FIRE DEPARTMENT ALTERNATE RESPONSE VEHICLE (ARV) PROGRAM By Deputy Chief Steve Mims

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1 FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015 FILM LIAISON WORK PLAN DEVELOPED There has been considerable interest and comment publicly from council members and community film advocates about the City s use of staff assigned to undertake film liaison duties. Today, I am sharing a report on strategic initiatives, goals, objectives and tasks developed by the City s Economic Development Office where film coordination and liaison activities are assigned. The plan marks the greatest level of planning and specific goal setting for film-related staffing ever. There are 35 tasks specifically delineated for 2015 and they will be executed by staff in the Economic Development Office from all levels and all positions. Additional resources include local film advocacy groups, other film offices and agencies, as well as our Public Information Office. We are encouraged by the focus and invite all interested parties to join us in making these efforts possible with continued cooperation and collaboration. FILM LAS CRUCES HANDOUT ACCOUNTING QUARTERLY FINANCIAL REPORT Every quarter of the fiscal year, the City s Accounting Department staff prepares a financial summary on how we are doing with managing the major funds of the City, and how City departments are doing to align with - and work within - allowable budgets. There is a wealth of information and I believe a great look into the fiscally conservative spending controls in place by departments across the City. With half of the fiscal year over, both revenues and expenditures are running slightly over 45%, considerably under the 50% mid-year mark. As we continue to provide services over the next quarter, we will carefully control spending to ensure we are able to end the year within available resources. With hope, the second half of this fiscal cycle will see a continued growth in gross receipts as we have seen in recent months. 2ND QUARTER FINANCIAL REPORT FIRE DEPARTMENT ALTERNATE RESPONSE VEHICLE (ARV) PROGRAM By Deputy Chief Steve Mims In accordance with the strategic plan and after successful implementation of a squad program, the Las Cruces Fire Department continues to evaluate and implement changes targeted at improving emergency services. Two upcoming steps in our plan include identifying a response matrix, which is a list of specific types of incidents for our ladder truck companies, and implementing a new Alternate Response Vehicle (ARV) concept. 1

2 Currently, the Las Cruces Fire Department has two ladder truck companies; one assigned to Station 1 (201 E. Picacho Ave.) and one assigned to Station 4 (2801 Missouri Ave.) These ladder trucks respond to all structure fires in the City. Only one truck responds to a fire in a single family residence while both units are needed when a fire involves a commercial building. Our ladder trucks also respond to medical emergencies and some lower priority calls when necessary. In an effort to control the number of responses of our most expensive units, a dedicated call matrix was implemented this month. We will evaluate the effectiveness of this new system in the coming months. The next step in improving our response model is the implementation of an Alternate Response Vehicle (ARV) pilot program. The focus of the pilot program is to evaluate the use of a smaller, more economical vehicle to respond to those calls that don t require the large ladder truck. In these situations the crew assigned to the ladder truck will respond in the ARV instead of the much larger, more expensive aerial unit. We believe using an ARV will improve our response times, reduce our operating costs, and extend the in-service and life cycle of our ladder trucks. We are in the planning phase of the pilot program and hope to see the ARV in operation in the next few months. Since the program has not been implemented, I do not have an actual photo. The photo in this article is a concept of what the unit might look like. SHORT RANGE TRANSIT PLAN By Brian Denmark, ACM/COO The Mesilla Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the Transit Section of the City s Transportation Department are working closely with consultant, Nelson/Nygaard, to develop an updated Short Range Transit Plan. The purpose of this planning effort is to determine operational efficiencies and service delivery given continued changes in conditions throughout the city. The opening of the Mesilla Valley Intermodal Transit Terminal, for example, has effected operations in that scheduling and route alignments need to be re-assessed. Other challenges are city growth, increased traffic on roadways and locational challenges such as ingress and egress at the Mesilla Valley Mall. The consultants are currently evaluating and analyzing collected data and conducting an ONLINE SURVEY. A February 26 th Transit Advisory Board meeting is scheduled to discuss this data analysis, recommended preliminary goals, polices and route changes, and an east side transfer point location evaluation. MPO staff anticipates a final draft plan being completed by April and projected City Council consideration in June of this year. The contract for this project is a total of $49,970. Questions and comments may be directed to Tom Murphy, MPO Officer, at Tom is the guest in the Ask The interview segment of the City s monthly TV newsmagazine, City Beat. WATCH VIDEO 2

