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Record of Proceedings

Public Safety Commission Meeting – Fire Department Report – April 13, 2026

Common Council & Commissions — Monday, April 13, 2026
BodyMiddletown, Connecticut
SessionCommon Council & Commissions
DateMonday, April 13, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim
0:03

Welcome everybody, public safety commission meeting for the fire department hybrid and dual weight and on WebEx.

0:12

Oh, that's Thursday.

0:13

That's the wrong agenda.

0:16

Why is it say Thursday, March 3rd?

0:20

Well, it's for Monday, March 16th, 2026.

0:24

Call the meeting to order at 648.

0:27

All right.

0:28

First, if we could take attendance, Councilman Darnell Ford.

0:32

Councilman.

0:34

Go ahead.

0:35

Councilman Anthony Mangia Pico.

0:37

Thank you.

0:38

Councilwoman Linda Salafia.

0:41

General Council.

0:43

Thank you so much, you all.

0:45

And next on the agenda is approving the minutes for the previous meeting, which was held on March 5th.

0:50

Have a motion, please.

0:55

Second.

0:59

Uh hearing none.

1:00

All in favor.

1:01

Aye.

1:03

Any opposed?

1:04

Any abstentions?

1:05

Matter passes.

1:06

Next on the agenda is public hearing for matters on the agenda only.

1:09

There's no one here in 208.

1:11

And I do not believe there is anyone in the queue.

1:15

I'll just double check.

1:17

There is no one in the queue.

1:19

So I will open and close this portion of the meeting for public hearing and hand it over to Chief Albert.

1:26

Oh, good evening, everyone.

1:28

Correspondence, I have none.

1:30

Monthly report, 346 calls.

1:33

We did have a uh pretty busy weekend.

1:36

Friday night, we had a small fire in South Fire Districts that we responded mutual aid.

1:40

And then yesterday we did have a river incident where we did have a water rescue with a kayaker in the water.

1:46

Um events.

1:47

Um I went back to the Hamden Fire Department to assist with one more interview.

1:52

They did have another candidate that they did want to interview.

1:56

We had our monthly meeting chief of staff.

1:58

Um, I did have my budget meeting uh with the mayor and the finance department.

2:02

Um, and I submitted my budget for the fiscal year.

2:05

Uh training and monthly EMS.

2:08

Um, we did our monthly EMS refresher, we did a bailout kit refresher.

2:12

Uh Wesleyan did donate a house to us.

2:15

So our bailout kits is uh it's a rope bag that we keep on our person.

2:20

And God forbid the conditions become so untenable that we have to just drop everything and bail out essentially.

2:26

That's why it's called that.

2:27

Um reuse this rope, re-rig it to something, and we can go out of and rappel out of the window.

2:32

Um, so the entire department has that, every single riding position and member, um, but we do have to train on it and refresh on it.

2:38

So Wesleyan was kind enough to give us a building, and then we were able to uh train on that all last week throughout the Four Platoon.

2:44

So that was pretty nice.

2:46

Um we did some simulation training, so I do have a training software.

2:51

We can take pictures of buildings or we can upload pictures of buildings, and then we can put fire conditions in them.

2:56

It's it's interactive.

2:57

We can make smoke condition, fire condition, and what we do is my training officer does a really good job where we sit our company officers in front of that and we just play out a fire seat.

3:06

We just pick their brain.

3:07

What would you do?

3:08

How would we do it based on our SOPs, based on your experience?

3:11

Um, it's a really good way for our members to get that internal brain working on what I would do, how I would process things.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Safety█████████████████████████████████████████████52%
Procedural███████████████████████████31%
Budget Equity Analysis███████████████17%
Summary of Proceedings

Public Safety Commission Meeting – Fire Department Report – April 13, 2026

The Public Safety Commission met in hybrid format on April 13, 2026, convening at 6:48 PM and adjourning at 6:59 PM. The commission approved prior meeting minutes, received the fire chief's monthly report, discussed ongoing operational and facility issues, and accepted a donation from Liberty Bank. Note: The raw transcript indicates the meeting was scheduled for Monday, March 16, 2026, but the officially provided meeting date is April 13, 2026.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of the March 5 meeting minutes: moved, seconded, passed unanimously with no abstentions.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public attendees were present in person or in the WebEx queue. The public hearing for matters on the agenda was opened and closed.

