The Alameda County Fire Department (ACFD) has been providing high-quality fire and emergency response services to the City of Union City since 2010. The current agreement, Contract No. C5708, executed in February 2021 (Attachment 1), is set to expire on June 30, 2025, and includes an option to extend the terms for an additional five years. There are no significant staffing or service changes proposed by this contract extension.

Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute the First Amendment to the Agreement with the Alameda County Fire Department for continued fire and emergency services.

The Alameda County Fire Department (ACFD) was established in 1993 to provide fire protection and emergency services to the unincorporated areas of Alameda County. ACFD is governed by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, which serves as its Board of Directors. Since its formation, five cities and two laboratories—San Leandro, Dublin, Newark, Union City, Emeryville, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory—have contracted with ACFD.  Union City first entered into a five-year service agreement with ACFD in 2010.

Union City previously contracted with the City of Fremont for fire services from 1994 to 2001.  The Union City Fire Department was reestablished for nine years from 2001 to 2010 and in 2010 the City entered into a contract with ACFD for fire and emergency response services. The primary motivation for Union City to transition to ACFD was cost savings and an expanded service network.

The initial contract with ACFD covered 2010-2015.  As the City approached the 2015 renewal, an evaluation of fire service was prepared.  While it was evident that ACFD was providing excellent service, certain administrative concerns remained, specifically:

1) Governance: the need for mechanisms that allowed contract cities to provide input and influence decision-making by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

2) Unfunded Liabilities of Retiree Healthcare: retired ACFD employees, with at least five years of service, are provided with healthcare benefits for themselves and their families.

To evaluate alternative service models and ensure continued alignment with the City’s best interests, the City Council authorized an agreement with Citygate Associates to conduct a Fire Services Alternatives Study. The study evaluated other potential service models and concluded that remaining with ACFD was the most beneficial option for the City. Based on these findings, the City Council directed staff to negotiate a new agreement with ACFD that addressed the identified concerns.

The ACFD contract was extended for an additional five years from 2015-2020.  In 2018 the City Council engaged the Center for Public Safety Management (CPSM) to evaluate the delivery of fire services in Union City.  The purpose of the analysis was to review the effectiveness of the fire services and consider modifications to the ACFD contract to reduce costs while providing a high level of service.

CPSM reviewed data from ACFD and, as a result of CPSM’s evaluation, the City Council voted to amend the ACFD contract to close Station 30.  One of the primary factors in the City Council’s decision was the conclusion of the CPSM report that Station 30 handled 1.7 runs per day with a total deployment time of 33.2 minutes per day. The CPSM report indicated that Station 30 could close, and the remaining three stations would provide acceptable levels of service to the residents. Another significant factor was that the closure of the station would save the City $3.2 million annually (now equivalent to $4.462 million in 2024).  Station 30 closed in January 2020 and an updated contract with ACFD was fully executed in February 2021 reflecting that change.  Fire equipment and apparatus from Fire Station 30 were dispersed to other stations in Union City.

Today, Station 30 is used for maintenance and storage of the emergency mobile command unit and as a layover station for Falck Ambulance.  The facility is also used as a voting station, a community meeting space, and project management offices for City construction projects. 

Overview of Services

Section 3 of the contract defines the scope of services, which will remain unchanged.  The City is responsible for the three fire station facilities and equipment and ACFD provides the staffing under the contract.  There are three companies in Union City, with three personnel at each station that provide 24/7 coverage.  In total there are 27 firefighters assigned to Union City across three shifts.  Union City shares fifty percent of the cost for three battalion chiefs for Battalion 7 and also pays the proportional share of Deputy Chief Thomas and Chief McDonald.

ACFD also provides Fire Prevention services including one Fire Marshal (shared allocation among cities), one Deputy Fire Marshal (full-time), and one code compliance officer (full-time).  The City provides office space and clerical support for filing, records requests, record keeping, scheduling, and billing, among other administrative tasks.  The Fire Prevention staff provide:

• Fire code administration
• Fire inspections
  •  General inspections
  •  Mandated inspections
  •  Construction inspections
  •  Operational permit inspections
  •  Business inspections (including fireworks)

• Pre-development review
• Plan review (plan check)
•  Weed abatement, and
•  Fire investigations

Modifications to Agreement

Modifications to the agreement include:

• Exhibit 3A, Updates the Union City Fire Apparatus, Vehicle and Equipment Inventory.
•  Exhibit 5A, Updates the Union City 5-year Cost Projections Provided by ACFD.
•  Exhibit 6A, Updates the actuarial valuation with June 30, 2023 GASB 75 Actuarial Valuation”
•  Section 5(a)(3): Replaces “Local 55A and 55B” with “Local 55A, 55B, and 55C” to reflect the inclusion of Fire Dispatchers, a newly represented employee group under Alameda County Firefighters Local 55.6.
•  Section 5.b.4.D: Updates the reference from “GASB 43” to “GASB 75,” aligning with The anticipated cost of fire services under the First Amendment is included in the 2024–2026 Biennial Budget within the General Fund – Fire Services appropriation.

Quality of Services Report

As part of the contract update, ACFD provided a Quality of Services report that includes a summary of services and response times, as well as a summary of the cost for services (see Attachment 2).

There is no impact to the City’s FY 2025-2026 and FY 2026-2027 Biennial Budget.  The projected costs, as noted below, have been included in the proposed budget.  

FY 2025-2026: $15,338,949

FY 2026-2027: $15,823,295

FY 2027-2028: $16,512,026

FY 2028-2029: $17,200,541

FY 2029-2030: $17,743,084

The projected costs of the entire five-year contract are expected to increase from $14,479,895 at the end of FY 2024-2025 to $17,743,084 in FY 2029-2030, an increase of $3,263,189 over the five-year contract.  These costs will be incorporated into the City's long-range financial forecast. 

Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute the First Amendment to the Agreement with the Alameda County Fire Department for fire and emergency services.