HomeMy WebLinkAbout3.b. Fire Department Annual Report CITY OF ROSEdIOIINT
w
BXECUTIVE SDb�1ARY FOR ACTION
:
CITY COUNCIL MEETiNG DATE: APRIL 5, 1994
AGENDA ITEM: FIRE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT AGENDA SECTION:
DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS
PREPARED BY: SCOTT AKER, FIRE CHIEF AGPND��y ' �
M
ATTACI�lENTS: FIRE DEPAR.TMENT ANNUAL REPORT APPROVED BY:
i
This item will be the presentation of the fire department' s annual report.
It will be in both written (see attached) and oral form.
If there are any questions which you would like addressed at this council
meeting or at future meetings, please let me know.
RECOb�J'ENDED ACTION: Motion to accept the fire department's annual
report.
COL]NCIL ACTION:
3 ,
9
_ RO SEM4UNT
F
IRE DEPARTMEN 'T
ANNUAL REPORT
TO THE CITY COUNCIL
MARCH 1994
Respectfully Submitted
�'
SCOTT AKER, FIRE CHIEF
� GITY OF ROSEM4UNT
`
,
- INTRODUCTION
Again this year in response to suggestions that were made by the council in previous years, the
annual and semi-annual reports of the fire department have been changed slightly. The major
changes are in the following areas:
1. The entire report has been shortened dramadcally compared to whax it was prior to 1993.
Because the council is aware of most of what has been taking place at the fire department,
we have made an attempt to leave out those things which the council is familiar with. I will
be happy to expand on any previously presented information if the council would so desire.
2. You will notice that there is no month-by-month report of fire calls. You have been
receiving these calls during the year on a monthly basis, so I have opted to leave them out of
this report. If you would like a complete set of that information for 1993, one can be made
available for you.
3. As city ordinance suggests, the fire chief does need, as part of the annual report, to give
specific recommendations as to the use and future needs with respect to vehicles and
facilities. Because most of our practices and procedures and the way vehicles are used have
not changed, this report will only deal with the vehicles for which some needed change must
take place in the very neaz future.
MFIVIBERSHIP
One year ago, at the presentaxion of the annual report, it was indicated that the membership was
made up of 35 persons. During the past year our numbers dropped to 29 persons and have
rebounded to a current 30 person roster. Of those 30 persons, three are on leave so the fire
department is responding to an all time high number of calls with an all time low number of
firefighters (2'�. We are currently using the standard city application for people who wish to join
the fire department, as that complies with all current ADA and hiring regulaxions. A 30-40 step
hiring process was put into place during 1993 to meet the new requirements that have been pla.ced
on fire departments. Also, a job description which complies with current ADA and other
requirements has been adopted.
A breakdown of the number of inembers that we have had over the past few years is indicated
below.
1988........38
, 1989........40 �
1990........39 ,I
1991........33 ',
1992........36 '
1993........35
1994........30
1
1
s
EOUIPMENT/MAINTENANCE -
Number Model Year
AeriaUElevating Platforms (35180) 1 1972 '
Pumpers (35181, 35182, 35183) 3 1978, 1962, 1986 I
Grass Rigs (35192, 35194) 2 1989, 1991 I
Tanker (35195) 1 1973 '
Hose Truck (35196) 1 1992 '
Rescue Vehicle (3590) 1 1990
Chief/Misc. Vehicle (3598, 3599) 2 1990, 1989
Utility/Rescue (3591) 1 1978
As was indicated in the introduction, I will only comment on those vehicles that are in need of
attention or have undergone a change in the recent past.
Aerial Truck (35180,�: This vehicle is 22 years old at the present time. It has been postponed,
delayed, and the funding for it has been changed in the CIP numerous times over the past several
years (see attached memo dated October 12, 1993 as input to the 1994 CIP discussion, pages 12-
15). The primary reason for this delay in funding change is that the cost of such a vehicle has risen
in the last 12 years to approximately $600,000. Funding this item through the CIP means that
almost no other items could be funded for that particular year without experiencing a substantial
increase in that budget. I am sure that there are some mixed feelings in the community as to the
necessity of this vehicle, primarily based on the cost of the vehicle. That same feeling is also
evident of the city staff as this vehicle was rated at the very bottom of the ranking for CIP funding
for 1994. As we approached the referendum back in May of 1993 we laid out the costs of this
vehicle, the benefits this vehicle could provide, the drawbacks of not having this vehicle, and
ultimately allowed the citizens to decide as to whether or not they would like the protection that this
particular firefighting tool could provide. Even though the cost of such a vehicle to each taxpayer
was only $6-$8 when placed on a referendum, they opted not to proceed. All other funding options,
such as equipment certificates, lease to own, and CIP funding, would cost the taxpayer substantially
more money.
It is very difficult what to say with respect to the replacement of this vehicle. It has been delayed
for such a long time that several other vehicles which are equally or even more necessary to
Rosemount's fire protection are also in need of replacement at the present time. We are currently
being faced with the necessity of funding an aerial truck, a pumper, a tanker and possibly many
more vehicles should the city decide to go to a multi-station concept.
Pumper 135182�: This vehicle is 32 years old at the present time. Its replacement has also been
postponed in the CIP due to budget constraints since the late 1970's. In 1992 the city maintenance
staff suggested that this vehicle be restricted to a 40 mile per hour maximum speed limit due to its
unsafe condition. Rather than relying on this vehicle we have opted to exercise our mutual aid
agreement and call in the city of Apple Valley to provide service when a back-up pumper was
necessary. In the two years that have passed since the restriction was placed on this vehicle, our
2
.
- fire captain, who is in charge of this vehicle, feels that it has further deteriorated. It is being
' recommended that this vehicle no longer be used for fire suppression. The vehicle does have some
value to keep azound as far as training is concerned, but due to the extremely crowded conditions in
the fire station, I would suggest that this pumper be disposed of.
Pum e�r (35181�: This pumper is a 1978 model. It is of open cab design. This design no longer
meets several safety requirements, such as passenger protection, hearing protection, and passenger
restraint. This vehicle was scheduled to be refurbished and brought up to current specifications,
some time ago. That window of opportunity, we are told, has all but closed. The cost effectiveness
of that no longer exists. It would appear more cost effective, at the present tune, to purchase a new
pumper and rotate this particular vehicle to reserve back-up capacity.
Tanker 35195�: The tanker is a 1973 model which the city purchased used from a private party
several years ago. In rural areas, of which Rosemount has several, it provides all the water for fire
protection. Due to the large area that does not and will not have city water, Rosemount requires
two tankers to meet its needs. This tanker needs to be refurbished and a new tanker needs to be
purchased.
Having not done anything with any of the major firefighting pieces of equipment since 1986, is now
catching up with the city. We are now looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars needed for
vehicle purchases and refurbishing, in the next five to seven years, in order to simply maintain our
firefighting capabilities and our current insurance ratings.
As far as maintenance of the fire department vehicles is concerned, I am happy to report that we
had no major breakdowns of our first line firefighting equipment in 1993 as we have experienced in
the past several years. Up until 1994 the routine maintenance and preventative maintenance and ',
emergency repair of the fire department vehicles was done by the ciry maintenance staff. During I
1993 breakdowns of equipment were no longer totally handled by the city maintenance department I
and some were contracted outside of the city. Emergency Apparatus Maintenance was the repair
facility which provided the lowest bids and has done all of the outside emergency repairs during '
1993. It has been decided that in 1994 all of the emergency repairs will also be done outside the '
city as will all of the routine maintenance on our major pieces of equipment. The aerial truck, the
pumpers, and the tanker will all be sent out to Emergency Apparaxus Maintenance for routine
maintenance such as oil change, vehicle inspection, etc. One additional comment, I would make
about the use of the fire department vehicles, is that we did have in place a plan to rotate five of
these vehicles with other departments of the city. That appeared to be an excellent and very
responsible use of the city's resources. The vehicles would be purchased through the fire
department, who is still exempt from tax when purchasing vehicles, they would first be used in the
fire department and then rotated to other departments in the city for heavier use. This would
eiiminate the situation which existed a few years ago where a 15 year old pickup at the fire
department only had 8,000 miles on it and the city gave it away. As I mentioned this appeared to
be an excellent plan for the city, but this plan is no longer being followed.
3
a
TRAINING/EDUCATION �
During 1993 one of the main training components we had to incoiporate into our regular ttaining,
was all of those things which provide more protection against blood-borne pathogens. These blood-
borne pathogens include things like aids, hepatitis, and anything else that would be transmitted via
bodily fluids. As you are all well aware, policy and procedures were developed and implemented
which not only affected the fire department's operation but all departments of the ciry wluch could
possibly be exposed to such agents. This year we will be faced with the development of another
such plan. We will now be dealing with air borne pathogens.
I am happy to inform you that several firefighters are taking the opportunity to attend training
sessions outside the department. Because the council authorized expenditure for our outside training
and education in a lump sum at the beginning of the year and has authorized me as chief to disperse
those monies as are needed during the year, the number af people attending classes has increased.
This increase is primarily due to the fact that we can respond and register people in a timely manner
and then those people get their first choice in classes. This worked very well during 1993 and so
far in 1994 this procedure seems to be working also. If you have any questions or concerns, please
let me know.
You will again have the opportunity, as far as I know at this time, to send another one of our
members to Texas for training in liquid petroleum fires. This training experience is provided and
totally paid for by Koch Refining.
During 1993 the officers of the Rosemount Fire Department brought back to the department the idea
of an accountability system. A system to keep track of firefighters on the fire scene. The idea for '
such a system came from many sources; conventions, classes, magazines, and departmental ',
discussion. The program was implemented in February of 1993. We shared the information with �
the other fire departments of Dakota County at a Dakota County Fire Chiefs meeting. The idea was
well received and Rosemount's system was adopted as the standard for the county. To date we have
assisted Apple Valley and Koch Refining with the implementation of the program in their
departments.