Discussion Items

  • Chief’s Report (Chief Albert): 346 calls for service during the month. The department responded mutual aid to a small fire in South Fire Districts and conducted a water rescue for a kayaker the previous weekend.
  • Budget: Chief Albert met with the mayor and finance department and submitted the FY budget.
  • Training: The department performed a bailout kit refresher using a house donated by Wesleyan University, conducted simulation training for company officers (including a drill on 8 Liberty Street), and ran aerial truck pre-planning trips in the north end due to access challenges.
  • Old Business — Overtime & Staffing: Overtime remains elevated. 17% of suppression staff (10 of 60 members) are out on FMLA, comp, light duty, military, or similar leaves.
  • Apparatus Repair: The repair line is expended. A detailed report on the last two fiscal years (labor, service charges, fuel, parts, rehab) will be presented at the next meeting. Chief noted $90,000+ in parts paid last fiscal year, part markups of 20–100%, and pump test costs of $1,200–$1,500 per rig plus labor. He expressed interest in sharing City Yard resources to reduce outside repair costs.
  • Facilities: Cross Street station is awaiting final roof inspection (all rotted wood/cornice/fascia removed, new flashing installed). HVAC is nearly complete, awaiting electrical hookup. Training building PL setup is still in progress.
  • EMS: 806 EMS calls in the reporting period, with three mutual aid ambulances used.
  • Telecommunications: 19 dispatchers staffed; two vacant positions are on hold. Deputy director position closed March 2; HR is reviewing applicants. The center handled approximately 5,900 incidents: 1,845 total 911 calls and 5,019 routine calls.
  • Downtown Officer Praise: A commission member expressed strong praise for downtown police officer Jesse [Santanastasio], calling him a phenomenal resource and asset to downtown businesses, echoing Chief Costa’s earlier comments.
  • Uniform/Extractor Question: Councilman Slotman asked about extractors/dryers ordered previously; Chief Albert reported they are on order, delivery pending, and that three quotes saved several thousand dollars.
  • New Business — Donation: Liberty Bank donated $3,000 for smoke detectors and CO alarms to be distributed to the public. The commission unanimously voted to accept the donation and forward it to the finance and government committee.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved minutes of the March 5 meeting (unanimous).
  • Accepted the $3,000 Liberty Bank donation and referred it to finance and government (unanimous).
  • No other formal votes were taken.

Meeting Transcript

Welcome everybody, public safety commission meeting for the fire department hybrid and dual weight and on WebEx. Oh, that's Thursday. That's the wrong agenda. Why is it say Thursday, March 3rd? Well, it's for Monday, March 16th, 2026. Call the meeting to order at 648. All right. First, if we could take attendance, Councilman Darnell Ford. Councilman. Go ahead. Councilman Anthony Mangia Pico. Thank you. Councilwoman Linda Salafia. General Council. Thank you so much, you all. And next on the agenda is approving the minutes for the previous meeting, which was held on March 5th. Have a motion, please. Second. Uh hearing none. All in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Matter passes. Next on the agenda is public hearing for matters on the agenda only. There's no one here in 208. And I do not believe there is anyone in the queue. I'll just double check. There is no one in the queue. So I will open and close this portion of the meeting for public hearing and hand it over to Chief Albert. Oh, good evening, everyone. Correspondence, I have none. Monthly report, 346 calls. We did have a uh pretty busy weekend. Friday night, we had a small fire in South Fire Districts that we responded mutual aid. And then yesterday we did have a river incident where we did have a water rescue with a kayaker in the water. Um events. Um I went back to the Hamden Fire Department to assist with one more interview. They did have another candidate that they did want to interview. We had our monthly meeting chief of staff. Um, I did have my budget meeting uh with the mayor and the finance department. Um, and I submitted my budget for the fiscal year. Uh training and monthly EMS. Um, we did our monthly EMS refresher, we did a bailout kit refresher. Uh Wesleyan did donate a house to us. So our bailout kits is uh it's a rope bag that we keep on our person. And God forbid the conditions become so untenable that we have to just drop everything and bail out essentially. That's why it's called that. Um reuse this rope, re-rig it to something, and we can go out of and rappel out of the window. Um, so the entire department has that, every single riding position and member, um, but we do have to train on it and refresh on it.

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