Report of the Montpelier City Council's Citizen Budget Review ...

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5. The City should consider promoting the establishment of a regional orcounty-wide dispatch center. The City has been studying the regionalization ofpublic safety for years with little progress. We believe that starting a regionaldispatch center could be the catalyst for regionalization of all public safety forCentral Vermont and could lead to substantial cost savings.6. The City should develop a plan for recruitment and retention of asupplementary voluntary firefighting force (call force), emphasizingmembership of both city residents and employees of public and privateentities located in Montpelier. Matrix Report section 8.1(4) recommended theCity evaluate the use of part-time firefighters and qualified, available and interestedCity and regional volunteers for shift coverage.7. The City could utilize a pager system for evening coverage of fire responsesby an enhanced Call Force. Two call force members could respond with the initialtone for any fire call in the City after the close of normal business hours. This typeof response meets the O.S.H.A. requirement of the “Two in Two out Policy” forhazardous conditions and enables regular employees the ability to gain entry,rescue residents, and increase fire ground safety and effectiveness while workingto confine and extinguish the fire. This system would increase fire ground safetyand effectiveness of initial fire ground operations for confinement, rescue, andsuppression of fires without delay. (With an advanced call force response programthe City can save monies paid in overtime to regular employees. This programwould also protect the City from being in violation of O.S.H.A. regulationspertaining to fire ground operations, which cannot currently be met on every calldue to staffing levels.)With a well-trained, well-staffed and well-deployed call force to augment theprofessional force, the City could realize the dual benefits of both cost-savings andimproved effectiveness.It appears that the current Fire Union contract offers overtime to employees beforea call-force member can be fully utilized and will require adjustments in order togain maximum savings for the City. The City should offer a stipend, training, andcompetitive compensation, etc., for the retention of an active and trained CallForce.8. Update the Matrix Recommendation to require that the Fire DepartmentSecretary be a Certified Billing Clerk. This will provide assurance that the City’smedical billing procedures for Ambulance services remain up-to-date.9. Analyze the costs and benefits of utilizing ambulance vans rather than thelarger, box-like units currently employed to deliver Emergency EMS care. Boxunits are designed more for comfort and space on long-distance critical caretransfers when more than two personnel are required. Vans are smaller, easier tohandle, provide ample space for patient care with one or two attendants on shortruns to the hospital and are much less costly to purchase and maintain. The CityPage 14 of 88
should undertake this analysis prior to making any replacement purchases forexisting ambulance units.10. Undertake a comprehensive and thorough analysis of the practice ofperforming ambulance transfers using Montpelier equipment and personneland consider eliminating the service if it is not profitable. The City was unableto provide this subcommittee with a real cost of ambulance transfers and unable tosubstantiate that transfers make money for the City. The City should be able tocalculate a COST OUT THE DOOR to claim it is making money off transfers.(COTD includes fuel, lights, heat, storage, overtime, etc.) With overtime costs ofover $200,000 at time and one half, the City should be able to provide an initialcost to the taxpayer. It appears the Montpelier taxpayer is subsidizing nonresidentsby doing transfers with Montpelier Firefighters and overtime cost shiftedto the City.11. Consider charging for Fire Department services to all non-residents by useof City ordinances. Montpelier property taxpayers underwrite the cost of ourpublic safety and emergency services, yet we are the host to thousands of nonresidentswho also have access to Montpelier services. The City should considerinstituting a system where non-residents are billed for certain services they requirefrom the public safety departments (e.g. (haz mat, car fire, etc.). Montpelier officialsshould investigate this system, which we understand is in place in some othermunicipalities by use of City ordinances.12. The City should consider removing all Fire Alarm Boxes from the streets dueto potential liability issues. These call boxes within the City limits are outdated,not well maintained or appropriately upgraded, and have been the topic of removalsince the 911 system entered our emergency dispatching. The City Council shoulddetermine if this condition creates a liability for the City or not.13. The City should consider renegotiating the work shifts for Fire andAmbulance services. The Fire/Ambulance employees presently work a shift thatis 24 hours on and 72 hours off. The department has four (4) crews of threeemployees and Special Project Officers who work most days and some nights.However, on most weekend days and nights, the shift coverage is only three (3)firefighters. The City should negotiate a more productive and safer shiftconfiguration, such as 10 and 14 hour shifts. It amounts to the same number ofhours worked but puts more firefighters on each shift both day and night andallows the Department to meet OSHA standards around the clock. It could havethe added benefit of reducing call back for sick and/or vacation time, therebycreating a cost savings within the department. If savings can be found by reducingovertime, the City could consider hiring three more firefighters full time and leavethe 24/72 schedule.14. The City should investigate what difference in the Insurance Services Offices(ISO) rating would be incurred by extending the life of Fire Apparatus from 20years to 30. Barre City has an ISO rating of 4 where we are at a 3.Page 15 of 88