We have over the past few years also become more heavily involved in cross training with
surrounding communities, especially Apple Valley. This is extremely beneficial not only from the
point of view that we are able to learn things from them and they are able to learn things from us,
but also due to the fact that we have been unable to respond to some western portions of Rosemount
in a timely manner and are calling on Apple Valley more frequently for mutual aid. We are calling
on them mare frequently for mutual aid due to the fact that we are low on personnel and do not
have adequate equipment for all situations. During 1993 they even arrived first on the scene of one
of Rosemount's structure fires and made the initial entry to extinguish the fire. We look for this
type of training to increase even more in the future. As a sidelight to highlight our unproved
working relationship with Apple Valley, I am happy to report that Rosemount was also invited to be
part of the selection process for some of the new chief officers in Apple Valley.
' 4
:i►
. � Seve I
ral time
s m the past I have mcluded a chart with the number of hours requu�ed of a new
' firefighter. During the fust year on the fire department a new member will be required to complete
the following haining:
1. Firefighter I-II 120 hours
2. Hazardous Material Training 45 hours
3. Rosemount Fire Department Annual Training 96 hours
4. First Responder Training 40 hours
TOTAL 301 hours
When I made my first annual report to the city council six years ago, the total number of hours that
were required were 196 for a new firefighter. You can see that the total has climbed to over 300
hours in the past six years. The increased level of fire training that is required and the fact that
hazardous materials have been deemed by the state to be a fire department responsibility accounts
for most of this increase. Even with this large number of hours required of all of our members,
firefighters continue to opt to spend weekends in sectional schools or at the state fire school. The
thousands of man hours that are spent on training and responding to emergency situations is an
excellent indication of the dedication by the members of the fire department. The fire department is
the largest department and one of the most efficient departments in the city.
STATISTICS
As was indicated earlier, a more detailed breakdown of calls is available should you so desire. It
would be the same as the one you were receiving on a monthly basis.
Total Calls bv Year '
1982 163
1983 187
1984 215
1985 217
1986 189
1987 264
1988 269
1989 270
1990 330
1991 384
1992 355
1993 396
As you can see, the number of calls that we are responding to has increased continually. The
number of calls that we respond to has more than doubled in the last ten years. We have also found
5
' �
that the calls are becoming more complex and that we are spending more time at some of them than .
was required in the past. As the city continues to grow we will undoubtedly be seeing that the
number of calls will be increasing also.
The calls we are responding to are approxunately 80 percent rescue calls and 20 percent fire calls at
the present time. The increased access and availabiliry of the emergency response due to the
enhanced 911 system, which we have operating in Dakota County, is undoubtedly responsible for
most of the increase in those medical calls. 'The number of fire calls have gone down slightly over
the last several years. This we hope can be attributed to the fire prevention program that we teach
each year in the schools and have taken to the public this past year during fire prevention week.
This year has also added another dimension to the realm of the ever-growing firefighter duties. In
order for the Community Center to open before the fire alarm system was functional, the members
of the RFD took turns standing watch during tunes when the building was occupied.
Standby for fireworks, and for medical reasons during the March weeklong Ringette Tournaments
kept several firefighters busy also.
Use of the aerial for publicity pictures, tours, and medical calls, will undoubtably keep us busy at
the Community Center in the future, as they have in the past several months.
FIRE DISPATCHING
As the council is aware, during 1993, the city opted to change its dispatching services from Dakota
County to the Eagan Police Department. This required an enormous expense on the part of the fire
department, but it is felt that some services can be improved in the future because of this switch.
One area where we feel we may be able to benefit in the future, is that Eagan dispatch has the
capability of not only getting us the address of an incident, but after we have a chance for our fire
marshal to get together and work with them, they can also let us know into which section of the city
we need to respond. It is hoped that we will have a directory breaking the city up into various
quadrants, thus making it easier to identify the route that should be taken to the incident. This is
particularly important when you consider the fact that we are not on the streets patrolling on a day-
to-day basis as the police are and thus not as familiar with the growing number of streets in the city.
Another possible advantage we see in this change of dispatch, is the future possibility of selective
paging. At the present time, all members of the fire department are paged to respond for all calls.
Whereas this is quite necessary for fire calls, it is not necessary to page everyone on the fire
depa.rtment when responding to a medical call. In the future, should this become possible, I believe
it will be a great benefit to the city.
