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Home My WebLink AboutIR 8341 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No, 224.1 L To the Mayor and Members of the City Council July 24, 2001 Subject: Report on Options for Application of Mobile Fueling Regulation The City Council approved an ordinance allowing mobile fueling on July 10, but no additional resources were allocated to carry out that regulation. The purpose of this report is to revisit the Fire Department's recommendation for staffing to implement the mobile fueling regulations and to provide City Council with two alternatives to that recommendation. • Original Recommendation/Add Fire Lieutenant: The Fire Department recommends the addition of one Lieutenant position to conduct plan reviews, inspect facilities, review training records, provide on-site inspections of the mobile fueling activities and perform other relate duties. The information used to calculate the needed staffing was based upon information provided by three sectors of the industry (mobile feelers, fleet owners, and fixed site fuelers). Because mobile fueling has not been a legal practice, the estimate regarding number of sites and vehicles is not at all certain. The best guess was 35 sites and 25 mobile fueling vehicles, requiring a total of 1590 additional position hours. Once the workload was estimated, the level of service currently provided to other Fire Department inspection customers was used as the bench-mark for this service. For instance, since we currently review certain fire protection plans within five working days of receipt; it seemed appropriate that we provide that same level of service to the mobile fueling industry. In the absence of hard measures, the risk of not having adequate staffing to provide appropriate regulatory response was the final factor taken into consideration in making this recommendation. The rank- of Lieutenant was deemed appropriate because of the technical nature of this ordinance. In addition to understanding the behavior of the fuel, blueprint reading, site plan assessment, and a basic knowledge of the fault tree analysis process is required. Currently, Captains and Lieutenants perform over 95 percent of the fire inspections in the City of Fort Worth. The first year cost associated with this position is $29,435 and includes the remaining fiscal year salary, an automobile, desk, computer, and associated equipment. The second year cost of $71,912 includes a five percent salary adjustment, and maintenance on the capital equipment. • Utilize Existing Resources: Based upon the information provided -to us by the industry, we anticipate the workload increase in the Fire Prevention Bureau to be approximately six percent as a result of implementing this regulation. This figure was reached by considering the total number of hours our inspection staff currently works, and the number of hours necessary to implement the mobile refueling program. While the incremental increase is small, consideration should be given to the cumulative effect of the change. As workloads increase, our ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS l INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8341 �'TE"Fo To the Mayor and Members of the City Council July 24, 2001 Page 2 of 3 Subject: Report on Options for Application of Mobile Fueling Regulation ability to respond in a timely and appropriate manner to customer needs is reduced. Again, these workload estimates are very uncertain. The initial impact will be some delays in service that we are unable to accurately predict at this time. Plan review times will increase and occasionally there will be delays in performing construction related inspections. We occasionally receive complaints when we can't meet our customers' expectations regarding timely responses to their needs. If this option is selected, we should expect an escalation of these types of complaints. Our implementation plan for this option would be to notify all fleet owners and refueling companies of the statutory change and outline the requirements for plan submittal, documentation of training, etc. Upon receipt of plans and the appropriate fee, the incumbent fire inspector would review the plans and inspect the site. The Fire Prevention Bureau staff would develop and deliver a training program to fire company officers to provide them the necessary information to conduct inspections at the fleet fueling facilities. The work of inspecting the sites and the refueling operations would then shift to in-service fire companies. d This option presents some risks that we are unable to quantify at this time. If we are unable to handle the workload, we will immediately report back to City Council. • Upgrade Position/Additional Duties: After learning the City Council's concerns regarding the addition of a new position to implement the regulation, the Fire Department reevaluated the workload. The department continues to believe that the work involved in applying this regulation is more than existing resources can absorb effectively. Based upon the department's evaluation, consideration could be given to the creation of a new position to that would work part time with mobile fueling enforcement and part time with the department's internal communications and diversity recruitment issues. The rank of Captain would be appropriate because of the duties relating to recruitment and internal/external communications, as well as the need for this individual to be able to traverse organizational lines of authority and interact with station officers, educational institutions, and outside agencies. The new fire Captain position would initially work with the implementation of the process to approve the permit requirements for the fueling sites and vehicles including site plan review, inspection, and tanker vehicle approvals. The position would then be responsible for training fire company officers and crews to perform the regulatory site inspection work needed to assure that the fueling is being ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS NO. 8341 �PTEq To the Mayor and Members of the City Council July 24, 2001 Page 3 of 3 Subject: Report on Options for Application of Mobile Fueling Regulation carried out in accordance with Fire Code requirements. The Captain would then oversee the ongoing coordination of the program. Depending on the workload, other personnel resources within the Fire Prevention Division or Operations Division would be assigned to keep the process as timely and efficient as possible. It is anticipated that the turn around time for plan approvals and inspections will be slightly longer than the department would like but should be accomplished in an acceptable timeframe. After the full implementation of the mobile fueling process, we anticipate that the Captain would use the remaining time in his or her schedule to work part time with. the diversity recruitment program and internal and external communications such as the Fire Safety Education and Citizen Fire Academy programs. In these cases, the Captain would be assigned to support the Deputy Chief with overall responsibility for these programs. The first year cost associated with this position is $31,190 and includes the remaining fiscal year salary, an automobile, desk, computer, and associated equipment. The second year cost of $79,864 includes a five percent salary adjustment, and maintenance on the capital equipment. Regardless of the alternative approved by City Council, in accordance with your prior direction, a comprehensive review of costs, revenue and workload resulting from this regulation will be conducted after it has been in effect twelve months. If Council desires additional information or have questions, please contact Assistant City Maria r Libby Watson, Chief McMillen at 871-6801 or Chief Tidwell at 871-6849. ary W. J c son City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS