by the individual towards how it is invested. The City of Minnetonka staff is available to explain the program in more detail if there is interest in conducting more research.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 46 Recommendations

Figure 18: Benefit Level – Key Financial Cities Comparison

Benefit Level per Year of Service Key Financial Cities

$6,900 $6,500 $5,091 $5,122 $5,050 $4,575 $5,000 $3,600 $1,975

Savage Chaska* Elk River Prior Lake Stillwater Chanhassen Farmington Rosemount Cottage Grove

* Chaska benefit level is based on $1,957 per month of service with partial vesting at 10 years and 100% vesting at 20 years.

Figure 19: Benefit Level – Neighboring Cities Comparison

Benefit Level per Year of Service

Neighboring Cities $7,500 $6,720 $6,910 $6,250 $5,050

$2,000

Chanhassen Eden Prairie Excelsior Minnetonka Shakopee Victoria

RECOMMENDATION: the annual fully vested pension provided by the Relief Association is within acceptable levels. The data reflects that the benefit level per year of service is only $180 below the Key Financial Cities average ($5,230); $688 below the Neighboring Cities average ($5,738) and considering all cities only $428 below the average. This comparison does not include the City of Chaska as their formula is not comparable to the other Key Financial Cities. For the City, this data does not reflect a large variance in annual vested levels. The benefit level within the City has not been reviewed in five years and there is no policy to guide or direct the timing of the review. The City Council in its sole discretion may determine whether a review should take place and the By-laws outline the process to follow.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 47 Recommendations

8. Training The Department has a division which includes training and safety; as stated earlier in the document this is a unique approach for a small Fire Department. Though this is the first time the evaluation team has seen this combination as a single division of a fire department the concept has a very logical foundation since safety and training share many values and are interrelated in a functional way in all fire departments. Based our analysis per OSHA regulations, NFPA #1401 standards, ISO requirements, and Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) benchmarks, the department is currently meeting industry standards for training at this time. However, future anticipated training upgrades will likely require even more annual in-house and outside training. The Department currently trains each Monday evening from 6:30 pm to about 9 pm. Fire officers train on the first Monday of each month and all personnel train the remaining Monday evenings. Personnel are required to make all required training sessions and 60% of all training which accounts for about 200 hours per year of training per member. Probationary members attend 300 hours of initial training and obtain all required certifications for firefighters in Minnesota. There are 10 elements of required in house training and 15 additional outside training certifications set out in the departmental SOG’s. The cost of the current training program is about $2,000 per firefighter per year. Safety is integrated into all facets of operations and is part of departmental SOG’s. The Department has adopted the 16 Life Safety Initiatives of the “Everyone Goes Home” program as developed by the US Fire Administration. The Department is also completing all annual compliance programs to maintain safe equipment and healthy personnel as set out in OSHA, NFPA, and Minnesota State regulations. RECOMMENDATION: Based upon numerous after action analysis performed by OSHA, NFPA, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) it is well established that fire departments which train consistently will perform well on the emergency scene and departments which train less frequently or not at all will not be as effective and less efficient during emergency operations. The Department has established training and safety as a departmental priority to better serve the citizens of Chanhassen and protect its firefighters. The survey noted that training is a strong asset of the Department and one of the reasons a full roster of volunteers has been maintained. The Department should continue to keep training and safety as priority tenants. The average of 200 hours of training per firefighter – at this time – is meeting current basic mandates and industry standards. The City of Chanhassen should work with the Department to see that fire and emergency training is funded in conjunction with current and future mandates and industry standards for the safety of the firefighters and citizens. 9. Apparatus and equipment replacement plan The Department has a fleet of three engines, one aerial ladder, two light rescue trucks, one heavy rescue truck and a grass rig, as well as four command or staff vehicles. The Department has a replacement plan of 25 years for engines, 30 years for ladders, and 25 years for other units. Command vehicles are set for replacement after 10 years. The Department also has four command vehicles which are scheduled for replacement after 10 years of service. While this apparatus replacement program seems reasonable for the current activity level of the department, it is important to do a thorough annual assessment of apparatus condition annually. The APWA equipment replacement scoring system is one idea on how to complete an annual assessment of all apparatus and how to properly document apparatus conditions.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 48 Recommendations

RECOMMENDATION: Using the APWA analysis as a benchmark for consideration and as outlined on pages 44-47 of the Report, the City should initiate an apparatus replacement schedule for inclusion in the Capital Improvements Program. The equipment should be reviewed annually to keep this long term plan fine tuned.

City of Chanhassen, Minnesota. Presentation to the City Council – Fire Department Study. 49

APPENDIX I Fire Department Staff Survey

FIRE DEPARTMENT ONLINE CONFIDENTIAL STAFF SURVEY