At the present time, however, there are two areas where concern has been generated because of our
change in dispatch. The fust area would be the inability to now communicate with the police
department on the police channel. We did and still do have the capability of communicating on the
county channel which was a definite asset when we were being dispatched by the county. It is felt �
that it is not necessary for us to be able to communicate on the new police channel, but we have !,
6
. found that to be a detriment (see attached memo da.ted January 20, 1994, page 16). The second
- area, where we are fmding that the new dispatch is somewhat lacking, is in the ability to receive
calls from the east end of Rosemount. All numbers in Rosemount which go into the 423 and 322
� exchange are automatically sent to the 911 system in Eagan. But the numbers in Rosemount wtuch
are on the 437 exchange, continue to go into the county dispatch. When they receive the
information they must contact the Eagan dispatch who in tum must contact us. There is somewhat
of a delay in this prvicess and we have two documented situations where from the time of the initial
call to the time that the fire department has been paged is a four minute delay. Keeping in mind
that we already have a slow response to the east end of town we are not in need of an additional
four minute delay.
A recent call also had a great deal of misinformation, that may have been due to this routing of 911
calls also. We are still looking into that situation.
MISCELLANEOUS
The fire department is very pleased that after six years of background work we were able ta put an
automatic defibrillator into service during 1993. It has been used several times already and there
are people alive and walking the streets because of its use. This should be an excellent addition to
our ernergency equipment and be a great benefit to the community of Rosemount.
For several years the Dakota County Fire Chiefs have been pursuing the idea of jointly purchasing a
fire safety training house to be used to educate the public. Several departments within the county,
of which Rosemount is one, have rented such houses from other cities for their education program. ,
Koch Refining has expressed an interest in being involved with the purchase of such a training I
device but has stipulated that they would rather it belong to the city of Rosemount if they were to be ',
involved with some of the financing, rather than being owned by the entire county. We have just '
recently been informed that their proposal has met with acceptance at the corporate level and they ''
are anxious to make a $20,000 donation to the Rosemount Fire Department for such a project. '
Upon completion of the project, the safety training house would be used by Rosemount and our
intention is that it would be used as often as possible by other departments within the county also.
Storage of this house/trailer will need to be determined.
MUTUAL AID/FIRE
The Rosemount Fire Department belongs to the Dakota County Fire Chiefs Association which puts
them into a mutual aid agreement with all departments of Dakota County. Via this mutual aid
agreement Rosernount can call on any department, within the county, to respond to an emergency
situation and then we can expect to be called to reciprocate.
7
We are not only in a mutual aid agreement with all departments of Dakota County but several -
departments in Washington County. We belong to a mutual aid association known as the WAKOTA �
Mutual Aid Association which brings us together with such departments as East County Line,
Woodbury, St. Paul Park, Newport, Cottage Grove, etc. This allows us to completely surround the
river area where we would need to call on these departments for mutual aid.
In addition to these departments being called should a situation arise on the river, we are also
working on a plan to work cooperatively with the U.S. Coast Guard. Another possibility that is
being explored is allowing the Veterans Hospital and its surrounding federal buildings and their
department to join the Dakota. County Fire Chiefs Association so that we may lend assistance should
they have an incident and they can reciprocate by allowing us to use several of their training
facilities.
I'm also happy to report that during 1993, where as we did have several fires, there were no major
fires and no major dollar losses. The fire department also, with its members, did not experience
any injuries during 1993 which is one of our major goals. Safety is always of prime concern. We
had no major expenses for repairs to vehicles either during 1993. The total affects that our fire
prevention efforts had in 1993 cannot be measured, as it is rather difficult to measure those things
which did not occur. We did expand our program for the first time in ten years. We had an open
house in which we invited the public in, and had several fire safety training situations for children
and adults alike. We will be working with Parks and Recreation to be part of their safety camp and
continue to do more public education.
During the months of January and February the fire departrnent responded to 18 false alarms. ,
Alarms where the automatic fire alarm malfunctioned. These 18 alarms were at four different '
businesses in town, with one business accounting for as many as ten of the 18 false alanns. This '
cost the city about $3,000, took fire department out of service should there have been another call,
and cost the volunteers time and sleep in their already busy schedule. Several years ago the council
adopted a fee schedule to charge for false calls once a certain number was reached per annum. the
council did not adopt an ordinance to that effect, however, so no action can be taken. Most
businesses who experience a malfunction, which will always happen from time to time take quick
action to correct the problem. An ordinance of this type would target those chronic abusers who
now find it more cost effective at xhe present time to have the city respond, rather than have a repair
call.
FIRE DEPARTMENT CHIEF OFFICERS
Three positions with the Rosemount Fire Department are elected positions. These positions are fire
chief, assistant fire chief and fire department secretary. Prior to elections the city has determined
that applicants for these positions will be screened by a committee made up of the mayor, police
chief, city administrator, and representatives from the fire department. The names of the applicants,
who were seeking to be elected this year, were supplied to the city and a memo outlining the
necessity for such a screening committee was sent (see attached memo dated December 17, 1993,
page 17}. There was no response to this memo, a follow-up speed letter, or personal contact so the
8
. fire department opted to proceed with elections without having received city approval. Hopefully,
- this meets with council approval. Elected for a two year term as fire chief is myself and one year
term of assistant fire chief would be Mike Reis, and Dan Corrigan for fire department secretary. It
- is the duty of the fire chief and assistant fire chief to appoint fire captains, lieutenants, safety and
training personnel, and fire education coordinator during the month of March.
