This news release from the city of Davis reports on City Council action the night of July 27 to advance a city-UC Davis proposal to begin a consolidation of their fire departments.

FAQ regarding the proposed consolidation

The city of Davis and UC Davis may begin consolidating their fire departments by sharing one fire chief, a move that could save $250,000 a year.

The City Council voted Tuesday night to authorize staff to move forward with a plan to implement the first phase of the pilot project. The plan also calls for a shared fire dispatch center; a restructuring of administrative support functions; and standardized training, policies and procedures.

The plan now goes to UC Davis Vice Chancellor John Meyer for university approval.

Under the plan, Bill Weisgerber, interim chief of the city Fire Department, would become interim chief of both departments, reporting jointly to Meyer and City Manager Bill Emlen. The city and university would contribute equally to his $149,316 annual salary.

"The goal of this pilot consolidation is to provide the best fire services possible given available resources," said Emlen, who noted the agreement is part of a national trend to merge fire departments. "The consolidation will eliminate redundancy and duplication of effort, provide opportunities for cost savings and enhance the level of service for both campus and city."

Meyer, who is responsible for the campus Fire Department as vice chancellor of Administrative and Resource Management, added: "We aim to build on the long-standing cooperation of the two fire departments to best serve the people who depend on our local fire services."

Emlen and Meyer estimate that sharing a chief will save UC Davis $110,000 a year and the city about $140,000 a year. The consolidation plan calls for these savings to be reinvested into fire operations.

The two-year city-university agreement would take effect as soon as Sept. 1 and would be renewable for one-year terms. Under its provisions:

• In addition to the fire chief position, the two departments would share an assistant chief, a training chief, and an operations chief.

• All other personnel would continue to be employees of their home departments, and their collective bargaining agreements would remain in effect.

• Fire calls on the Davis campus, now dispatched through a campus facility that also serves the campus Police Department, eventually would be dispatched through the city's public safety dispatch center to improve emergency dispatch and response coordination. (The Sacramento campus of UC Davis is served by the Sacramento Fire Department.)

• Ultimately, crews and equipment would be dispatched based on proximity and availability rather than by city and campus boundaries.

• The departments would implement standardized operating guidelines, training, and policies and procedures, and look at joint purchasing to save money.

For years, the city and university have shared the weekly rotation of a duty chief to respond to first-alarm or greater emergencies, and the fire departments have provided mutual aid for major incidents. Although the departments have explored ways to further increase cooperation, possibilities were limited by an assumption that separate management structures had to be maintained.

In 2009, when the chiefs of both departments announced their retirements, the city and university seized the opportunity to explore a new model for managing fire services.

The City Council concurred with city staff's recommendation to participate with the university in seeking consulting services to advise on next steps for a more extensive consolidation of the two fire departments.

The city Fire Department, which has an annual budget of $9.69 million, 45 firefighters and three fire stations, responded to almost 4,169 calls for service in 2009. The campus Fire Department, which has an annual budget of $3.95 million, 20 firefighters and one fire station, responded to 939 calls.

The city and UC Davis will continue to be responsible for their own fire prevention activities.