Former Interim Chief Tasked with Overseeing Merger and Developing New Fire Station – The city is bringing back former Interim Fire Chief Scott Kenley “to work on a special Fire project,” according to a Memorandum from City Manager Steve Pinkerton to the City Council dated July 12, 2013.
Mr. Kenley, who served as interim fire chief until his time ran out and drafted the fire report that recommended sweeping changes such as boundary drop and the fire staffing change, will report directly to City Manager Steve Pinkerton, working out of an office located at the Police Department.
“Chief Landy Black will still be the Interim Public Safety Director and will have responsibility for the day-to-day operations of both Fire and Police,” the city manager told council.
Under new rules from CalPERS, retired chiefs are limited in how much interim work they can do and the city has reportedly taken steps within Mr. Kenley’s scope of work to be 100% consistent with the PERS guidelines regarding retired annuitants.
Retired annuitants are retirees who receive their CalPERS retirement benefits in addition to their income from post retirement employment. They are not entitled to vacation or sick leave.
Under Government Code 21224, employment of a retired annuitant is now designated on a fiscal year basis for a maximum of 960 hours.
The city has limited the scope of his work to several items that the city has not completed from the Fire Department Management Audit and council directives.
According to the memo, there are three main projects that Mr. Kenley will be assigned.
First, he will be assigned to assess “the feasibility of a joint management team responsible for providing executive and operational management and oversight for the delivery of fire and life safety services to the City of Davis and UC Davis.”
Second, he will work to identify the appropriate site and begin the process of site development, funding and preliminary steps for the relocation of the fire station at 5th and E Streets.
Finally, he will be charged with finalizing “the City’s Standard-of-Cover document and coordinating with UC Davis Fire the development of a joint Standard-of-Cover document.”
“UC Davis would like Mr. Kenley to oversee the project,” Mr. Pinkerton wrote to council. “Hiring Mr. Kenley back in this limited capacity will help expedite the process of determining whether it is feasible and practical for the City to enter into a contract with UC Davis to share operational management and oversight of the two fire departments.”
“By providing an answer to this question, we can either move ahead with a merger or hire a full-time Fire Chief,” he writes. “The Fire Department has been without a permanent Chief for an extended period of time and it is important for the City and UC Davis to make a decision on whether a management merger is possible.”
“Due to Scott (Kenley’s) extensive knowledge, bringing him back within a limited scope will allow us to make a decision on the merger within the next couple of months,” Mr. Pinkerton continues. “If it is determined that a joint management structure is not feasible, then we will be able to move quickly to hire a full-time Fire Chief. My goal is to have a fire service professional in place to provide stability and organizational direction within the Fire Department as quickly as possible.”
Police Chief Landy Black, in an email Monday to firefighters, said, “Over the next six months, I will remain in the role of Interim Public Safety Director and continue to have oversight of both Fire and Police.”
“In August, Assistant Chief Steve Pierce will resume his day-to-day role and responsibilities as the Interim Fire Chief,” Chief Black continued. “He and I together, with the operational consultation of the DFD Division Chiefs, will endeavor to maintain the current stability of the Davis Fire Department while we, as a City and a department, determine if a joint management structure in alignment with UC Davis Fire Department is feasible.”
According to Chief Black’s email, “The goal is to have a permanent management structure in place by January 2014.”
Mr. Pinkerton added, “Scott will also be for the creation of a Joint Standards of Cover document with UC Davis. The creation of this document is critical to the success of the boundary drop between the agencies and the assurance of the closest engine being dispatched to all calls for service in the two agencies. Finally, he will be charged with assisting the City in the first stages of the relocation of the current fire station located at 5th and E streets.”
On November 13, 2012, Interim Fire Chief Scott Kenley presented an audit of the Fire Department Operations to the Davis City Council.
The two biggest of these recommendations were dropping the boundary between Davis Fire and UC Davis, which would allow the closest unit to respond to an emergency situation regardless of whether they happened to be a Davis Fire Unit or a UC Davis Fire Unit.
The second recommendation was a reduction of the level of service from three four-person staffing units, to a Daily Minimum Staffing of eleven, which would include three firefighters on each engine and two on the rescue apparatus at Station 31.
In late January, the Davis City Council unanimously supported boundary drop, as well as a third recommendation of the report, changes to the response time.
Fire staffing took two additional meetings before council, on a narrowly-divided 3-2 vote to support the proposed staffing changes in late April. At that time, council also supported a recommendation to move the fire station from its current location to north Davis, in part because boundary drop put the UC Davis fire station within the response time to cover much of central Davis, but northern Davis was outside of the recommended response time.
At the final meeting before the summer break, council approved $2.3 million to explore the move from the current 5th and E location to another location in north Davis. At the time, the question arose as to how this process would unfold.
This memo clarifies that Scott Kenley will be charged with finding a location for this fire station and beginning the process of relocation.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
It’s encouraging to see the city manager and council engaged in improving fire department operations, rather than the “hands off” approach taken when the union’s Weist ran things (and donated big money and lots of time to supportive council members’ campaigns).