City Council Meeting - Cornelius

City of Cornelius Agenda Report
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Michael Kinkade, Fire Chief
Through: Rob Drake, City Manager
Date: November 5, 2012
Re: Resolution No. 2012-24-Administrative Fire Services
Summary: In December 2010, the City of Cornelius and the City of Forest Grove entered into an
Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to provide Fire Chief Services for the City of Cornelius. Section 10, Term
of the existing IGA, is scheduled to expire December 31, 2012, unless both Cities agree to extend this IGA. It
is the desire of both Cities to modify this Agreement to an automatic renewal or until such time the IGA is
terminated by either party upon 30 days’ notice. In addition, the compensation section has been modified to
reflect the increased costs of salary and benefits of the Fire Chief.
Previous Council Action: The City Council entered into an IGA with the City of Forest Grove to provide Fire
Chief Services, December 2010.
Background/Problem Discussion: The benefits of providing this service have included:
1. Better operational and administrative coordination:
a. In 2011, Cornelius Fire provided 106 mutual aid responses to Forest Grove, and Forest Grove
provided 21 mutual aid responses to Cornelius.
b. Simultaneous calls are a frequent occurrence in Forest Grove, and Cornelius fire frequently
provides response to our citizen. Shared leadership has resulted in a more standardized level of
response.
i. Equipment is now standardized and items such as hose loads, tactics and training are
common to both cities.
ii.
Both departments share a single set of standard operating guidelines.
c. Increased coordination with training, eliminating duplication and reducing staff time by
sharing resources. Currently drills are shared by both agencies. For example:
i. During the recent demolition of the Virginia Garcia Health Care facility and the old Joseph
Gale Elementary school, both agencies coordinated training on roof ventilation, firefighter escape
and rapid intervention team procedures in these buildings.