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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-07-21 Fire Commission MinutesHAWAI`I FIRE COMMISSION REGULAR SESSION MINUTES JULY 21, 2022 HAWAII COUNTY BUILDING, COUNCIL CHAMBERS 25 AUPUNI ST., SUITE 1401, HILO, HAWAII CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Kosaki called the meeting to order at 9:08 a.m. Present: Gerald Kosaki, Chair Gregory Henkel, Commissioner Corey Luke, Commissioner Shon Magsalin, Commissioner Wesley Mattos, Commissioner Gene Nakashima, Commissioner Carlene Wolf, Commissioner A quorum was present. Absent: Benjamin Agdeppa, Vice Chair Daniel Paleka, Commissioner Also present: Kazuo Todd, Fire Chief Eric Moller, Deputy Fire Chief Suzanna Tiapula, Deputy Corporation Counsel Charisse Correa, Secretary PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON AGENDA ITEMS (None.) APPROVAL OF MINUTES • Commissioner Henkel motioned to approve the regular and executive session minutes of June 30, 2022. Commissioner Wolf seconded, it carried unanimously, and the minutes were approved. FIRE CHIEF'S REPORT Chief Todd highlighted items from his written report. The detailed report is on file. • Highlights: ✓ Ice machine and water purifier were set up at Station Seven. The Sayres and Holeka Inaba were involved with purchasing. ✓ They had a variety of meetings throughout the year: Big Island Wildfire Coordinating Group meeting and State Fire Council. They are continuing to work on the Hawaii Fire Chiefs Associations Fire Conference, which will be held in December 2022. The Sayre Foundation event is coming up on September 3, 2022. Chief Todd stated that If you're interested, tickets are available to be purchased online. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes July 21, 2022 Page 2 ✓ Hurricane outlook: they are expecting approximately four major storms throughout the year. Whether they come near our island chain or not is currently unknown. ✓ Station visitations have been conducted by Deputy Chief Moller. Chief Todd's next round of station visitations will be in September. ✓ Two career fairs were held in June. Additional positions were secured through funding this year. Chief Todd invited the commission to the office after the meeting to meet the new clerks who had recently started. They are currently in the process of restructuring admin and will pick up another five cubicles, as they're looking to add additional desks and workspaces within administration. Budget: ✓ Total spending through June 30, 2022, is at 98.55% (pre -audited) at the end of the completed 2021-2022 fiscal year. The closing process is expected to be completed at the end of July. ✓ Salaries and wages closed at 98.53% for fire and OCE (operating capital expenditures) closed at 99.08% for fire. ✓ HFD is working on their state -funded items, billing is done up until December. They expect to complete the third quarter billing by the end of July, and the final billing the first week of August. ✓ HFD received a last-minute addition to their budget. The budget for the fiscal year 2023 passed County Council on June 2nd, which added $143,000 to their budget to prepare a master strategic plan. • Alternative Funding and Grants: ✓ Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant - HFD filled the positions and continues to expend upon the grant. ✓ USDA, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, State & Private Forestry - Federal grant award of $197,637 (with County match of $197,637) for the fiscal year 2022. The budget is amended to reflect 100% purchase of supplies, and the grant period is extended through February 2023. Current expenditures as of June 30, 2022 is $103,640 plus $184,346 in encumbrances. There is 27% of the grant award remaining. ✓ Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program FY 2020 (AFG-S) COVID- 19 Supplemental - The grant is 100% expended. ✓ Hapuna and Kua Bay grants - They are currently working on this grant. Chief Todd stated that this would cover only personnel costs. HFD's goal is to be granted the ability to spend besides salaries and wages. The state hasn't Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes July 21, 2022 Page 3 been too keen on allowing them to spend on anything besides salaries and wages for the positions that are staffing the beaches. ✓ No updates for the Assistance for Firefighters grant. ✓ HMGP Post Fire grant - The application has been submitted to HIEMA. ✓ HIEMA HMGP Funding -Request submitted to HIEMA for excess Federal funding to cover station hardening, generators, and a portable station. ✓ Geothermal Fund to purchase a mobile self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) compressor unit. Human Resources: ✓ Two fire equipment operators were promoted effective July 1, 2022. Recruitments opened for fire captain and fire equipment operator. ✓ They have been running into issues with the Storekeeper position. This position has opened up multiple times. DHR wanted to do a study of the position, which delayed things. Applicants also did not show up for interviews. This position has been vacant for half a year. ✓ Performance assessment for new recruits will be held at Hilo High. There are about 100 to 120 candidates who will attend on Saturday, they'll run through different physical agility assessments. Chief Todd invited the commission to attend