Why We Desperately Need A County-Wide Unified Fire Service

Open Letter to Travis County Commissioners Court From Steiner Ranch Homeowner:

Travis County Commissioners Court,  

On Saturday, February 8, a home sustained major damage as a result of a fire in the Steiner Ranch subdivision of Travis County.  This fire, in and of itself, a tragedy for the family, would otherwise simply be another blurb on the local news.  The first-in fire apparatus arrived on scene within a minute or two of the initial 911 call because it came from a fire station that is literally 2 blocks from the home.  This fire station, operated by Emergency Services District (ESD) #6, is staffed full-time with at least three firefighters and provides service using a state-of-the-art “quint” fire apparatus.

What makes this devastating fire noteworthy is, unfortunately, it is not an isolated event, in fact it was quite the opposite, and it had a common outcome.  Why would a common event be noteworthy?   The home that was on fire essentially was destroyed by this fire.  Time after time, in all areas of the county, we see simple structure fires turn into out of control infernos resulting in significant loss.  This takes place even when the closest fire station is literally right down the street, as in this case.  This takes place while often times the staff and equipment from the ESD is on scene. 

Anyone in the fire industry will tell you some simple facts about structure fires:

1.  Fire doubles in size for every minute it burns.

2.  The first few minutes of a fire attack are the most crucial.

3.  Four firefighters on an apparatus are much more efficient and effective than three (as sited in a recent national scientific study).

4.  Training is the key to operational performance. 

5.  The level of skill, knowledge, and experience of the on-scene command staff can make or break a fire.

Those facts cannot be argued.  The departments that recognize those facts and perform well in those areas lead the industry in performance.  A great example of this is the Austin Fire Department.  In my opinion, they are second to none.  They have a goal of containing 90% of all structure fires to the room of origin and they routinely meet (and beat) that goal year after year.  When a structure burns to the ground in Austin, it is the exception rather than the rule.

Unfortunately, in Travis County, as we again recently witnessed in Steiner Ranch and Lakeway, the opposite can be said.  It is ironic that a local West-Travis County newspaper carried an article on the investigation of the recent Steiner fire.  Buried in the same paper was a photo and brief story of similar house fire in the City of Lakeway, another area covered by ESD #6.  The Lakeway picture showed a large home fully involved in fire.  Again, ESD #6 has a staffed fire station in close proximity. 


http://www.newscastic.com/news/firefighters-battle-house-fire-in-lakeway-1410321/



This problem is not confined to ESD #6, but is rather a frequent occurrence throughout all of Travis County. I believe these types of outcomes are mostly avoidable, though with such a larger number of small independent fire departments, it is almost impossible to achieve the necessary performance outcomes the public expects and pays for.

How so?  Simple.  The existing system of fire protection in Travis County utilizing 13 different ESD’s with 13 Fire Chiefs, each earning over $100,000 annually (some with just ONE fire station!) , 13 administrative operations, and 13 different fire staffing protocols and fire fighting standards is horribly inefficient and ineffective.  Too much TAXPAYER money is wasted on duplication of management and support services (I am told the waste is between $4-6,000,000 annually!!!!).  It is for this reason that I write to you;

The Commissioners Court should make immediate efforts to consolidate and manage these services to ensure that the waste is redirected towards service to the tax payers.  In addition, consolidated training efforts and programs would produce a more effective firefighting system in which all firefighters would be trained to the same level and be taught to use the same procedures.

A combined county-wide fire system could integrate with and find economies with the Austin Fire Department for support services such as training, supply, administration, payroll, HR, fleet, facility maintenance, and yes even operations, and the list goes on and on.  In short, we have one of the most effective fire departments in the nation surrounded by some of the least effective departments.  To leave it alone is nonsensical and is resulting in devastating loss to both families and business’ all across Travis County.   The entire system of firefighting in Travis County needs to be revamped.  We currently have 13 ESD’s.

When one steps back and objectively looks at the performance of the various ESD’s it is not impressive.  ESD #6 is supposedly referred to as one of the elite ESD’s in Travis County and yet time after time they continue to be involved with structure fires that result in complete loss of the property and contents.  These dollar amounts are, over time, quickly adding up to millions of dollars in fire related losses.  We have been fortunate the loss of life has not followed this trend.   ESD #6 is just an example but this problem is systemic within the entire Travis County ESD network.     