NEEDS
The first need, which was noted as far back as 1988, is the need for additional space at the fire
station. That space is needed for the storage of vehicles, equipment and the general operation of the
fire department. The pending addition of the safety education house/trailer even highlights this need
more and makes it imperative right away. We also need to expand the number of inembers on the
fire department far beyond that which we have had in the past. The Phase One Expansion of
Rosemount Facilities, which included the construction of a new fire station, would have greatly
aided in that space need. Because we did not proceed with that construction we are still in need of
expanding our amount of room.
We continue to do our best to operate out of the current fire station. We possibly will always
continue to operate out of this station as the main thrust at this time seems to be going to a satellite
staxion operation. We do have several items in need of repair at the station. Several requests and
some proposals have been considered over the past several years for making these repairs and doing
necessary maintenance at the fire station but no repairs other than the roof have been accomplished
to date. I again outlined several of the needs that a.re necessary at the fire station in a memo dated
October 13, 1993 (atta.ched see pages 18-20), which is attached, but to this date have not received a
response to that memo.
In addition to the repair of the fire station, we have a need for an increase in the cleaning plan for
the fire station. At the present time the Rosemount firefighters take care of all the cleaning of the
apparatus bay portion of the fire station, that we have the resources to do. The Public Works
department is responsible for the office and meeting room portion of the building. At the present
tune, Public Works allows the custodian enough time to maintain the floors and restock towels,
soap, etc. We need additional time allotted to some individual so as to allow for these items along
with minor repairs, dusting, cleaning, some painting, etc. The building is being used more and
more by city commissions and boards and it really reflects negatively on the fire department and the
city when the building is in such disrepair and not kept clean.
An additional need is to have some type of an equipment funding plan put into place. As was
mentioned earlier, we have several pieces of equipment that are in need of replacing, they have been
delayed for several years and to consider their replacement via the CIP process is not possible.
In addition to facility expansion and facility repairs, we also need to look at, as you are well aware, !,
facility relocation. As was addressed and discussed with the council in late 1993, the response times '
that are capable with our current location are quite poor. A relocation of all or at least same of our '
9
resources is needed. This is not a new development, but was predicted back in 1988. Since that -
time it has progressed to the stage of immediate concern and necessiry, that we are in now. `
Another need is to again look into the possibility of installing pre-emption devices on our signal
lights. This would allow police and fire to gain a green light every time they pass through an
intersection. This item was up for discussion in the 1993 CIP but was suggested that it be
postponed until the 1994 CIP and placed into the Public Works budget rather than the fire
department budget. I don't believe this line item was even proposed in 1994 by Public Works. The
county and state both have cost sharing and maintenance cost sharing agreements available for such
a situation. The estimated costs back in 1992 was a maximum of$50,000 to equip all emergency
vehicles and install pre-emption devices on all signal lights in Rosemount. With the cost sharing
that has improved since that time I would guess the cost would be approximately the same, if not
even less. This item was presented to the city council back in laxe 1992 as a joint effort by the
police and fire department. '�,
GOALS I
All of the usual goals such as improved fire service, improved physical fitness, enhancing response
times, and general safety of the fire scene are and will continue to be goals of the fire department.
Working more closely with other departments is definitely becoming a reality as we have worked
out an automatic response with Apple Valley, both for them to respond to Rosemount and for us to
respond to their city at times we do not have optimum numbers of firefighters available. Increased
enhancements such as this will ultimately provide better service to the city of Rosemount and will
continue to be worked on in the future.
ACTION ITEMS
With this section I have attempted to pull out those items from the report which appear to need
some action. Those items would be as follows:
I. Fire Station Facility
A. Facility expansion
B. Facility relocation - Response times
C. Facility repairs
D. Facility routine maintenance and cleaning
E. Additional storage space
II. Fire Department Equipment
A. Aerial truck funding
B. Pumper funding
C. Tanker funding
D. Tanker funding - refurbished
10
. E. Disposal of 1962 pumper
• F. Pre-emption at intersections
" III. Dispatching/911
A. East end
B. Communication
IV. Fa1se Alarm Policy
CONCLUSION
The past six years as fire chief of the Rosemount Fire Department have gone by very quickly. It is
not to say that there has not been some very long days and weeks. I estimate I put in approximately
25 hours per week, not counting responding to fire calls. As the amount of administrative tasks
increase due to requirements of executive summaries, personnel records, letters out of the city,
feasibility reports, memos, maintenance records and the like, are demanded of the chief, assistant
chief, and secretary these hours will undoubtedly continue to increase.
Since 1988 Deb Widstrom has been the fire departrnent secretary. In 1990 that became official.