3 QUARTERLY STRATEGIC PLAN PROGRESS REPORT City staff continues to implement the City s Strategic Plan. The plan spans a five-year period that just began last year. We are already seeing significant progress and initiatives in alignment with City Council s established goals. The Strategic Plan Executive Summary is the second quarterly report for the plan, that highlights progress on each the 25 City Council adopted goals. Additionally, we are providing a more detailed report of the 119 department objectives that support these goals where more specifics and details can be found. There are 426 lower-level activities/projects/tasks that departments are tracking for their internal reports, which were discussed during quarterly budget review meetings with the Office of the City Manager earlier this month. The City s Strategic Plan has goals that fall within four overarching themes: Fiscal responsibility, Service Delivery Excellence, Infrastructure Development, and Quality of Life/Community Identity. CITY COUNCIL MEETING PREVIEW FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3 rd The following items are scheduled for consideration by City Council on Tuesday, February 3 rd. Note: The meeting will begin at 3 p.m. due to schedules of the City Council members. Items listed reflect only some of the topics my office received inquiries about recently. CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA Personnel Manual City Council recently modified the holiday schedule for 2015 and removed the Columbus Day holiday. At the same time, an additional day of Personal Leave was included in the Personnel Manual to ensure employee benefits remained the same. The new Personal Leave day was specifically established to align with employee birthdays. After implementation efforts and related challenges, City Management is requesting the City Council to make a further change to allow the Personal Leave to be taken at any time. Street Improvement Appropriation In the 2014 legislative session, $1,036,000 was allocated by area legislators for various street improvements in Las Cruces. The funding has been directed through the New Mexico Department of Transportation for oversight and compliance. A resolution will be presented to accept the funds, amend the budget to reflect the funding, and authorize staff to proceed with the projects. Secondhand Dealers An ordinance presented by the Las Cruces Police Department to replace an existing one aimed at reporting requirements for secondhand dealers in Las Cruces. The goal is to enhance reporting requirements to increase the ability of LCPD to deter crime and increase the number of crimes solved by recovering lost items. The ordinance will require more accurate and timely reporting and tracking of used merchandise. 3

4 Procurement Code Update The City of Las Cruces expends millions of dollars each year for projects, supplies and equipment. The City Charter requires that we have a procurement code that outlines rules, regulations, and procedures to ensure fair and transparent purchasing of goods and services. City Council held a work session on the topic of procurement and gave staff direction to make changes to the code in a variety of areas. The proposed ordinance increases thresholds for purchases requiring City Council approval, incorporates changes to align with recently updated state procurement rules, modifies the qualifications-based selection methods for professional service contracts, and enables staff to proceed in acquiring items approved by City Council in the adopted fiscal year budget without additional reviews, so long as items are procured within approved limits set by City Council. City Hall Refunding A resolution to approve terms and conditions for refinancing a state-shared Gross Receipts Tax bond used to fund the construction of City Hall. Interest rates are favorable and market conditions make this an opportune time to refinance this debt. A live bidding process will be undertaken in City Council Chambers the morning of February 3 rd and the results will be tallied and recommended for acceptance the same day. THE WEEK AHEAD STANDARD, NON-STANDARD, OPERATIONAL AND JOINT BOARD AND COMMITTEE MEETINGS Courtesy of the Public Information Office MONDAY FEBRUARY 2, a.m. 12 p.m. University District Citizens' Design Review Board Meeting - City Hall, 700 N. Main St., Conference Room 1158 ( ) CANCELLED TUESDAY FEBRUARY 3, p.m. City Council Meeting - City Hall, 700 N. Main St., Council Chambers ( ) WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 4, a.m. Development Review Committee - City Hall, 700 N. Main St., Conference Room 1158 ( ) THURSDAY FEBRUARY 5, p.m. Extra-Territorial Development Review Committee - City Hall, 700 N. Main St., Conference Room 1158 ( ) 4 6 p.m. MPO Technical Advisory Committee - Doña Ana County Government Complex, 845 N. Motel Blvd., Commission Chambers ( ) 4

5 6 9 p.m. ETZ Commission Meeting - Doña Ana County Government Complex, 845 N. Motel Blvd., Commission Chambers ( ) CANCELLED FRIDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2015 No Scheduled Meetings Meeting dates for boards and committees are gathered from the public meetings calendar in Outlook. Meetings may be cancelled or scheduled after this notice is issued. 5