2022-04-13 Fire Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes April 13, 2022 Page 3 things under programs, as previously everything was under fire protection. The goal of restructuring is to align dollars spent towards purpose/source. Breakdown by program for outcome tracking: fire suppression, fire prevention, training, volunteer program, support (auxiliary), grants and other funds. • FY 2022-2023 they are looking at a total budget of $56,343,977. Further changes are expected over the next month. EMS (estimated) budget is $15,749,211, there's currently a bill to increase OCE by $1.2 million. Total contract is $21.9 million. Funding for EMS is 100% provided by the State of Hawaii. Ocean Safety: In Hawaii County, there were about 3 million beach visitors last year. Compared to Maui and Kauai, they do more beaches, they have more towers, but they have the same amount of staff. The other counties have a chief/managing officer, a training position and support staff. They also have 4 or 5 captains and 4 to 8 lieutenants. HFD's goal is to increase Ocean Safety's staff. The biggest issue is OCE vs salaries and wages. They are technically budgeted at 96% for salaries & wages and 4% for OCE. The state froze any expenditures on their budget for OCE, 3% of that comes from the state, so their actual budget for OCE is 1 %. Fire response: Funding is a little over $30 million. HFD has 20 Fire Stations, so that comes out to $1.5 million per fire station. In comparison to other counties — Maui Fire Department's funding is at $42,811,396 for 14 Fire Stations. Kauai Fire Department is at $28,921,245 for 8 Fire Stations. Honolulu Fire Department is at $141,758,816 for 44 Fire Stations. • Based on the total numbers of county paid firefighters, divided by the number of stations and shifts, there is 4.25 paid staffing positions per shift/station. Maui Fire Department has 7.11, Kauai has 5.91, and Honolulu has 8.25. Honolulu has the ability to drop down 70 personnel a day without recall. If HFD had additional personnel, if they could bring their number from 4.25 to 6 or 7, their minimum staffing could remain the same without hitting overtime. Causes of overtime: Sick leave, vacation, major events, FMLA, injury (workers comp), ghost positions, vacant positions, and training. Recess was called at 10:44 am. The meeting reconvened at 10:58 a.m. AUDIT PRESENTATION Fire Chief Todd and County Auditor, Tyler Benner highlighted items from HFD's performance audit. • Chief Todd stated that the first major section of the audit covers two recommendations: HFD works towards CFAI accreditation and that the department develops a master plan. Pursuing accreditation will serve as a foundational building