1A, Lake Johanna Fire Budget, Capital Facilities Need Study

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Comprehensive Management Study of the Saint Paul Department of Fire and Safety Services Final Report A new organizational chart was developed to show how the fire department can be structured. No additional FTE positions are required to implement the new organization, although some positions are reclassified. Long-term planning by the SPDFSS is inadequate and the city's short two-year planning horizon is not long enough for planning purposes. The planning cycle should be increased and an eight or ten-year planning cycle would improve the fire departments ability to plan more effectively_ Organizationally, the SPDFSS is in a state of internal crisis. The problems have not yet affected delivery of service to the public hut could easily do so ifnot addressed_ Most of the internal tension is between the fire chief and the firefighters union (Local 21). A 2005 survey conducted by the union detennined that a majority of its members were critical of the Department's direction. The absence of trust between firefighters and the fire administration is a key factor affecting poor relations between labor and management Fire personnel believe the administration is dispassionate and unresponsive; the administration believes the union is non-collaborative aud uncooperative_ To improve the situation, TriData recommends that an organizational development process called AIM, or similar program be implemented_ AIM is an acronym for Assessment, Improvement, and Maintenance. It is designed to enhance individual, team, operational, administrative, and interpersonal functions. Other recommendations to improve the organization include: . Expanding key performance indicators to include benchmarks for prevention, public education and EMS; . Changing the organizational structure to four major divisions: operations; technical services; fire prevention; and, executive services; . Discontinlling the practice of shift deputy chiefs performing payroll and leave accounting functions by upgrading the manual process to an automated time and attendance system: . Improving the fire department's strategic planning process similar to that proposed by the Long-Range Capital Improvement Budget Committee; . Providing additional training for officers in the use of computers; and, . Developing a comprehensive organizational development plan_ TriData, a Division of System Plarming Corporation 7 March 2007