All right.

Mo uh minutes stand approved.

And now for our new business, we have Chief Dilk.

Good afternoon again, Council.

This is an approval.

This is a contract between Advanced Fire Protection District and Tuscaloosa Fire and Rescue.

It's a it's a mutual aid agreement that basically compensates us for a response to their jurisdiction.

We've been working on this since I started, probably before I started.

And so what kind of compensation?

It's based off the FEMA rates.

The FEMA has a schedule based on engines, truck companies, apparatus, and so that's what it's based off of.

It's charged hourly.

So if we send and this contract also it does not, we don't break any of our policies on response.

So even though we're going to wherever it might be, our guys are still going to stay safe in the response model that we have.

But there's a there's a basic fee.

Yes, sir.

I'll uh give me two seconds.

I had this right here.

All right, so uh for a for a truck company it would be 245 dollars an hour.

Uh engine company is $390 an hour, and so um depending on the different responses.

That's less than an uh an attorney would charge you five.

Right.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Um so these are based on on medical calls, vehicle fires, structure fires, so those will build based on the response that's needed.

So we're not current, are we currently already?

No, sir.

We are so this is okay.

Yes, and this was they've got uh they have advanced fire protection district and they have some advanced volunteer department.

Um you anticipate much of a volume I don't I don't think so.

I think this was almost an insurance policy for them just to make sure that they do have some backup for them for their citizens if they need something.

Okay.

Any more questions or comments for Chief Dilk?

I'll make a motion.

Second.

All in favor?

All right, okay.

Motion passes.

Thank you, Chief Dilk.

I'll wait.

You're up again.

I'm up again.

Y'all gotta see me again today.

And this is the Tuscaloosa fire rescue update.

Yes, this is our uh monthly update, and so let's get back to my folks right there.

All right, so we were asked last uh last committee meeting that we made a presentation to come up with to kind of outline our our strategic planning for RSA.

I think that's gonna be a big thing for us coming up because we do have a potential to lose a lot of firefighters.

So before we get to that, I just wanted to hit on some high points from the highlights of our department over the past month.

Uh last month we had 214 fire calls, uh thousand thirty-five EMS calls, and then 123 service calls.

And like I've described before, those service calls are everything from uh water, sewer, gas smells, lift assist, you name it, um, those lift assists that turn into medical needs, those obviously bump up to the EMS category, but those that don't fall into the service call.

Couple of different calls that we went on this past month.

This was uh entrapment on Crescent Ridge Road.

Uh telephone pole was in the driver's compartment there.

They actually had to remove this telephone pole before they could extricate, so they cut the passenger and the uh excuse me, they cut the back door and the front door off of the driver's side to get this patient out.

They got him out.

Um I think he's made a good recovery.

That took a little while.

Yes, sir, it did.

This was not a you know, I know a lot of these you'll see in different um whether it's a drone feed, whether it's news crews, and you wonder, hey, what's taking so long?

But you've got to think in this car right here, the dash is rolled on top of him, and those side compartments are rolled on, and so you're trying to do as little harm to that patient that's already beat up to start with.

Um so you're trying to try to get him out of there as fast as you can, but also not cause any of the things.

Also, I would presume it had some sort of injuries.

He did.

He he had some uh some injuries there.

So the good thing is with with the apparatus and the and the response model that we have, we've got crews here that are extricating, but we've also got crews that are inside taking care of that patient, so giving him blood, oxygen, the things that he needs while this is all taking place.

Big job.

This was uh the structure fire right off Hargrove Road.

This is the lumber yard there.

This was a fire that started in the planning room.

So they take that wood and they plane it down to different sizes.

Uh this is where that fire started.

Our crews actually were in between training and driving by and actually spotted this before it was even distance.

So uh our guys being out in the in the community kind of helped out on this one to where it did not get any bigger than it than it already was.

So those were some of the highlighted calls that we've that we've done this month.

The thing that we wanted to focus on was what are we doing to plan for RSA?

We've got you know the very first thing that I think anybody would agree with is that your best recruiters are the guys that you currently have.

I think that's for any program that you have.

If you're treating your people right, you're doing what you need to, and pushing them to be the best that they can be, those are your best recruiters.

So we've got to retain our personnel.

We're beginning to recruit eligible candidates.

So we'll go through some of that here in just a minute.

And then we're also investing in the personnel.

So strategically planning on what is this cost going to be when I lose that person, and what's the new one going to be when they're coming on.

Before we had to look at this, we looked at we we pulled some different numbers, and I out of 264 employees, 51 of those will be eligible for retirement in October.

So pretty substantial number there for us.

