To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Norris w. Croom III, Fire Chief
Title
Resolution Approving the Town of Castle Rock Fire and Rescue Department Community Driven Strategic Plan, Amended 2020-2024 Edition
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
The Castle Rock Fire and Rescue Department (CRFD) has been an internationally accredited agency through the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) agency since 2012. A central part of the department’s continuous process improvement efforts is having a Strategic Plan that represents an understanding of the community’s expectations, concerns, and priorities. The Department actively sought community feedback as the basis for establishing the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan. The plan provides a guide for the department’s continuous improvement over the next five years. This plan will be reviewed and updated on annual basis to reflect the department’s and Town’s ongoing effort in an attempt to keep services consistent with our goals, objectives, and growth. The Amended 2020 - 2024 Strategic Plan provides the community with a summary of the progress made on all Strategic Goals.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
Outreach to the community was accomplished through a series of seven open houses conducted throughout the community, direct surveying of the open house participants, and, for the first time, an online survey.
The Public Safety Commission previously reviewed the Strategic Plan, to include the processes used in its development, approved the plan by unanimous vote, and recommended adoption.
History of Past Town Council, Boards & Commissions, or Other Discussions
The Department has maintained a strategic plan since 2010 when the Town adopted the 2010 - 2015 Community Driven Strategic Plan and approved its annual amendments. The 2016 - 2019 Strategic Plan was an extension of the Department’s continuous process improvement efforts and contributed to our ongoing goal of providing exceptional service to our community, and remaining an internationally accredited agency. The current Strategic Plan was adopted by Town Council on January 21st, 2020 via resolution 2020-010.
Discussion
The Castle Rock Fire and Rescue Department (CRFD) has been an internationally accredited agency through the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) agency since 2012. A central part of the department’s continuous process improvement efforts is having a Strategic Plan that represents an understanding of the community’s expectations, concerns and priorities. The Department actively sought community feedback as the basis for establishing the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan, and then conducted an internal assessment on how to best address the stated priorities. This plan provides a guide for the Department’s continuous improvement over the next five years, and it will be reviewed and updated on an annual basis to reflect the department’s and Town’s ongoing effort in an attempt to keep services consistent with goals, objectives and growth.
The Strategic Plan identifies the top community expectations which are:
1. Well trained personnel through training and education
2. Adequate response times
3. Adequate staffing
It also identifies the top community concerns, which are:
1. Keeping pace with growth and development
2. Ensuring sufficient staffing
3. Ensuring appropriate resource deployment
4. Adequate funding
Through the survey, the Strategic Plan establishes the community’s service priorities, which are:
1. Emergency Medical Services
2. Fire Suppression
3. Wildland Fire Suppression
4. Fire Prevention
5. Technical Rescue
6. Hazardous Materials Response and Mitigation
7. Domestic Preparedness
8. Public Education
9. Fire Investigation
Keeping the community expectations and concerns in mind, the department’s internal stakeholders group developed six strategic goals for the Department to focus on over the next five years. Those goals are:
1. Improve and update the Fire Training Center (Community Expectation #1)
• In-process
2. Plan and Implementation of Fleet Service and Logistics Facility (Community Concern #3)
• In-Process
3. Develop and Implement a Comprehensive Wildland Mitigation Program through the Creation of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (Community Expectation #2 and Community Concern #1 and #3)
• In-Process
4. Review and Update Software and Hardware Technologies (Community Expectations #1-3 and Community Concerns #1 and #3)
• In-Process
5. Develop a Special Operations Management Plan (Community Expectations #1-3)
• Complete
6. Equip All Facilities to Minimize Return-to-Service Times and Provide for the Ongoing Health and Wellness of Department Members (Community Expectations #2 and #3)
• Complete
In reviewing these goals, the internal stakeholder group agreed that these directly impact the community’s expectations and concerns, and once completed, they should have a positive impact for not only the community, but the department as well.
Budget Impact
While the adoption of the Amended 2020- 2024 Strategic Plan has no impact on the budget, the Strategic Goals have potential to impact the Fire and Rescue Department’s budget. If there are any budgetary impacts as a result of the goals within the Amended 2020 - 2024 Strategic Plan, they will be addressed through the normal budget process.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends adopting the Amended 2020 - 2024 Strategic Plan.
Proposed Motion
“I move to approve the Resolution as introduced by title.”
Attachments
Attachment A: Resolution
Exhibit 1: Amended 2020 - 2024 Amended Strategic Plan