The Town Council has approved separate professional service agreements with consultants to evaluate the town’s contracts for public safety services for the Town of Fountain Hills. McGrath Consulting will receive $40,000 to study the emergency medical and fire service agreement with Rural/Metro Corp. and Matrix Consulting will receive $79,000 to evaluate the agreement with Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) for law enforcement services.

The town has an annual cost of $9.2 million for both of these public safety contracts, which is about half of the town’s operating budget each year. Early in 2021 at the annual council retreat there were discussions regarding the costs related to these operations and various alternative models that might offer savings. Town Manager Grady Miller suggested the town undertake the professional evaluation of each service to review long-term recommendations related to service delivery and costs.

“While the town has enjoyed outstanding law enforcement services from (MCSO) and fire/emergency medical services from Rural/Metro, it is important for the town to periodically evaluate these contractual services to ensure that the community is receiving the best available services at the lowest cost,” Miller said in his report to the council.

In relation to Rural/Metro, the vendor will provide a comparison of costs between maintaining the current contract, entering into an intergovernmental agreement with another municipality and the anticipated costs to the town to provide the services directly.

As part of the evaluation the consultant will interview individual council members and key stakeholders. The firm will also hold one or more public meetings to seek input on fire department services in Fountain Hills.

Matrix will use a similar method of study in reviewing the town’s intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with MCSO. Miller said he would also be looking at options or ideas for improving the existing IGA with the Sheriff’s Office, specifically in regard to staffing.

Both reports will include an executive summary, methodology, cost analysis, relevant data and conclusions from similar studies, conclusions and recommendations from the consultants.

Councilwoman Sharron Grzybowski said council members can expect to hear from residents who say they spend too much money on consultants.

“It is important that we emphasize the need to rely on professionals to get us the right information,” Grzybowski said.

Councilman Mike Scharnow agreed, saying “We have to use objective third-party to weigh in and get answers from an independent source.”

The vote on each agreement was a unanimous 7-0.