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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-06-22 Fire Commission MinutesHAWAII FIRE COMMISSION REGULAR SESSION MINUTES JUNE 22, 2023 WEST HAWAII CIVIC CENTER, BUILDING A, COUNCIL CHAMBERS 74-5044 ANE KEOHOKALOLE HWY., KAILUA-KONA, 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 Shon Magsalin, Commissioner Wesley Mattos, Commissioner Gene Nakashima, Commissioner A quorum was present. Absent: Carlene Wolf, Vice Chair Corey Luke, Commissioner Also present: Todd Kazuo, Fire Chief Eric Moller, Deputy Fire Chief Keyra Wong, Deputy Corporation Counsel Charisse Correa, Secretary PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON AGENDA ITEMS (None) APPROVAL OF MINUTES • Commissioner Henkel motioned to approve the regular session minutes of May 25, 2023. Commissioner Nakashima seconded, no discussion, it carried unanimously and the minutes were approved. Commissioner Henkel motioned to approve the executive session minutes of May 25, 2023. Commissioner Nakashima seconded, no discussion, it carried unanimously and the minutes were approved. FIRE CHIEF'S REPORT Chief Todd highlighted items from the Fire Chief's Report, a detailed report is on file. • Highlights: Fire Dispatch is currently working out of the Police Department's dispatch center, while they go through restructuring to address the shortage of fire dispatchers. He and Deputy Chief Moller attended the Tre Evans-Dumaran Memorial in Maui. On May 26, 2023, a Coin of Life Presentation was held at Station 5, honored for their life-saving efforts were Company 5 personnel and a Hawaii Police Department officer. Budget: Chief Todd referred to the Chief's Report and reported that currently, HFD is maxed out 100% in all categories for the fiscal year. As for State -funded budget items, HFD collected the remaining balance from the State for FY 2022. They are halfway completed with the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes June 22, 2023 Page 2 Grant (SAFER), with another 14 or 16 months left. There's a total of three USDA Forest Service Grants. They are moving ahead with the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) for washers/extractors and dryers. State grant awarded for the purchase of equipment for Hapuna Beach State Park and Kua Bay, HFD is expected to expend between 82-88% of the amount given, due to issues with procurement. Personnel Report: Fire Captain assessment center/interviews are scheduled for June 26th. Practical assessments for Fire Equipment Operators were held on June 7th- 8th and interviews were held on June 15th. Assessment center/interviews for Fire/Hazardous Materials Specialist is scheduled for June 27th- Two Fire/EMS Specialists and three Fire Training Specialists were promoted. The assessment center for Fire Rescue Specialists has not yet been scheduled. As for open recruitments, HFD is still recruiting Fire Safety Specialists. Recruitment opened for Fire/EMS recruits, DHR referred 17 candidates, three candidates passed the performance assessment exercise, and interviews were held on June 15th. Formal offers will be sent out soon for Fire Recruits. DHR referred candidates for the Accountant III, Account Clerk, and Clerk III positions, interviews are pending. Water Safety Officer I recruitment opened, and referred names from DHR are pending. There was a discussion with the chief about the minimum qualifications for the Fire/EMS Recruits and details on the Fire Safety Specialist and Fire Communications Officer positions. • Total Calls for Service: In May, HFD received 2,467 calls, of those calls, rescue and EMS are at 73%, good intent calls at 15%, service calls at 7%, fire calls at 3%, hazardous conditions (no fire) at 1 %, and false alarm calls are at 1 %. Fire Impacts: For the month of May, there were 10 wildland fires with 152 acres burned. Emergency Operations: In East Hawaii, there was a brush fire in Paauilo, a rescue at Wailuku River, and structure fires in Districts 11 and 18. In West Hawaii, there was a brush fire near Akoni Pule Highway, which was about 20 acres in size. There was a search and rescue of a 2-year-old child and a rescue off Honokohau for a 35- foot dive vessel. Chair Kosaki stated on June 3rd there was a fire in a green waste pile at the West Hawaii Organics Facility. At that facility, there was one tanker with brackish water and they needed more water, so they requested another tanker but it was empty. He thanked the chief because he reached out to him and filled up the water at Station 14, knocked the fire out early, and they didn't need HFD to respond. Chief Todd asked if they regulate the height of the green waste. Chair Kosaki explained that they have a solid waste management permit that requires them to have a height limit on the green waste and mulch piles. Chief Todd asked if it was self -heating, and Chair Kosaki stated it was spontaneous combustion. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes June 22, 2023 Page 3 Special Operations: ➢ HazMat: Bi-annual captain's meeting authorized for both HazMat and Rescue. Training announcement for Continuing Challenge went out. Finalized the specs for the new HazMat 4 apparatus and are currently building out a new equipment needs list and budgetary needs. ➢ Ocean Safety: Approval was received for new positions. Starting next fiscal year, they'll have a WSO V, Clerk III, 4 WSO Ills, and five lifeguard positions. There was a discussion regarding the minimum qualifications for the WSO V position. Chair Kosaki offered his help in providing input to whoever would be conducting the interviews. ➢ Rescue: Rescue Boat 7 is at the boat house for repairs. Additional issues were found and will be added to the overall repairs. At the same time, they're currently working on replacing the boat. Sayre Foundation has a new boat being built (Hoku) which is in Kona, it's expected to be completed sometime in December. They also have a Port Security Grant out for additional funding on top of that. Commissioner Mattos wanted to know what was wrong with the rescue boat. Chief Todd explained it was the driveshafts and the internal motor seized up, it rusted. He advised that he's doing his best to expedite repairs. Commissioner Mattos asked if there's a timeline, Deputy Chief Moller explained in more detail about the issues/repairs and stated they're hoping mid to late July. Commissioner Magsalin shared her experience in the hospital and asked if they have a system where they check their equipment daily. Chair Kosaki stated they check all their equipment daily. Chief Todd explained personnel have weekly checks on everything at their station, which includes every piece of equipment, vehicles, and hoses. There are also monthly and yearly checks. The boat falls into a grey area because it was sent to the mechanic shop and it was sitting there until the parts arrive. Commissioner Mattos stated Station 2 is near the mechanic shop. He would think the department would be accountable for a high -ticket item and make sure that it gets started while waiting for the parts. It would've saved time and money. Chair Kosaki stated regarding Rescue, the report says that TAs are included in SCUBA and swift water training. He asked if they are doing any other training such as wildland, repelling, confined space, etc. Chief Todd explained the budget and stated that in the future, he will look to see if it can be expanded further. At this time, he doesn't feel comfortable authorizing unlimited training until he can get more data from the budget. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes June 22, 2023 Page 4 • Emergency Medical Services: National EMS Week was held May 21-27th. The remount for Medic 7 was put into service on May 231. The EMS Branch participated in a fentanyl summit. Commissioner Magsalin wanted to know if Narcan is available to personnel. Chief Todd explained that Narcan is carried in all ambulances, and they also carry individual nasal spray doses. Commissioner Mattos asked why the department always gets Fords because lately there have been a lot of issues with them. He wanted to know if he received input from Station 7 on how the Chevy was working. Chief Todd explained that Ford is the one that bid. • Emergency Medical Services (cont.): Personnel participated in Handtevy Train -the - Trainer class, which is the pediatric resuscitation system. A Fire Medical Specialist assessment center was held, which allowed them to promote two people. EMR training for Emergency Medical Responders and WSO personnel. Eight personnel are interested in the next paramedic class. They're working with the Office of Aging on the production of educational videos regarding EMS. • Training Services: ARFF and HFD personnel participated in Forcible Entry Door training. The 52nd recruit class orientation took place, they have 18 formal offers on the firefighter side. The goal is to do two formal offers on the Fire/EMS recruit side and potentially four personnel from ARFF are joining this class, leaving them with a total of 24 recruits. They've been working on High Rise Firefighting training. The Training Branch Interviewed personnel for the promotion to Fire Training Specialist and completed their Tanker 3 audit. • Volunteer Training Section: Quarterly Captains' meeting was held on March 20th in Discovery Harbour. They are continuing to plan and train personnel in fire shelter deployment training. Company 1-Alpha has been working on security issues and repairs. Company 11-Charlie conducted hydrant detail of over 90 fire hydrants in Discovery Harbour. Company 8-Alpha assisted with operations at the Paauilo brush fire. • Fire Prevention: There was a fire investigation that was arson related, the cause is undetermined, this case has been routed to the Hawaii Police Department for further investigation. There was a fire that caused over a million dollars in losses, it's believed that the fire originated from a dumpster outside. New Fireworks Auditor, Shonne Sasaki started his position as of May 1st. The Fire Prevention Branch investigated nine complaints. For the month of May 2023, fire prevention inspections, acceptances, and certificates are at a total of 285. • Logistics, Emergency Communications, and Vehicle Maintenance Section: Six candidates are in training for FCO I (Fire Communications Officers). Nine personnel Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes June 22, 2023 Page 5 attended EMD training, they're working on additional EMD training moving forward. The warehouse is finalizing work on changing over to a new vendor for their ordering system as the current vendor will be shut down. The vehicle maintenance shop conducted 60 repairs, 15 service calls, and 7 contracted out and tows. Two jet skis arrived for Ocean Safety. Information Technology: Fire dispatch console was set up at police