Rarely can government departments be combined and result in both saving taxpayer expenditures and being made more effective, but that is the prognosis of a new city administrative study. Heads of the city’s fire and emergency departments are open to such a move, as they should be, and should implement it as soon as feasible.
Administrators have known of the need for improvements since a 1992 study found that the Emergency Medical Services Division of the city’s Emergency Services Department was "highly inefficient and operating in some parts of the island at close to a breaking point." The new study by Oregon-based Emergency Services Consulting International released this week concluded that the same structural problems exist in that division today, while the department’s Ocean Safety Lifeguard Services Division "is a world leader in ocean safety" that could withstand and "may be enhanced" by the merger.
The ESCI study found that the consolidation "has the potential to significantly improve the delivery of emergency medical services currently being provided by the various organizations" while saving as much as $10 million over five years. That would be the result of combining various functions of the present agencies.
The study warned that the United Public Workers, the union for emergency services employees, "has multiple and significant economic incentives to maintain the status quo." A merger would cause consideration of changes in the 2013 UPW contract, forced not by the merger but by "challenging financial conditions, personnel shortages and operational considerations," it added. Emergency services paid $4.9 million for overtime during the 2010 fiscal year, equivalent to 43 percent of the regular salary budgeted, the study pointed out. That reveals an inefficiency that must be remedied.
Honolulu Fire Chief Kenneth Silva and Emergency Services Director James Ireland told the City Council on Tuesday that the merger of their departments could work well. Ireland said the savings resulting from the merger could be used to hire more employees. Some of the urban Honolulu ambulances respond to 23 calls a day, he said, compared with 12 calls a day that keep ambulances busy in other U.S. cities.
Indeed, the study praised "the dedication of the personnel who continue to deliver quality health care in a system that relies on an inefficient service delivery model and is constrained by minimum staff career opportunities and frequent turnover."
Besides possible union reluctance, the study says "distinct cultural differences" between the two departments and other changes will need to be overcome to bring them together. Well, it’s high time to start the cooperation and coordination. The savings and the improvement in the city’s vital services are worth the merger within the next three to five years recommended by the study and that should have been made nearly two decades ago.
