Strategic Plan for Klamath Communications District

Transcription

1 Strategic Plan for Klamath Communications District Current Situation November 12, 2013 The Klamath Communications District remains the primary Public Safety Answering Point for Klamath County. It additionally provides dispatch services for over 30 different public safety agencies. The Funding for the district is through two primary streams, a portion of the state excise tax ($0.75 per phone line) which totals about 350,000 annually and our fixed rate property tax.1541 per assessed 1,000 which totals about 780,000 annually. We currently staff a full time Director, half time Administrative Assistant, full time Lead Dispatcher, 8 full time Dispatchers, 1 half time Dispatcher and 1 part time Dispatcher. Our budget partially funds an Operations Manager (half of a year) leaving half of the year for that position, along with Communications Supervisor, Facilities/Systems Specialist, and 5 Dispatch positions, that are un-funded. We are housed in a purpose built, modern facility completed in the spring of 2011 and funded through a USDA Rural Development guaranteed 40 year loan. The annual payments are $84,343 and we are required to build up a reserve fund over 10 years that is equal to one payment. We have collaborated with our public safety partners over the last 5 to 7 years to fund and develop our CAD and Radio Systems. Our phone system is funded through the state program. Our building security includes video, door lock, glass break and fire alarms and suppression systems. We have a network to host our Administrative training and support computers; Criminal Justice access networks and integration equipment for phone and radio including a logging recorder. We also have some miscellaneous equipment for operating and maintaining our business and facility. We are responsible for the maintenance and repair on these systems. However we only have $5,000 in equipment reserves. The District has identified concerns with the legislation both passed and considered at the state level. First is Legislative Concept 2157, a proposal to implement the recommendations of the Kimball report- in short consolidation of the call centers reducing the number of PSAP s from 40 to 9. In that proposal, our regional PSAP would also serve Deschutes and Lake Counties, and the state would determine its location. Any funding we receive through the state tax would cease, and we would no longer be a primary PSAP. The concept leaves the burden of determining how public safety resources are dispatched to the local communities. Our existence as a Communications District would be in question, along with our funding. Secondly, HB 3453 B signed into law August of 2013 enables the governor to proclaim a public safety fiscal emergency, impose a tax and subsequently require the public safety partners to form a new form of government to accomplish the public safety services as needed. The

2 District has recognized that it needs to take a proactive approach to ensure that there are fluid dispatch services provided within our community should this consolidation concept progress further within the legislature, knowing that there is already legislation that enables the governor to proclaim a fiscal emergency and force just that if we are not prepared. The District has set the current goals in this plan to address goals that were not met in the previous plan, as well as, to position the District to continue to serve its community maintaining local control, whether it s as a public safety dispatch center, our current role of a PSAP and dispatch center, or a regional PSAP and local dispatch center. A Look Forward As Klamath Communications District looks forward to the future operations of the countywide Communications Center, we have identified the following areas which will have significant importance as the District moves through the next five years. Opportunities - Pursue contract services with neighboring public safety such as Lake County, Crater Lake National Park, and Northern California etc. - Pursue single item/project alternative funding (Grants) - Pursue funding through an operating levy. - Position our community, organization and facility to be a viable choice if consolidation is legislated. - Achieve and maintain user and public support Challenges - Insufficient Funding - Potential reorganization or even dissolution due to legislative action - Rapidly advancing technology. - Aging equipment - Building up appropriate reserve funds to ensure operations through unforeseen contingencies. Strengths/Capabilities - Experienced, qualified, motivated employees and leadership - Dedicated Board of Directors - Successfully achieved facility goals - Successfully reduced personnel expenses through use of Half and Part Time Employees - Developed greater efficiency in recruitment and training of staff. - Local government oriented Budget Committee - Local and statewide partnerships with other agencies Weaknesses/Vulnerabilities - Inadequate number of staff:

3 o Always scheduled at minimum staffing o We are the loss of one dispatcher away from crisis levels o We are meeting minimum requirements of training, but struggle to provide more, hindering our training in advancing technologies and leadership. o We are not in a position to succession plan. o We are completely reliant on outside vendors and contractors for our facility and information systems. - Aging equipment with no means to plan replacement based on useful life. - Not prepared for advancing technologies - Backup plans are limited to individual systems; there is no back up dispatch center. Our Mission, Purpose and Values Mission To provide efficient emergency communications service to the public and emergency service providers throughout Klamath County. Purpose To provide professional and effective emergency call taking and emergency services dispatching by decreasing the reporting and response times during emergency situations. Values We honor and value our service to the public We value our partnerships with other agencies We are a dependable and reliable resource for the public and our partner s agencies We value the safety of our partner agencies and the public We strive for appropriate and sustainable funding to accomplish our mission and purpose Vision for the Future In order to conduct our mission and fulfill our purpose, the Board of Directors and the administration of Klamath Communications District believe the following actions will achieve our vision: Funding - The continued receipt of the statewide excise tax - The continued receipt of the countywide permanent tax, and miscellaneous receipts - Continued collaboration with public safety partners for grants that benefit the public safety system. - Present an operating levy to the citizens designed to adequately fund the needs of their call taking and public safety dispatching.

4 Facility - Continued care and maintenance of our facility - Continue to utilize our facility for public safety and other meetings - Plan for and begin to develop a backup center (fixed or mobile) that can be utilized if our facility would need to be evacuated for any reason. Workforce - Five additional dispatch staff to appropriately handle the center s busier call volume periods, maintain minimum and advanced levels of training, enhancing citizen and responder safety. - Fund the Operations Manager position essential for day to day operations project management and succession planning. - Fund the Facilities/systems specialist, essential to establish our capabilities with advancing technology. Technology - The institution of an agency network to allow for communications, quality control, monitoring of systems - Technology upgrade to retrieve location information from VOIP systems; text messaging, and video streaming as they become emergency reporting methods - Scheduled equipment maintenance and replacement - Ability to upgrade equipment prior to failure date Strategic Objectives, Strategies and Goals FUNDING The district identifies that funding is the source of each unachieved goal from the previous plan. The district has streamlined and become highly efficient in areas of recruitment, scheduling, training, general maintenance etc. however, given the highly technical needs of equipment and the skills required of our workforce the ability to react to either component or system failures are nonexistent without being funded. It is the strategy of the District to responsibly seek funding through an operating levy to position the district to ensure that is not the case and to be prepared for the previously identified challenges on the near horizon. STAFFING In the previous plan, the District appropriately prioritized the facility, and set goals for staffing to achieve minimum staffing. In this plan, that brings staffing to the forefront as a priority. The need for 15 dispatchers, is still there, however costs can be saved through the utilization of a mix of full time and living wage half time employees to meet those numbers. A total of 9 full time along with 6 half/part time employees are required. The full year funding of the Operations Manager position and Facility/Systems Specialist are also required to meet those needs. That is 4 Half Time and 2 full time employees over current funding levels. EQUIPMENT The equipment reserve should be raised to a minimum of $50,000 and equipment cycling should be funded at $20,000 annually. These funds would be to maintain and replace aging equipment inventory in the CAD system, backup components

5 in the Radio Dispatch Consoles, as well as, replace components as needed in our other systems. FACILITY We have satisfied the needs addressed in the previous plan in regards to our facility, however, in that did not address a backup center. During the next 5 years the district will further develop system backups and begin the process of establishing either a fixed location or mobile backup center. OPERATING LEVY The District has evaluated the costs of meeting these funding requirements and will pursue approval of the voters of a.08 per assessed 1,000 value operating levy in May 2014.