Item 57: Los Angeles Fire Department Letter to Budget and Finance Committee on Mayor's 2008-09 Proposed B
Chief Douglas Barry's response:
Fire· Department Systems Support - Blue Book Item No. 9 ~ Transfer of funding' and 32 regular and 13 resolution authorities from LAFD to the Information Technology Agency (ITA).
While the Fire Department agrees that some consolidation of information technology (IT) is appropriate in such common 'areas as e-mail, records management and other base infrastructure, I strongly oppose and disagree with' transferring our MIS staff to ITA. 'In the past, there have been proposals to consolidate systems support within ITA. However, the conclusion has always been that public safety systems support must remain within the control of the Department in order to ensure the delivery of critical emergency services.
There was no discussion with the Fire Department about this consolidation plan. Therefore, the proposal to consolidate the Fire Department's information technology into ITA fails to address numerous key issues and actually threatens to reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of IT in the Fire Department.
The Department's IT staff provides very unique and specialized support which must remain within the Department's control. Staff must be available 24/7 in case of emergencies. We cannot afford to jeopardize or compromise the safety of our sworn members and the citizens of Los Angeles by going forward with the proposed consolidation plan which fails to take into account the scale and complexity of the Fire Department's IT needs.
I am also very concerned that the Department requested additional systems positions (4) in support of the new dispatch system and that these positions are proposed to be absorbed in ITA. These positions are critical in the detail design, development, transition and implementation of the new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) System as well as maintaining the current 911 production system. Again, this was not discussed with us and will present serious problems in meeting required goals to implement a new dispatch system.
ITA's proposed budget also includes the deletion of off-hours communications equipment installations which will have a very negative impact on our ability to dispatch emergency response vehicles.
Essentially, the LAFD was blindsided by this proposal and they have no faith that ITA can provide the service levels consistent with the public safety needs of the citizens of Los Angeles or the men and women of LAFD entrusted with that public safety.
8 comments:
While the idea of IT Consolidation has merit and in the long run would benefit the City as whole in terms of cost benefits and a sound IT vision, it lacks the substance and credibility for it to be taken seriously by the City's departments. More important, ITA has yet to establish a good reputation for delivery of services for which it already has responsibility. How can any department be convinced that it would not be negatively impacted by this "consolidating move"?
There is a reason why the City's departments have seen their IT staffs increase over the years. They have done so to fill a gap that ITA failed to recognize. ITA has done little to convince the departments that it has the resources and commitment to meet their IT needs better than a department can do for itself.
ITA has to sell itself to each department on a case-by-case basis. Ramming a consolidation down departmental throats will never succeed.
This is why I believe that this consolidation move was the Mayor's idea. It smells of a press release without thoughtful strategy to support any chance of success.
If I were the Fire Dept chief, I wouldn't have trusted ITA either with the safety and responsibility of my people.
This budgeting process is looking more and more like a strawman if not outright a joke.
It does my heart good to see Department Heads standing up to the Mayor and his "take over the world (LAUSD) ideas". Something that our GM (Ms. "Yes Mayor", "How High Mayor?) can't do. There isn't enough money in any department's budget to gear ITA up enough to be able to provide the unique and specialize support these departments demand. Question, when this fails, will he blame Randi or Sally?
A message for Randi.....three strikes and your out!!
Randi seems so clueless. Did she think that these outside departments would not object to being taken over by such a dysfunctional ITA?
Maybe she did see it coming but the mini-mayor told her it's "my way or the highway".
The only thing I know for sure is that Randi is an idiot!!
ITA has no SLA with any of it's customer departments. How can an organization such as ours be so lame as to continue to operate with no standards and then propose to consolidate IT City-wide. We have got some serious yard cleaning to do before venturing to tackle such a scheme.
So how do you enforce a SLA? Three strikes for ITA and department gets to outsource?
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