What the OCFA Board is about to decide

The Board of Directors meets Thursday, October 22, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. in the Board Room of the Regional Fire Operations and Training Center, 1 Fire Authority Road, Irvine. These are pending decisions from the posted agenda — nothing below has been approved yet. Every item links to the official record.

Source: official agenda (PDF) · full staff-report packet (PDF) · ocfa.org Board agendas & minutes · Next regular meeting: Thursday, November 19, 2026, 6:00 p.m.

🔥 A new fire station for Yorba Linda

• What the board is asked to do: “Approve and authorize the Purchasing Manager to execute the proposed Design-Build Services Agreement for OCFA Fire Station 10 in the City of Yorba Linda with EC Constructors, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $22,668,692.” Submitted by Assistant Chief Jim Ruane (Logistics) and Construction and Facilities Manager Julie Samaniego. Item 2D
• The project, per the staff report: “a new two-story Fire Station 10 in Yorba Linda to replace the existing station” — “an approximately 16,160-square-foot facility with four apparatus bays capable of accommodating OCFA’s largest truck and tractor-drawn aerial,” with expanded crew, training, fitness, administrative and sleeping areas. “The existing station will remain operational during construction.” Design is budgeted in FY 2026/27 and construction “is planned for FY 2027/28”; the board approved the project (CIP P503) in the FY 2026/27 CIP budget on May 28, 2026. Staff list the increased cost to the Structural Fire Fund and to cash-contract cities as $0, with funding already in the Logistics Department CIP. Item 2D
• How the firm was picked: a two-step process under Public Contract Code Sections 22160–22169 — a February 11, 2026 request for qualifications that qualified EC Constructors, Bernards, Kemp Bros and AMG & Associates, then an April 16, 2026 RFP to the top three. Final proposals, per the staff report: EC Constructors $22,668,692, Bernards $24,990,537, Kemp Bros $24,415,133, against an engineer’s estimate of $25,000,000. EC Constructors proposed with Coar Design Group; its listed prior work includes OCFA Fire Station 86 and Mission Viejo Fire Station 24. Item 2D

🤝 Two labor side letters and new reimbursement rates

• Chief Officers Association — the one discussion item: “Approve three (3) proposed Side Letters of Agreement between the Orange County Fire Authority and the Chief Officers Association to modify language in Appendix B, Transition of Employment Agreement, Provision 2.A, Article V, Section 10 (Vacation Accruals), Article VI, Section 3.A.2 (Holiday Compensation), and Article 1 Section 7 (Flex Time).” Per the staff report, the changes would (1) credit chiefs who transferred from another fire department (“i.e. Santa Ana or Garden Grove”) with their prior years of service for sick-leave and vacation cashouts, not just accruals; (2) raise vacation accrual for shift Battalion Chiefs and holiday pay for staff Battalion and Division Chiefs to reflect a 1.4 conversion factor between 56-hour and 40-hour workweeks — the redline moves holiday pay for a holiday on a scheduled day off from eight to nine hours; and (3) let Division Chiefs choose to bank flex time (up to 160 hours) or cash it out at 1.5 times base pay, “same as the Battalion Chiefs.” Staff put the fiscal impact at $221,669 for FY 2026/27, funded by the Structural Fire Fund, to be folded into the mid-year budget adjustment; the cash-contract cities’ share “will be included in the FY 2027-28 Budget.” The side letters are drafted for signature by Fire Chief TJ McGovern and COA President Justin Truhill. Item 3A
• Firefighters’ union side letter and reimbursement rates (consent): “Approve and adopt the updated Personnel Cost Reimbursement Rates effective November 1, 2026,” and “Authorize staff to enter into a Side Letter Agreement to the 2023-2027 MOU between the Orange County Fire Authority and the Orange County Professional Firefighters Association to effectuate changes to the incident-related pay provision consistent with the successor MOU approved by the Board of Directors at its September 24, 2026 meeting.” Per the staff report, the successor MOU’s incident-pay language does not take effect until March 19, 2027, so the side letter would put the same language into the current contract “so that personnel pay, and Reimbursement Rates, may go into effect November 1, 2026.” Under it, 56-hour shift personnel on any incident are paid their regular shift rate “inclusive of all regularly assigned pays,” and staff/administrative personnel on out-of-county incidents move to the shift rate after their normal workday ends. Item 2E
• What the rates are: hourly billing rates OCFA charges CAL FIRE, Cal OES, the Cleveland National Forest and others when its people are sent to incidents, plus restitution and special-event standby. The attachment lists the proposed rates by classification with a 17.33% administrative rate; examples from the table: Fire Captain $119.46 (from $107.79), Fire Apparatus Engineer $98.59 (from $88.21), Firefighter $79.84 (from $77.51), Fire Battalion Chief $138.79 (down from $160.72) and Heavy Fire Equipment Operator $108.84 (down from $145.35, which the report attributes to a separate side letter moving that position to a suppression schedule). The fiscal impact “will be based on the number of incidents that occur throughout the year.” The report says the Budget and Finance Committee was to review the item October 14, with its motion reported at this meeting. Item 2E

