By Diana Samuels
The San Jose Mercury News
SAN CARLOS, Calif. — With the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office poised to take over San Carlos’ police services in two weeks, council members voted Monday to issue a request for proposals to outsource the city’s fire department, too.
San Carlos is outsourcing several of its services, including parks maintenance and payroll, in an effort to fix budget shortfalls. The city currently shares fire service with Belmont, but says it has taken on a higher portion of costs and recently voted to dissolve its agreement.
CalFire, San Mateo, the Menlo Fire Protection District and Redwood City have all expressed interest in working with San Carlos to provide fire services, Assistant City Manager Brian Moura said.
The request for proposals, prepared by consulting firm TriData, gives interested agencies three options: They can provide full fire services, which would include everything from emergency response to code enforcement, or a “service-sharing” option where the cities might share a station or personnel. Finally, agencies could offer a plan where San Carlos keeps most of the firefighters on its own payroll but outsources administrative functions.
TriData’s consultants said there might a particularly good opportunity to share services at San Carlos’ Station 16 on Alameda de Las Pulgas, because its location can also serve parts of Redwood City’s and CalFire’s jurisdictions.
The consultants also said they don’t expect San Carlos’ demand for fire services to increase, and the city has enough resources for the foreseeable future. The consultants encouraged the city to focus on resources for medical emergencies — which make up 54 percent of all calls — and said it may not make sense for San Carlos to have a ladder truck, because there are others available in nearby jurisdictions.
In their response to the request for proposals, interested agencies are expected to tell the city how much their proposals would cost and whether the new agency would be able to hire San Carlos’ displaced personnel.
San Carlos is asking for proposals by Dec. 3 and could sign an agreement with a new agency by the week of Feb. 21. The city wants a new system in place by the time San Carlos’ agreement with Belmont expires in October 2011.
Representatives from some of the interested agencies were in the audience at Monday’s council meeting. Only a couple of community members spoke, expressing concerns about hazardous materials services and the potential loss of the ladder truck.
“Ultimately, at the end of this process,” TriData’s Stephen Brezler said, “the choice about emergency services comes down to risk, in terms of what is the level of risk that the community is willing to accept, for the money that they spend.”
The council voted 4-1 to issue the request for proposals. Council Member Matt Grocott voted no, before angrily leaving the meeting with one item still remaining on the agenda. Outside of City Hall, Grocott said he believes San Carlos should be negotiating along with Belmont. With a unified fire agency, he said, they might be able to attract a better proposal.
“We would be in a good position to negotiate,” Grocott said. “Instead we got into a feud with Belmont. We’re going through a divorce and we’re trying to find someone else to deal with us.”
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