And in 1993, with the shift and realignment in secretarial support in the administration department
of the city, we were able to retain Deb as our fire department secretary. We are very pleased to
have a secretary and would find it impossible to operate without that assistance. She types, takes
messages and makes arrangements which have to be made during the working day for the fire
department when the rest of us are unable to because of our full-time employment constraints. The
fire department is very appreciative of all of her efforts and her services. City council should be
aware that we are probably demanding that she work above and beyond the call of duty quite often
on our behalf.
Again, as I have indicated in the past, should there be an instances where council feels that it would
be necessary to elaborate on anything other than at the two scheduled meetings during the year or
when I am at a council meeting, please feel free to contact me and make your request. I would
welcome any input, suggestions, criticisms or questions you may have as I begin my fourth term
and seventh year as fire chief.
As usual, whenever I have the opportunity, I like to stress the fact that the members of the
Rosemount Fire Department are a very diverse group of individuals and is the largest department of ,
the city. They are by far one of the most dedicated departments within the city. They require very �',
little leadership or motivation to accomplish their duties on the emergency scene which they are
called to do on a da.y-to-day basis. They respond day and night under the worst possible conditions, ',
leaving families at home to provide a service to the residents of Rosemount. I am sure they will '
continue to provide the best possible fue protection to the city. I do see a need for the city to begin ',
to provide more support for the fire department, its members and their activities. The members'
perception is that there is a definite lack of support.
11
� MEMO -
TO: Steve Jilk, City Administrator
Department Heads
FROM: Scott Aker, Fire Chief
DATE: October 12, 1993
RE: Input to the October 12, 1994 CIP Discussion
This memo is in response to your request for input into the 1994 CIP process and discussion
on Tuesday, October 12, 1993. I understand that requests for 1994 are approximately
$1,750,000, and available funding at this time totals only $269,000. '
The two smaller fire department dollar items in the 1994 CIP are really operating expenses.
They were moved to the CIP as they do have a useful life of five plus years. We need to
purchase firefighting gear for our new firefighters that we take on during 1994 and replace
gear as it wears out. Without these items we would not have people equipped to respond.
The larger ticket item, the aerial truck, has a $325,000 payment in 1994 and a $325,000 �
payment in 1995. If both payments were kept i.n ti�e budget and considering a nine month to
one year delivery tvne, we are looking at putting this vehicle into service sometime in mid-
1996 if there were no changes to the cunent plan.
Past CIP requests for oniv this vehicle look like the following:
CIP Year Future Years
1982 '83 '84 �'85 '86
$0 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $0
1983 '84 '85 '86 '87
$0 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000 $0
1984 '85 '86 '87 '88
$0 $100,000 $200,000 $0 $0
1985 '86 '87 '88 '89
�� $300,000 $0 $0 $0
1986 '87 '88 '89 '90
$0 $100,000 $100,000 $150,000 $0
12
. 1 87 '88 '89 '90 '91
� $0 $100,000 $150,000 $150,000 $0
� 1988 '89 '90 '91 '92
$0 $200,000 $200,000 $0 $0
1989 '90 '91 '92 '93
$0 $200,000 $100,000 $100,000 $0
1 90 '91 '92 '93 '94
$0 $150,000 $150,000 , $150,000 $150,000
1991 '92 '93 '94 '95
$0 $200,000 $200,000 $200,000 $0
1 92 '93 '94 '95 '96
$0 $300,000 $300,000 $0 � $0
1993 '94 '95 '96 '97
$0 $325,000 $325,000 $0 $0
Some of these figures may not be totally accurate as some of the records for some of these
years are not available, .and we had to go from memory, but the general.funding pattern that
was followed for this vehicle is accurately depicted. That procedure would be: to keep the
aerial truck in the CIP until the current funding year when dollars are needed and then
postpone. Because funding was not available at any time in the past years, we were told that
this procedure was unavoidable.
As I indicated in my annual and semi-annual report for the last few years, that because of
this postponement and the postponement of one additional tanker and two replaeement
pumpers, the fire department has an average need of$250,000 for each year from 1994
forwazd for as far as we can accurately determine the city's needs with respect to fire
protection.
A $325,000 item this year and a $250,000 avera.ge from now on is a heavy burden on the
CIP. Postponing the $325,000 expense and increasing future requests is no smaller a
burden.
The complaint we heard most loudly during the defeat of the recent referendum was that the �I
dollars required for an aerial truck should be coming from the CIP. There should be no '
need for a special referendum. The fire department, the city staff, and the city council were
chastised very severely for not providing for this funding. The fire department is still
13
experiencing repercussions because we requested that this item be funded through a special -
referendum. To postpone the purchase of this vehicle for the same reasons that were used in "
the past 12 years, and contrary to the publics wishes, does not appear to be a wise decision.
Even though I am a department head I don't believe I can accept the sole responsibility for
deciding what level of fire protection the city of Rosemount should receive now and far into
the future. I do not feel the city sta.ff would want or deserve that responsibility either.
