Consideration and Approval of Contract: Consideration to enter into the Cooperative Greater Flagstaff Fire Agencies All Risk Emergency Intergovernmental Agreement. (Approve IGA with nearby fire districts for provision of reciprocal mutual aid).

Approve the Cooperative Greater Flagstaff Fire Agencies All Risk Emergency Intergovernmental Agreement and authorize the Mayor to execute on behalf of the City of Flagstaff.  

Consideration of the community fire protection risks and limited resources in the greater Flagstaff area point to the conclusion that a single incident or a complex of incidents could easily exceed the capabilities of the Flagstaff Fire Department or any of the participants in the IGA.  Additionally, reduced fiscal resources have created an environment that supports increased and greater levels of cooperation for the protection of the public and its first responders.  The proposed IGA establishes procedures for mutual aid while broadening the scope of the IGA to encourage regional cooperation wherever possible.  The resulting cooperation increases the level of public safety in the region, provides better value in the expense of public resources and heightens the level of safety for firefighters.

None

Effective governance.

In 2008, the City Council enacted the current version of this mutual aid IGA.  Prior to its adoption, the previous mutual aid agreement was a 1997 agreement that had a primary focus on wildland fire responses.  Since the 2008 adoption of the existing agreement, there has been limited interaction between the leadership of the participating agencies in the IGA.  In the Fall of 2013, the chiefs of the participating fire departments and fire districts met to discuss interest in collaborating on regional efforts with the goal of maximizing our limited resources to achieve improved levels of public safety, improved safety for our firefighters, and to demonstrate the greatest efficiencies to our residents.

Discussion among the participating chiefs lead to a proposal to revise the current IGA to achieve the following Objectives:

• Broaden the Scope of the IGA to allow for greater collaboration in emergency and non-emergency response.  The IGA contemplates that training, fire prevention, procurement, and administration, in addition to all-risk emergency responses, would be desirable and allowable.
• Remove the reimbursement provisions of the existing IGA and related conflict dispute provisions and emphasize reciprocity as the primary intent of the IGA.

The proposed IGA is largely the same as the 2008 version with specific revisions to the recitals to express the intent to cooperate and assist.  The agreement was broadened in scope to allow for non-response cooperation and the reimbursement provisions were removed.  In place of monetary reimbursement, the IGA introduces intent to provide mutual aid and reciprocity taking the form of the parties providing comparable resources to assist each other.  The recommended omission of the reimbursement provisions aligns the IGA with more traditional language regarding mutual aid and is more consistent with higher level mutual aid agreements such as the State of Arizona Fire Service Mutual Aid Plan (Executive Order 2003-21).

The agreement has also been amended to protect the ability of the participants to enter into specific service agreements among each other.

1.)  The City Council may approve this agreement.
2.)  The City Council may direct the Fire Chief to renegotiate the provisions of this agreement.
3.)  The City Council may decline to enter into a revised agreement.

Since the 2008 adoption of the existing IGA, the reimbursement provisions of the IGA have not been utilized in any instance.

Inform