09-07-16 Personnel and Finance - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chief Cox stated that the plan is to leave it in Fund ( #101). They were anticipating the money budgeted for the overtime cost would cover those six (6) positions, because they are not increasing the minimum staffing. Committee Chair White asked what overall membership would be next year. Chief Cox stated it would be two - hundred and fifty -seven (257). Former Councilmember Dr. Fred Ferlic gave us the task of increasing or improving our ISO rating. In 2012, we were at a three (3) on a scale of one (1) to ten (10). One (1) is the best, and we've gone up to a two (2). No fire department in the state is at a one (1), so we are at the highest level in the state, and we were only two (2) points away from being a one (1) and being the first department in the state. We'll be audited again soon, and we hope to get that up to a one (1) on our next audit. Committeemember Voorde asked what that takes into account. Chief Cox explained that there are three (3) categories that are audited. The Fire Department is responsible for fifty percent (50 %) of the grading. The water delivery system in the City is graded at forty percent (40 %) of the total, and the dispatch center is at ten percent (10 %). We received forty -three (43) points out of the fifty (50) for the fire department, our water works got thirty -three (33), and the dispatch center got (7). We were a little over two (2) points away from the ninety (90) points that we needed for a rating of one (1). We already looked at the audit, and we think we have the wherewithal to be able to impact the numbers to pull that off next time. The Fire Department is not a diverse department. We've been transparent about that, there has been inadequate recruitment to try to diversify the department for many years. We created a recruitment committee last year of diverse individuals from within the department. We went out into the community, we talked to people in different departments that have had some success in recruitment. At the end of our application process we had seven - hundred and three (703) applications. The most we ever had prior to that was in the three - hundreds. We're currently in the testing process. We've given the written exam and the physical agility test, and we've narrowed it down to one - hundred and seventeen (117) candidates, thirty percent (30 %) of which are minority and female candidates. We have several veterans, although, unfortunately, we were trying to track veterans in that group but since we were the pilot department to run the City applicant tracking system, and we didn't get the veterans piece into the reporting side of the software until we had already started, so we don't have the true numbers. After we finish our interview process, we'll actually have our final list. We'll be presenting that to the Board of Public Safety with the anticipation of hiring those eight (8) individuals into a recruit academy starting on January second or third. Committeemember John Voorde asked if they run their own academy. 3