2023-02-23 Fire Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes February 23, 2023 Page 2 staffing, they're looking to maintain this program. This is intended to be a temporary program. 51st Recruit Class: The 51st recruit class graduated on January 13t". The ceremony was held at Nani Mau Gardens. Fire Communications Officer Honored: Fire Communications Officer II, Jacob Nixon, was honored on January 19t" by the Aloha Exchange Club of Hilo. He was recognized for going above and beyond the call of duty in helping locate and rescue two lost hikers. Six-Month Program Budget Review: In January they did a six-month program budget review to track and manage HFD's financial performance. They made basic changes to their minimum staffing. Their goal is 105 minimum staffing per day, as opposed to 107. Chief Todd also met with the county auditor this month and they are moving ahead with better financial measuring systems. Commissioner Mattos confirmed that they're cutting two personnel staff to manage the budget. He stated that he visited the station, saw the memo, and was told he was cutting from district 7 and district 14. He wanted to know why he decided to cut from those two stations in West Hawaii and none from the other stations. Chief Todd stated the position is their extra firefighter position. It's not that they're saying that position isn't going to be staffed, it actually is, it's just not the minimum staff, which means they will not recall if that person is out on leave, such as vacation or sick. Commissioner Mattos asked if firefighters are going to be paid overtime to work in dispatch. Chief Todd stated no, they will pull potentially 8-12 guys off the line. Commissioner Mattos asked if he will minimize the staff. Chief Todd explained minimum staffing will remain at 105. Personnel working in dispatch will be working straight shifts, and those filling in for the vacancies will be working overtime. Chair Kosaki referred to the expenditure report and stated the training overtime is really high. He wanted to know if that was because of the recruit class, are they using personnel and allocating that to training? Chief Todd stated he needs to double-check that. Chair Kosaki stated the report says the training overtime was 900% over. Chief Todd said that might be an error and will double-check. He further explained there's a lot of data in there and is hoping as they move forward with the new system, he'll be able to show the commission real-time analytics. • Budget Report: Chief Todd referred to HFD's budget statistics for fiscal year 22-23 and reported that their numbers are a little high, but are correcting their salaries and wages. State-Funded Budget Items: The fiscal year 2023 budget for the State EMS grant is looking good. There is a total of seven ambulances on the way. Five ambulances