Taxpayers in Travis County are spending millions of dollars annually and in return are getting a mediocre level of fire protection.  If the results of structure fires are going to routinely result in complete fire loss, I would argue we could accomplish the same with significantly fewer dollars using a system of volunteer fire-fighters. 

This is in no way intended to be an indictment of the individual fire-fighters that staff the ESD’s throughout Travis County.  These dedicated professionals are working very hard to do the very best of which they are capable.  Unfortunately, the old adage “work smarter not harder” comes into play.  They are placed in an environment in which they are predestined to fail because the ESD structure is designed to support the low volume fire and medical demands of a rural area, not the high demands of the suburban-urban environment of Travis County.   It is up to the County policy makers and elected officials to take aggressive steps toward consolidation of these departments before the local papers are not just showing pictures of damaged homes, but also telling stories of lives lost.  Your leadership here can make a meaningful difference to the people of Travis County.

This is admittedly a political hotbed.  Often times doing the right thing is not always the easy thing.  Change is rarely met with open arms.  That said, it is more than obvious that in the best interest of property owners and taxpayers in Travis County the time has come for you to act.

Doing nothing is doing something and brings along with it the realization that nonfeasance is worse than malfeasance.

As a Travis County homeowner, former business owner, and taxpayer,  I implore you to act with a sense of urgency and immediately start the process of consolidation of all the existing Emergency Service Districts.

Steiner Ranch Homeowner

Travis County ESD Board of Commissioner Appointments- Like Making Sausage-You Don’t Want to Know

The concept of an ESD Board is pretty simple: 
  Being an advocate, a fiduciary, for the taxpayers it serves and rigorously insures their interest comes first, all the time.

As the taxpayer advocate and fiduciary,  the ESD Board has one single responsibility: 
Utilizing the tax dollars the ESD collects to provide the best fire protection possible with the dollars it has available.
  
   

The mechanism for such oversight is best described as an arms-length relationship between the five-member ESD Board and either its Fire Chief,  if they operate their own fire department or the fire department they contract with for fire fighting services (four (4) ESD's contract with volunteer fire departments: ESD 14-Volente, ESD 10-Ce-Bar, ESD 8- Pedernales, ESD 5- Manchaca,).  In either case, they are responsible for hiring AND firing the Fire Chief or the contract fire department based on their performance and ability to serve the taxpayers efficiently and effectively.  When either or both of these performance aspects are not being achieved, it is the ESD Boards responsibility to find the best remedy available to provide its taxpayers with the highest quality emergency services, including, replacing the Fire Chief, replacing the contract fire department, or merging with another ESD.     

But in Travis County, not all ESD Board of Commissioners operate from the noble and honorable side of being the taxpayer’s advocate and fiduciary.  Some are nothing more than cronies of the Fire Chief or the volunteer fire department they contract services with, others lack the type of business and professional experiences essential for this level of oversight responsibility.   It is the proverbial “looking glass” scenario where the board shifts advocacy from looking out for the best interest of the taxpayer to the classic “rubber stamp” operation FOR the very management or volunteer organization it is designed to independently oversee on behalf of those who pay the bills.  Its just like sausage, you really don’t want to know how its made but in emergency services, what you don’t know could injury, or kill you, your family or your neighbors. 

ESD Boards are appointed by the elected County Commissioners, specifically by the County Commissioner whose district has the ESD within its boundaries.   The Commissioner submits their “pick” for ESD Board appointment to the entire Commissioner Court who routinely extend political courtesy and rubber stamp the recommendation with a full court vote of approval. 

The problem is how the appointee is selected.  There is no independent / objective process that:

•         Opens ESD Board appointments up to all qualified taxpayers desiring to be considered for an appointment to their respective ESD Board.

•       Standardizes the qualities sought for an ESD Board member (business experience, education, etc.).

•           Independently reviews and validates the essential qualifications of a candidate.

•        Recommends candidates based on proven qualifications.

Instead each County Commissioner uses their own selection process for “their” ESD Board appointments and the results can vary between a reasonably functional and responsible ESD Board to a Board that rivals "F Troop". 

Typically the person is  “suggested” by a confidant of the appointing County Commissioner or an existing ESD Board member, or by a self-serving Fire Chief seeking to maintain control of his board with “his” people (not all Chiefs operate from this manipulative position but more than a few do). Other times, an appointee is selected as a patronage gift to a supporter of the County Commissioner or, and, this is extremely rare, as a result of a taxpayer who submits a name for consideration (which is often times laundered through the existing ESD Board and / or Fire Chief for their “approval”).  Its incestuous and counter to even the most basic of best practices in local government. 

