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Home My WebLink About8.3 Letter of Understanding for EMS CITY CLERK File# 0600-40 AGENDA STATEMENT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: March 7, 2000 SUBJECT: Letter of Understanding (L.O.U.) between the City of Dublin and the Alameda County Fire District regarding provision of Emergency Medical Services Report Prepared by: Christopher L. Foss, Economic Development Director ATTACHMENTS: 1. Resolution approving a Letter of Understanding between the City of Dublin and the Alameda County Fire District regarding Provision of Emergency Medical Services RECOMMENDATION: Adopt the resolution approving a Letter of Understanding between the City of Dublin and the Alameda County Fire District regarding provision of emergency medical services. FINANCIAL STATEMENT: The approval of the Letter of Understanding (L.O.U.) will clarify the obligations between the City and the Alameda County Fire District with regards to the First Responder Advanced Life Support (FRALS) agreement and will allow the City of Dublin to receive a $90,000 annual subsidy from the First Responder Agreement DESCRIPTION: Pursuant to the Fire and Emergency Response Services Agreement, the City of Dublin's fire protection service is provided on a contractual basis with the Alameda County Fire Department, also known as the Alameda County Fire District. On February 15, 2000, the City Council, by a 4-0 vote, authorized the Mayor to execute a First Responder Advanced Life Support (FRALS) Agreement with the County of Alameda. Due in part to the use of different language and terminology in the two agreements, they created potential discrepancies between the mutual obligations of the City and ACFD. The draft Letter of Understanding (L.O.U.) eliminates those discrepancies and provides that the Alameda County Fire Department (ACFD) will satisfy the City's obligation under the First Responder Agreement, as well as the specific staffing and record keeping requirements outlined in the agreement. It also provides that the ACFD will continue to meet the response time requirements in both the Fire Protection and the First Responder agreements. H:\Chris\Fire\FORM-agenda statement.docLOU.doc COPIES TO: ITEM NO..~ The draft Letter of Understanding (L.O.U.) clarifies the following issues: Staffing: The current City/County agreement calls for the County to staff only engine companies with paramedics. This proposed letter requires ACFD to staff both the engine and truck companies with paramedics who meet the related certifications and accreditation requirements. This requirement is already a practice of ACFD as they currently operate three (3) FRALS units. ACFD also agrees to staff both engine companies and the truck company with two (2) EMT-D trained personnel each. Service Area: The FRALS agreement requires that the City respond to all emergency medical services within the City limits. The existing City/ACFD agreement limits the response area to preclude service to federally-owned land and County Sheriff property, unless provided under mutual aid agreements. The City has requested, and received, a letter from the County of Alameda - Local Emergency Medical Services Agency and Emergency Medical Services District, stating that the City has no obligation to respond to calls for emergency medical services on federal and county property within the City limits, despite the City-wide service requirements of the recently-adopted First Responder Advanced Life Support (FRALS) agreement. The letter also states that ACFD will satisfy the City's FRALS obligations by responding to all such calls for emergency medical services within the City limits and not federally-owned land and County sheriff s property unless requested through mutual aid. Response Time: The City's current agreement with ACFD calls for ACFD to arrive at the scene of a single emergency incident within five (5) minutes from the time dispatched 90% of the time. The FRALS agreement allows for a ten (10) minute arrival on scene from the receipt of an emergency (911) call. The L.O.U. provides that ACFD will continue to meet the five (5) minute response time from dispatch of the first responding unit to its arrival on the scene of an emergency incident. Record Keeping and Reporting: The L.O.U. provides that ACFD will satisfy the reporting requirements outlined in the FRALS agreement and will provide City with a copy of the report provided to the County. It also provides that ACFD will use the patient report forms as outlined in the FRALS agreement. ANALYSIS: The proposed Letter of Understanding (L.O.U.) assures the City of Dublin that the ACFD, as the City's provider of emergency medical services, satisfies both the City's obligation under the First Responder Agreement and existing Fire and Emergency Medical Services agreement, as well as entitles the City to receive the financial subsidy outlined in the First Responder Advanced Life Support (FRALS) Agreement. RECOMMENDATION: It is staffs recommendation that the City Council adopt the resolution approving the Letter of Understanding (L.O.U.) between the City of Dublin and the Alameda County Fire District regarding provision of emergency medical services. \\DUBL1NFS2\PCCOMMON~Chris\Fire\FORM-agenda statement.docLOU.doc RESOLUTION NO. - 00 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN APPROVING A LETTER OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN ALAMEDA COUNTY FIRE DISTRICT AND CITY OF DUBLIN REGARDING PROVISION OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES WHEREAS, the City of Dublin (hereafter "City") presently intends to enter into the First Responder ALS Agreement with Alameda County, which among other things, requires the City to provide certain forms of emergency medical assistance by staffing at least three (3) fire department vehicles with at least one paramedic each, in re{urn for specified compensation; and WHEREAS, there already exists between the City of Dublin and the Alameda County Fire District (hereafter "ACFD") an Agreement Regarding Fire and Emergency Response Services, which requires ACFD to satisfy the City's obligations under any such First Responder Agreement; and WHEREAS, the City and ACFD desire to clarify their respective obligations under the Fire and Emergency Response Services Agreement, in light of the City's new obligations under the First Responder Agreement, the parties have entered into a Letter of Understanding, attached as Exhibit A; and WHEREAS, a staff report was submitted recommending the City Council approve the Letter of Understanding; and WHEREAS, the City Council did hear and used its independent judgement and considered all said reports, recommendations and testimony here and above set forth. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Dublin does hereby authorize and direct the City Manager to sign the Letter of Understanding (Exhibit A) between the City of Dublin and Alameda County Fire District. PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED, this 7t~ day of March, 2000. AYES: NOES: ABSENT: Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk K2/G/3-7-00/reso-fire-lou.doc (Item 8.2) ATTACHMENT 1 ALA~AE DA COUNTY ? PUBLIC HEALTH DEPART/'AENT ALAN~EDA COUNTY HEALTH CARE SERVICEs AGENCY .... Da¥id J. Keats, Director P U B L I C H E ALT H D E PA RT4A E NT ,), ~,}, ~:~ ,~.~.n~oj~; Perkins, Director 1000 Broadway, Suite 500 Oakland, CA 94607 February 25, 2000 Richard. Ambrose, City Manager City of Dublin 100 Civic Plaza Dublin, CA 94568 Dear Mr. Ambrose: As approved, Section 4 of the FRALS agreement requires that the City respond to all emergency medical services with the City limits. The City of Dublin does not have jurisdiction or authority to respond to federally owned property within the City limits, except as provided for under mutual aid agreements. This exclusion would eliminate service to the Parks Reserve Forces Training Area and the Federal Correctional Institution properties, as well as the Alameda County Sheriff s property. The Alameda County Emergency Medical Services District recognizes that the City a~nd its agent, ACFD, do not have the authority to provide emergency medical services to the federal and county installations. For that reason, the Alameda County Emergency Medical Services District will provide the City of Dublin a limited exemption from the FRALS service limit requirements and will not require service to the federally-owned, as well as County Sheriff-owned, property with Dublin's city limits. This has been discussed with Chief Bill McCammon, Alameda County Fire Department and he concurs. I look forward to working with you in the future to provide quality emergency medical services to the residents of Dublin. Sincerely, Director Alameda County EMS Agency