The Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department would keep answering fire and medical calls at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Livermore through next spring under a short extension the Pleasanton City Council takes up Tuesday.
The current contract between the VA and the city of Livermore began Nov. 1, 2023, and runs out Oct. 31, with a ceiling of $4,574,784. The VA has proposed adding six months, through April 30, 2027, for another $792,564, bringing the total to $5,367,348, according to a staff report in the council's Oct. 20 agenda packet. Nothing else in the contract would change.
The item sits on the consent calendar, which the agenda describes as routine matters that may be passed in one motion. The resolution would authorize Pleasanton's city manager, acting as joint executive director of the fire department's joint powers authority, to sign the extension.
How the arrangement started
Alameda County Fire Department used to cover the VA campus, mainly from its Station 8 on College Avenue in Livermore, with the joint department helping when called under an automatic aid agreement. In 2012 the county moved Station 8's crew to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the VA turned to the nearest provider, the Livermore-Pleasanton department, the report says.
Calls there are answered with units from both cities.
Who gets the money
The VA's payments are divided between Livermore and Pleasanton under a revenue-sharing agreement the two cities signed in October 2023. Under that agreement, Livermore covers the full cost of a fourth firefighter position, equal to three full-time employees, and keeps all of the extra VA funding meant to pay for it.
Staff say the added cost of providing the service is covered by the matching increase in VA revenue.
