2022-12-07 Fire Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes December 7, 2022 Page 3 Chief Todd noted that the budget was submitted for the next fiscal year. It was due on October 15, 2022. He also explained that they have been looking at ways to change the limitations to comp time. • Alternative Funding and Grants: Chief Todd stated that most of their grants continue as is. There aren't many updates, with the exception of CBDG, the community development grant. HFD received initial approval to apply for five brush trucks and three ex vehicles, those applications were put together and submitted to the Department of Housing. Another grant they are working on is the USDA Forest Service Grant, he's waiting on the specs for the new brush truck, so it can go out for bid. It primarily focuses on volunteers; volunteer equipment and supplies. • Personnel Report: Chief Todd referenced a change to the report, they added a calendar to show an overview for the calendar year, which shows when FEO tests are scheduled. Secretary Leanne Kapahu will be retiring at the end of the year. An Account Clerk has been promoted to Accountant I. They are looking to fill the third Accountant I position shortly. firefighter recruit class interviews have been completed. They are looking to hire in June or July 2023, when they anticipate having 20 vacant firefighter positions. They created a new position which is a Fire/EMS recruit, the goal of this position is to recruit paramedics. They're in the process of asking the County Council for ten job position numbers. They are also in the process of moving the WSOs to full-time, this is currently still in discussion with the union. • Operations Performance Report: Chief Todd referred to a data chart that covers the key performance indicators in terms of response time, total call volume, where they expect to be by the end of the year, and vacancies. He stated HFD currently has nine or ten vacancies. • Total Calls for Service (Calendar Year): Chief Todd reported that in 2018 there were 25,331 calls for service, in comparison to 26,869 in 2019, 25,015 in 2020, 27,398 in 2021, and this year they are expecting 29,357 for the calendar year 2022, based on estimates. • Response Times (Calendar Year): Chief Todd stated HFD's response times are not doing great, but the first step to improvement is to measure. In the long term, he would like to get dashboards inside every fire station, as they're responding to calls, they can see their shift's response time and see where they stand based on the national average. Sometimes they stage at the station, so the response doesn't technically start because they're waiting for police to get on the scene, they could be sitting there for 20-30 minutes which affects the response time. They're currently trying to figure out whether their accounting of times they use to run the report is drawing good data.