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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-09-22 Fire Commission Minutes HAWAI`I FIRE COMMISSION REGULAR SESSION MINUTES SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 HAWAI`I COUNTY BUILDING, COUNCIL CHAMBERS 25 AUPUNI ST., SUITE 1401, HILO, HI CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Kosaki called the meeting to order at 9.01 a.m. Present: Gerald Kosaki, Chair Gregory Henkel, Commissioner (arrived at 9.03 a.m.) 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 Luke motioned to approve the regular and executive session minutes of August 25, 2022. Commissioner Wolf seconded, no discussion, it carried unanimously, and the minutes were approved. FIRE CHIEF'S REPORT Updates: Chief Todd reported that they are technically running off the 2012 Fire Code. They have approximately three months to get their amendments in before 2018 goes live. A final draft of the fire code amendments has been submitted to the county council. It's currently under review and will go in front of the county council for approval on October 18, 2022, which would formally adopt the next version of the fire code and the 2018 NFPA 1. HFD is approximately 2/3 deployed on its mobile data terminals (MDT) to tie back into dispatch. This is the first phase of bringing technology, GPS tracking, and GIS to operations. HFD's uniform contracts are expiring in October. They've been using light blue top shirts and dark blue pants for quite a while. Chief Todd stated that he's in the process of Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes September 22, 2022 Page 2 changing that. The goal is to obtain dark blue fire-resistive uniforms like the rest of the state. Chief Todd stated that he is looking to revamp the budget report, which would change the way it's reported to the commission and the public. Chair Kosaki asked if hazmat has its own line items now. Chief Todd stated that hazmat still falls under operations, it's not ideal, but he hasn't broken them off into their own area yet. Chair Kosaki asked how the new uniforms would be funded. Chief Todd stated that's something the committee needs to discuss. HFD's line item for uniforms, replacement, etc. is $160,000, and $120,000 automatically gets cut into checks for personnel as part of their maintenance. Every year everyone gets about $325 - $350. The remaining money is intended for uniform replacements. Part of it is a union conversation about whether they can run a dual uniform for a while. Chief Todd further stated that the current budget isn't adequate based on the current pricing of uniforms, and his goal is to increase the $160,000 in the future fiscal year. Commissioner Mattos stated that most of the time, the firefighters don't wear their duty shirts, they use their t-shirts. He asked why they need to replace the duty shirts. Chief Todd stated that the "what ifs" are the primary reason, and the cost is about the same. Honolulu pays around $96 for their shirts, and HFD pays $140. He explained that Hawaii County's shirts are more expensive because of all the stitching. Chair Kosaki asked if the uniforms purchased from the vendor are a sole source or does he ever look at the competition. Chief Todd explained how the procurement system works, they put out a contract every five years and open it up for bidding. Commissioner Magsalin asked if paramedics would be changing to fire-resistant uniforms. Chief Todd stated yes and further explained that they are pushing hard to make changes to their oxygen regulators. There were many instances similar to what recently occurred in Honolulu within the nation, where ambulances burned to the ground and injured first responders. The goal is to switch over to brass regulators. They are currently going through emergency procurement, which costs about $13,000 - $14,000. They'll also be changing the O-rings to a standardized brass O-ring, which would be a one-use-per-bottle concept. This should ideally prevent issues. HFD has two policies and procedures that have been sent to the union and Chief Smith is working with Chief Honda to emergency procure all the brass regulators. They're working to address this issue as soon as they possibly can. Chief Todd reported that a variety of positions have been allocated to the budget: administrative clerks, a prevention clerk, a training clerk, and a FASO clerk. The prevention and training clerk are currently filled. They're restarting the FASO clerk position and the paperwork for the admin clerk position is completed. They're currently Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes September 22, 2022 Page 3 working on the paperwork for the safety specialist position and are almost completed with the ocean safety officers, in terms of converting them to full-time. Half of the ocean safety officers weren't interested in converting to full-time, the remaining ones will get to maintain their current schedule. HFD created FCO III unfunded positions, which were approved by the county council. They're still working on the accountant III position and the fire maintenance worker position. Chief Todd Highlighted