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From YouTube: Council Minute May 18
Description
Mayor Tim Busse discusses the future of the Bloomington Fire Department, including short-term and long-term staffing solutions. Plus, a shoutout to Public Works staff.
A
Hello
bloomington,
I'm
mayor
tim
busse,
and
this
is
the
council
minute
for
the
week
of
may
16th
two
topics
for
today
both
about
essential
services
in
the
city,
the
bloomington
fire
department
and
the
bloomington
public
works
department.
For
75
years,
the
bloomington
fire
department
has
provided
the
residents
of
bloomington
with
outstanding
fire
protection.
In
fact,
in
the
last
community
survey,
97
percent
of
residents
rate
a
bloomington
fire
as
excellent
or
good
respect
and
appreciation
for
the
fire
department
is
deeply
embedded
in
this
community
and
chief
yuli
seal
is
a
bloomington
institution.
A
Let's
face
it,
everybody
loves
the
fire
department
and
that
gratitude
and
admiration
is
well
deserved.
Back
in
2019,
the
city
brought
in
an
outside
firm
to
do
a
complete
review
of
our
fire
services.
We've
done
similar
reviews
of
other
city
departments
like
public
health
and
fleet
services
and
those
evaluations
have
given
the
city
a
better
understanding
about
the
work
being
done,
priorities
for
the
future
and
challenges
and
opportunities.
A
The
review
of
the
fire
department
resulted
in
a
number
of
recommendations,
including
things
like
updating
deployment
policies
and
response
time
standards
reworking
hazardous
materials,
response
protocols
and
right-sizing
our
fire
truck
fleet.
Some
of
the
most
important
observations
and
recommendations
were
related
to
the
staffing
model
that
bloomington
uses
to
staff
the
department
for
decades
bloomington
took
pride
in
the
fact
that
a
city
of
this
size
was
served
by
a
paid
on-call
fire
department,
it's
similar
to
a
volunteer
fire
department,
but
they
actually
haven't
been
volunteers
for
years
in
recent
years.
A
It
has
become
abundantly
clear
that
staffing
model
needs
to
change.
The
external
review
urged
the
city
to
move
to
a
hybrid
model
of
full-time
and
paid
on-call
firefighters
and
to
increase
the
number
of
command
staff
and
bloomington
has
done
that.
But,
as
we
heard
monday
night
from
chief
seal,
the
bloomington
fire
department
still
faces
some
significant
staffing
issues
and
the
time
has
come
to
have
a
serious
city
discussion
about
the
best
way
to
move
forward.
According
to
chief
seal,
the
ideal
number
of
active
firefighters
in
a
paid
on-call
model
is
155..
A
Currently,
we
have
91
active
firefighters,
if
you
add
in
the
seven
command
staff
members
that
number
is
98..
Quick
math
tells
me
that
the
bloomington
fire
department
is
short
about
one-third
of
the
desired
number
of
firefighters
and
in
reality
we
haven't
been
close
to
full
staffing
in
nearly
20
years.
This
is
a
real
issue
and
I
want
to
be
perfectly
clear
here.
This
doesn't
in
any
way
reflect
on
the
bloomington
fire
department.
A
The
world
is
different
than
it
was
30
or
40
years
ago.
It's
hard
to
be
a
firefighter.
There
are
significant
time
demands.
There
is
an
intense
amount
of
training,
especially
in
the
first
18
months
on
the
job.
It
is
a
tough
job
and,
as
a
result,
it's
very
difficult
to
recruit,
paid
on-call
firefighters
and
not
just
in
bloomington,
recruiting
and
retaining
paid
on-call
or
even
career.
Firefighters
is
a
challenge
across
minnesota
and
across
the
nation.
A
A
A
The
goal
is
that
ninety
percent
of
the
time
there
will
be
15
firefighters
on
scene
within
11
minutes
and
30
seconds,
with
the
current
staffing
shortages,
getting
15
firefighters
on
scene
within
11
minutes
and
30
seconds
only
happens,
27
percent
of
the
time
now
bloomington
fire
certainly
responds
to
and
puts
out
all
structure
fires,
but
the
response
doesn't
meet
the
department
goals.
One
final
example:
the
chief
offered
on
monday
night,
when
a
truck
goes
out
on
a
call.
