2023-03-23 Fire Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes March 23, 2023 Page 6 commission. Chief Todd stated he has no control over that and he believes her budget is under the Mayor's budget. Ms. Correa stated her position is under the Police Department's budget. Chief Todd stated to his belief, Fire Commission meetings are far less contentious than the Police Commission's and that Fire was just an add -on. He stated he doesn't know if the Fire Commission has enough work for a full-time position, and he has no idea what the secretary does. DCC Tiapula stated the question would be, who is her backup if she's out? Vice Chair Wolf agrees and asked if Ms. Correa has an assistant. DCC Tiapula explained that Ms. Correa changed her vacation plans because of our meeting which we later canceled. Chief Todd stated the Police Department didn't think that the Police Commission's secretary should be under the Police Department's budget. There was a discussion about a year or two ago about moving the secretary's salary over to the Mayor's office. He further stated the Mayor's office used to handle the clerical and/or secretary duties for boards and commissions, you would have a pool of people and if one of them is out, another would cover. He's not sure about the status of this and stated he will talk to the Police Chief about it. Vice Chair Wolf stated at least have an assistant, just in case Ms. Correa is unavailable. Commissioner Nakashima asked if the mechanic shop and Chopper 1 are housed in an inundation area, in Waiakea. Chief Todd stated it is. Commissioner Nakashima asked if he knew there was land up in Waiakea Uka where you could build a new mechanic shop. Chief Todd stated he has paperwork going to the State to convert 5 acres next to the transit building. DCC Tiapula advised this should be agendized. Chief Todd stated a new repair facility was built for the Department of Transportation near the Hilo transfer station before you reach the racetrack. They have paperwork that basically claims the 5 acres right next to that facility and would build a mirror of it which would be for repairs, maintenance, etc. This could also be a relocation site for the Waiakea Fire Station because it's currently in an inundation area. He further explained Central Station is being moved into the old YWCA or YMCA Head Start property across from the Mormon Church. This will be temporary until they can refurbish the existing Central Station, and hopefully start construction of a new station. That building could then be used as a training facility where they're not worried about it being in an inundation area. His concern is that Central and Station 2 are in a tsunami area. Central will also be designed as a dual station, there would be four bays and two different dorms. The idea is to run two stations out of one. There's also a federal grant system for an EOC and he plans to work on this in the future. They're building a new dispatch center on Mohouli, and the best thing they can put on the property behind it would be a