You know, you think about those guys that have been there 25 or more, those are the guys that have seen a lot of calls.

Those pictures that we just saw, they've seen a lot of stuff.

They they've got a lot of experience that you could say, hey, these are replaceable, but some of that stuff that they learn on the job is not replaceable.

You can't replace that or not.

Right.

Uh and so to me, you can write that top number 25 or more, it's 51.

But then as you start working down, you've got some guys that maybe maybe this year it doesn't hit that hard, but the next year and the year after that, that really could pile on us of having uh some recruitment issues.

To retain current personnel, I think we've got to continue to develop special teams.

I think that's something that we've got a lot of buy-in recently, guys that are that are motivated, they want to do a good job.

Uh the good thing about Tuscaloosa is we've got a lot of employees that they want to be the best at their job.

And I think that's what we've got to make sure that we tap into and continue to give them those opportunities.

Uh compensate off-duty training, we're doing that with comp time right now.

I think there's some other ways through drills and maybe some other stuff that we can look at.

Uh PPE, you know, we we've got some really good gear right now.

Uh what are you doing?

Help me with PP.

Personal protective equipment.

Yes, sir.

So the gear that they're wearing, the helmet that they're wearing, the air packs, um, those are starting to age a little bit on us.

And so those are things that we're gonna look at modernizing and getting them on the cutting edge of that.

And that's always, you know, those are the things that I think if you're looking for an employer, you look at the paycheck, but you also look at some of that other stuff of how you're taken care of and and and the tools that you're given to work with.

Also exploring some other benefits for personnel, whether that's off-duty time, uh different stuff that we can do there.

We're looking at recruiting eligible candidates.

So, this is a picture just from the other day.

Uh, I went with two guys from the training division, and we actually visited the fire college.

Uh, they had a class of about 30 that are going through recruit school right now.

So we're just making sure working with Stratcoms, we're making sure that the information is out there.

We're given a test, how to sign up for it, and what you needed to get in line to do that.

These are some questions uh that have been answered, and and you'll see this flyer here in a minute.

But Sarah and her team have done great working with Stratcoms getting some of this going.

You should see these ads also through our digital displays throughout the city.

So we're kind of tapping into some resources that we've already got to put that out there.

Um, yes, sir.

How many people?

I see you got three certified, 30 certified.

Yes.

So 42 on our list right now.

Only 30 of those are certified.

Okay, but how many openings do you have?

You may have it in there.

We currently have one opening, but but in October, remember we've got the 51 personnel that could be there.

So would they be complete by October?

Yes, they will be they will be done uh in October.

So I guess here's the other thing that we can also talk about is just because somebody's certified, right?

Doesn't necessarily mean they're an employee that we want to do.

Okay, guys.

Um, there's a lot of people that I think carry certifications that maybe they don't do good at interview, maybe they don't do good uh in certain things.

So that's maybe they have a felony conviction.

That that could be it.

So yes, those so those are good things.

I'm I'm glad we do have a list, but I think we need to we need to have a good the biggest pool that we can possibly have to pick the best candidates.

One question, chief.

I know we we'd like them to be paramedics already, but we're gonna are we gonna be hard line on that when all these people are.

No, sir.

Now, right now we've got a the requirement for us right now is that you have to have your EMT license.

We've had a year of working with us.

We strongly encourage the paramedic, and y'all voted not too long ago to help us move some money over to push even more guys.

I think I had five more guys that wanted to go to uh paramedic school, and y'all y'all helped us move some of that over.

So, not a hard line, but definitely uh it's a push for me.

I'm a paramedic.

I do believe it helps you on the job, it helps you have a wider scope of things that you can do.

It's just that we may have a bunch of right, and absolutely, and I think you definitely want to, and they do get extra points for that on our hiring list.

So through the interviews, the hiring list, those are those are weighted out to score us higher and higher.

Recruit eligible candidates.

So these are some of the things that you see right here.

We we're going to expand our recruitment team.

We're partnering up with the Alabama Fire College right now to offer the CPAT.

So there's a lot of cities that don't require you to take the physical agility test.

We do here in the city of Tuscaloosa.

So if you've been a firefighter in Northport, Bessemer, Hoover 10 years, and you want to come work with us, you still have to take the candidate physical agility test.

It does.

It does.

It's uh it's a job related task.

You're wearing 45 pound vest, weight on your shoulders, uh 50 pounds on top of the vest, you're doing the stair stepper.

You do a lot of that stuff that a lot of guys don't want to go through that again.

So that I think that deters some of our candidates, Chief Dove.

You you mentioned kind of, and uh that was gonna be a question I was gonna ask about.