Compounding the appointment problem is the lack of a term limits and the lack of any standardized training for the new appointee regarding:

o   Primary fiduciary responsibilities to the taxpayer.

o   The law as it relates to the ESD, including tax rates, transparency, accountability, etc.

o   National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards for minimum fire fighting services in the urban/suburban/rural environments.

o   Importance of continually assessing whether to merge or contract out fire protection services to maximize taxpayer value and service quality.

o   The annexation realities for ESD’s that border the City of Austin.

o   The importance of an arms length relationship with their Fire Chief.

Adding to these problems yet again are similar challenges inherent in the organizational culture of each ESD Board (and there are thirteen (13) ESD Boards in Travis County!).  Similar to the imperfections of the political appointment process; organizational culture of the ESD Board has a good side and a bad side. A good ESD board culture provides what Travis County’s appointment process fails to do: educate the new appointee on his/her core responsibilities and legal/ethical duties. It is a on-the-job process that introduces the new appointee to the full scale and scope of his/her duties.  They demonstrate, by their collaborative actions, their fiduciary responsibilities to the taxpayer; the need to be transparent and accountable to the public, the importance of “oversight”; keeping a respectful but arms length relationship with its Fire Chief; thinking strategically beyond its borders and consistently promoting strong, ethical leadership. In similar fashion a bad ESD Board culture strives to indoctrinate the appointee to the Board’s preferences for “doing things”.  This culture considers its primary role as the  “supporter” of its Fire Chief and his agenda, a “rubber stamp” operation that considers the taxpayer a distant or worse, a non-player in Board decisions, disregards transparency and accountability, ignores bad management procedures like blatant nepotism, thinks in the vacuum of its borders and operates as a 17^th century fiefdom.

Lets look at my ESD as a case study of how ESD Board appointments are done and what happens when the County Commissioners do not practice due diligence and instead follow the longstanding ritual of political patronage or worse, expediency for the sake getting the task off the “to do list”.  My ESD is a bit different than most because it sits in two County Commissioner districts, one on the East and one on the West. I sent an open records request to the County Commissioner office who appoints for the western half of the ESD  in late August asking for the following information:

1.  Resumes for each ESD 4 Board Member detailing their work experiences and other expertise that qualifies them to sit on an ESD oversight board.

2.  Document listing each ESD 4 Board Member, date of appointment, who appointed and any training they have acquired to be competent ESD Board Members.

What I got was nothing other than an email from the Commissioners aide indicating appointment dates but no formal resumes for their two appointees, one who is the Board President.  No further explanation was offered on their work experiences and other expertise that qualified these two gentlemen to sit on the ESD 4 Board nor any info on their training.   I did not ask the other County Commissioner for similar info because I doubted his reply would be any more informed or detailed.  All in all, not very encouraging but it does lend some light on why Travis County has issues with its ESD’s.    It’s a good old-boy, wink-wink process without any standards, without any objective / independent verification of an appointee’s qualifications or even the most basic of training on ESD responsibilities.   Sometimes the County Commissioner hits it lucky and gets a great oversight board but as you look at all the 13 ESD Boards you realize a handful of good boards does not offset a similar handful of not so good ESD Boards.  The taxpayers still lose. 

This lack of due diligence in appointment and training can and does create ESD Boards that are unprepared for oversight duties. Examples of poor oversight include:

•        An ESD that spends more than its annual tax revenues.  One ESD last year had a deficit approaching $615,000.   Their auditor posted a warning in the annual audit stating the ESD was in financial peril and will require “very difficult decisions (involving) response times, locations of stations along with adequate staffing”.

•           ESD Boards (there are at least 5 that do this) knowingly operate fire-fighting operation that lack the staffing and resource capacity to manage basic fire fighting for their district.  They offset this lack of capacity by counting on the good will of other adjacent, better staffed, trained and equipped fire departments for “mutual aid”.  The Austin Fire Department has spent over $315,000 in city taxpayer funds to support just one of these ESD’s in repeated “mutual aid” calls.   

•          An ESD Board that allows its Fire Chief to continue to provide a non-essential “training academy” that other agencies already offer in spite of the fact the ESD cannot meet its current fire-fighting mission and is in serious financial distress.     

