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Consultant presents police and fire organizational reviews; recommends standards, chief recruitment and new funding models for MUDs
Summary
CLEAR Career Professionals presented organizational reviews of the Josephine Fire and Police departments, recommending a TCFP‑qualified fire chief and a discretionary-time model for policing staffing. Consultants also proposed moving MUD cost recovery to an ad valorem fee model to scale with development.
A consulting team led by CLEAR Career Professionals presented an organizational review of Josephine’s emerging career fire department and its police department on July 14.
Fire department: The report recommended hiring a Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP)‑qualified fire chief with five to 10 years’ experience, adopting NFPA standards (references to NFPA 1720/1710 standards were cited) to benchmark readiness and creating a strategic roadmap toward full‑time staffing. Consultants recommended aligning the budget with service levels and equipment life cycles, tracking training records, and addressing equipment and maintenance needs such as SCBA and apparatus contracts.
Police department: The consultants praised recent accomplishments (policy management and e‑citing rollout) and recommended a staffing model based on “discretionary time” versus a simple population ratio. The consultants reported Josephine officers spent about 61% of on‑duty time on discretionary (self‑initiated) activity and recommended monitoring that measure and adding staff if discretionary time falls toward 40%. The report urged development of a scalable investigative service, background‑check timing refinements and a succession/leadership development plan for sergeants and lieutenants.
Cost recovery for MUDs: The team examined three models to fund public‑safety services provided to municipal utility districts: (1) a flat per‑home fee (current model, $35/month cited), (2) a hybrid base fee plus per‑service charge, and (3) an ad valorem fee tied to property valuation. Consultants recommended transitioning to an ad valorem approach (example model 0.0025 per $100 valuation) because it scales with home values and development. Staff said they will pause a full switch pending the outcome of an Emergency Services District (ESD) discussion and proposed in the near term to charge MUDs for both personnel and operations rather than personnel only.
Next steps: Consultants will deliver the full written reports to the city; staff and council can use the analyses to scope hiring, training and long‑term funding decisions. No formal council action was taken at the July 14 meeting; staff said the full reports would be available within days.