🪑 Also on consent

• Disaster-aid signatures: a resolution “designating OCFA representatives to file applications for emergency financial assistance,” and authorization for the Clerk to execute Cal OES Form 130 naming the positions of Deputy Chief of Administration and Support Bureau, Assistant Chief of Business Services, or Finance Manager to file state and federal disaster claims “for the next three years.” Per the staff report, the designation is numbered Resolution No. 2026-11, renews one adopted April 22, 2021, and Cal OES requires a fresh resolution every three years; the fiscal impact is “determined by individual incident reimbursement claims.” Item 2C
• Closing an empty pension plan: “close and terminate the Authority’s Extra Help Retirement Plan effective immediately.” Per the staff report, the 1996 plan covered part-time and extra-help employees hired before July 1, 2018; accounts under $3,500 were cashed out, remaining participants moved to the Nationwide 457 (OBRA) plan, and “the legacy plan holds zero funds and has no active participants.” The Human Resources Committee sent it to the board on August 4, 2026 by a 7–0 vote. Item 2B
• Minutes of the September 24, 2026 regular meeting (see below). Item 2A

🔒 Closed session

• Fire Chief: a labor-negotiator conference under Government Code Section 54957.6 with Chair Sweeney, Vice Chair Patel (also Budget and Finance Committee Chair) and Immediate Past Board Chair Bacerra as chief negotiators, position “Fire Chief.” CS3
• Labor negotiations with the Orange County Employee Association, the OCFA Managers Association and the Chief Officers Association, with negotiators Peter Brown of Liebert Cassidy, Robert C. Cortez and Stephanie Holloman. CS4
• Litigation: one case of significant exposure to litigation and one case of possible initiation of litigation. The agenda names no parties. CS1, CS2

📋 Reports, no vote

• Reports from the Budget and Finance Committee and the Human Resources Committee, and the Fire Chief’s report: station open houses, El Niño preparation and a wildland operations presentation by Battalion Chief Matthew Levesque. No presentation items are scheduled; the invocation is by OCFA Chaplain Harry Robinson and the pledge by Director Martinez Franco. Reports A–C, Item 1
• Coming in the next three months, per the agenda’s outlook: the 2027 board and committee calendar, the annual investment policy, the legislative platform, the FY 2026/27 mid-year financial report and 2027 grant priorities. Committee meetings: Human Resources November 3, Budget and Finance November 4, Capital Improvement Program November 5 and Operations November 10, all at noon; the Executive Committee meets November 19 at 5:30 p.m., ahead of the board.

Council Brief summaries are produced from official public records by our automated newsroom and reviewed before publication. Items are described as posted; the council may amend, continue, or remove items at the meeting. Spot an error? hello@councilbrief.com — we publish corrections.