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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6-3-2013 KFC Open Min APPROVEDCOUNTY OF KAUAI Minutes of Meeting OPEN SESSION Annroved as Circulated 7/1/2013 Board/Committee: I FIRE COMMISSION Meeting Date June 3, 2013 Location Mo`ikeha Building, Meeting Room 2A /213 Start of Meeting: 2:07 p.m. I End of Meeting: 3:15 p.m. Present Chair Jimmy Miranda (entered at 2:15); Vice Chair Jesse Fukushima; Members: Eugene Jimenez; Dan Brown; Savita Agarwal Also: Fire Chief Robert Westerman; Deputy County Attorney Mauna Kea Trask; Boards & Commissions Office Staff: Support Clerk Cherisse Zaima; Administrator Paula Morikami Excused Heidy Huddy- Yamamoto Absent SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Call To Order Vice Chair Fukushima called the meeting to order at 2:07 p.m. with 4 members present, constituting a quorum. Approval of Regular Open Session Minutes of May 6, 2013 Minutes Mr. Jimenez moved to approve the minutes as Vice Chair Fukushima called for a motion to approve the minutes. circulated. Ms. Agarwal seconded the motion. Motion carried 4:0 Executive Prior to the presentation of Chief Westerman's monthly report, a request Session was made by counsel to enter into executive session. Hearing no objections, Vice Chair Fukushima called for a motion to enter into executive session. Pursuant to Hawaii Revised Statutes § §92 -4 and 92 -5 (a) (4) (6), the Deputy County Attorney Mauna Kea Trask read purpose of this executive session is to consult with the Commission's legal the Hawaii Revised Statues as described on the counsel on issues pertaining to the Commission's and the County's powers, agenda that would take the Commission into duties, privileges, immunities, and/or liabilities; and to consider sensitive Executive Session for item ES -006. matters related to public safety or security as they may relate to this item, deliberate and take such action as appropriate. Kauai Fire Commission Open Session June 3, 2013 Page 2 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION ■ ES -006 Discussion on Memorandum dated May 20, 2013 to Fire Chief Robert Westerman from Chair Furfaro regarding Recovery of Rescue Expenses Related to the Use of the County of Kauai Helicopter Vice Chair Fukushima recognized member of the public, Lonnie Sykos, to offer testimony. Mr. Sykos stated that he was present as a member of the public and thanked the Commission for looking into the issue. He noted that while the helicopter is a great asset to the community it is also quite expensive and, with regard to the County budget, anything that can be done to reduce our expenses is appreciated. Mr. Sykos explained that he feels it would make sense to have the helicopter especially for dramatic rescues, one of which he witnessed from his home in Wailua as the helicopter was used to rescue people who had fallen from the edge of a cliff, mountaineering could accomplish the same thing but not without increasing the risk for both the firefighters and the victims. However, his issue is with the number of people who get saved and once they have been rescued and brought to safety, they no longer need medical services; he wonders how much risk they were actually in when they called for help. Mr. Sykos understands the difficulty, but feels the County does have to come up with some kind of criteria to control the usage of the helicopter and what qualifies for its rescue work and what doesn't. He further stated that he realizes if you don't respond to a rescue when you should have, you get sued and though he doesn't know what the answer is, he is thankful that the issue is being looked at. Ms. Agarwal stated that she appreciates Mr. Sykos' valuable comments but posed the question of what should be done when 911 is called? Should we not respond and ask how serious the situation is first? Kauai Fire Commission Open Session June 3, 2013 Page 3 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Attorney Trask stated for clarification that the agenda item does not entertain discussion on whether or not to utilize the helicopter, but rather how to recover the expenses under County Code section 6 -13; therefore, if the Commission wishes, it can be placed on a future agenda as a separate item. In response to Ms. Agarwal, Mr. Sykos explained that as part of the present agenda item, he can provide an answer to the root of her question which is that if they choose to go the route of recovering expenses, a set of criteria needs to be established before they can do so. He further commented that he assumes our 911 operators are trained to discern the nature of the calls they receive. Mr. Fukushima noted that they seem to be deviating from the issue and asked counsel whether any members could respond considering this is an executive session item. Mr. Jimenez stated that he agrees with Mr. Sykos that criteria will need to be established as to what determines the various rescue efforts involving the helicopter. However, he feels that because it is so subjective, they will have a difficult time setting up that criteria though he does believe in the overall idea that they should be reimbursed for helicopter expenses; they must be sure they have airtight criteria. Chair Miranda entered the meeting at 2:15 p.m. Mr. Fukushima called for a motion to enter into executive session. Mr. Jimenez moved to enter into executive session. Mr. Brown seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:0. Kauai Fire Commission Open Session June 3, 2013 Page 4 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Return