Fspecially when making a decision to give the citizens of Rosemount anything less than is
absolutely needed appears to be one of our only options.
At the defeat of the referendum I believe that some of the citizens were led to believe that
they had not turned down an aerial truck for the ciry; what they had done was reject that
particular funding method. Had they been informed more clearly that a no vote meant no
truck ever, perhaps opinion would have been different.
I believe that the city council needs to weigh the fire protection and life safety needs of the
city and of the firefighters. They need to compare the cunent funding that is available with '
the many needs of all the depa.rtments of the city and they should have the fmal say as they
are the elected officials who are most closely in touch with what the citizens would settle for
as far as service from all departments of the city.
Possible Solutions
I do not see cutting this item from the budget as a viable solution, According to our track
record of funding over the past several yeazs a postponement would be the same as a cut. A
postponement at this time as was done in the past also has new negative implications if we
consider fire protection, escalating costs, and firefighter safety.
My recommendations would be, and I am not in a position to comment as to how effective
any of these ideas would be, to:
1. Cut other areas of the CIP.
2. Cut operating costs.
3. Ra.ise income.
I'm sure that these three avenues have been explored and there may be no possible way to
take action in these areas.
4. Equipment Certificates
5. Lease to buy
14
� 6. Have a second referendum
_ '7. Cease to provide this service and have the city reap the consequences
8. Charge a fee the same as parks does for new business/homes, with money to
go toward the fire equipment needed to protect. �
If I recall correctly, the city council gave us a straw vote type of direction early this spring.
They said emergency vehicles and roads were to be a priority. If other areas have been cut ��,
and there is still a shortage of funds, the council will need to give us further direction. �i
The council also needs to consider what level of protection we can provide when they �,
attempt to lure new businesses into town. The structure design needs to be monitored if we I'��,
have hopes of getting on the roof of some of these new homes and other buildings. '�,
At the present time, without further direction from the city council, I cannot assist with cuts '
to any items in the fire department's portion of the CIP. I
dw I
15
MEMO -
TO: Lyle Knutsen, Chief of Folice
FROM: Scott Aker, Fire Chief
DATE: January 20, 1994
RE: Reprogramming of P�tic�: Channel on Fire Department Radios
When we made our switch from the county to Eagan for dispatch, the county channel was
taken out of the fire department radios and the new police channel was installed. At that
time, working in conjunction with Dwayne, we were instructed to program our radios on
frequency I54.785 on both the tran�mit and the receive side of the radio. It was felt that this
would allow communication between pc�lice and fire departments but would not be sending
any of the fire department's transmissions through the repeater. That ir:formation was passed
on to Dispatch Communications and our radios were progrLmmed as such.
Since that time we have been experiencing many difficulties. By not going through the
repeater we are seidom atrle to raise on� of our squads using any of our hand-helds or any of
our mobile radios. We have had some emergency situations where it would have been very
advantageous to be able to taik with the police. The way the radios are currently
programmed would also make it pretty much useless to use any of our 4 x 4 vehicles as you
did in the past should the need arise in the future.
� As I see it we have two options at this point. Option number one would be to leave the
radios as they are, which means they would be available for monitoring the police
communication but we would not have adequate transmission capabilities. Option number
two would be to reprogram our radios if you so authorized. This would provide the
communication abilities when they are needed. It was rather expensive to reprogram the
radios last time, and I would guess those same costs would be incurred at the present time. I ''
do have a call into Dispatch Communications so as to get a bid from them. If this would be '
the route you would like to pursue I w�utd also need to take the matter to the cauncil f r �'�
. o
their authonzation of an ex enditur '
p e of th�s amount.
Please let me know how you wouid like us to proceed with this matter.
� dw
16
KOSEMOUNT �IOLUI°dTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT
- ROSEMOL;NZ', MINNESOTA 55068
MEMO
T0: Ron Wasmund, Acting City Administrator
FROM: Scott Aker, Fire Chief'
DATE; December 17, 1993
RE: Screening for Fire Chicf's Position
� Attached is a copy of Article 2 of tht Rc�semount Fire Department Bylaws. The bylaws ',
indicate that after a filing period (Decern��er 1 - December 10) the people who submitted 'i
their names as a candidate for Fire Chief be screened by a committee. The Fire Chief ',
screening committee wouid be made up �f the mayor, city administrator, chief of police, and
two members of the fire department'c membership committee. Those two members wouid
be Doug Stauffer and Kevin Tucker f'c�r this year.
In the past when there was anly one c�nr:idate, the incumbent, the procedure was adjusted
slightly. The city administrator sent �ut letters to the committee members asking if there
were any eoncerns or comments relai ing to the incumbent being placed on the bai(ot again.
That proeess eould be fallawed ii' yo�� ch�c�se, since I am the only person who �led for the
. position this year.