dispatch. Computers at Haihai for ProQA and EMD training were set up. Nearing completion of RFP process for new NFIRS Software vendor (EPR Fireworks). Recess was called at 10:12 a.m., the meeting reconvened at 10:22 a.m. NEW BUSINESS Discussion with the chief about the process of promotions. Chair Kosaki advised the chief that they were not there to discuss how he conducts his promotions. They just have some concerns about certain situations where the rules, policies, and procedures were changed during the promotional process, which resulted in some grievances. There were some comments from line personnel, it seemed like someone was influencing his decisions. Commissioner Magsalin wanted to know what the old process was for promotions. Chair Kosaki advised the process is the same, there is no change. Chief Todd reported there currently is a grievance from a firefighter. They recently had an FEO process start up, and one of their applicants was sent information that he was not eligible and did not submit the proper paperwork. He called HFD's HR explaining that he did submit the paperwork and they told him they weren't accepting it. He then went to the union and the union filed a grievance on his behalf claiming that he submitted all the paperwork. They later pulled all his paperwork and later realized he had in fact submitted all the required paperwork. At this point, it was already the day of the testing. They replied back to the union in a formal letter stating they agree with their findings that he did meet the requirements for the test and they will reach out to HR and close the grievance at an informal level and allow him to take the test. Two days later he took the written test and was placed into the normal process. He met all requirements to be part of the process and he was flagged inappropriately. The secondary grievance from another firefighter was that the original firefighter had a process and he did not follow it. Their reply to him was that he had done everything appropriately. This firefighter doesn't agree with this and his grievance is currently at step two. Commissioner Mattos asked why HR said he didn't qualify. Chief Todd explained that he submitted his national registry certificate instead of his state licensure. Commissioner Mattos asked if it states that on the recruitment, to which Chief Todd replied it does not say that the state licensure needs to be submitted, everyone basically does, so HR thought because he didn't submit his state licensure, the national registry Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes June 22, 2023 Page 6 didn't count. The requirements of the job just state you need your paramedic certification. Chair Kosaki brought up a grievance that was filed a while back, where there was an FEO exam, there was an assessment, and a deadline for a response if you were interested in participating in the assessment. Someone missed the deadline, but he was going to be allowed to participate and another firefighter on the list who complied and met the deadline filed a grievance which went to step two and HR overturned that. Chair Kosaki further stated that he was told that if a deadline is approaching the deputy has been calling people reminding them to submit their paperwork and/or interest in participating. He asked if this was correct or a rumor. Deputy Chief Moller explained that their HR section gives them five days (not working days). If people are getting off shift, they may not check their emails for four or five days if they aren't in. If they don't check their emails they won't know a response is needed by a certain date. To make sure that it's fair across the board, they've been calling everyone on the list advising them to check their email because a requirement is needed within the next five days. After this round, they want to negotiate with the union on having different verbiage within the process that allows more than just five days. They want to make sure everyone can come to work, see their emails, and appropriately respond. Another thing that has been changed which has never been negotiated is that is used to come directly from the department's HR to personnel in an email. Right now, it goes through a government site that basically coordinates that whole thing. They're going to clean the language up to ensure there's no ambiguity later regarding how that process goes. Chair Kosaki stated the union tries not to get involved with the promotional process in general. The only reason he asked that is because it's a burden on the deputy. In the past, they used to hold the captains accountable. If someone is on vacation or if someone is on leave, the captains had to contact and notify them. Chief Todd explained the problem is with the new internet system currently used, it only emails the candidate directly. Deputy Chief Moller further explained qualifications, the EMR certificate, the paramedic license, and the issue/error that led to the grievance. It was a failure on the department's part and they made the corrections. Chair Kosaki thanked them for the explanation, he now understands what transpired and has a better understanding. He further stated there are many rumors out there. Currently, there are rumors that a certain individual blatantly claims to have Fire 1 and Fire 2 "in his pocket." He knows it's probably a rumor, but wanted them to be aware of this. When things don't look good, especially during the promotional process, people assume things and this person is not ashamed to take credit for things even if he had no part of it. