2013-03-19 Fire Commission Regular Minutes

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HawaiÒi County Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes March 19, 2013 Page 2 FIRE CHIEF’S REPORT Chief Rosario highlighted items on his written report. BUDGET Fiscal Year 2012-13: They are 8 months into the fiscal year. Expenditures should be about 66%. Total spending is at 68.51%. Overtime is at nearly 100% of budget, 100% for fire protection and 80% for EMS. The main causes for the overtime were the Kona brushfires, shortage in MICT positions, and fire equipment maintenance. The mechanics are required to take two furlough days off during the month. In order to do necessary repair and maintenance of equipment, they have to work overtime when they return to work. Compensatory time off is also a reason for overtime. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA, when an employee requests compensatory time off, the department must grant the comp time unless it creates an operational deficiency. Overtime pay cannot be used for as a reason for operational deficiency. They get a large amount of comp time requests and have to fill positions with overtime. The EMS overtime is primarily due to shortage in MICT positions. All nine fire fighters are back from the MICT Program. They have been placed in vacant positions on a temporary assignment basis. They should see a reduction in overtime in that area. They were able hire another mechanic. They are adjusting shortfalls by transferring accounts as allowed by the County Charter. Fiscal Year 2013-14: They received their budget proposal back from the MayorÓs Office and the Department of Finance. Funding for 15 unfunded f positions, apparatus replacement for HonokaÒa and KeaÒau, as well as a tanker apparatus for the second battalion was not approved. Their budget increase proposals to cover continuous shortfalls in salaries and wages and equipment and apparatus maintenance were also not approved. They have their budget hearing on April 10 where they will be asking the Council to amend their budget to include the requested items. The Finance Department informed him that the fiscal situation of the county is still very tight. They were given a directive to submit a status quo budget, but he put in a strong argument that their status quo budget is continually being shorted, especially areas of fire maintenance and salaries and wages. They will make presentation to the Council and Mayor again to justify the importance of their proposals. ALTERNATIVE FUNDING AND GRANTS FY 2012 CDBG Grant for Pahoa Tanker: This is for a 3,000 gallon tanker. The chassis is being built by Peterbuilt, and Freedom Fire Equipment in Marietta, Georgia will do the final assembly. They anticipate completion in June. FY 2012 SAFER Grant: The grant was not approved for funding. The information they received was that they did not see the justification on why the positions could