The
goal
is
to
have
at
least
three
firefighters
on
that
rig.
Of
course,
that's
not
ideal.
A
More
is
certainly
better,
but
in
a
pinch,
trucks
can
deploy
with
only
one
or
two
firefighters
in
2015,
a
fire
truck
rolled
staffed
with
only
one
or
two
firefighters
222
times
and
52
times.
A
truck
assigned
to
a
call
was
unable
to
respond
due
to
lack
of
staff.
Chief
seal
made
the
point
that
he
was
unhappy
with
those
numbers
all
the
way
back
in
2015.,
now
jump
ahead.
A
A
A
A
The
cost
for
four
full-timers
for
the
rest
of
this
year
will
be
about
two
hundred
and
ten
thousand
dollars,
and
those
funds
will
come
from
an
internal
reallocation
of
existing
dollars
within
the
fire
department
budget
for
a
long-term
solution.
The
chief
recommended
a
plan
that
would
create
a
hybrid
model
for
the
department,
75,
full-time
firefighters
and
60
paid
on-call
firefighters.
The
plan
would
be
to
hire
six
full-time
firefighters
per
year
over
the
next
10
years,
while
maintaining
a
crew
of
60
paid
on-call
firefighters.
A
There
is
no
question
that
moving
to
this
hybrid
model
will
have
an
impact
on
the
city
property
tax
levy.
The
annual
cost
of
adding
six
firefighters
per
year
would
mean
an
approximate
one
percent
increase
to
the
overall
property
tax
levy
each
year,
so
in
2023
that
would
mean
an
additional
660
thousand
dollars
in
2024,
almost
700
000,
20,
25,
734,
000
and
so
on.
A
It
would
require
that
type
of
investment,
one
possible
bit
of
financial
help
staff
has
an
application
in
for
a
federal,
safer
grant
and
safer
stands
for
staffing
for
adequate
fire
and
emergency
response.
The
safer
grant
would
fund
18,
full-time
firefighters
for
three
years
2023
through
2025.
now
safer
is
a
competitive
grant
program
and,
as
I
said,
the
grant
application
is
in.
A
We
could
hear
as
early
as
july
or
frankly
as
late
as
november,
if
we
receive
the
grant
so
we'll
be
working
through
a
variety
of
options
as
we
develop
the
2023
budget,
two
related
side
notes.
Full-Time
firefighters
require
a
different
type
of
fire
station.
We
need
a
place
to
house
them
while
they're
on
duty,
the
new
fire
stations
we
have
planned
or
have
recently
constructed
like
fire
station
number.
Three
have
those
facilities,
housing
or
sleeping
quarters
were
already
planned
for
new
fire
stations
to
accommodate
firefighters.
A
At
times
when
they're
asked
to
spend
the
night
at
the
fire
station
like
when
there's
a
blizzard
on
the
way
or
during
a
major
event
like
the
republican
national
convention
a
few
years
back,
the
current
solution,
when
we
ask
firefighters
to
spend
the
night
is
to
set
up
cots
between
the
trucks
and
that
doesn't
seem
like
a
good
solution
to
me.
It's
also
worth
pointing
out
that
bloomington's
current
fire
department
staffing
model
is
an
outlier
in
the
metro
area,
richfield
edina,
st
louis
park,
burnsville
eagan
brooklyn
park,
woodbury,
minneapolis
and
st
paul.
A
A
And,
finally,
today,
on
monday
night,
I
read
a
proclamation
declaring
this
week
as
public
works
week
here
in
the
city
of
bloomington,
from
plowing
and
sweeping
the
streets
to
mowing
and
maintaining
the
parks
to
making
sure
that
when
you
turn
on
the
faucet,
the
best
tasting
water
in
minnesota
flows
out
our
public
works
staff
does
outstanding
work.
If
you
see
the
amount
about
working
in
the
city
be
sure
to
say,
thank
you
to
them.
A
If
you
see
them
rolling
past
in
a
city
truck
give
them
a
wave
or
a
big
thumbs
up,
let
them
know
that
we
all
fully
understand
and
appreciate
that
the
public
works
services
they
provide
are
an
essential
part
of
our
everyday
lives.
Thanks
public
works
staff
that
will
do
it
for
today.
Thank
you
for
joining
me
until
next
time
stay
safe,
bloomington,.