I know TPD mentioned a lot when the conversion happens, they they they think we'll get an uh influx of uh lateral transfers from other departments.

I mean, do you see something similar like that happening with the city?

I do.

I think I'm hoping that that there are some departments out there, and just talking with some guys that you know some of our guys have have multiple jobs and work in different places, and I think there is some interest in Tuscaloosa.

I think Tuscaloosa is a is a really strong department, and and that's what we're trying to continue to push, is that this is a good city to work for.

You you get a little bit of you get a little bit of everything in Tuscaloosa that a lot of departments don't get to do.

And so um, but yes, but so back the fire college, we're partnering up with them, so they don't have to pay to go take this test anymore.

We can offer it for free, the guys can come in, uh, guys, men and women can come in, take this test, and that way they've got another check in a box to get on our list.

Um we've got Google ad campaigns, some digital signage that StratComs is working with uh that will be at city facilities, also at Shelton State.

Digital billboards, uh, we're even gonna do some press releases to make sure that that test date's out there.

Radio interviews are coming up, um, and we've even talked about doing some recruiting at some special events, the 5Ks, the gauntlets, some of that kind of stuff that sure.

I know the the police department, I think, is doing some out of state.

Have y'all discussed that?

We've not.

Uh, you know, there are some things that there's some different conferences around the nation that we we could do.

Um right now we're focusing here.

You don't have as many openings.

No, sir, we don't we don't, no, sir.

And and just because there's that many people eligible, have you had a number of people say I'm gone?

Or do you believe they're they would be gone?

I think that I think there's about half that are that are not in there.

I think I think Halloween of in October will be a happy day for some of these people.

They've waited a long time.

They've got to wait 30 days for the church.

They have to give that, they have to give that 30-day notice.

So I think October 31st, I think you'll see.

Have we sent uh the director to the fire college yet?

Not yet.

He did out there the other day, learned a little bit.

He did.

He can't he came the other day to I know he wants to fight fires.

He does.

He does.

I can I can tell for sure.

All right, so so here's another thing that Stratcom has put together for us.

I actually had a guy that we worked with uh at Station 8 that that had a lot of questions.

He worked with a lot of guys that had some questions, so some specifics from other departments that all these things fell into this, and he helped out make this right here.

Um just some general knowledge, but it also has a QR code that gets you to the exact site of where to sign up, where to do it at.

Uh so these will be posted in different places and they'll update the dates at the bottom.

So this is that.

So you will see this.

It'll also be posted on our Facebook page.

So one of the last things we'll talk about is investing in personnel.

So that gear that that they're wearing right there, that ensemble is anywhere from five to ten thousand dollars for an employee.

And so that is that is their personal protective equipment that allows them to do the job that they do, uh, which is really good to have that equipment.

But if we're losing that many people, there also needs to be some budgeting of that.

So there's not a huge surprise next year.

Can we if if say that man retires and that's his equipment?

Can the next guy use that equipment, or we have to redo something else?

Helmets, uh boots can be reused, but this firefighting gear is fitted specifically for you.

It's kind of like a suit.

Yeah.

So if it's not fitted perfectly for you, if there's if there's spots that it that it it touches your skin, that's where your burns take place.

And so that's why uh you can't just say, I I know I've heard guys that I've worked with that said, hey, I came to work and I got so and so's helmet.

I got when I first started, I had a turnout jacket that didn't look like you know, who's who of who wore it.

I mean it had their name on it straight through somebody else's name on it.

We've come a long way, and and that's a good thing for us and our firefighters uh to have their own gear.

I mean, you think about the sweat, the environments that that gear is put in, you don't know what you're getting when you get somebody else's stuff.

So that's so you've already budgeted for the equipment for the new equipment.

Yes, ma'am.

We're putting that into the okay to next year's budget.

Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am.

That's what we're planning on doing.

So um so some of those things that we're looking at is investing in that the modern equipment.

Uh those air packs right there are starting to age out.

We're looking at pricing those out, possible grants to pay for some of this, um, and all of those things that are there.

Once again, I thank y'all for your support.

I feel like anything that we truly need and ask for, you guys are always behind it.

And I think that's an easy sell for us at the city to say, hey, come work for us.

You know, this is gonna, you're gonna have these opportunities, you're gonna have this stuff.

So definitely thank y'all for that.

Thank you for the update.

And that much needed update for finance, and just so we can know what might take place before the conversion.

Anybody got any questions?

Thanks for all y'all do it too.

Yes, sir.

Thank you all.

Well, thank you.

Any other questions or comments?

Anything else come before finance?

I mean uh public safety.

All right, if nothing else, then can I get a motion to adjourn?

I second.

All right.