and observe if interested. ✓ 50t" fire recruit class graduated last week, on June 15, 2022. ✓ Three new account clerks started in July, they are opening recruitment for the clerk III positions and moving other positions. Currently, one of the main issues is recruiting for fire communication officers (dispatchers). No applicants participated in their last interview. ✓ They are working on the water safety officer conversion. Eleven positions were converted to full-time. They may create some un-funded positions which would be part-time. The goal is to bring up staffing numbers and get East Hawaii lifeguard towers fully manned. Currently, they are occasionally shutting down lifeguard services at beaches because they don't have enough personnel. Emergency Operations Division: ✓ Total calls YTD for the calendar year 2022 is 14,245. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes July 21, 2022 Page 4 ✓ Chief Todd noted that the turn -out times in the report shows the percentage of turn -out times that meet one minute. The NFPA says the turn -out time should be 80 seconds, not 60. Battalion 2 West Hawaii: ✓ On June 8, 2022, HFD responded to a helicopter crash in a remote lava field near Hawaii Ranchos Subdivision. Chief Todd shared that the report stated the tail came off the back of the helicopter while in flight, leading to the crash. He further explained the importance of quality equipment and noted that the rescue helicopter in Hilo was about $1.3 million. The chopper they are currently purchasing with the Sayre Foundation is $5 million. Over a million dollars is spent annually just to keep them in the air, which covers pilots, repairs, and maintenance. • Hazmat: ✓ Chief Todd stated that four personnel attended the Chemical Safety Days workshop on Oahu. Chair Kosaki stated that this was good training, which was held for two days. They covered lithium batteries, which is a big thing now with the new cars and non -carbon -related sources of energy. The LAPC funded this training, he stated it may seem like a conflict of interest because he is also the chair for the LAPC, but it isn't. He further explained that they support the Fire Department's response to hazmat incidents or any hazardous response incidents or training. They receive funding through tier two facilities that have to submit a report yearly within the county, with a fee of $200 per report. This money goes into the State Emergency Response Commission and is distributed to each county based on the amount of facilities that each county has. Ocean Safety: ✓ iWaterman RWC (rescue watercraft) operator training is scheduled for the week of August 15-19. They will have eight personnel attending this training who will in turn become HFD's RWC training program instructors. ✓ USLA RWC Training Program Certification is still pending. ✓ Consultation letter sent to HGEA to discuss increasing part-time positions to full-time status. This will provide the opportunity to increase staffing at our beaches. Lifeguards are under HGEA, bargaining unit 15. Rescue: Rescue Boat 2 (Force) engine replacement. Bid has been received and approved. Waiting for scheduling of replacements. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes July 21, 2022 Page 5 Sayre Foundation: Fundraiser dinner is on for Labor Day weekend (September 3) at the Fairmont Orchid. Chief Todd stated that this is an amazing gala, dinner, and silent auction. It's an opportunity to recognize some of HFD's amazing personnel. Tickets are online and are available for purchase. It's about $140 a ticket, the Sayre Foundation doesn't make any money off the tickets they sell. In the last two years or so, the Sayre Foundation has donated approximately $8 million to the Fire Department. This is their gala event to bring in additional funding through bids on live and silent auctions and to recognize HFD personnel. Chair Kosaki asked about the status of rescue boat 7. Chief Todd stated it's currently pending. Emergency Medical Services Branch: ✓ 51st recruit class is moving into EMS. ✓ HFD has three MICT personnel. Training will be completed by the end of August or early September. Chair Kosaki asked if they go through training, graduate, and then go to EMT class. Chief Todd stated that the recruit class does fire training, then EMT training. They have been running into issues getting gear, which has been setting back their timeline due to supply chain issues. He doesn't want personnel going into live fire training until they have NFPA-compliant gear. It's been taking nine months from the day they order to receive the gear when in the past, it used to take three to four months. Because of this, they went to EMT first then live fire training. ✓ The EMS Branch is a partner in an island -wide community Fentanyl awareness education initiative. ✓ EMS warehouse manager, Tom Clark is the most recent recipient of the Haweo award. They recognized him for his hard work, commitment, and outstanding leadership. ✓ HFD is starting its deployment of mobile data terminals. They're also looking at changing their records management system. ✓ HFD received a $1.2 million increase in their budget for EMS. Because of this increase, they signed and are moving ahead with the purchase of seven additional ambulances. Training Branch: Chief Todd stated a lot of the training was covered earlier. They conducted