The City of Vancouver, Washington, prepares an annual Performance Report containing citywide performance measurements and departmental snapshots. The city has been awarded the International City Manager’s Association (ICMA) Certificate of Excellence for its focus on using performance data to inform decisions throughout the organization, and the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) Gold Award for Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting for clear and comprehensive annual reporting of key performance areas to the public. Following are excerpts from the 2011 fire department performance snapshot.

Required

a. Examine the following taxpayer performance snapshot. In what areas did the fire department perform well? If you are a citizen of Vancouver, what are your concerns with the fire department’s performance?

b. Compare and contrast the City of Vancouver’s fire department performance measures to the City of Bellevue’s fire department performance measures found in Illustration 12–6.

c. As fire chief, you have been informed that next year’s budget will be 10 percent lower than the current year’s budget. Discuss how you might balance performance measures and budget reductions.

CITY OF VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON, PERFORMANCE REPORTS

2011 Fire Department Performance Snapshot

Why We Exist: We provide highly trained professionals, well-equipped to respond effectively to the education, prevention, and emergency response needs of our community.

1. Top Accomplishments and Challenges this year

a. Call volume reduction efforts undertaken with the Clark County Medical Program Director resulted in a reduction of 4000 calls for our personnel.

b. Responded to 23,113 total calls for emergency service, call volume down nearly 900.

c. Station 10 opened with service January 18, 2010.

d. Station 6 closed at the end of 2010.

e. Ongoing and focused overtime mitigation reduced overtime by 44%

f. Collaborated with American Medical Response (AMR) to establish an exchange program for medical supply items at the scene of an incident.

g. Last 2-person EMS rescue vehicle removed from service in 2010 due to budget cuts.

h. New database, dispatch system and reporting tools at CRESA (911 center) changed how times are calculated; “pre-alerts” for medical calls are no longer possible, adding from 30 to 90 seconds of additional time to reported response time despite lower call volume.

2. Key Performance Measures

“Community System Response” is from initial call until the first unit arrives; “Response times” are from Fire unit notification by CRESA until first unit arrival; 911 center (CRESA) “call response time” adds about 1.5 to 2 minutes.