•            An ESD Board that knowingly allows its Fire Chief to hire his daughter as the department “medical officer” even though the ESD only has only two engines with 3 fire-fighters each, is in financial distress, relies on the Austin Fire Department to cover three (3) of its five (5) response areas (and does not reimburse AFD for their efforts), and out of a 28 member department pays her the 5^th highest salary, just under what their battalion chiefs make and she reports to and is evaluated by her father, the Fire Chief. 

•    An ESD Board that refuses to consider repeated offers from the Austin Fire Department to open negotiations to take over direct fire services for JUST the ESD’s EXISTING TAX REVENUES even though the change would substantially improve the quality and resource depth of fire response, and reduce homeowner insurance rates because the Austin Fire Department has a lower ISO rating than the ESD’s current in-house fire department. 

•        ESD Boards that contract with their local volunteer fire department to provide district fire service do not independently verify if the money they pay to these volunteer departments are being appropriately used.  Additionally, Travis County has NEVER asked the ESD Boards who contract this way to verify the financial integrity of how public tax money is being spent by the volunteer fire departments.  It’s a completely unregulated, unaudited operation. 

• An ESD Board that approved a $1,000,000 remodel of an existing fire station with an annual tax revenue stream of little over $1,000,000 and no financial reserves.  An adjacent (and more fiscally responsible) ESD, built a similar sized station, from the ground up, for only $540,000.  The same ESD Board also approved a lease program for 2 new fire engines and paid their Fire Chief a high five-figure salary to manage one (1) fire station with one (1) engine and crew, then discovered their financials were in such distress  they were forced to drastically reduce services, eventually were pressured to fire their Chief (even though they approved all the expenditures) and seriously considered declaring bankruptcy.   They remain in deep financial trouble.

•         An ESD Board that supported an expenditure for a tricked out rescue vehicle by its contract volunteer fire department, better equipped with advanced rescue tools than most urban professional fire departments, for a coverage area of only 21 square miles, a population of only 14,000, an annual rescue response frequency that can be counted on one or two hands and none of the rescues more challenging than a routine vehicle entrapment.   In contrast, the Austin Fire Department has three rescue trucks for an area of 251 square miles and a population of 793,000 and none of their trucks are as well equipped and they handle over 1200 rescues annually.  Its also worth noting this ESD contract volunteer fire department routinely relies on the Austin Fire Department to provide mutual aid services on fires it cannot manage and never reimburses the Austin Fire Department for their assistance. 

•       An ESD Board with serious service delivery problems with its volunteer fire department that refused a management offer  (for just the existing ESD tax revenues) by an adjoining, financially stable, and professional managed ESD (with one of the best ESD Boards in Travis County) which would have provided them an experienced Fire Chief (they only have a part-time Chief with no executive management experience, paid a whopping $80,000 annually to supervise one fire station with 2 fire-fighters per day), a Chief Financial Officer (they have no CFO), a 24 hour Battalion Chief (they have none), full time professional fire-fighters (they have volunteers) and lots of supplemental fire fighting resources including auto aid with both the Austin Fire Department AND its immediate neighbor Cedar Park Fire Department (which has a fire station substantially closer to the ESD's largest populated suburb). 

There is only one standout example of an exceptional ESD Board,  ESD 11 (South East Travis County).  They know their oversight job, and the board membership represents a variety of business skills and professional credentials that understand the ESD business model and how it must work to efficiently and effectively serve the taxpayer.   The Board is strategic, value partnerships, thinks beyond the district boundaries and is continually seeking to improve the services they provide their taxpayers.  Interestingly, this ESD is part of the Austin Fire Departments “auto-aid” program, the gold standard for area fire departments, which only a handful of ESD’s qualify for.   It’s a gold standard because to qualify an ESD must meet certain training, staffing, equipment and station minimums.  It a quid-pro quo arrangement that saves taxpayers money because it reduces the need to add resources that can already be provided by the other fire department.  Political boundaries are ignored and the closest fire resource is sent to a 9-1-1 call. It is a no question, the cavalry is coming arrangement that saves valuable time and dramatically improves the ability of the departments to respond quickly to an emergency. 

Bottom Line:  The Travis County’s ESD Board appointment process is badly broken and works against the best interest of the taxpayer.  But it’s a symptom of a larger problem; Travis County simply does not need 13 ESD’s, with 13 Boards, 12 Fire Chiefs, 13 administrative staffs, and 13 different performance standards. Its time for Travis County to get serious about its responsibility for county fire services and fix the entire problem.