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Published Thursday, June 14, 2012 | 2:50 p.m.
Updated Thursday, June 14, 2012 | 4:38 p.m.
A proposal to pay $155,000 to consultants to study how Las Vegas firefighters do their job already is angering the firefighter union.
The City Council will consider a proposal to hire the consultants at its meeting Wednesday.
Trying to get the job, the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Safety Management, which is part of the International City/County Management Association, wrote a 24-page proposal detailing what it would examine. Its analysis would look at, among other factors, how much time firefighters spend on calls and at what times of day. It will look at how many fires they respond to, with descriptions of the fire – for instance, was it confined to one property or did it spread?
“By looking at the availability of deployed hours and comparing those to the hours necessary to conduct operations, staffing expansion and/or reductions can be determined,” the proposal says.
Other areas of examination include:
• “The efficiencies of 24-hour staffing … as compared to other alternatives.”
• “Call volume and resource allocation.”
• A “cost/benefit (analysis) and the risk of altering current emergency medical services response and transport."
• A cost/benefit analysis of of maintaining insurance ratings/accreditation.
• A look at integrating 911 EMS communications with police 911 communications.
Karen Coyne, the city’s chief public safety officer, said the study would be helpful as “the cost to provide (fire) service … continues to increase and will be unsustainable in time.
“By having a strong analysis of how we operate, we can avoid the financial hardships so common among public safety agencies around the nation right now,” she added.
To the firefighter union, council approval of the study and eventual results are a “foregone conclusion” and appear to be a strong-arm tactic by city management, which recently declared an impasse with the union over contract negotiations.
Two weeks ago, the city took a bold step by publicly airing the union’s proposals for a two-year-contract. In sum, the city said, the contract would have cost the city $12 million more over two years.
In a released statement, Dean Fletcher, president of the Las Vegas firefighter union, said the proposed study was “a transparent attempt by the city manager’s office to play hardball” with negotiations. The study is an unnecessary expense, he added, because the department has already obtained stellar rankings from two other rating services.
Calling it a “paper-shuffling study,” he also said taxpayers should “consider the source.”
“The … study isn’t about saving lives,” Fletcher added. “It’s about paying $155,000 in taxpayer dollars to an organization that has no credibility in planning for lifesaving.”
City Councilman Bob Coffin, supported by firefighters in a tight election last year, called the city’s firefighters “the hardest working people we’ve got.”
“And when you think about the heat and hauling hoses around, they really deserve their money,” he added.
Nevertheless, Coffin says he doesn't “see the harm” in doing a study to determine whether there are more efficient ways to run operations.
“I’ve never been afraid to study anything that might improve governmental operations,” he added. “There are things we can do, but I don’t know what those are until I hear some options.”
As for the contention that the study’s outcome is a foregone conclusion, Coffin said, “We’re grownups here, and we’ll figure out if something is biased.
“There might be savings here that have nothing to do with cutting someone’s pay,” he added. “I understand firefighters and how it sometimes seems like the world is against them. And that’s just not true.”
While the city is at an impasse with the firefighter union, the county and its firefighter union quickly wrapped up its contract earlier this year. That doesn’t mean, however, the county isn’t looking for savings, too.
County Commissioner Steve Sisolak was at the forefront of a push to look at the abuse of the sick-leave system by firefighters allegedly using sick days as vacation time.
And when the city gets its firefighter report, he added, “I want a copy.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” he said, adding that he will be especially interested in the analysis of the 24-hour work shift. Potential savings from a shorter shift would come, he added, when people call in sick or can’t work for whatever reason. Instead of substitutes being paid for 24 hours in overtime and possibly call-back pay, they would likely only have to fill in for 10 hours.
“Going to a 10-hour shift or whatever it is, the argument is they won’t be sleeping during a shift, they’ll be working. Sleep on your own time. Grocery shop on your own time,” he said. “We have a lot of county people who work four 10-hour days and they don’t sleep and grocery shop during work. They work. We’d have the same with fire.”
The union is upset??? Boo Frickin' Hoo
The union doesn't want any oversight or transparency as its manipulations will be uncovered and changes will come about.
The union doesn't want the taxpayers to know how they are getting fleeced.
My girlfriend in Henderson had a vehicle malfunction in front of a fire station here in Henderson. While waiting for AA help, they allowed her to wait inside the station. What she found was amazing. A giant barbecue being prepared while the "fighters" snoozed on recliners in air conditioned luxury. Playing on computers, fiddling with their cell phones. God, what happens if they pass the mandatory "sprinklers in residential homes"?
The "fighters" may expire from inactivity. We need to address their 100 Grand luxury life before they all take their excessive pensions, and retire to Palm Springs or Salt Lake City. Please.
I believe we have some very educated people right here in Las Vegas with knowledge of the fire department that could do this audit. Makes no sense to hire outsiders.
Mr. Realist. The county had the overtime and sick leave problem, not the city. The couple of people that did get fired in the county sued and are now back to work with a BIG BONUS from the county.
The city firefighters run a lot of calls. Maybe not fire calls but medical and others. They are not sitting on their butts for their 24 hour shift.
This is a great expenditure of city funds. It will save a fortune.
Just getting the ambulances out of the Fire Department would save millions. Private contractors handle this across the country.
You don't need trained fire fighters (with public employee benefits and pensions) to drive an ambulance.
You need an EMT and a Paramedic. Private contractors can do this job well.
The reason the unions don't want the study is because the data has already been gathered and presented multiple times over. It has already been established that the 24 hour shifts save the city money. The city manager simply wants to create firefighter hysteria. Looks like it is working.
Information only: The Fire Department utilizes Paramedics. And yes, you do want The Fire Department handling medical emergencies. We don't see patient care as profit. We see patient care as taking care of patients. At some point in the future unfortunately everyone will see the difference. First hand or because of a family member. You will appreciate our rapid responce, skills and abilities.
For the public that know the company called AMR the people that work the streets call them Another Money Run. That is all they are about. Not the people working for them but the company that pressures each run to get the people to ride in the MONEY WAGON. That is around 700.00 per ride. Why don't we have a study to see if this company is money gouging the public.The funny thing is when they get to the hospital if they use an IV the hospital replaces the medical products they use. Now that is how to run a business screw the public and get your products free each time and make patient pay for what you got free.
Regardless of how the firefighters and their union view themselves, they are NOT the busiest public servants, it is the POLICE. Fire responds to an incident AFTER the police have cleared the scene, police respond to almost ALL emergency calls if not just to document.
The one thing I did notice that is NOT a part of the study is the economic feasibility of rolling EMS and firefighting into the Clark County Fire Department, and having them be the primary responders to all incidents in Clark County. Is silly to have all these fire departments when we only need one.
Xtlman
Fire and EMS arrive ahead of metro and have to wait for them to finally show up on scene for such calls a domestic abuse, fights and suicide attempts. You would be surprised at the amount of calls that fire and ems wait 20-30 minutes for metro to arrive. In fact many times they clear the call because they cannot enter an unsafe scene per policy until metro arrives. They are then called back after metro finally sends a unit.
Well for the cost of one firefighter it may be worth it. The 24 hour staffing might be adjusted to more emphasis during days and evenings when fires are more likely to occur--smaller staffing levels at night. And if a study will give commissioners the reasoning ability to DO SOMETHING about the unsustainable contracts and compensation levels....