items from the Chief's Report, a detailed report is on file. He apologized and noted that the numbers in the budget section aren't as thorough as they normally are. • Budget: OCE expenditures closed at 23%, not 3% as noted in the Fire Chief's Report. Total spending through August 31, 2022, is at 21%. He explained that it seems excessive because they have runovers from the previous year. Their current expenditure percentiles are in line with where they should be. They have seen additional expenditures for funding fuel, lubricants, and electricity. • Alternative Funding & Grants: Chief Todd stated everything remains the same and that he's looking to change the way the alternative funding and grants are listed on the report. His goal is to create a better and more holistic approach to grants. One of the reasons why they're looking to bring in the accountant I II position is to improve grant management. Chair Kosaki wanted to know who applies for the grants. Chief Todd stated that everyone does, it's not ideal. The goal is to shift some of the accounting work to the Accountant III position, he wants one person who specializes in grants and analytics, all grants would be managed through this one person. Chief Todd reported that HFD received the 2023 Department of Interior National Forest Service Grant for $154,000. HFD has also been approved for CBDG to submit an application for brush trucks for the volunteer fire stations and rapid response vehicles for Stations 5, 10, and 11 (Keaau, Pahoa, and Naalehu). Commissioner Magsalin stated that Laupahoehoe was put back in the corner because the bridges can't accommodate the trucks. She asked to please not forget about Laupahoehoe. Chief Todd stated they ordered a custom brush truck for Laupahoehoe, it arrived and after reviewing it, it was found that it was too heavy to go over the bridges. It's an issue that they are trying to address with a slightly different configuration of the brush truck. • Human Resources: Fire Captain —Written exam held on August 22, 2022, in Hilo and Kona; 12 candidates passed the written exam. Fire Equipment Operator— Written exam held on September 7, 2022, in Hilo and Kona; 22 candidates passed the exam. Fire/EMS II opened on August 21, 2022, and interviews were conducted. The Fire Inspector I position opened and closed; they have seven candidates. Clerk Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes September 22, 2022 Page 4 III, Doriann Sugihara transferred intra-department to the training bureau. HFD has open positions for Clerk III in EMS, to be created Clerk III position in admin, and a Clerk I I I position under the FASO. Their storekeeper started today. They hired four Fire Communication Officers, but vacancies still exist, so it will open back up. There are 41 Firefighter Recruit positions scheduled for the Accuplacer, and 45 candidates are being scheduled for an interview. They're looking to hire on February 1, 2023 however they currently don't know how many positions they'll be offering. • Total Calls for Service (CY 2022): Total calls for service year to date is 19,229. Chief Todd noted that he is working towards revising this report to provide more details. • Turn-Out Times (CY 2022): Chief Todd referenced the report and explained the percentages are currently low, HFD hasn't been one to look at the numbers in the past. The NFPA says the average response time from the moment you get the call to the moment you leave the station should be under 80 seconds. For fire suppression, 25.56% meets that 80-second mark, and EMS is at 16.27%. • Fire Impacts (CY 2022): Chief Todd reported that for the month of August, the total amount of acres burned is at 17,010, and 18,129 for the year. Most of it came from the one fire that was mainly managed by PTA and DOFAW, which was 16,800 acres. He further stated that the public isn't happy with their release of information. They've had discussions, he briefed Managing Director, Lee Lord about how he could solve this issue, part of it was possibly creating a PIO position for the Fire Department and Civil Defense or looking at professional services contracts for PIOs where they could hire on call. Chair Kosaki stated that would be difficult because they would have to know the intricacies of the department to portray a good picture of what's going on. Someone well-versed in the department's operation would be ideal. Chief Todd stated a solution would be their own PIO and if the opportunity exists, that's where he'd like to go. Chair Kosaki advised that the news media needs to have one go-to person that they can call. • Highlights: ✓ Battalion 2: There was a structure fire to the Historic Holualoa Theater. ✓ Ocean Safety: Waterman RWC operator training has been rescheduled for September 19-22. ✓ Rescue: Rescue Boat 2 (Force) engine replacement. ✓ Emergency Medical Services: Contact was signed off and sent to procurement to pick up five additional ambulances. