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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-08-23 Fire Commission Minutes - Special Meeting William P. Kenoi Toby Taniguchi Mayor Chairman Scott Stabo Vice-Chairman Hawai‘i County Fire Commission nd c/o 333 Kīlauea Avenue, 2 Floor, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 Phone: 961-8251; Fax: 961-8622 1 SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES August 23, 2011 Hilo Department of Liquor Control Conference Room, 101 Aupuni Street, Suite 230, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chair Taniguchi at 9:00 a.m. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Chairman Toby Taniguchi Vice Chairman Scott Stabo Commission Laurie Bass (arrived at 9:02 a.m.) Commissioner Kimo Lee Commissioner Kaloa Robinson Commissioner Luahiwa Namahoe Commissioner Greg Henkel Commissioner Byron Moku ABSENT: None. A quorum was present. ALSO PRESENT: Lincoln Ashida, Corporation Counsel Jennifer Kualii, Fire Commission secretary Martha Rodillas, Secretary to Lincoln Ashida Darryl Oliveira, Fire Chief Laurie Kaneta, Secretary to Fire Chief 1 Minutes in italics are verbatim. Blanks indicate inaudible or indecipherable speech. Hawai‘i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Commissioners: Laurie Bass, Greg Henkel, Kimo Lee, Byron Moku, Luahiwa Namahoe, Kaloa Robinson, Scott Stabo and Toby Taniguchi Chairman Taniguchi announced he is in receipt of written communication from candidate Paul Paiva requesting the withdrawal his application for consideration. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS Chairman Taniguchi also announced the Commission would be conducting two venues for public testimony, open session and closed session. Testimony of George Wood: Good morning Mr. Chairman and members of the Fire Commission. Thank you for this opportunity to testify this morning in support of the nomination of Deputy Chief Glen Honda for the position of the Fire Chief. My name is Keoki Wood, I’m the Livestock Operations Manager for Parker Ranch. I realize that there are several very well qualified candidates for consideration for this extremely important position, however, I would like to speak in support of Deputy Chief Honda for several reasons. Deputy Chief Honda has already proven that he has the experience in performing his fire fighting and life saving duties with the highest level of competency through his many years of service in fire and rescue on Oahu and Hawai‘i island. I personally have seen him in action on several brush fires and he has always maintained a calm and professional demeanor. He demonstrates unique qualities that are only found in exceptional leaders. He remains focused and organized, following chain of command while addressing concerns for safety to his fire fighters, other participating government agencies and the general public. All of this is done simultaneously while attempting to minimize loss of property. As Caption, Honda was always on the lookout for opportunities to train at higher levels and with other government agencies at county, state and federal levels. This training was then brought back to the Hawai‘i Fire Department as Honda was responsible for curriculum development and training of fire recruits for several years. Honda has also shown his fiscal savvy as much of his training was ----- with federal dollars. This is a good example for his ability to reach out and find other creative sources of funding while improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the department. In addition, he’s also developed outside contacts through his training of terrorist attacks, hazard materials, explosives, disaster preparedness, fire equipment design and purchase. In his current position of Deputy Chief, Honda has overseen the construction of new fire stations, dealt with budgetary concerns, established priorities for addressing public safety and coordinates tsunami evacuations with county, state and federal agencies. In summary, Deputy Chief Honda demonstrates excellent leadership skills through collaboration, fiscal responsibility, extremely high integrity, respect for and from the rank and file with a lifelong commitment of service to the community and public safety. Thank you for this opportunity to testify in support of Deputy Chief Honda. Chairman Taniguchi announced that due to the withdrawal of Mr. Paiva’s application, the Commission would not be taking any testimony on his behalf. He also mentioned all public testimony would be limited to a maximum of five (5) minutes. 2 Testimony of Curt Oishi: Good Morning. Thank you Commission for letting me share. My name is Curt Oishi, I wasn’t quite prepared for this, this morning but I just wanted to share with all of you just a few things that I thought was important for the next Chief to have. Obviously, I’m a member of the Fire Department for 20 years as a paramedic and driver and I’ve been in the EMS profession for 23 years so that is where my knowledge is coming from. Anyway, you have a hard choice in front of you, you have a list of accomplished candidates so I feel for you guys, but it is a tough decision, but there are two important considerations in choosing the Fire Chief and the first one would be our fire engines, our equipment, in my opinion, that’s probably the most important part of the fire service and aside from grants, I’d like you guys to find out how the new Fire Chief would obtain funding, how they’d go about it and other ideas, other than grants because obviously, this is where we are today. And the second point that I’d like to share with you is that the new Fire Chief should have a solid grasp of EMS being that we are an EMS based or we have the EMS contract and so that person should have at least the highest level of training in the EMS profession. That’s about it, that, those are the important points to me. I have several favorite candidates but I won’t share that. Chairman Taniguchi noted that there being no other public testimony in open session, he would entertain a motion to move into Executive Session. At 9:09 a.m., Commissioner Robinson moved to go into Executive Session to consider the hire and/or evaluation of applicants for the position of Fire Chief, where consideration of matter affecting privacy will be involved, to deliberate or make decisions upon matters that require the consideration of information that must be kept confidential pursuant to a state or federal law, or a court order and a closed session is requested to consult with Corporation Counsel on questions and issues pertaining to the commission’s powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities. (Pursuant to HRS 92-5(a)(2) and (a)(4) and Hawai‘i County Charter Section 13-20(b)). The motion was seconded by Commissioner Henkel and carried unanimously by voice vote. At 5:14 p.m., Chairman Taniguchi called the Regular Session meeting back to order. RECESS Chairman Taniguchi stated he would entertain a motion to recess this meeting until Thursday, August 25, 2011. th Commissioner Namahoe moved to recess this meeting to Thursday, August 25, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, Council Room, Building A, 74-5044 Ane KeohokāloleHighway, Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i 96740. The motion was seconded Commissioner Moku and carried unanimously by voice vote. 3 The meeting was recessed at 5:18 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: JENNIFER M. KUALII Secretary 4