Page 2 and 3: Table of ContentsTRANSMITTAL LETTER
Page 4: 1. EXECUTIVE S UMMARYa. Charge from
Page 7 and 8: f. Summary of RecommendationsThe BR
Page 9 and 10: available through VLCT. This will s
Page 11 and 12: 2: View City and staff responses to
Page 13: Building Inspector, half the depart
Page 17 and 18: Equipment, Streets, and Wastewater
Page 19 and 20: 2. INTRODUCTIONa. History and Backg
Page 21 and 22: Administration and Finance Subcommi
Page 23 and 24: • Barre: City Clerk/Treasurer als
Page 25 and 26: Key Questions:• What is the FTE s
Page 27 and 28: Population 2010Total Admin/Fin Budg
Page 29 and 30: Budget Process Subcommittee ReportD
Page 31 and 32: CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS:The p
Page 33 and 34: Attachment 1Budget Process Subcommi
Page 35 and 36: Attachment 3NOTE: The following cha
Page 37 and 38: committee under a short deadline. T
Page 39 and 40: Total Long Term Debt per Capita:Lat
Page 41 and 42: Five City/Town Comparative Chart- D
Page 43 and 44: Department of Public Works over a p
Page 45 and 46: Health Benefits Subcommittee Report
Page 47 and 48: The following graph looks at change
Page 49 and 50: Matrix Subcommittee ReportJean Olso
Page 51 and 52: Planning Subcommittee ReportJane Ka
Page 53 and 54: Notes from Each Community:Much of t
Page 55 and 56: • Barre City: The Planning Depart
Page 57 and 58: Planning Departments by Town Exhibi
Page 59 and 60: and the City Manager should identif
Page 61 and 62: Public Safety Subcommittee ReportBo
Page 63 and 64: Recommendations:1. Time did not all
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nights, the shift coverage is only
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Significant Fall Hazards (SigHAZ):
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Further rationale for the above sug
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3. Roughly what is the percentage o
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Recommendations for DPW1. If Montpe
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[END PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE REPO
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According to the 2009 National Citi
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Table of Montpelier Recreation Depa
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during the school year. The Public
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Montpelier Barre Brattleboro Middle
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RECOMMENDATIONS• Other cities and
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Tax ComparisonsAppendix AMunicipal
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City/TownMedianMunicipalTax BillMun
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available for circuit breaker reduc
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2). PROPERTY TAX TARGET: Do you hav
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considering the adoption of a Capit
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, · 1deductible, combined with a H
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Appendix Budget - 41/1DATE:TO:FROM:
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Other Employee-related increasesHea
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City of Montpelier 2012-13 Goals an
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Date Subcommittee Montpelier Growth
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Data Subcommittee Nine (9) City Fin
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Data Subcommittee - Montpelier Five
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Montpelier 20.1 2/ Annual Report /
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Montpelier 2012 / Annual Report / 2
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DireCt Debt Service Ratios - Debt P
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• In order to make the assessment
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The Center Director conducts betwee
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The Department has initiated the co
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SECTIONRECOMMENDATIONENTITY /INDIVI
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SECTIONRECOMMENDATION8.1 (5) The Fi
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City of Montpelier - Department of
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City of MontpelierUSER: TPROVENCHER
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Asset Value & DepreciationAsset 10P
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REGULARLaboratory Preventative Payr
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City of MontpelierUSER: TPROVENCHER
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Work Order SummaryLabor Part Other
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Work Order SummaryWO#W/SMAINT24902
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Work Order SummaryWO#MHS24899 [COOL
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SCOPE OF WORK PERFORMEDDuring JUNE
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October 2012 Work, StreetsCulvert r
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RIDGE STREET RECONSTRUCTIONMONTPELI
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(0 C4.March 8, 2012I acknowledge th
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APPENDIX Rec 1FEBRUARY 2012 CITY CO
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those together.Mayor Hooper said th
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Council Member Timpone said they ha
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on, so they can perform their fiduc
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in terms of understanding the impli
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