2023-01-26 Fire Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 3 Now that he's done it the way it's always been done, there's a good chance, the next time they host the chief's conference, they're going to go in a different direction. Budget: Salaries are projected to be about 5% over by the end of the year. They will probably adjust the minimum staffing temporarily for the end of the year. It's within their ability to adjust and redirect and by the end of the year, they should be in line. Raises kicked in summer time, and they need to retro everyone's salaries, but it's not factored into their current budget. HFD currently has only seven dispatchers and may be losing another during the summer. They're currently communicating with HFFA, HGEA, as well as DHR about placing firefighters in dispatch. That also means they would be pulling potentially eight firefighters off the line. The basic layout has gone to DHR, they approved it and are now waiting for HFFA and HGEA. The model is based on Honolulu fire dispatchers' who are firefighters and run a similar schedule. This will be temporary until they can get enough HGEA employees trained and discontinue this program. Chair Kosaki confirmed that this will be on an interim basis or emergency basis until HFD can get more dispatchers. Chief Todd stated yes, firefighters go through a year of training and understand their process, but a problem with new dispatchers is that they know nothing about the department, and takes about a year for them to get up to speed. The plus of taking a firefighter and having them be a dispatcher is that they've already gotten most of the training, they just need to learn the computer system. The turnaround time to take a firefighter and train them to use that computer and put them in dispatch is a lot faster, they estimate two months of computer training. Commissioner Mattos asked if this will be voluntary. Chief Todd stated initially it will be voluntary, depending on how many people are interested. He explained the schedule and everything else will match Honolulu's and Honolulu has a waiting list of guys interested in working in dispatch. Chief Todd stated this could also potentially throw salaries and wages off because it's not in the budget. On the Ocean Safety side of the State funding, HFD is still not allowed to purchase equipment, but he went to the legislature last week Thursday. He met with the Kauai Fire Department's Chief, the finance chair, the majority leader, and everyone who represents our island. He planted a lot of seeds and is hopeful that some of the things they spoke about happen. • Alternative Funding & Grants: Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) federal grant is the same. HFD has another $40K with the USDA, Forest Service, which is a volunteer fire assistance grant. They are still spending down the previous year's grant. HFD also has this year's grant, which is $156K and they're moving ahead with a variety of things. Not mentioned in the report, but he just