After the committee members have h�ici s;ifi'icient time to reply, a fetter wouid be sent to the
fire department membership via mysrif, �nclicating who would be aliowed on the baliot.
The other aption would be ro com�en� the wh�le committee, interview and then send your
findings to the fire department memhershi�. �
In either case, the fire department wc�uld need that inforrnation by January 14, 1994.
The filing period for Assistant Chief and Secretary will be January 1 through January 10 and
this same process will need to be foii�wed a��in with a slate of candidates being forwarded
to the membership by Febn�ary 1 I , 1994. •
If you need any more information, let me know.
dw
attachment
17
AOSEMOUNT VOLUNTEEI� FII�E DEPAATMENT .
AOSEMOUNT, MINNESOTA 55068 �
MEMO
TO: Ron Wasmund, Public Works Director
FROM: Scott Aker, Fire Chief
DATE: October 13, 1993
�: Repairs Needed at the Fire Station '
Over the past eight to twelve years we have had several requests for repairs and
improvements at the fue station. All of these repairs have seemed to hinge on the roof of
the station getting.repaired first so as to stop�the constant flow of water through the station.
Now after only twelve,,,years.we�seem to have-the leaking roof repaired. Some of the most
unminent tasks st�l� aini.ng t b accomplished aTe ��`-�''�"���'-`�`-"`�.`'�``
� �.2 ) �3;� i t. ., ,�
_:; .... . ... _
.� 1. .� w'indow replacement � X��� " , ! - `
�,. � _. _ . . �;.a.�-,<r�.. �. '
': ._'"_.. ��; -,.�.:. ' :. .;. .- "�� , _ -
,, .t. � . �
� : ��water damaged areas repaued , ; ;r,. � ,
� . , . .. ;s , „_;; ;..,����
��� • .� :'- r.� _ *�- ,.
�' ��: � 'ar IriO1d.lIIg Y ' �" "�s,� .:�._._____ .- .. ��.._.
�
'���. =��b paneling�` � .� � '� r � �;
� . ,� � �-- �, . - � � ,
-cs��:�:.� �� � "' �.���::�.;.,.,._ ��`'�.��_ .' , _�� �"°� ,'�'';�- s
�-c. `doors� -� ....�::�.�:.....� �....�:�.���.������v��:�:�:���•-
d. ceiling grid �
e. cabinets
3. clean-up of rock and tar above the ceiling tile
4. replacement of ceiling tile
5. cleaning of ceiling tile grid
6• painting of the office azea of the fire station
7• painting of the apparatus area of the statian
8. waterproofing of the outside of the building
18
. 9. painting of the outside of the station
10. painting of the roof top units
11. parking lot expansion
12. garage door maintenance (five of our seven doors at the station were hit by the
snowplow last year at least once. The doors do not need replacing, but some
preventative work may be needed.)
13. Landscaping
a, trimming of Shrubs
b. trimming of trees �
c. weed control
Some temporary caulking of some of the windows was done to prevent the flow of water
through the station. Several of the windows are constantly fogged up and this I believe ,
would indicate bad seals or total failure of the windows. We have used our smoke machine '',
and demonstrated to some of the public works employees the flow of air through these '
windows. '
Some of the damaged areas of the building would be repaired along with the ceiling system
replacement. Other areas such as moldi.ngs, paneling, doors, etc., should also be addressed. '
These items were referred several times over the past few years. I do not know the status of
each, except I was informed that they would be fixed when the mof repair was complete.
I do understand that we have bids for the replacement for all the ceiling tile in the fire
station. The ceiling tile grid is also scheduled to be cleaned. The replacement of damaged
portions of the grid system were also to be in that bid. In removing a few ceiling tiles to
install a movie screen, we were deluged with rock and tar which have accumulated above the
suspended ceiling from when the roof was repaired and all of this debris was allowed to fall
into the building. I would strongly suggest that when the ceiling replacement begi.ns that the
� rooms that are worked in be taped off with plastic. There is a lot of debris and the tar tends
to get tracked all over the buildi.ng. I would like to see this ceiling replacement done as soon
as possible after our October 16 open house.
. If we have not akeady gone out for bids on pai.nting, I would suggest we do so at the present
time. I would hope that that project would be finished by early spring. We should also
consider getting bids at the present tune for items 8, 9, and 10 that I listed previously.
We have been told for the Iast five to six yea.rs that it is always the wrong time of the year to
attend to the landscaping needs around the fire sta.tion. Let's make plans naw to match the
work to the correct time of year.
19
If you would have any questions I would be happy to sit down and go over the needs, all of
these have been requested numerous times over the past several years. y
A new item of concem is the need to supply more custodia�l services to the fire station. At
the present time, with one person attending to the fire station a few hours a week, all of the
cleaning is not getting done. The service we receive currently is: 1. floor care, 2. trash '
removal, 3. light repairs upon request.
We also need to address: 1. dusting, 2. cleaning, 3. preventative maintenance, 4.
painting, 5. general building care, etc.
dw
20