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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/03/2018 Fire Department, Police Department Fire Department Honorable Mason K. Chock Honorable Derek S.K. Kawakami Honorable Mel Rapozo Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro Excused: Honorable Arthur Brun Honorable Ross Kagawa The Committee reconvened on April 3, 2018 at 9:00 a.m., and proceeded as follows: Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Good morning. I would like to call back to order the Budget & Finance Committee and the Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Departmental Budget Reviews. On the schedule for today, April 3, 2018, we will be hearing from Fire and Police. As we do each morning, we will take public testimony. Anyone in the audience wishing to testify on this? Seeing none, for today,we will be taking the Fire Department in the following order: Administration, Operations, Prevention, Training, and Water & Ocean Safety. With that, I will open it up for you folks. You can just give a brief overview and then we will look at Administration. KILIPAKI VAUGHAN, Deputy Fire Chief: Good morning. Aloha kakahiaka, Council Chair Rapozo, Vice Chair Kagawa, Committee Chair Kaneshiro, Councilmembers, Council Staff, and community. For the record, Kilipaki Vaughan, Deputy Fire Chief, Kaua`i Fire Department. On behalf of Fire Chief, Robert Westerman, Executive Staff, Administrative Support Team, the one hundred forty-three (143) firefighters, and fifty-two (52) lifeguards serving Kaua`i, we thank you for this opportunity to present our 2018-2019 Fire Department budget. The Kaua`i Fire Department's delivery of public safety is critical and essential to the welfare of Kaua`i's residents and visitors, keiki to kap una. We know and understand that there is no way to accurately forecast everyday emergencies. Fire and Ocean Safety are here to protect the life safety, health, and well-being of every individual in this community. We believe that you are in receipt of the twenty-two (22) page budget presentation. We will be working off of our tablets as best as possible with hard copy to support. Thank you for your patience. This budget request of$32,190,000 is the minimum budget to sustain Fire Department operations at the given level of service to the community. This budget request was developed under the following realities: one, increase in population, development, and demand for resources, as projected in the General Plan; two, the resulting increase in emergency-call volume each year; three, a temporary shortage of workforce staffing due to fourteen (14) retirements; four, resulting increase to train a new generation of firefighters and lifeguards; five, a growing need for vehicles, equipment, and safety necessities; and six, the increasing cost of doing business. Our budget request is reflective of these realities in each of our core business segments. Here are some of the highlights: operation shows a moderate increase of$459,538. There have been some salary adjustments due to collective bargaining agreement; some regular overtime due to the staffing shortage of fourteen (14) firefighters, working through a recruit class right now; some social security, health, and retirement contribution adjustments. We are asking for a water tender equipment for brushfire response. In prevention, we actually decreased budget Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) and we did not ask for any new equipment requests. In April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 2 training bureau, we will increase due to the recruit class of fourteen (14) firefighter trainees, deploying as of September this year. We have a split training class because of a short staff on the line and availability of instructors. At the end of 2018, we also anticipate another eight (8) to ten (10) retirements of our workforce. We also are coming back with a request for essential self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs)for training, so we train and practice how we play in the field. Ocean Safety's budget stayed primarily flat. There were some increase in overtime due to a holiday pay increase. Our supplemental budget request is available as well. Mahalo nui for allowing me to share some of these highlights. At this point, I will be happy to entertain the Council's questions. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you for that brief overview. We will start with Administration. Do we have any questions for Administration? Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Good morning. Thank you for being here. You mentioned that you have a supplemental budget ready? Mr. Vaughan: We do. Councilmember Yukimura: I think that is commendable for after our review when it is there. You can actually make that available? Mr. Westerman: For the record, Robert Westerman. Yes, we can make it available. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, I would like to see that. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: What do you mean by supplemental budget? It looks like Ernie wants to say something. ERNEST W. BARREIRA, Budget & Purchasing Chief: Good morning, Council. Ernie Barreira, Budget & Purchasing Chief. We have already asked the departments to begin identifying items that might have been unintentionally omitted or otherwise other needs may have been identified throughout the budget process. As you know, it is a very chaotic and challenging process, and during the course of the execution of the budget, sometimes we miss items, so we have asked all the departments, including Fire, to begin identifying those and transmitting it over to the Budget Team so we can present it to the Mayor. I would ask that you not ask for that information now because the Mayor has not had a chance to vet it. Once that is vetted and it is approved, of course we will convey it and those items within our instructions for you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Thank you. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 3 Councilmember Chock: A big part of what I have read in your narrative is for the transition of positions that we have seen not only in the last few years, but forthcoming. I just wanted to get a sense of your continuity plans to ensure that we have in place the institutional knowledge and leadership that is necessary for us to run an effective department. Mr. Vaughan: Thank you for the question, Councilmember. This last year has been challenging. We had fourteen (14) kind of staggered retirements through the year. We have been planning for this transition and another eight (8) to ten (10) retirements are coming up at the end of this year. We lost four hundred (400) years of institutional memory and working knowledge. That is a huge experience to replace. So we have been trying to build through a little bit of the temporary assignment rank-for-rank. That helps out the promotions that have come up and have allowed people to accept the new leadership opportunities. We have some opportunities in training. A lot of the older guard of firefighters and captains that have left, they took with them a lot of command and control experience. So exposing our new leaders to that is vitally important and reflective in our training side that we also have provided some of that command and control experience for them in training. Mr. Westerman: If I may, Robert Westerman, Fire Chief. The Deputy will not toot his own horn, but he started a new program in which we take the new incoming...it is a boot camp...the new, incoming Captains and new, incoming Firefighter IIIs...we have already done the Captains and working on the Firefighter III to impart them a lot of knowledge and experience. It kind of crams it into them in one (1) week, but they would not get it any other way without us having to do that. What we realized with this mass exodus that we needed to do that. One of the other things that has helped over time is our committee structure. All of our committees have senior Captains that work on them and some of them have Battalion Chiefs that work on committees that are in-charge, but they also have the rank-and-file that works with them. So as those people leave, an example is Gordon Tamura in our Communications Committee. We have two(2) of our bright Firefighter IIIs that work that program now and they had worked under him under his leadership. So it is not as steep a learning curve. It might be a little bit, but not as steep. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: You mentioned rank-for-rank. How does that help succession planning, because it requires lateral replacement in times of vacancies, rather than doing temporary assignment (TA) up to the next level? Mr. Vaughan: Thank you for the question, I appreciate the question. Actually, when you do rank-for-rank, the new supervisors working with a new crew helps impart some of that knowledge on a different crew on the existing crew. If you have a new supervisor coming across working those four (4) firefighters below on the existing crew, they get exposed to a new leadership style and new opportunities on how to approach incidents. So it is kind of built into it. I do not know if I am answering your question directly. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 4 Councilmember Yukimura: I was a little thrown by the supervisor term that you mean would be the captains or the operators. Mr. Vaughan: Yes, so at times, I believe you know that if a caption is vacant or out of work for the day, we sometimes TA people up to the leadership role and also TA up to the driver role. Councilmember Yukimura: But is that not discouraged with rank-for-rank? Mr. Vaughan: I believe it is encouraged as much as possible, but with the collective bargaining agreement, that is just kind of the way things go. Whenever we have an opportunity, we try to allow them to TA. Councilmember Yukimura: So your system is if you have a captain vacancy for the day, you have to ask the other captains, right? You do not get to TA the person under that missing captain. I love your boot camp idea, but there is nothing better after that kind of intense training to have on-the-job training, right? Mr. Vaughan: Absolutely true. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, I just wondered. Thank you very much. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you for being here today. I just wanted to get some clarification or some information on the transfer of your Payroll Specialist to Human Resources (HR). What happens with your department now? Is that entire function going to be transferred? Mr. Vaughan: I am going to introduce Rose Bettencourt, our Administrative Services Officer to help us. ROSE BETTENCOURT, Administrative Services Officer: Good morning. Rose Bettencourt, Administrative Services Officer, Fire Department. When the Payroll Specialist position was originally given to us, we already understood that at some point in the future, that position was going to go to HR. So what happened was in the meantime, there was a position that was vacant in HR and our current Payroll Specialist applied for it and got selected. So what we did was we discussed with HR that since she was going with all of her knowledge that we would also transfer her position with all of her payroll duties, everything connected to payroll, which included accrual accounting and payroll entry, review of timesheets, and all of that would go with her. Council Chair Rapozo: So you will have no more payroll function at the Fire Department? Ms. Bettencourt: We hope not to. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 5 Council Chair Rapozo: You hope not? Ms. Bettencourt: Well, that is the understanding, that it is all going to go with her. Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. Mr. Westerman: You could probably ask Janine... Ms. Bettencourt: Jill. Mr. Westerman: Or Jill, exactly what they plan on doing as they consolidate payroll into the HR division. They did not want to take us this soon because it is a very complicated payroll, but I understand that they already do eight (8) departments. So since we are doing a transfer of personnel that really knows the Fire Department, then we are going to transfer the positions and let them start absorbing that payroll. Council Chair Rapozo: I just want to make sure that you folks are not going to be left with an extra burden now with one less person, but the duty is remaining with the Fire Department. Ms. Bettencourt: No, payroll duties will all be going there. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Is this related to the electronic development of our payroll system in the County? Ms. Bettencourt: The electronic payroll system that we were working with, it is still in progress. I am not sure what the status is right now, but we have been meeting, trying to work through the electronic payroll, but I think HR would be better able to answer that as far as the status. Councilmember Yukimura: We will ask them when they come. I acknowledge that your payroll is particularly complicated. Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, it is very complicated. Councilmember Yukimura: So getting it into an electronic form must be complicated, too. But you feel this system of putting your personnel and payroll person in HR would be supportive of your work at the Fire Department? Ms. Bettencourt: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: No serious drawbacks? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 6 Ms. Bettencourt: No. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, excellent. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Speaking of transition plans, I noticed in your write-up that you will be losing two (2) important employees by the end of the year. What is the transitional plan for that? Mr. Vaughan: In the budget presentation... Committee Chair Kaneshiro: The budget presentation says, "Fire Chief Robert Westerman and Administrative Services Officer Rose Bettencourt are planning to retire at the end of the year." Councilmember Yukimura: That is huge. Mr. Westerman: Yes, we are both planning on retiring and actually we delayed retirement from last year because of the mass exodus of our senior personnel,just for what you alluded to. Again, as you see, "see one, do one, teach one" kind of philosophy. The Deputy has been doing a lot of that work and has been carrying a lot of the load for the last year, not that I am tired of doing it and do not want to do it, but it is kind of a learning curve. So we are using that process this year for him to pretty much step up in front and learn all of the processes. Rose, do you want to double-check here, but I believe we have in our budget an additional amount of money for a couple months of training. Ms. Bettencourt: We did not get that in this year. Mr. Westerman: Okay. We planned on that, but I guess that is not in the budget. Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, we wanted to, that was our intent, because I wanted someone who would be able to shadow me that I could teach for three (3) months and they are saying maybe six (6) months...I am not sure...but that is our intent. Mr. Westerman: Yes, it is difficult when you lose those senior positions and making sure that you have all the transition staff available. We just got a new accountant also, so she will be learning a lot of the budget process as part of her job so that is some of the work that Rose is doing. We are trying to diversify in the staff a little bit so when one person leaves, it is not such a huge impact on the department. Ms. Bettencourt: We are trying to do cross-training. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Thank you. Follow-up or any other question? Councilmember Chock. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 7 Councilmember Chock: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have seen the budget for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program, if I am not mistaken, Other Services has gone up about six (6) times, so I just wanted to get a sense of what we can expect in that expansion and investment for the community, specifically. Mr. Westerman: CERT was partially funded through the State Department of Homeland Security grant and the State, at their level, has decided that they are no longer going to fund that at the individual county-level. So we have increased that loss of funds and transferred it to our general funds. Our CERT Coordinator can kind of give you an idea of what we have been doing and the amount of work that they do. It is a tremendous amount of work that CERT is doing, but we want to continue the program, and to be quite honest, without the funding, we cannot continue the program. I just do not see where we can fund it additionally in the budget. JOHN CORNELL, CERT Program Coordinator: John Cornell, for the record. Good morning Council. What questions did you have regarding the program? Councilmember Chock: I think the Chief might have answered it. My understanding is that it was funded from a different source and now we are seeing it, so the budget has not increased, it is just that the funding has been reallocated. Mr. Westerman: Yes. Councilmember Chock: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Cornell: After 9/11, we received about $25,000 a year for an operating budget from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Then it was decreased to $20,000 and as of 2017, like Chief Westerman was saying was a statewide decision to relocate those moneys, so we basically have no budget now. Councilmember Chock: I see. So we do not expect any new services, just to remain status quo in terms of the services that you are providing. Mr. Cornell: Right. That would basically be able to maintain and continue to grow the program at the rate it has been growing. Councilmember Chock: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: For me, what is the CERT program and what are its benefits? Mr. Cornell: Well, the CERT program is designed to increase community resilience. It is part of the national response framework, helps us prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. There is really a force multiplier. We have said it before that if you add up every professional responder on Kaua`i, they make up about half a percent (0.5%) of the total population. So as professional responders, we cannot take care of everybody, so the more we can train citizens to take care of themselves, not be a part of the April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 8 problem, and then also be able to understand what the chain of command is and how the incident command system works, we can use citizens to act as force multipliers if there is a large-scale event. If it is a statewide event...you go to some of these National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS) classes and you quickly look at the positions that need to be filled and you can say to yourself,where are these people? Where do we find them? CERTs are trained not to our level of service, we are not putting them in harm's way or asking them to do what we do, but they can provide numerous resources to the County in an emergency. One of the things that the Kaua`i Emergency Management Agency (KEMA) really wants is an accurate neighborhood damage assessment after an event. So a lot of the money that we are getting in grant funds are going into hand radio communications, communication networks, training people on search and rescue and things like that. So if there was an event, KEMA could get good, accurate neighborhood damage assessment hours after an event. So we practice those scenarios, like in (inaudible) with our annual refresher, getting good information from the peripheries, Ha'ena to Kekaha, and getting that information into the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) as soon as possible. There is a million different things that CERTs could do. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: This is the program where we train regular citizens during emergencies? Mr. Cornell: Right. They learn how to protect themselves. One of the things the budgetary items is when they graduate, they get a backpack with a T-shirt and they have personal protective equipment in there. Internationally, they found that whenever there is a disaster, a lot of well-intentioned people rush in to try and help and they get themselves killed in the process. So especially with an isolated island community with limited resources, the more that we can prepare for and when we need all hands on deck, we want to have people that understand the chain of the command and the culture of the Fire Department and the Police Department and know how emergency management works. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. You mentioned grants a little while ago. So the CERT program is with grants as well? Mr. Cornell: We historically relied on the Homeland Security grant, initially through the citizen corps, but when that dissolved, all of the funds went over to Homeland Security money. So that was basically our reliable operating budget since the early 2000s. Again, last year, it just got yanked, like getting the carpet yanked under your feet. Council Chair Rapozo: So there is no additional funding right now? Mr. Cornell: You folks have provided us $5,000 each year. Council Chair Rapozo: But aside from the $30,000 here, there is no other funding coming to the CERT program? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 9 Mr. Cornell: At this point, there is not. Whether those grant funds will be reallocated in the future is highly undetermined. CERT was not even invited to the statewide budgetary meeting this year. So that is kind of a clear indication of what might happen in 2018 as well. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Mr. Vaughan: Maybe if I could add a quick note of that; the Fire Department is willing to take on this kuleana. We want to keep this program going. We have invested time and money, maybe a decade worth of time to really make this thing and buff it out. Also, to really think about resilience, it has been a long time since we had a natural disaster and it is not a matter of"if," but a matter of"when" at some point. So we call on these people and citizens and residents to really step up and help us. In fact, they did help us at the recent Hanapepe Cancer Relay and that was a good exercise for them in incident command support logistics. So we appreciate the support that they provide and we are happy to take the kuleana on. Council Chair Rapozo: I appreciate that and I think the Fire Department is probably the right place. As the state funds dry up and as more funds they take, at some point, the County is going to have to say, "Timeout. Maybe it is best somewhere else the function, because we cannot continue to take on, and yet get funds taken away from us or stop." I think at this point, we still can manage it, but all the little things that we do throughout the County that should be taken on by the State or funded by the State and as they dry up, I do not think it is fair for the County. Yet, you folks are the right agency to manage this program. That is just my thought. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: I know that during and after Hurricane `Iniki, there was a lot of self-help, but it was not organized or trained. So to have you do this will just magnify...there is a lot of desire and aloha...people will try to help their neighbors and everybody else, but if they are not trained, it can end up more negatively than positively. I am really glad that you are doing this and I think it is worth the money to do this because it will come back to us in a lot of good ways. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: I, too, am very supportive of CERT and have been active with it in previous years. I guess moving forward though, I think what might be a good way for us to consider the increase and sustainability of it is we take some of this year into looking at how it is that we can continue seeking additional funds and maybe even restructuring the needs so that it is reaching the core of what the needs are for the community. Perhaps, we have to also look at that budget a little bit further. You certainly have my support to continue it. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I have one, but this is not about CERT, but about the Deputy's presentation. Thank you for helping us understand the issue of succession with April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 10 respect to firefighters and entry firefighters. What it sounds like is that we are getting a slew of retirements, so there is a lag time between the training and when the positions are fully enabled, so to speak. Have you given any thought to how we might be able to close that gap or how you might have more overlap? I want to commend you, Rose, for that idea of a three-month/six-month overlap. To me, that is kind of like a no-brainer and I would love to see that incorporated more throughout the County, but with respect to entry-level firefighters. Mr. Vaughan: Thank you for the question again. We actually already are having incorporated kind of a shortening of our training program. We usually do a seven-month training program, but with the understanding that we have fourteen (14)line vacancies out there. We really wanted to compress the time. Another way for us to do it is actually splitting the classes so that they can get through their Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training. There is a certain span of control that the EMT or national registry can handle per instructor, so that max was eight (8). We have fourteen (14) and this is one of the bigger classes that we have had historically. One of the greater retirements that we have had historically. So those are a couple of the ways we have been trying to match the time, compress them, and get them to the line with the understanding that again, at the end of the this year, there will be eight(8) to ten(10)retirements again. So we are kind of chasing the tail one more time at the end of the year. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, be glad that you at least have a long list to choose from, unlike the Police. Mr. Vaughan: Thank you very much. Councilmember Yukimura: Do you anticipate more of this type of year in terms of retirement? Do you foresee that it is going to become the norm to have fourteen (14) or more retired over the next two (2) to three (3) years? Mr. Vaughan: I believe probably at the end of this year, we will see it start to taper off just a bit for a few years. There are kind of these waves of classes and seniority that are getting ready to sunset with the collective bargaining agreement as well. So as these phase out or a new collective bargaining agreement comes in, sometimes you will see phasing out of the workforce. Councilmember Yukimura: So right now, you are seeing the baby-boomers essentially retire? Mr. Vaughan: The baby-boomers will retire, yes. Mr. Westerman: This is actually kind of the middle of the start of, if you remember twenty (20) years ago, the State gave this massive buyout to all the people in the State and quite a few firefighters took advantage of that and we hired twenty-one (21), if I am not mistaken, to replace them, so now they are at that twenty-five (25), twenty-six (26), twenty-seven (27), twenty-eight (28) years from retirement, this being the major exodus of them. So like the Deputy said, this coming year, probably a little bit more April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 11 than normal, then it should slide back to a normal...our attrition has been four (4) to five (5) a year, maybe sometimes only two (2) or three (3). Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Mr. Westerman: Then we also have the issue that we cannot just hire two (2) guys and we cannot just hire one (1) guy; we wait until what we have what is an operational class to make it economical, which is roughly four (4) or five (5) at least, so we might go a couple of years, and then kind of what happened here, we went one year without a class and then we had a small class, then boom, now we end up with a big class. Councilmember Yukimura: I see. Mr. Westerman: We try to predict. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, but still you are responding when it happens, so thank you. Mr. Westerman: Yes, like the Deputy said, one of the things we have done that has reduced the time of this class, because we know that, so we have compressed everything we can into the class. They still have to get a certain amount of hours in order to keep our accreditation program working. The Deputy has been very successful in moving that forward and now they all come out with their certification. Mr. Vaughan: If I could just allude to one thing, last year, December 1, 2017, we had five (5) firefighter trainees graduating and hitting the line. On the same day, we had seven (7) retirements. You can kind of see that we were already back catching up, so just thinking about that and trying to stay ahead of the curve. We are lucky to have these fourteen (14) firefighters hired. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for the Administration? I have a question, in the write-up, you said, "The Kaua`i Fire Department continues to provide public safety, emergency response..." this is in the challenges... "with depleted workforce and minimum staffing at fire stations." What is the minimum staffing? Three (3) or four (4) employees? Mr. Vaughan: Most times, we try to keep four (4) firefighters at the station and sometimes we have to dip down to three (3) firefighters based on availability, vacation, and sick leave. Again, we are short fourteen (14) firefighter positions to the line. Those fourteen (14) firefighters are in training, so they have not been deployed to the line. We have a couple of workers compensation type of issues. Other than that, we try to keep it tempered to about four (4) firefighters. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: What is the minimum that you folks can have? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 12 Mr. Westerman: National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards says that we should have a minimum of four (4) eighty percent (80%) of the time and we are kind of doing that right now. But it comes with a cost; in order to maintain that, rank-for-rank is one thing that has actually helped that, and then after that, we TA, and then after that we use overtime. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions? I just have an overall question; on overtime, are you folks doing anything to try to reduce overtime? I know in the past, we have added a Deputy Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief, with the expectation of seeing a reduction in overtime, but I do not really see the reduction in overtime. Just in general, in the Administration, what are you folks are trying to do to reduce overtime, and then overall throughout the divisions. Mr. Vaughan: Thank you for the question. The Assistant Fire Chief has come on as of November. So we are starting to see some of the return of that where he is taking some of the functional overtime projects away from the Battalion Chiefs. That has been helpful, as with the sunset of many of our senior personnel, we will start seeing some of that overtime really start clipping a little more. Also, it is a little different maybe in the operations side because of the staffing issues that we continue to face, the fourteen (14) vacancies on the line, but I believe the Assistant Fire Chief has been extremely helpful in taking away a lot of those projects and providing supervision and progress on a lot of those projects on a forty-hour basis. Mr. Westerman: I think if you look at administrative overtime, the rank-for-rank stayed...I believe the rank-for-rank actually went down a little bit and the regular overtime did not increase, even though there was two point five percent (2.5%) salary increase and step movements in the year. So those numbers have stayed the same regardless of the increase in salaries. Of course, you know most of our budget is salaries, I think about seventy percent(70%), so luckily we only had two point five percent(2.5%) increase this year. So most of our budget reflects the increase of salaries and the affects it has, so we see that as a reduction, even though it is balanced, because there is an increase just in salaries and we are trying to save this. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for the Administration? One last question, for the building lease, I probably ask this every year, but the $8,474, Permit Lot F; what is that for? Mr. Westerman: That is the helicopter hangar pad. That is the location. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Then we also have a hangar amount for $89 a month. Mr. Westerman: Along with access to the airport, along with that comes...we have to pay for our vehicle to have access and we have to pay for our security badges, just like everybody else who enters the airport. It is a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requirement, so there are a couple different things that we pay for. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 13 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So Lot F is for the actual hangar...no, it says "Permit Lot F" and then another one is hangar. Mr. Westerman: Right, one is a permit for the lot and one is the current lease for the lot, which is different than when we put the hangar up. Some of those will actually go away and will go to the hangar lease. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for the Administration? If not, we will move on to Operations. Questions for Operations? Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: This is from your written narrative. You said there were 282 fire alarm responses with a $1,600,000 damage loss. Can I assume that the 282 were actually fires and not false alarms? Mr. Vaughan: The 282 covers all of our callouts to fires. Councilmember Yukimura: So some might be really small and then others might be large. Mr. Vaughan: Correct. Councilmember Yukimura: But most of your calls are medical calls. Thank you. It is very well-laid out. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I have a question on overtime and rank-for-rank. Overtime pay for holiday pay went up $173,000. What was the reason for that? Mr. Westerman: This year, we did not take as much away from what we anticipated...again, holiday and all of that are one of those areas that we have to guess what the employee is going to buy. So it is almost fully-funded this year around. We do not know what the employees are going to do. Sometimes, we take as much as twenty-five percent (25%) away from our estimate. This year, we did not take as much. Thus, you have a little higher value there. There are several of those that we kind of do that with. We do not know exactly what it is going to be. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: That was the same for rank-for-rank? Mr. Westerman: Yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Increased $100,000. Mr. Westerman: Most of that increase comes from the salary increase. It is basically the same level funded, but it is with the salary increase. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 14 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Operations? The leased items for payments for E-1 and E-2, I think it is Engine 1 and Engine 2, the total payments decreased for those? Mr. Westerman: Actually, they are more actual is what they are now. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Councilmember Chock. Councilmember Chock: Thank you, Mr. Chair. A lot of the department operations funded by through grant and support of the nonprofits, Kaua`i Lifeguard Association (KLA) and Friends of the Kaua`i Fire Department, and I know you mentioned about $200,000 in donations for KLA and I was wondering, because I see you purchasing some actual specific operations equipment this year with the (inaudible) as one example. How much support do you get from this 501(c)(3)in support of operations? What is the budget that you folks project in support? Mr. Westerman: Which one? The Friends of Kaua`i Fire Department? Councilmember Chock: Yes. Mr. Westerman: We do not project any funds from them. If they get them for us, we take them, but there is no big, huge concerted effort like KLA to go out there and raise funds every year. Councilmember Chock: That is what I wanted to distinguish. Okay. Mr. Westerman: Yes. Councilmember Chock: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Operations? Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: One last question, this is on the last page, 154 on the bottom right; For Public Safety, the adjusted budget was $393,000, which is the year-to-date encumbrances. Do you know where I am at? It is 119 on the top right or 154 on the bottom. It is the last section under Operations, Public Safety, where it looks like year-to-date was $392,000, but the budget is showing $25,875. What was the drastic reduction? Mr. Vaughan: Thank you for the question. Last year, we came in for a money bill for the Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and we purchased that under the National Association of State Procurement Officers (NASPO) agreement and we came in under budget on that. So that $300,000+ is coming off of the books. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 15 Council Chair Rapozo: I got it. Thank you. Mr. Westerman: Actually, if you look, $29,000 was the original budget last year then we money billed and drew it way up, so we are actually $9,000 under budget from what we originally budgeted last year. Council Chair Rapozo: Okay. I got it. Thank you. That is official, I am assuming? Mr. Westerman: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Operations? If not, we will move on. Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: I see on page 151 that the Helicopter Fuel is $35,000. Is that all the fuel that is needed by the helicopter? There are no other costs in terms of basic operations? I see also that you have your helicopter under "Other Services" $500,000 and then the fuel is $35,000. So that is pretty much the cost of the helicopter, plus the rents that the Chair was just talking about. Mr. Westerman: Yes, the oddity about the fuel is the way we have to purchase the fuel, so we keep it separate in the budget. Even though the contractor purchases it, we record it separately because the contractor gets a discount on fuel because he is selling it to the government. So it cannot just be totally embedded into the contract, so it is a separate line item in the contract. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Mr. Westerman: Again, it is an estimate on what we feel we will use. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions? If not, we will move on to Prevention. Any questions for Prevention? I have a question. I think I asked it last year and then I forgot the answer. When they do the Fire Safety Trailer...because right now, they only have four (4) employees in Fire Prevention and when you do the Fire Safety Trailer, do you need four (4) employees to do the Fire Safety Trailer? DARRYL DATE, Prevention Captain: Darryl Date, Prevention Captain. To answer your question, yes, we utilize four (4) Fire personnel, because besides the trailer, we have different modules that we set up outside of the trailer, such as "Hands-Only CPR," "Crawl Low and Go," and "Stop, Drop, and Roll." With those four (4), it is manageable to safely run all the participants through the trailer and the modules. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 16 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Is there any other way to reduce that to like maybe two (2) or three (3)? I am just looking at the overtime pay to have four (4) people there. Mr. Date: We probably could. We did reduce it from the first couple of years that the trailer was incepted and the program was started. I would say that if we do reduce the number of personnel, we may have to reduce the number of modules. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So the overtime is for instances where you are doing the Fire Safety Trailer that is not during regular work hours? Mr. Vaughan: I am going to jump in here. For the Fire Safety Trailer, when it goes out, it is all the thirteen (13) public elementary schools, and we have done that for the past five (5)years. Every school that we have gone to, to reaffirm fire safety and even actually introduced hands-only CPR as part of a module to help even at home. There might be a way to either reduce personnel or to reduce the encounters. At some point, something has to give, whether it is less visits to schools and the community or maybe we could realign and start to revisit three (3) personnel at the trailer. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: For me, I am looking at the overtime. If we did it during regular work hours, then it would not be overtime, right? Mr. Vaughan: I think this came up last year where we were talking about on-duty forty-hour fire inspectors that have their other tasks, such as plan review, fire inspections, and other functions that come through. For it to really operate in its best fashion is bringing up these trained and certified off-duty firefighters to help supplement what is going on out in the schools and their community risk reduction efforts. I remember the question last year...but to take some of these guys...they actually do fill-in every so often, but it would take away from their actual duties of providing fire inspections and fire plan reviews. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: I wonder if you could partner with other groups, like those who train CPRs and have them on the CPR module at your trainings at the school? Is that possible? Mr. Westerman: Well, anything is possible. We can try and find other people to help us out. I think maybe we have to grasp the picture that this big trailer goes out there and it is not the only thing that is there. It is a module in and of itself, escaping, stove fires. They set-up tents and have another module where they are doing CPR with twelve (12) rambunctious kids and they have another one where they do "Stop, Drop, and Roll" with another twelve (12) rambunctious kids from the school, so reducing the amount of instructors there... Councilmember Yukimura: I am not talking about reducing instructors, I am talking about using non-Fire personnel. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 17 Mr. Westerman: As much as we go out to try and find somebody to dedicate that time, we can try and find that person or those people, but...all I could say is we could try and find some relief. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, I think we often try to partner with other groups. Mr. Westerman: Well, we get some help from the schools when we are at the schools, with the teachers of course and the aids to help move the kids around. Again, at this point, if we have to reduce the amount for this program, we have to reduce the effectiveness of the program. Councilmember Yukimura: Chief, I am not talking about reduction. But that is fine. Thank you. Do you have evidence that kids are getting it? Do you do any pre- and post-tests and things like that that show what you are trying to train is being learned? Mr. Westerman: I will give you some anecdotal. I got stopped at Home Depot by a grandmother and said, "That program was great. My grandson came home and told me that I was not cooking properly and that I was going to catch the house on fire." So those are the kinds of measurements we have. I happen to know a Councilmember that has told me, "How many times am I going to have to go with my child and do this home exit drill?" So it takes that reinforcement year-after-year for the kids to get it and to take the message home for the parents to get it. I think other than giving a quiz, which I will be honest with you...I do not know why we would want to give a quiz to a fourth grader about whether or not he remember what"Stop, Drop, and Roll" is when in reality it is working. We see it working. We have anecdotal evidence that it is working. To answer your question, no, we do not give pre- and post-tests. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Your anecdotal information is very convincing and I think it is valuable information and it does save lives. It is just that more and more, we are just making sure and we use evidence and data to look and see if we can do things better, if we can do things more cost-effectively, et cetera. Mr. Date: Another thing that we get from the schools are thank-you letters from all the students, and in those thank-you letters, they draw pictures and they write a little synopsis of what they learned, and besides that, I have investigated a couple of house fires where children were involved and from what the parents told me, they did the right thing. They got out, stayed out, went to a safe meeting place, and no one got hurt. Councilmember Yukimura: That is excellent and really good to hear. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Prevention? If not, we will move on to Training. Any questions for Training? I have a question on the Blue Card Command Training Program. I think that was a new item. What was that? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 18 MIKE SCOVEL, Training Captain: Mike Scovel, Training Captain. That is part of our officer program. We are trying to create a command and control. As of right now, we have no command and control training for officers. It is basically done on the job. So we are trying to create a base, so we have a foundation of command and control. We only have ICS classes, that is pretty much it, not communication and requested resources and we are just trying to create that program. We have a lot of young Captains and Firefighter III. That would also be part of the Fire Officer I and II program. Mr. Vaughan: Maybe if I could jump in as well. As of the end of the year, we will have twenty-two (22) retirements in the most senior positions and supervisory positions. So the command and control that comes with the training will be of great improvement to the supervisors, again, trying to learn on the job, but nothing really replaces that experiences; those four hundred (400) plus years of experience that we lost last year, we will probably lose another two hundred (200) years of experience this year, so that will be six hundred (600) years of experience trying to get crammed into a Blue Card Command Program. Just for background, the Blue Card Command Program is a digital online type of training. We actually go before a few trainers and they have digital simulations of scenarios, such as structure fires, big brush fires, multi-complex fires, and the student gets certified in those different modules and we would like to have a few trainers that would go through the program, learn how to certify themselves, and come back and deliver that to our department at some point, as built into the program. Mr. Westerman: Maui and O`ahu already do this program. It is actually a nationally recognized program. It was developed by Chief Brunacini out of Phoenix Fire Department. It really is an intense instruction on how the command and control seem to keep them safe. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: I think that is really important training, because you do command and control in error or inadequately and it has a lot of ramifications. I think I heard you say "virtual reality training"? So you are in an experience of doing it? Mr. Vaughan: Yes, it is a digital simulation where they show you a particular simulation of a structure fire, say, for example, a structure fire on side A, side B, side C, and side D and as how you conduct your sides as a supervisor or a captain or even a TA caption, making sure that we are all on the same page as supervisors, as captains, and we are talking the same language. There is interoperability between that and the vision is clear as they paint the picture for the incoming engines and response personnel. Councilmember Yukimura: That sounds great. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Training? I have a question on"Other Services," the medical doctor to Automated External Defibrillators (AED) compliance for $25,000. What is that for? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 19 Mr. Scovel: That is our medical director that gives us guidance. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So no matter what, we need an outside contractor for the AED compliance? Mr. Scovel: Dr. (inaudible) oversees all of our EMS functions and upgrades our training so that we follow state laws and stay in compliance. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: So "AED" stands for what? Mr. Vaughan: "Automated External Defibrillators." Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Mr. Vaughan: It is those red boxes that you see over at the County building. Councilmember Yukimura: This consultant just does that or other things as well? Mr. Scovel: Our overall EMS program. Councilmember Yukimura: So even if you have a question on the scene or whatever, you can call? Mr. Scovel: That is usually after the scene. She evaluates all of our calls and gives advice. Councilmember Yukimura: I see. So it is not just with respect to AEDs? Mr. Scovel: No. Councilmember Yukimura: I think that is what is kind of misleading, unless you pay her something more in another part of the budget? Mr. Scovel: No. Councilmember Yukimura: So this is pretty much her consultation fee for all the issues that you consult with her through the year? Mr. Scovel: Yes, and she approves all of our EMS training. Councilmember Yukimura: And approves all of your EMS training, which is why she is in the training budget? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 20 Mr. Vaughan: And provides quality improvement on that as well. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Training? If not, we will move on to Ocean Safety. Any questions for Ocean Safety? Councilmember Kawakami. Councilmember Kawakami: Are you folks still undergoing arbitration right now for the Bargaining Unit 14? Is that still ongoing or has that been wrapped up? Mr. Westerman: We are waiting on the arbitrator's opinion. Councilmember Kawakami: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I have a question. We added two (2) more positions to Po`ipu,which was for the new tower. Is there a way to still man the tower without having two (2) additional positions there? I am assuming that it is for the new tower that is going there. KALANI VIERRA, Water Safety Officer V: Kalani Vierra with the Ocean Safety Bureau. Yes, as you folks know, the Kaua`i Lifeguard Association assisted us with fundraising on a new tower and we will be calling that new tower the "Nukumoi Tower" instead of"Waohai." "Nukumoi" is the proper name of that point where the tower is going to be at. We are asking to convert part-time positions into full-time to help assist coverage on that new tower. Mr. Westerman: So it is not adding two (2) new, it is actually converting four (4) part-time to two (2) full-time. One of the main reasons for that is the way we do the staffing. Because part-timers are only allowed to work so many hours, you actually run out of hours of time that you need for them to work. So by converting two (2) of them to full-time, it is easier to work them, and even if you have to work overtime, then you have them to work overtime also. It is just easier to manage that Po`ipu tower. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: Are we losing two (2) to Parks & Recreation? Where is that going to go? Mr. Westerman: I am sorry, try again? Council Chair Rapozo: I am seeing two (2) Ocean Safety Officers, 10471 and 10472 are being transferred to Parks & Recreation. Mr. Westerman: Yes, they are. I was not aware where they were going. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 21 Council Chair Rapozo: That is where they are going. Mr. Westerman: You would have to ask HR that question. Council Chair Rapozo: Is HR here? We need lifeguards, I keep hearing that, and I am seeing that you are moving two (2) to Parks & Recreation and that kind of bothers me, especially if you do not know about it. Mr. Westerman: I know they are moving them, I just do not know where they are moving them to. Council Chair Rapozo: Were they operating... Mr. Westerman: They are part-timers, yes. Council Chair Rapozo: They are two (2) part-timers? Mr. Westerman: Yes, but nobody loses their job. We have openings as we make this shift. Council Chair Rapozo: That is not my point. If Parks & Recreation needs positions, they come and ask for positions. They do not take from Fire. I guess I am just trying to figure out the logic. That is all. I can wait for them to come up later. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Follow-up on that one, were those positions previously dollar-funded? I should have looked. Council Chair Rapozo: No, they are filled. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: They have somebody in them? Council Chair Rapozo: Yes, that is why I am wondering where they are going to go. Ms. Bettencourt: Ocean Safety has several nineteen-hour positions with no benefits, so the four (4) positions that we are talking about were all nineteen (19) hours, no benefits. What we are doing is we are deleting two (2). I think that might be a typo. We are deleting two (2) positions and the converting two (2) to full-time. Council Chair Rapozo: I am seeing that in the positions under... Ms. Bettencourt: The 10471 and 10472? Council Chair Rapozo: Yes. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 22 Ms. Bettencourt: I am not sure why it said that it was being transferred to Parks & Recreation. Council Chair Rapozo: Is that somewhere in the (inaudible)? It is in Parks? I think we need the lifeguards at the beaches and Parks needs to go and hire for the pools. That is my position. I am not sure why they do this. I hate when they do this and they sneak this stuff around. Staff, I do not how you make that happen and when we do decision-making, but that is my proposal, to leave this right where it is at and have Parks come back and ask. I am not sure why they are doing this. It bothers me. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Rose, you said you were deleting two (2) positions and then creating two (2) full-time? Ms. Bettencourt: So there is four (4) nineteen-hour positions. They are taking away two (2) and the other two (2), we are converting them from nineteen (19) hours to full-time with benefits. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. So two (2) going to Parks. Ms. Bettencourt: Yes, we do not know what that other part is. Councilmember Yukimura: You do need lifeguards at pools, right? Ms. Bettencourt: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: There is no question about that. I remember a pool drowning when I was the mayor, which was pretty serious. Council Chair Rapozo: I am not saying that we do not need them at the pool. What I am saying is that every year we hear that we are short-staffed and last year we gave extra positions for lifeguards, because we need them and I agree. We can get lifeguards. If they need them, then come get them, but do not take it from the Fire Department. To replenish them, we have to pay overtime. It makes no sense. Just come up and ask for some positions if you need them. Do not go and back door this stuff. I did not hear it in the presentation of Parks. Did anybody hear that from Parks? I did not hear it. It is very clear here that the positions are being converted from part-time to full-time. That is clear in this budget. Then down here, it says "transferred to Parks." Our Water Safety Officers are trained and they are beach lifeguards, not pool lifeguards. It is different. We will see...I do not know if it is an HR issue. It is probably more of a Parks issue or a Managing Director issue. I am not sure where this came from, but I definitely want to hear from somebody that can explain the logic. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 23 Councilmember Yukimura: I have a question for Kalani. Thank you, Rose. So this removal of two (2) positions, is that going to hamper your operations? Mr. Vierra: Well, this is the first time knowing about these two (2) positions myself and I totally agree that we need lifeguards at the beaches and I hope they can stay with us. Councilmember Yukimura: So how does it work? You do not train the pool lifeguards? So once you are a pool lifeguard, you are always a pool lifeguard and they get trained in a different way? There is no movement? Mr. Vierra: Yes, we have different training. The beach lifeguards have open-ocean training and the pool lifeguards have flatwater training. We do not cross-train with each other and have different certifications. We are a much higher level of training than the pool lifeguards. Councilmember Yukimura: Are they in your collective bargaining unit? Mr. Vierra: No. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, they are a different collective bargaining unit. I am understanding now how the division is. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions? Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you for your grasp on the drownings and visitors versus resident. It is good data. It is pretty erratic, too. It is hard to predict from year-to-year. Have you done any mapping and is there any pattern of the drownings? Mr. Westerman: (Inaudible), but we did not anticipate putting it in the presentation. Councilmember Yukimura: I am just curious if it shows you... Mr. Vierra: We are currently working on a Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping system that shows all the different incidents around our beaches, whether it will be drowning, a rescue, a first aid, and we do show a lot of really good data that should get some information for you, but we can get good data for you. It shows all the different rescues from across the island and I think we go back to 1970. You can really see the hot spots, like Anini, for example, Waiohai, or different locations, Hanalei Bay, for example. It really shows a good, distinct...where the high frequency of rescues and incidents are. Councilmember Yukimura: Is that something that is available? It is kind of a completed project. You are not in progress? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 24 Mr. Vaughan: So we started this project about one year ago, I would say, in March 2017, and I asked one of the Ocean Safety Lifeguards who has a GIS background to start looking at the historic data. He went all the way back, went through everything, and developed a GIS heat map of where all of these particular drownings tend to occur. Waiohai is one of those areas that comes up as a hot spot. I believe we mentioned this at a prior council meeting. That heat map is a continued work in progress. We are really proud of it. He actually did present that over at the Hawai`i Trauma Symposium last summer in July, so we are really happy to see that depicted and to really understand how to better provide service and life safety to particular beaches. There are some beaches that just cannot be provided other than by roving patrol, so that helps us with our roving patrol and assessing where to deploy resources. Councilmember Yukimura: Good for you and maybe next week, next budget, you can give us some of the data. Mr. Vaughan: Absolutely. Councilmember Yukimura: As it affects your responses in your plan. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Ocean Safety? In regards to that Po`ipu tower, how many people do we plan to have out there a day? Mr. Vierra: If the plan goes according to plan, we are trying to get the Nukumoi Tower up and running on May 1st and we will probably staff that one particular tower with one (1) or two (2) personnel and we still have our sixteenth tower that we just relocated last week to Po`ipu to the kiddie pond side. So we will probably run that beach with a minimum of three (3) staffing between the two (2) towers. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Three (3) between the two (2) towers? Mr. Vierra: Yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Any other questions? If not, we are going to be done with Fire. Council Chair Rapozo: Kalani, thank you folks for what you do out there in the ocean. Sorry for being upset, but I am asking staff to check, but I have a feeling that those two (2)positions, because the numbers are so different were the two (2) that we created last budget. I just have that feeling. They came in using you folks to ask for these positions because "we need it" and then this year, take it right back. This frustration is not directed to anybody in the Fire Department. You folks need to know that. It is hard enough for us to increase positions as a Council when we do our budget. It is very difficult. The Council agreed that we needed positions for the beaches. That is why we approved the positions. To see it moved, that is not good. I just wanted to make sure you know that the frustration is not directed at the Fire Department. Thank you. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 25 Mr. Vierra: Thank you for the support. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: I see that Jill just came back. Do you have the information? JILL NIITANI, HR Manager: I may need to defer to Ernie folks with budget, but my understanding is that the two (2) positions, 10471 and 10472, were...I think it was discussed that because the 2541 and 2542 positions increased to full-time, that those other two (2) on-call positions were not needed. So those two (2) positions then moved to Parks Pool Guards. So that would have been in the Parks & Recreation budget. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. My frustration is not with you either. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kawakami. Councilmember Kawakami: I have a question. If the Fire Department and Ocean Safety do not even know that these transfers are happening, who is actually having the discussion to say that we do not need them anymore? That is the concern. We have the departments with the expertise explaining to us the positions that they need and the equipment that they need. This is not a question you can answer, but somebody from the Administration has to come and answer, because if this type of conversation is happening and Ocean Safety does not even know about it, how is it justifiable that they do not need it? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Jill, you said that they were on-call positions. That is what they were categorized as. Ms. Niitani: I believe so. Councilmember Yukimura: I am guessing that...I think it was the Mayor's State of the County Address that they are opening the public pools...school pools, or at least Kaua`i High. Where else is there...anyway, for public use and there is a need for coverage or lifeguard coverage for that and I am just guessing that is the reason. We could follow-up with a question. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Yes, I do not think they are prepared to answer it now. We will send a follow-up question. If you have a specific question, make sure you write it out clearly to send over. Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: I guess I am guessing that the school pools are State, right? I do not know, I am guessing. Is it not the State? Does anyone know? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 26 Councilmember Yukimura: Kaua`i High School is. Council Chair Rapozo: Right. Why in the world would we put a County lifeguard there and take them from the beaches? Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for Fire? If not, thank you. We are done with Fire. We will take our ten-minute caption break and when we come back, we will have the Police Department. Mr. Vaughan: Thank you. There being no objections, the meeting recessed at 11:00 a.m. The meeting reconvened at 11:12 a.m., and proceeded as follows: Police Department Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Welcome back. Next up, we have the Police Department. Officer Contrades, do you want to do a brief overview and then head straight into the budget? MICHAEL M. CONTRADES, Deputy Chief of Police: Good morning Council Chair Rapozo, Budget & Finance Committee Chair Kaneshiro, and Members of the Kaua`i County Council. For the record, Michael Contrades, Kauai Police Department. Before we begin the review of KPD's budget, I would like to give a brief statement. We would first like to recognize and thank Council for the support received over the years for the various initiatives we have undertaken. Recently, we came to you for approval to purchase equipment essential to our operations using unexpended funds in the current fiscal year's budget. It is because of your support that we are able to present a budget today that we believe to be reasonable and in line with the projected needs for the next fiscal year. While we understand that the Kauai Police Department's budget has increased by seven percent (7%), six percent (6%) of the increase is due to salaries and the collective bargaining agreement. It should be of note that had it not been for our need to request $380,000 for our Bomb Squad partnership with Maui and Hawaii Police Departments, KPD's operating budget would have been $53,661 under fiscal year 2018's budget. This was not easy to do; however, we want you to know that we listen when the Council speaks and we take your concerns into consideration when formulating our budget. The Kauai Police Department has tried to be fiscally responsible as an organization, balancing fiscal responsibility with our mandate to protect and serve our community. As an example of our fiscal efforts is demonstrated in the reduction of overtime hours, compared to fiscal year 2017. Presently, we have expended approximately 4,000 less hours of overtime this fiscal year than last. Please keep in mind that due to personnel shortages, the number will be smaller by the end of the fiscal year. The reduction is due to the efficient use of resources, such as the establishment of a training unit, use of recruits in cellblock, and use of civilian staff for procurement requirements. We have also settled into our new records management system and fortunately, there were no major incidents that required a large response of personnel. As mentioned, we continue to hire new officers and place them into cellblock while we work towards establishing a recruit class large enough to April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 27 make fiscal sense to conduct. Recently, the new hires save three hundred fifty-eight (358) nine-hour shifts of overtime. This is an estimated$253,281 in overtime savings. While hiring police officers is challenging for the Kaua`i Police Department and the rest of the nation I might add, we are working towards new and innovative ways to hire. We are working on social media and technological initiatives to connect with potential candidates. With the help of Human Resources, we are also in the process of creating a police exam preparation course that will assist interested police candidates with the hiring process. We are working towards redescribing the traffic safety monitor positions to create police apprentice positions, which we believe will help us to propagate homegrown police officers for the future. The redescription came with additional benefit, a cost-savings of$133,680 in salaries. Another measure of fiscal responsibility included the review of our hiring potential in the next fiscal year. Based on our projections, we short-funded eight (8) positions for six (6) months for a total cost-savings of$255,000 in salaries. We frequently analyze our overtime expenditures and we determine that by far,personnel shortages are the main cause of overtime cost, taking up thirty-six percent(36%) of our total overtime expenditures. Over the last six(6)years, we have hired one hundred sixteen (116) new employees, seventy-eight (78) of which were police officers. Hiring suitable and qualified police officers on Kaua`i, again, like the rest of the nation, will continue to be challenging, but we are resolute in doing all that we can to fill the vacancies in an effort to reduce overtime, provide relief to our staff, and improve services to the community. In total, our efforts netted a $442,341 in this fiscal year's budget request, which was done as part of our fiscal stewardship. Although we budgeted overtime this year based on our three-year average, our submittal for overtime is $85,000 under that average. When you combine the short-funding of positions, the redescription of positions, the reduction in operating budget, of course minus the Bomb Squad request, and the short-funding of overtime from the three-year average, KPD has already cut $527,341 from our budget. As mentioned earlier, we listened to you each year and we have worked diligently towards improving our fiscal management of the moneys you approve. It is our sincerest hope that you have recognized our efforts and that you support the budget that we have put forth today. Thank you for the opportunity to give this opening statement and we are prepared at this time to take any questions. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you for that overview on what you folks have done and what you are trying to do. Do we have any questions for the Chiefs Office? Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Right now, it is not a question, but I just want to say that is an excellent report and I think the Police Department is setting the standard for really scrutinizing your budget and trying to be efficient in all ways. Mr. Contrades: Thank you. Councilmember Yukimura: I personally, as one (1) Councilmember, really appreciate it. Mr. Contrades: Thank you very much. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 28 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any questions on the Chiefs Office budget? I have a question on Other Employee Benefits. The firearm maintenance, when I multiplied it out, it did not add up to the number that was in there. On page 107 on the bottom. Okay, got it...I think that number needs to be changed to 1,000 rather than 500. Mr. Contrades: Yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Is it 500 or 1,000? Mr. Contrades: 1,000. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I think that was part of the newest collective bargaining where it increased to 1,000. Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Chief, you said there was a seven percent (7%) increase in the budget due to collective bargaining... Mr. Contrades: And salaries, yes. Councilmember Yukimura: If you take out the Bomb Squad portion, then it is actually last year's budget. Mr. Contrades: Yes, if we did not have to ask for the Bomb Squad money, we would be $53,661 under last year's operating budget. Councilmember Yukimura: That is even with the collective bargaining increases? Mr. Contrades: No. That is the operating itself and then the salaries and fringe separately. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, I understand. So basically, the increase is only...you are not including salaries in the operating budget? Mr. Contrades: Yes, so the overall budget, six percent (6%) increase is due to salaries and fringe benefits. The one percent (1%) is the request for the $380,000 for the Bomb Squad, for a total of seven percent (7%) increase of the overall budget. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: I have a question on the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), which was a grant that I think we used to get before and now we are going to end up having to pay for those positions. Can you just explain the program, how many years we were subsidized by it, and now what happens with it? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 29 Mr. Contrades: It was a three-year program. The first year was subsidized mainly by the COPS grant and partially by our Asset Forfeiture Fund. Then the second year was totally funded by the COPS grant. So in year three, which this is what we are budgeting for, is the County's turn to pay as part of the agreement. In total for six (6) positions, we received $750,000 in grant funding over this past two (2) years. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So starting next year, is it still going to be a COPS grant or is it just going to be a regular police officer? Mr. Contrades: Yes, it will still be COPS because this is the year that the County has to pay now as part of that original agreement. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Then we are planning to keep those positions ongoing into the future? Mr. Contrades: Yes, the intent was to create an additional beat in Kapa`a. The Kawaihau District is the largest residential district. It is also one of the busiest, so we see a definite need to have that additional beat in that area to handle the amount of calls for service. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are we ever going to get more money from the COPS grant? Mr. Contrades: The grant ends at this point. There has been talk of nationally reducing the COPS program, but if COPS continues, there are other opportunities. In the past, I believe they funded our school resource officers, so there are opportunities for more positions, but it would create new positions. It would not be to pay for existing. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: But I guess moving on into the future, we are going to keep the COPS description in it or we are just going to get rid of it? Mr. Contrades: I would imagine this would be the last year of calling it COPS. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: It would be the last year to show it as COPS, okay. Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: This particular COPS program is like a transition where they fund us upfront and then gradually we take over? Mr. Contrades: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: We did it for a Kawaihau beat, but because we are not able to fill all of the positions, we are not really able to fully implement that right now? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 30 Mr. Contrades: We have implemented when personnel is available, so we have done that, but it has not been traditionally the way we fill normal beats. So it has not been one hundred percent (100%) full-time. Councilmember Yukimura: It is one of the reasons I presume that you are so aggressively trying to fill your positions. Mr. Contrades: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: That will just give you more flexibility and more possibility for your conventional beats. Mr. Contrades: Right. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: In the past, we had it dollar-funded because we were receiving grant money for it. Mr. Contrades: Yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: These positions are filled though, right? Mr. Contrades: Yes, they are. Councilmember Yukimura: One more question. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Is the COPS grant federal moneys? Mr. Contrades: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: It is federal moneys. But it comes directly to the Police Department, not through the State? Mr. Contrades: I believe it is through the Department of Justice. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. One more question about COPS. Is there a prognosis given the present Administration about whether...like we are very concerned that Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) moneys in Housing might be cut; is that similar, too, or are the police departments a little bit more protective? Mr. Contrades: This is just quick news clips that I saw that there was consideration for reducing or getting rid of COPS. I have not heard what was the latest is. This is probably about a month ago when I heard it. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 31 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kawakami. Councilmember Kawakami: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the presentation. So we are going to reallocate for traffic safety monitors and create four (4) police apprentice positions. These are a good transition program, because we are targeting students that are embarking on a Criminal Justice degree. Is that what it is? Mr. Contrades: Yes. Councilmember Kawakami: So is it kind of like a summer hire type of thing or is it with the community college? Do they have a Criminal Justice... Mr. Contrades: The way that we envision the program is that they would be working part-time with us. The point of it is to fill that gap between high school and college. We have seen over the years where we have lost potential candidates. They have gone off to college and then they started not to come back. This would be an opportunity for us to keep those that want to earn a degree in Criminal Justice and want to be police officers here on Kaua`i. We see this as an opportunity to develop homegrown police officers. So the entire program encompasses and it actually begins with our Junior Police Academy. We have kind of likened this to a (inaudible) league, like baseball has Single A, Double A, Triple A, and Pros. Our Single A would be our Junior Police Academy, which we successfully had a few months ago. What happened was is we gave eight (8) days of various types of training to youth, high school age that was interested in law enforcement. Then we tried to recruit them and get them to join our Explorer program. So the Junior Police Academy: Single A; our Explorer program: Double A; and the apprentice program would be Triple A with the intent of trying to get them to join the police department which would be likened to the Major League or Pros. So overall, that is our vision with this program. It would be part- time working with us. We would expect them to be full-time in college, working towards a Criminal Justice degree. Part of the program would include mentoring and tutoring, if necessary, with their classes. They would be part of our department, like I mentioned part- time. We would put them in various aspects of jobs within the department in the different bureaus and what we see with this program is a potential to have a very well-rounded homegrown police officer for the future that has a broader vision of the department because of their ability to work in the different aspects of it. It is a program that we think will be successful and we want to give it an opportunity and see how it works out. Councilmember Kawakami: That is great, because Chaminade University has a great Criminal Justice program. Mr. Contrades: With the online programs that are available today, we are not too concerned about selections of colleges. Many of them have flexible schedules where they can work up to the thirty-two (32) hours with us and still be considered a full-time student working towards a Criminal Justice degree. Councilmember Kawakami: One more question, Mr. Chair. Our School Resource Officer (SRO) program, we currently have a police officer in every high school, full-time, right? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 32 Mr. Contrades: Yes. Councilmember Kawakami: Have we ever started venturing off into the potential of deploying that type of officer into our middle schools, which we are finding is much needed? Mr. Contrades: We have discussed this with the Department of Education (DOE), and at one point I believe they were attempting to apply for grant funding for that. I am not sure what happened to that. That is something that would be beneficial in the future. I think one of the challenges we will have is being able to hire enough officers to do the normal job, but definitely something that we have been thinking about and exploring and I think definitely something is needed in the future. Councilmember Kawakami: Are we currently getting any type of state subsidy through grant or revenue from the State of Hawai`i Department of Education? Mr. Contrades: We have actually pushed back hard on that, trying to get something. Thus far, the only commitment that we have gotten is the understanding that they will pay for the training of new SROs, and that we have gotten. As far as paying for salaries, not yet. They have not committed to that. We have tried. At this point, like I mentioned, the most we can get out of them is that they are willing to pay for the travel and training for anytime we get a new school resource officer. Councilmember Kawakami: Sure. This is one of those points whether we get a state subsidy, you cannot put a price tag on the safety of our children. The whole debate on whether we arm our teachers or not is almost ridiculous. We do not need to arm teachers, we just need to put more police officers in our schools. There are two(2)things, it also creates that relationship, because even like Bobby Thompson out there that go out to the schools, the kids absolutely love him. When we were growing up, we used to run away from the police. Now we see kids running towards the officer. That is with K-PAL, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), and the SROs. Thank you. Mr. Contrades: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Going back to Councilmember Kawakami's previous comments, obviously there is a huge vacancy in Police. I think there are like eighteen (18) positions open. Does Kauai Community College (KCC) offer any type of classes that can transition students into police? Mr. Contrades: Not presently. I know a long time ago, they used to have a Criminal Justice two-year degree. I do not believe they have one today. Like I mentioned, with the online schooling, anybody that wants to get into that, it is pretty easy to do. What we are seeing with our hiring...we went through and looked at every facet of the hiring process to determine where we are losing the most people. We have a lot of people that are applying and there is a large drop in the people that actually show up to the written exam. We are going to be working with HR to see if there is a way to figure out why, but April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 33 what we could focus on is once they take the written exam, I think it was a twenty-seven percent (27%) failure rate of the written exam. When this was brought up to us last year by Council, both Assistant Chief Gausepohl and I went to HR. I cannot discuss specifically what is on the test because I had to sign a confidentiality agreement, but basically, we reviewed the entire exam and it really is in line with what we need because it comes down to basic reading comprehension, sentence structure, grammar, and spelling, all the things you will need to write police reports. I do not think there is anything we can do to make the written exam any easier. So one of the things that we are working on is this police exam prep course. We used to partner with KCC for that. I am not sure what happened at what point with the program, but we feel that there is a need and we doing something in-house with that. We actually were going to partner with Fire; I know the Fire Department is doing that as well, but they moved too quickly for us. We were not ready and they are actually in the process of doing it. So we are developing our program. It will have seven(7) facets to it. We are hoping to give the candidates who are having difficulty or those that want to leg-up on the process, that ability to work with us and get direct information; not "these are the answers to the test," but these are the type of questions that will be asked and helping them to learn test- taking tips. When you take multiple choice exams, we all know that there are certain types of techniques that you use when you take those types of exams. So we want to be able to help them with that. We are hopeful that process will help as well. As far as the vacancies go, just to let Council know, we actually have fourteen (14) people right now that are kind of in the hopper per se. Six (6) are going to physiological exams with our psychologist, so that is nearing the end of our process. We have six (6) more that we are doing background checks on and then we have another two (2) transfers from another department within Hawai`i that are requesting to transfer to us. The positions that are vacant, there is a potential for us to fill it very quickly. The way that we projected it out, we believe with the cuts that we made of short-funding, that will be alright. We do have a potential at this point for fourteen (14) new officers. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: My follow-up question was how many retirements are you expecting in the upcoming year? Mr. Contrades: That is a good question. Potentially, it is hard because generally most people do not tell us that they are actually going to retire. Then sometimes the ones that do say they are and when it comes time, they do not. If I am not mistaken, was it thirty (30) potential? Yes, roughly around thirty (30), if they wanted to, could. So we could be in a world of hurt by the end of the year, but that is why we are trying our best to hire as quickly as we can. The program with hiring people, giving them quick training, and then actual on the job-training in cellblock has really cut down our overtime and has been beneficial to our staff, so that will continue. We are doing our best to try and hire as quickly as we can. It is just hard to anticipate because there is no mandate for anybody to tell us ahead of time that they are going retire and they can always pull back and say, "Well, I decided not to." That is their right. So it is hard to say, but I think we have close to thirty (30) that could retire. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: How many people actually make it to the program, and then after a year or two decide being a police officer is not really what they want to do? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 34 Mr. Contrades: Periodically, we have a couple here and there, not a lot. It is not really about that they do not want to do the job anymore. We have had a few go through it and they realized after seeing what they have seen that, that is not the job for them. Hopefully, with our new program that we are starting, part of it is an introduction into the Kaua`i Police Department. That is block number 1 and in block number 1, we hope to tell them about the things to expect and what the job will entail, so that if they are kind of iffy about it, maybe they can make up their mind a little earlier. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Obviously, you guys deal with a lot of stuff normal people do not want to deal with or do not have to deal with and if there is any way to prep them ahead of time and get them mentally ready to know what the rigors of job is going to be before they go through all of that training, and then get there and decide, "I do not think this is for me." Mr. Contrades: Other program that we offer is the Citizens Police Academy. We also offer ride-alongs. For the younger kids, high school age, like I mentioned, the Junior Police Academy and Explorers. So hopefully those people that are really interested in the job will take advantage of those things and get a look at it beforehand. Like I mentioned, with the new police exam prep course, maybe that will be helpful as well. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Thank you. Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: I am very impressed at this whole structure that you have developed. Did you have a model that you followed or did you create this entirely from scratch? Mr. Contrades: Interestingly, we all like to think we are smart and came up with things on our own, but we kind of developed this in the beginning and then we attended the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference and we saw a very interesting class on a similar thing, so we took some of their ideas as well. They call it "homegrown policing" and kind of the same concept. So our idea was not original...we thought it was and when we found out this was being done in Peoria Police Department in Illinois, we called them up, spoke with them, and got some ideas on how they have done the program. For them, it was relatively new, so they are still weighing things out to see how beneficial it is going to be, but the initial information that they provided to us looks pretty good so far. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, I think you are smart if you actually do not try to reinvent the wheel and learn about good practices elsewhere and take what applies here. Mr. Contrades: We thought we were being innovative and it was interesting to see that somebody else in the country had already started it. Councilmember Yukimura: Well, that is probably because they are facing the same problems that you are trying to address. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 35 Mr. Contrades: Right. Councilmember Yukimura: It is good that you do it and actually shows the value of going to some of these conferences. Mr. Contrades: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: The whole idea of exposing interested young people or even transfer age people in this work is a really good idea for the reasons that Committee Chair Kaneshiro pointed out that it enables them...you only want people who really want to do this work. Mr. Contrades: Right. Councilmember Yukimura: So it has that vetting process. I really appreciate the examination of the obstacles, like the written exam and the rates of passage. It sounds like you said there is a drop in the people who show up to take the exam. Mr. Contrades: Right. Councilmember Yukimura: So that just might mean that they are intimidated even before they take it. Mr. Contrades: Yes, so that is one area that we hope to explore in the future, is why there is such a big drop. One the things we know is that people have to apply for a certain amount of jobs to receive benefits. We think that is part of it. We do not think that is a big part of it. But we want to know more about that and hopefully we will be able to do that shortly. But the things that are under our control, we are taking a look at that to see why. Another example is that about fourteen percent (14%) of our candidates in the last two(2) classes failed the physical readiness standards test. So the physical readiness standards test is given at a lower standard than the actual standard; we call it a"trainability standard." So the level of the testing, the time for the runs, the amount of weight you have to lift, all of those types of things, is actually at a trainability standard and not the actual standard that they have to meet before they graduate. We are taking a look at that as well and that will also be part of our police exam preparation course. So we are going explain to them the nuances of each test and we are also going to give them an opportunity to practice it with us to see how well they do. We are hoping that will also be beneficial in reducing that amount of failures. Councilmember Yukimura: Excellent work. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Kawakami. Councilmember Kawakami: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Do you have a rough number, ballpark figure on how much it costs to train one (1) potential officer and get them ready to graduate and put them through the whole program? How much does that cost? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 36 Mr. Contrades: If I am not mistaken, the last time we did that, which includes issuing of their equipment and things like that was close to $100,000, I think. Councilmember Kawakami: $100,000. Mr. Contrades: That would factor in things like instructor salary, their salary, equipment, and time. Councilmember Kawakami: So this is for one (1) recruit? Mr. Contrades: Yes, I think we estimated that out at about $100,000. Councilmember Kawakami: I think one of the myths out there is that Kaua`i Police Department is not hiring local. That is not the case. It is just like what you said, people are not showing up for the tests, they cannot pass the tests; yet, we have positions that we need to fill. So if a police recruit comes from the mainland, we are going to take them. I think the other thing I heard and we all go to the Police Department graduations, but is it a myth that...let me put it this way...do we have cases where we have mainland recruits come in, go through the course, and then turnaround unexpectedly to go back home and use this as a springboard. Is that happening? Is that hearsay? Mr. Contrades: I am not sure if you could say that they are using it as a springboard. We keep track with the assistance of HR of all of the reasons why people leave and a lot has to do with family commitments on the mainland and some of it has to do with cost of living. You are correct—we will hire anybody who is suitable and qualified, regardless of where they are from because we have vacancies to fill. But the vast majority are from here, meaning either Kaua`i or in Hawai`i. We do have people from the mainland that come, stay with us for a while, and then leave. From what I have seen, and please correct me if I am wrong, I have not seen anybody use us as a springboard to get anywhere else. There have been reasons why they have left. Councilmember Kawakami: I think we had to make that clear, because hearsay on the island is, "They come in, they get trained, they are done with their vacation and they go back," which is not the case. Mr. Contrades: That is one thing I can guarantee is that a recruit training is not a vacation. Councilmember Kawakami: And the job is not a vacation. Mr. Contrades: Yes. Councilmember Kawakami: You know that minimal physical test that you talked about, is that the same as that...what is it called? Is it a "PRST"? April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 37 Mr. Contrades: Yes, "PRST" stands for "Physical Readiness Standards Test." It is a series of physical testing, such as a mile and a half run, three hundred (300) meter sprint, benchpress eighty-five percent (85%) of your bodyweight, et cetera. Each one is designed to test a specific job-related ability. It is a validated test for the Kauai Police Department and it is a standard that we have. That is something that is necessary to ensure that the level of candidate coming into the department is up to a physical level that is acceptable to do the job. Councilmember Kawakami: It is a high standard, so we have some good officers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions for the Chiefs Office? If not, we are going to move on to Administration and Technical Bureau. I have a question, Other Services, in the prior year we had biennial physicals of $65,000. What happened to that amount? Mr. Contrades: We do that every two (2) years. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Oh, "biennial"—I answered my own question. Got it. Only right now when I saw it written. For the R&M Equipment Body Worn Camera Replacement, we are purchasing body cameras on a certain cycle? So many every year? ROBERT GAUSEPOHL, Assistant Chief: Good morning, Rob Gausepohl, for the record. No, we are in year two and a half (2.5) roughly of a five-year contract. Part of the contract is a refresh and two and a half (2.5) and five (5) years for body worn cameras and five (5) years for the Taser device. So there is no additional charges. It is all part of the contract. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So when we originally signed up for the body cameras, it was over a certain amount...we would have to pay a certain amount over the next five (5) years? Mr. Gausepohl: Correct. It is an annual set amount for five (5) years that includes the refresh at two and a half(2.5) and five (5). Because of the rate that technology advances—and we are seeing that now in the upgrade that we are getting on body worn cameras—we felt that it was wise to get in at this level, which I think is quite reasonable. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So this is for actual body cameras and for additional training with the body cameras? Mr. Gausepohl: We should not need any additional training. The platform is so similar that we should not need any more than a quick in-service training, so the docking stations and camera itself is really close. We can get that done in-service. Mr. Contrades: It also encompasses storage costs. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 38 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Mr. Gausepohl: Which is the majority of the problem with these systems. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions from the Members? If not,we will move on to Investigative Services Bureau. Any questions? I know in the write-up you explained about the Bomb Squad unit equipment and training. Can you explain that a little more? Mr. Contrades: So as far as the Bomb Squad funds that we requested, we are partnering with Hawai`i Police Department and Maui Police Department in a cooperative to ensure that we are prepared for any type of incident that involves explosive devices. Right now, we work closely with the Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal(EOD), but we feel that at this point, we need something more in-house. So there is a $500,000 buy-in, each county has to put moneys in, and that is for training as well as for equipment needs. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is assisting us with this process to get us trained and certified so that we would be able to respond to any types of incidents like this. We have leveraged about $120,000 worth of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) funding, Homeland Security funds. That is all the funds that we could leverage, so the rest we had to come to the County to ask for through general funds. We did look to see if we could do it through Homeland Security grant funds first and with our share of the money, we pushed back some of the initiatives that we had earmarked those moneys for and made this a priority so that we could offset some of the costs to the County. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Are we going to see annual costs or is it just this one-time cost for equipment and eventually maybe in a few years, we might need to replace things? Mr. Contrades: That is probably how it will work. Training will probably be ongoing. It is a very complex training, but generally, the equipment should last us for a while. I am sure there will be maintenance costs as we go along. A huge portion of that funding is going to the robot. The bomb robot is very costly, so at some point, I am sure we are going to have to do some repairs on it, but we do not foresee any major maintenance. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So it will not be $500,000 every single year? Mr. Contrades: No. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Okay. Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: So every County that is participating in this is going to get a robot? Mr. Contrades: Yes. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 39 Councilmember Yukimura: Maybe you mentioned it, but the maintenance of this robot; how much does that cost? Mr. Contrades: At this point, we do not have any type of maintenance fees, but just generally talking about equipment at some point...the equipment breaks and needs to be repaired. I am sure at some point we will need maintenance and maintenance costs for it. Councilmember Yukimura: How many bomb scares a year do we have to the level that we would need a robot? Mr. Contrades: If I am not mistaken, and Assistant Chief Ponce, please correct me if I am wrong, but I think we have had the most when they compared the other islands with the exception of Honolulu. So we have quite a few. Councilmember Yukimura: But they have all been false alarms? Mr. Contrades: Not all. We have had improvised devices made, so we deal with that as well. A big portion of this also has to do with dealing with unexploded ordnances. We have a lot of that. You have old military bombs and whatnot that are discovered and turned it. I remember one several years ago that an individual picked it up on a beach and took it home and we had to evacuate the entire neighborhood while we waited for EOD to assist us. We have measures in place to deal with it now, but we just feel with this, we will have quicker response times in dealing with it. It is warranted and we do have a lot of incidents involving explosives. Councilmember Yukimura: You say it was $500,000 is our share and you have $120,000 in Homeland Security moneys. Mr. Contrades: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: So that is good. I would be concerned if it was $500,000 every year, but we are not looking at that. Mr. Contrades: No, not all. Councilmember Yukimura: But we do not, as yet know, what kind of annual costs we are looking at? Mr. Contrades: Not yet. Councilmember Yukimura: That will come up as we go into the program. Mr. Contrades: We do not believe it will be cost-prohibitive. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 40 Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: Chief, how many officers do you anticipate being trained for this unit? Mr. Contrades: Initially, two (2). Council Chair Rapozo: Just two (2)? Mr. Contrades: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: Is that going to be local training? Are they going to come here and train? Mr. Contrades: I believe we have to send them off. Council Chair Rapozo: This cost is including all of that expense as well? Mr. Contrades: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: So there would be no need for the military to come down once these guys are trained? Mr. Contrades: Once we have our staff, we will be able to handle it ourselves. Council Chair Rapozo: This is not a full-time unit, right? This is going to be a... Mr. Contrades: It is an auxiliary duty, so just like our Special Response Team, it is an extra duty. This will not be full-time personnel. No new positions. Council Chair Rapozo: I would assume that it is going to come under the SRT maybe? Mr. Contrades: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: So how is it handled right now if we do not have this robot? Mr. Contrades: Right now,we call the military. Army EOD comes down to assist us. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 41 Councilmember Yukimura: How has that been working? Mr. Contrades: They have been great in response, it just takes a long time. Councilmember Yukimura: To get them over here? Mr. Contrades: Yes. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: They are not on-island, right? Mr. Contrades: No. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So they have to fly. Councilmember Yukimura: Do they come from Honolulu? Mr. Contrades: Yes. Council Chair Rapozo: I think you remember the last one or one of the most recent ones...we all got the E-mails. I got the E-mails about how long is it going to take. It was overnight. It did not happen that day. The army did not come that day and the people were worried because they heard that the unexploded ordnance was not far from there and they had to wait one whole day. I think it was on the west side. It was not long ago, it was within the last year. They were concerned and then they finally came the next day and were able to blow it up. They had to wait quite a while for the team to come. Mr. Contrades: This will enable us to be able to quickly respond, but also to have the expertise on-island and within our organization. I think it will be a huge benefit to the community overall to have that type of expertise within the Kaua`i Police Department. Councilmember Yukimura: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any other questions? If not, we will move on to Patrol. Any questions for Patrol? It is a flat budget, not much changes. Criminal Asset Forfeiture Fund. Councilmember Yukimura: We got your answer about the training building at the stadium. We could not recall, but thought it was an Asset Forfeiture Fund, and I think your communication indicated that it was and then it became part of the General Fund. Remember, we had that come up in the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) I think. Maybe budget staff can explain how it became part of General Fund. If we just transferred the money then I am okay, but are we taking it from the General Fund now? KEN M. SHIMONISHI, Director of Finance: Ken Shimonishi, Director of Finance. Yes, Councilmember Yukimura, you are correct. The funds came from the Criminal April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 42 Asset Forfeiture Fund and we put two (2) bills together to transfer that over to the General CIP Fund and it is noted on the project that those funds can only be used for that building, the training or K-PAL building. Any leftover money, if there is any, would need to go back into the Criminal Asset Forfeiture Fund or be repurposed for a similar allowed use, which we are watching carefully and I am sure the police is watching carefully as well. That was funded through that mechanism. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, I am glad to hear that. Basically, we are not using general fund moneys for this building. It still is the Asset Forfeiture moneys, but it is now in our CIP list. Mr. Shimonishi: Correct. Again, we do not have a Criminal Asset Forfeiture CIP Fund so to speak, and that is why... Councilmember Yukimura: You did it that way? Mr. Shimonishi: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay, thank you, Ken. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Sorry, I did not look at my E-mails and see the answer, but the actual number ended up higher than what we originally thought it would be. That is K-PAL building that we are talking about, right? Councilmember Yukimura: I believe it is K-PAL. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: So is the additional money going to be coming from the Criminal Asset Forfeiture Fund also? Mr. Shimonishi: That, I am not sure of, but we would definitely have to keep that separate. What I recall of the CIP ordinance is that there was not that additional money yet infused into that project, because if I recall correctly... Councilmember Yukimura: It is forthcoming? Mr. Shimonishi: Unless that was part of the new bond issue, which would be a separate project in a separate fund...a separate project code at least within the Bond Fund. Councilmember Yukimura: So another line item? Mr. Shimonishi: Right. Councilmember Yukimura: Although it might have the same project name. Mr. Shimonishi: Because we would have to keep those funding sources clearly identified. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 43 Councilmember Yukimura: Right. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Council Chair Rapozo. Council Chair Rapozo: I think the discussion with CIP was...they could not answer...was what was the plan? Was it to move the entire training area, the gym over to where the K-PAL building is now? The discussion was that they were value-engineered down because they did not have enough money, but was is the plan for the K-PAL building? If money was not the object, what would you want to do? Move the entire training facility there and redo the building? Mr. Contrades: Actually, the latest version of it, and we are still trying to work that out with the Administration is that we would actually like to see the building move to the Kaua`i Police Department property, if money was not an object, if it was not a problem. We would like to see it move to the Kauai Police Department grounds. It would make things a lot easier to deal with as far as training functions and there is a lot more parking spaces in the evenings at the Kaua`i Police Department than there is at Vidinha Stadium. If we are able to do that then we are able to open up parking or more parking at the stadium itself. That is something that we are going to be proposing at this point because what the bid came in from what we originally thought it would be is much different. So in order for us to complete that project, we would need either a company coming in donating a lot of time or more funding to get it completed. Council Chair Rapozo: So when you talk about on your KPD property, where would it be? Mr. Contrades: By the large courtyard area. Council Chair Rapozo: Again, you would want that gym that is inside now where the police officers work out and train? That would go into this new building? Mr. Contrades: The thought that we had discussed with our staff recently was if we were able to do that and create that in a different building, then we could create office space within our station and not have to plan immediately for new office space. Right now, we have four (4) people to an office meant for one (1) and three (3) people in an office meant for one (1). We are making due with the configuration of the building as-is. Last year, you guys allowed us to take funds and purchased paneling, similar to what you have downstairs, to create office spaces for our internal affairs section and our detectives. We do something similar like that in the space where the gym is at, but this is all preliminary at this point and something that we discussed recently. If we are able to do something like that in future, it would really help with all facets of what we are dealing with as far as space. We could locate all our training in one area. We would have actual training facilities to include a classroom and space for use-of-force training. Right now, it is kind of spread out and we borrow a lot of the spaces from other organizations. KEMA is very good about prioritizing our needs as far as training space, but a lot of the people use that space in the Emergency Operations Center, so we are at the point where we are going to need our own training April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 44 facility. But it would really help with, like I mentioned, space with other aspects of our department. Council Chair Rapozo: I do not know if today is the right day to discuss it, but the Kapa'a substation, what is the prognosis there? I have heard that Mahelona did a needs study as well or a needs assessment and they may need the property that they signed on with us. Any information on that? Mr. Contrades: We have been in discussions with the CEO, and the history of it is that we signed a lease with them for fifty (50) years; it is a dollar ($1) a year for fifty (50) years and this was must have been about six (6) or seven (7) years ago. So we had land, but we did not have the money. This past year, we got the money and when we moved forward to get the process going, they told us about the fact that they are going to have this assessment done. I do not believe it is done and I do not believe they have even started it yet. So what we are being told is they are not sure where we fit in to their master plan of their area. We have recently worked with Public Works to identify whether the water, sewer, and all that stuff is available. If water and electricity is available, the sewer system, I think we would probably have to do a septic system, but it is doable. What we need to do now is go back and talk to the CEO as well as the board and get approval to move forward. What we are trying to do is...well, what we are going to have to do is lobby them to give us a piece of the property. That is a little different from where they are at or where we are supposed to be at. There is a piece off to the side that we feel will not impact the rest of the property that will be more than sufficient for us. It is near the bike path, which allows us to deploy right onto the bike path from our station. Council Chair Rapozo: The bike path meaning the spur? Mr. Contrades: Yes. But we have not had that opportunity yet to go before the Hawai`i Health Systems Board to see if they would allow us to do that. Council Chair Rapozo: The only reason I bring that up is because we have money sitting in there and I do not envision the Mahelona...from the discussions I had with some of the people at Mahelona, it is going to be a while I think and we may not even be able to go up to that site. If there is an opportunity...if the priority is really that training facility, if we could utilize those funds to do the training facility. I like that because where the K-PAL building is now, we can make a bathroom for the park for the soccer fields. I heard the reasons why we cannot because of this and that, but that is going nowhere. That is an area that is close and we could tie-in. I guess I am just thinking out loud here that if, in fact, that is what is called "shovel-ready," maybe the opportunity to use those funds to make that happen...I cannot imagine expanding the training facility at the K-PAL building now where it sits out there, unprotected, versus in your folks property where the officers can train knowing that they are in their property. Mr. Contrades: At this time, I have only had a brief discussion with the Managing Director about it, but we do have a proposal at some point that we would like to put forth. April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 45 Council Chair Rapozo: At the end of the day, it would be this body. So I understand the chain of command on that side, but at the end of the day, we get the funds there...I hate to leave the funds there where we could use it for something that you can do now. Anyway, that is just a suggestion. Mr. Contrades: That is something that I think would be beneficial to the organization as a whole. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Councilmember Yukimura. Councilmember Yukimura: Forgive me, but I do not remember real distinctly, but the purpose of refurbishing that building...I guess we can call it...was it a K-PAL building or was it going to be a training facility? Mr. Contrades: Both, it would be multiuse. So during the day, we could use it for a training facility and in the evenings it could be used for K-PAL. Councilmember Yukimura: If you put it on the Police Department grounds, it can still be used for K-PAL? Mr. Contrades: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: So the option that you are looking at is moving the building itself to the Police Department grounds? Mr. Contrades: The current building does not have much life left in it and it should actually be replaced and that is what we planned to do, is replace it. So it would be torn down and a new building would be put up in its place. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. So you are essentially talking about a new building? Mr. Contrades: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: So it is not really to move that physically, but to just use the money to construct the building at Kaua`i Police Department grounds? Mr. Contrades: Yes. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. The training facility that you are needing is physical training? Mr. Contrades: A combination of physical, as well as classroom. We also have our simulator. We appreciated some of you coming to see our simulator. That needs an eventual permanent home because it is too small. That actually has three hundred April 3, 2018 Fire Department and Police Department Page 46 ten degree (310°) screens. We only got one (1) screen because of the cost, but eventually, we want to add a couple of screens, so it is going to need a larger space than we have now. There is a multitude of training space that is needed, but physical skills as well as classroom instruction space. Councilmember Yukimura: I see. The building that is there now is fairly small for what you have described as your needs. Mr. Contrades: Yes, that is why our intent was to tear it down and build a building that was almost three (3) times the size. In taking another look at it, we felt that it would be more feasible to have it on our property in the future. Councilmember Yukimura: That makes sense. Mr. Contrades: Again, it opens up space at the stadium. Councilmember Yukimura: Okay. Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Any further questions for Police? That is our last item for the day. If not, thank you. Mr. Contrades: Thank you. Committee Chair Kaneshiro: At this time, I would like to recess the Departmental Budget Reviews. We will reconvene at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 5, 2018 where we will have a discussion on revenues, real property taxes, charges and fees, as well as hear from the Office of Economic Development and the proposed appropriation for the Kaua`i Philippine Cultural Center. There being no objections, the meeting recessed at 11:30 a.m.