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes September 22, 2022 Page 5 ✓ Training Branch: They've been working hard to get their personnel trained in a variety of new techniques, inclusive of the "nozzle forward" hose deployment and driver training. ✓ Volunteer Training Section: Chief Todd stated that he had planned to meet them, introduce himself and speak with the volunteer firefighters and see the conditions of the stations. He attends every volunteer captain's meeting, which is held quarterly. His goal is to visit every person that works for their department at least once per year. ✓ Fire Prevention Branch: Chief Todd stated that he's also looking to change this report, which would be more detailed with scats. The Fire Prevention Branch investigated five structure fires for the month of August. They reviewed quite a few plans for the month and are up to almost twice what they have been doing in the past year. Personnel conducted 256 inspections. Chair Kosaki wanted to know how the canine arson program worked out in the past. Chief Todd stated the arson program died out during the previous administration when they tried to find someone to take over the program and offered to pay them 1/5 of what they paid the previous program manager. He feels the arson dog can be very useful, but it would be a supplement to an already good system. He would argue that part of the issue with arson investigation is that it requires a lot of training and investment and there isn't a lot of localized training. He would like to build a great investigation program and things like having an arson dog could be a great supplement to that. Commissioner Wolf left the meeting at 10.09 a.m. Chief Todd apologized for missing the last Fire Commission meeting, he attended the Fire Rescue International Conference as part of his training for Fire Service Executive Development. He spoke about a new technology known as "Prepared" which is still in discussion. Callers can allow dispatchers access to see videos, photos, and locations through a link sent to a person's phone. It also doesn't require a 9-1-1 call for them to use it. The next implementation for this would probably be in the EOC and would be useful during major incidents. He would be able to send a text message to the battalion chief on the scene asking for them to stream back some information/video. It would be stored in the cloud, the EOC would have a copy of that video which they could replay. He noted that it's also free. Commissioner Henkel stated that while reading the recent correspondence some people expressed concern, stating that the commission isn't taking the complaints seriously. He would like to say that they are dealing with it, it's a process and it might take a little time. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes September 22, 2022 Page 6 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 Mattos seconded, no discussion, and it carried unanimously. Executive session convened at 10.12 a.m. Commissioner Wolf returned to the meeting during executive session, at 10.52 a.m. Motion to reconvene open session made by Commissioner Henkel, seconded by Commissioner Wolf, and it carried unanimously, open session reconvened at 1.08 p.m. ACTION ON EXECUTIVE SESSION MATTERS • Investigation of complaints ✓ HCFC 22-03A: Complainant alleges that a medic called 9-1-1 while on duty, was unprofessional, used obscenities, and was offensive. Commissioner Henkel motioned that there is sufficient evidence to support the complainant's allegations, seconded by Commissioner Wolf, with no discussion, ayes made by all, except Commissioner Magsalin, the motion carried. The commission will refer any recommendations for corrective actions if deemed necessary to the fire chief. ✓ HCFC 22-0313: Complainant alleges that a medic called 9-1-1 while on duty, used profanities, and was aggressive. Commissioner Henkel motioned that there is sufficient evidence to support the complainant's allegations, seconded by Commissioner Luke, with no discussion, ayes made by all, except Commissioner Magsalin who preferred not to vote, and the motion carried. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting is scheduled for October 27, at 9.00 a.m., in the West Hawaii Civic Center, Building A Council Chambers, 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Kailua- Kona, HI Chief Todd stated that he will not be able to attend the next meeting, due to the next version of the fire service executive development institute class. Chair Kosaki stated that he will not be available for the November 17tn meeting. He asked the commission if they would like to change it to November 10tn or keep it on the 17tn, unknown if the Vice Chair is available either. The commission agreed to change the meeting date. Ms. Correa stated she will check for availability on November 10tn Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes September 22, 2022 Page 7 Chief Todd asked if the schedule is set for 2023. Ms. Correa stated that it is not scheduled at this time and would inform him and the commission once it is. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn made by Commissioner Nakashima, seconded by Commissioner Henkel, no discussion, all in favor, the meeting adjourned at 1.27 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: CHARISSE CORREA, SECRETARY APPROVED BY: GERALD KOSAKI, CHAIR