2022-04-13 Fire Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes April 13, 2022 Page 4 block to help HFD meet the department's performance, mission, and public expectations. He stated that their staffing is limited, his goal is to get some officer training and funding to open a Program Manager/Data Analyst position, whose job would be to start the process of getting the department accredited. Developing a master plan would require a third -party consultant and would help HFD establish a long-term vision plan. Recommendation on vehicles: Planning maintenance and replacement. It is recommended that HFD implement a comprehensive vehicle profile. They would need to develop a master vehicle list. Issue is with staffing, they only have six mechanics and no other staff working in the mechanic area for vehicle maintenance. Chief Todd's goal is to have software and a Clerk III position who would track the data. Facility maintenance and repair: The audit covers 20 fire stations, 18 volunteer fire stations, a maintenance shop, 2 warehouses and 15 lifeguard towers. They recommended that HFD work with their fire captains to develop a system to compile and maintain a master list of work order items. Tyler Benner stated that there is a shared responsibility between Department of Public Works (DPW) and HFD. If HFD isn't reporting issues to DPW, nothing is going to get fixed. There needs to be communication from the stations and mechanics up to administration. A master list of facility needs will help gain a better understanding of what is broken, what is breaking and how long it's taking to fix things. HFD could prioritize projects and leverage similar items into more cost effective repairs. Chief Todd's goal is to have a Clerk III who will be in the warehouse to assist with tracking of all repairs and maintenance. They will be getting three clerk positions. One would be located in the West Hawaii Civic Center, this position will be assigned to prevention and would take the role of being their administrative staff in West Hawaii. Another clerk would be assigned to training and will be responsible for setting up appointments and the tracking of all training. The other clerk is intended to be an administrative clerk, who will assist Ocean Safety or will help their warehouse manage orders & replacements, assist mechanics with tracking of vehicles, maintaining the master equipment list, and work with dispatch with recording requests. Staffing recommendations: It is recommended that HFD pilot a relief pool program to control overtime expenditures while better meeting NFPA standards. Mr. Benner went over the report, which showed the five largest categories of overtime: Work on holiday, work on day off rank -for -rank, work on day off, worked over 8, and scheduled overtime differential. Six positions account for over 88% of the overtime: Battalion Chief, Fire Captain, Fire Equipment Operator, Firefighter, Fire Rescue Specialist, and Fire/EMS Specialist II. He stated this isn't any indication that these positions are abusing it, they just represent that composition of the workforce. In FY 2021, the county paid over $7.8 million in overtime wages, $1.6 million in earned sick and $2.5 million in earned vacation time.