North County RFA reports acceptable response times, recruiting and a payroll true-up that generated roughly $350,000 in notices

Dave Kresge, representing the North County Regional Fire Authority (RFA), delivered the RFAquarterly report and said data returned late to staff. He said Arlington-related data show Station 48 was the busiest station with 1,305 calls in the fourth quarter and that city limits produced 579 hospital transports for Q4. "Our response times ... are all within our standard of cover," Kresge said.

Kresge said unit-hour utilization and mutual-aid balances are within acceptable ranges. The RFA is recruiting for an assistant chief of operations (position vacant for about a year) and expects to fill that role around April 1. He also said the board adopted the budget for the year.

On payroll, Kresge described a multi-month payroll analysis that uncovered pay-rate errors and unpaid step increases dating to the RFA merger on Aug. 1, 2021. He said line staff recently received true-up notices totaling about $350,000 and that administrative staff and prior employees remain to be processed. "For perspective on that day, it was about $350,000," he said of notices issued the prior week. He described the project as legally required and near completion.

Kresge also recounted the RFA's outreach and volunteer events: a record season for holiday food drives (over 20,000 pounds collected systemwide; nearly 16,000 pounds in Arlington) and upcoming promotional testing and retirements that will trigger multiple internal promotions.

Next steps: the RFA will complete the payroll corrections, continue recruitment for operations leadership, and proceed with promotional testing and other operational planning.