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes June 22, 2023 Page 7 Commissioner Magsalin asked if the Fire Commission could come up with a process when it comes to discussing issues/rumors. Chair Kosaki explained that's why it was placed on the agenda, so it could be discussed in this forum, so everyone is on the same page. After speaking with the chief, he has a better understanding of what transpired. DCC Wong advised this is the proper forum. People can fill out a complaint form, people come before the commission, and the commission would ask questions regarding the allegations. When this issue came up to be agendized, the bottom line is maybe commissioners wanted to have a better understanding of the promotion process, so that's what was done here. It was agendized and brought up to the chief. She further stated that DCC Tiapula gave her opinion prior regarding not going to the fire stations and waiting to hear about complaints from firefighters, which is not within the commission's purview. Those commissioners who have experience in HFD hear things. The commission isn't supposed to have conversations outside of this meeting because of the Sunshine Law, so what was done here today is the process and should be followed moving forward. Chief Todd stated that he understands Commissioner Magsalin's point and agrees there should be a process. DCC Wong advised that the Chair has the authority to agendize matters. If any of the other commissioners have a suggestion on a future agenda, they are more than free to call the Chair. That is the process, if any commissioners want to bring up a specific issue that falls within the purview of the commission, they can contact the Chair and suggest adding the matter to the agenda for the next meeting. Chair Kosaki stated if anyone has an issue, bring it up to him, he'll give it to Ms. Correa and they will consult with Corp Counsel to see if it's ok to place on the agenda. Anyone on the commission has the prerogative to contact him and suggest an agenda item. Commissioner Mattos asked if they can call or email the Chair without violating Sunshine Law. DCC Wong advised you can meet, but you can't discuss how you're going to vote on something. You can call the Chair, and bring up an issue, but you can't go and call the other eight commissioners and say the same thing because essentially that's outside of a notice meeting. Chair Kosaki advised that everything they bring up, all the input he receives, and items placed on the agenda are only to try to help the chiefs run the department better, help the department run operationally better, and help morale, but ultimately for the safety of personnel and the public. EXECUTIVE SESSION (CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC) Commissioner Henkel motioned to meet in executive session to work on the chief's evaluation, 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 Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes June 22, 2023 Page 8 County Charter 13-20 (b). Commissioner Nakashima seconded, with no discussion, and it carried unanimously. Executive session convened at 10:56 a.m. Motion to reconvene open session was made by Commissioner Nakashima, seconded by Commissioner Magsalin, and it carried unanimously, open session reconvened at 11:50 a.m. Recess was called at 11:50 a.m., the meeting reconvened at 11:56 a.m. FIRE CHIEF'S EVALUATION Commissioner Nakashima made a motion to approve Chief Todd's annual evaluation. Seconded by Commissioner Henkel, with no further discussion and it carried unanimously. Chair Kosaki asked Chief Todd to create his goals for the department for the next year, what he hopes to achieve from July to June 2024, and present it to the commission at the next meeting. Chief Todd stated that's a great idea and will present a breakdown of his goals and expectations for the next fiscal year. Chair Kosaki went over each of the six elements of the chief's evaluation, comments, and scores. He advised Chief Todd to hash over it and next month he could explain or discuss anything. Chief Todd stated he is perfectly fine with the scores and comments, but there isn't enough clarity regarding a comment that said there was a complaint that came up to his level but wasn't addressed. The question is what complaint came up, was it addressed or not, or is it a misconception? Chief Todd stated he would send something to the Chair, so he could follow up with the specific commissioner who wrote that comment to get more details. He would like to investigate and make sure things are being addressed. Chief Todd asked for a PDF version once it's signed, and stated he intends to release it to his department, he believes in transparency and feels it's a good opportunity to review it with his chief officers. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Kosaki announced the commission's next monthly meeting is scheduled for July 27, 2023, at 9:00 a.m., in the County Building, Council Chambers, Suite 1401, 25 Aupuni St., Hilo, Hawaii. Chair Kosaki advised he will not be present at the next meeting and Vice Chair Wolf will run the meeting. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 12:25 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: CHARISSE CORREA, SECRETARY APPROVED BY: CARLENE WOLF, VICE CHAIR