2023-05-25 Fire Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes May 25, 2023 Page 2 personnel. On April 14t" the administration staff participated in DiSC training, which is a personality assessment tool. • Budget: Chief Todd referred to the Fire Chief's Report. Salaries show 104%, and he explained part of that is due to the salary raises. They are exactly where they're supposed to be, funding was transferred over and everything will end up even. • Alternative Funding & Grants: HFD applied for another Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant. They put in for another 12 firefighter positions through SAFER and got approval on that. The next USDA Forest Service Grant was submitted for $250,000, matched by next year's fiscal budget, which ends up being half a million, which they'll put towards volunteers and the purchase of three more brush trucks. Regarding the SAFER Grant, Chair Kosaki wanted to know where the positions will be allocated. Chief Todd explained it's for firefighter positions, he doesn't have the numbers in front of him, but explained there are two stations that run with three people on the engine. Chair Kosaki stated he read it was for six captain positions. Chief Todd explained that was for the current SAFER Grant which was already approved, it's been existing for a year and a half. They applied for a new SAFER Grant for another 12 firefighter positions. Chair Kosaki asked how long the SAFER Grant pays, Chief Todd replied three years. Chair Kosaki asked if they have a shortage of budget after the three-year period, what would be the plan, and would certain positions be unfunded? Chief Todd stated no and explained that the older SAFER systems were designed where you couldn't un-fund positions. Technically with the new SAFER Grant, he could fire everyone at the end of three years. The premise by which he got approval was that they would basically add those people into staffing after that three-year period. The goal would be to add 12 firefighter positions if approved. The next recruit class would start in February or August of next year. There are also grants for AFG (Assistance to Firefighters Grant). The AFG Grant they applied for was for training, to deploy a system similar to Blue Card. • Personnel Report: They're working on the Fire Captain and Fire Equipment Operator assessments. They aren't sure if there will be any openings for Fire Rescue Specialists, so it's been delayed until when it looks like it may be necessary. Fire Training Specialist was completed, and three candidates are moving forward, they will be working in the training area, to conduct training on a permanent basis, as opposed to paying personnel overtime to work there temporarily. They're currently working on the Fire Safety Specialist, skillsets need to be reviewed before they can submit the request to fill. Recruitment opened for Fire/EMS Recruit, they'll be conducting interviews, with the goal start date in August, along with the same recruit class.