Orcas Fire Commission Receives Results of Organizational Assessment

— by Lin McNulty —

Jim Darling reported back to the Orcas Fire Board of Commissioners at a special meeting held on June 14, 2016. The consultant report was instituted in early May as the Board of Commissioners wanted to take a look at where the department was operationally following the resignation of Fire Chief Mik Preysz.

Darling, with consulting firm Maul Foster Alongi out of Bellingham, was contracted for the study upon recommendation from the fire district counsel. Interviews were conducted by Darling with paid staff, Fire Commissioners, and members of the community.

The report provided the general snapshot the Commissioners were looking for to discover “where we are” and what “we need to do,” says Commissioner Jim Coffin. “We wanted to make sure the department is as lean as could be while staying true to the core of our mission.”

Recommendations (complete report available HERE) include:

1. Create a multi-year operating and capital forecast that includes a realistic equipment and facility plan finance.
2. Combine a strategic goal setting effort with the annual budget consideration.
3. Consider the adoption of a revised organizational structure defining key career staff positions with defined roles.
4. Undertake a pro-active search for a permanent chief.
5. Consider two forecasting strategies during the development of future strategic budgets.
6. Undertake a communication effort to the staff, volunteers, and overall community that addresses as a minimum the following issues:

• Re-affirm with clarity that the District will continue with a right balance of volunteer and career staffing with an emphasis on preserving the volunteer culture.
• The approach and schedule for retaining a chief.
• The approach and process for revisiting the strategic plan and its relationship to the budget.

Cost of the study was $3,000. Coffin says there “a few things we need to do to refine our operation.”