ICS training and have been doing live fire in Pohakuloa. • Volunteer Training Section: Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes July 21, 2022 Page 6 ✓ Meeting is scheduled for August 26, 2022. They meet with the volunteer captains every quarter. ✓ The topic for June's training was fire hose, hose streams, and hose operations. Volunteer companies were given classes and performed wet drills as part of their monthly training. Fire Prevention Branch: Investigated 2 structure fires during the month of June. Conducted a lot of public education, plan reviews, and conducted 211 inspections. Chief Todd mentioned the fire code, as it's been brought up to the commission in the past. They have been working with Council Services and drafted the replacement for chapter 26 within Hawaii County Code with the new fire code. This should be sent to County Council by August, but the review won't happen until September to establish that they are running off the 2018 NFPA 1 fire code. They will work on the 2021 code a year or two after that because this is a three-year cycle. Chair Kosaki stated that he received a couple of comments and complaints from the community regarding inconsistencies. Certain requirements were needed by contractors, while others weren't required to do the same. They were going to make a formal complaint to the commission or administration but decided not to. Chief Todd stated that if the community shares concerns, he wants to know about them. He further stated that everyone is held to the same standard. All inspections should be on the same page. The code is the code, it's black and white and isn't up to interpretation. Chief Todd encouraged the commission to advise people in the community, that if at any time they have an issue with any aspect of the Fire Department, the door is open, they do listen no matter what it is it's important to them and they will address all issues. • Logistics, Emergency Communication Section, and Vehicle Maintenance Sections: ✓ They have been running into issues with overall staffing in the Fire Communications Section. They're supposed to have a staff of sixteen, but they are down to seven. Out of the five initial trainees, HFD has only one remaining Fire Communications Officer I. ✓ Normal repairs are continuing pace in the mechanic shop, with a total of 69 repairs and a variety of other DOT inspections. ✓ The warehouse has shifted small engine repair and other small miscellaneous work over to the mechanic. Keeping the work in-house has resulted in significant cost savings for the department. Chair Kosaki stated that he knows HFD is short on MICTs and asked how often does HFD downgrade ALS stations to DLS stations? Chief Todd stated he doesn't Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes July 21, 2022 Page 7 have a percentage available at the time, but he will figure it out. They have been working on a change of pay for rank recall. They are short 13 positions, they have 7 firefighters that are paramedic qualified that are temporarily assigned to those positions, leaving 6 vacancies, 3 are finishing class soon, which will help fill spots. Chief Honda has been working on changes to how to do the rank re -call. It changes it from $6, the goal is to change it to a percentile. They have an MOA that has been written, approved, and will be sent to the union shortly. They are also looking at creating new positions. These would be two additional positions, paramedic recruit I and paramedic recruit II. Chair Kosaki stated that someone in the field told him that recently personnel have been going into 80 hours of double time. This is a concern, not only regarding money, the bigger concern is they're working 80 hours, over 34 hours, 120 hours, 5 days straight. Even if you work at a slow station, it's taxing on the body. He further stated, if you respond to a call, are you as sharp as you would be if you weren't working for that period? Chair Kosaki commended Chief Todd for working hard with HFFA. Recess was called at 10:22 a.m. The meeting reconvened at 10:36 a.m. EXECUTIVE SESSION (CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC) Commissioner Henkel motioned to meet in executive session to consider complaints against employees of the fire department, where matters affecting privacy will be involved, to work on the evaluation of the Fire Chief, and for the purpose of consulting with the commission's attorney on questions and issues pertaining to the commission's powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities pursuant to HRS Sections 92-5, (a) (2) (4) (6) and the Hawaii County Charter 13-20 (b). Commissioner Wolf seconded, no discussion, and it carried unanimously. Executive session convened at 10:38 a.m. Motion to reconvene open session made by Commissioner Henkel, seconded by Commissioner Wolf, and it carried unanimously, regular session reconvened at 12:09 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Kosaki announced that the commission's next monthly meeting is scheduled for August 25, 2022, at 9:00 a.m., at the West Hawaii Civic Center, Building A, Council Chambers, 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Kailua-Kona, HI. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 12:11 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: CHARISSE CORREA, SECRETARY APPROVED BY: GERALD KOSAKI, CHAIR