to Open The meeting reconvened in open session at 2:41 Session p.m. Vice Chair Fukushima called for a brief recess. The meeting was turned over to Chair Miranda. Chiefs Monthly ■ Overview for the month of April 2013 and pertinent updates Report ■ Budget Report as of April 31, 2013 Chief Westerman reported that the meeting with Parks and Recreation on ocean safety kiosks at county beach parks was very successful. The Ocean Safety Bureau is working on designing some new kiosks to put on County beaches; one kiosk is already up which encouraged Parks and Recreation to put up more at Po`ipu beach. Mr. Fukushima asked for clarification on item 3, SPARTON, to which Chief Westerman replied it is an engine manufacturing company. KFD is trying to make contact with every manufacturer they can to encourage more bids for engines to help control costs. Mr. Fukushima asked how item 4, island -wide road resurfacing, affects the Fire Department. Chief Westerman explained that some of the issues are when and where they are doing it, and if they start to make changes in the roadway whether it has an effect on how engines can get around the neighborhood. Mr. Fukushima stated that one of the county ordinances passed back in the 1980's was the ability for the County to enter certain private roads but the County has never taken any initiative to resurface those roads despite emergency vehicles needing to utilize them. He asked for Chief Westerman's opinion on what point in time he feels the roads would get so bad that it would not allow such access. Chief Westerman replied that it is already happening now; he encourages the Commissioners to routinely go out into their neighborhoods and check every road. There are a lot of roads, such as Kaumakani, that the department will not allow the Kauai Fire Commission Open Session June 3, 2013 Page 5 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION engines to go down on a daily basis; instead they send the small trucks to check the community. The only time the engines are allowed to go down that road is for emergencies because they want to avoid that kind of rough wear and tear to the engines on a daily basis. They have very little control over roads that are not controlled by the County; however, most of the communities are pretty good about allowing them to do minor road resurfacing to alleviate bumps. Chief Westerman mentioned the Ocean Safety Video installation at Lihu`e Airport Baggage Claim area. Upon returning from a trip recently, Chief Westerman stopped and watched visitors as they got off the plane and noticed that many people did stop to watch and several people, when hearing about the Beach Safety Guide, retrieved a copy of the guide. He stopped to speak to some of the visitors and received mixed responses, some who felt it was very good and others who felt that it may not really save anyone, but at least the effort was being made. Operations Bureau The call load has increased a little from last year most likely due to the increase of visitor activities. Chief Westerman went over the apparatus status and station updates, highlighting the Home Depot Kids Clinic. Home Depot partnered with the Hawaii Fire Chiefs Association and gave each of the islands smoke detectors to hand out for free as part of their give -back to the community. KFD used it as part of the kids' day, handing out smoke detectors at the Fire Safety Education trailer. They also offered fire extinguisher training for the employees working that day. Hydrant inspections were done to make sure the caps were adequately reased and that the caps come off. In response to Mr. Brown, Chief Kauai Fire Commission Open Session June 3, 2013 Page 6 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Westerman explained that the Water Department takes care of the flow testing, but KFD takes care of the caps and valves. Station 6 assisted Grove Farm and the Harbors division with a Japanese buoy that washed up which they will be putting up as a monument somewhere around Port Allen. Training Bureau Mr. Jimenez inquired about the Recruit Cooking training. Chief Westerman explained that they brought in a Chef to work with the firefighters on how to purchase and prepare healthy, good quality food on a limited budget. Ocean Safety Bureau Chief Westerman noted that his monthly report now includes individual tower updates. Budget Report Chief Westerman reported that they are 73% expended for the budget year and do not expect any more large purchases at this point in the year. There is a bit of unexpended money that KFD is hoping to use to purchase Mr. Fukushima moved to receive the report. Mr. some new generators for the stations. Jimenez seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:0. Announcements Next Meeting: Monday, July 1, 2013 — 2:00 p.m., Mo`ikeha Building, Meeting Room 2A /B The Office of Boards and Commissions will no longer be providing bottled water to our members starting July 1, 2013. This is one of our sustainability goals. Staff will provide cold water using a filtered system (i.e. Brita), so please bring in your water bottle that was provided to you. Kauai Fire Commission Open Session June 3, 2013 Page 7 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Adjournment Mr. Jimenez moved to adjourn the meeting. Ms. Agarwal seconded the motion. Motion carried 5:0. The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m. Submitted by: Cherisse Zaima, Support Clerk O Approved as is. () Approved with amendments. See minutes of Reviewed and Approved by: meeting. Jimmy Miranda, Chair