CC_Minutes_2019_0107 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday,January 7, 2019 Page 17 sonnei. He stated Roseville is also an older community, so it is harder to find younger people to fill the part-time positions. Assistant Fire Chief Brosnahan stated it is harder for potential recruits to get train- ing because community colleges such as Century College and North Hennepin have closed down their Associates programs in Fire Fighting. Fire Chief O'Neill stated overall in the public safety sector applications are down significantly for Police Officers, Emergency Medical, and Allina Medical Trans- portation is in a crisis situation. Police Officers, Fire Fighters, EMT's are getting low applications and has become a challenging field right now. Mayor Roe stated outside of the public safety sector it is hard to recruit people in- to fields that are considered "hard jobs," more challenging than others and thought it was a change in society which is affecting different industries. Fire Chief O'Neill concluded the Phase II presentation, closing with financial budget information. Mayor Roe recalled in terms of apparatus and equipment that the Fire Department still has the former engine available for a second engine as a backup which seems to make this model work well. Fire Chief O'Neill noted the staffing model presented is the Fire Departments ability to be able to protect the community and Fire Fighters. He stated there has been a lot of growth in the community and permit inspections have increased. Councilmember Willmus thought as the Fire Department plans and comes back to the Council, the City certainly has some fairly detailed metrics in regard to costs with regard to call volume. He asked when comparing Roseville to other cities, are the same items being compared across the board. Fire Chief O'Neill stated to the best of his knowledge, operational costs were the only things compared. Councilmember Etten stated it would be interesting to see a comparison of Fire Departments doing mostly fire calls versus all of the medical pieces that are done. Assistant Fire Chief Brosnahan noted for reference on the spreadsheet from the Finance Commission, the second to the last column lists all of the EMS types of response that all of the departments do. Mayor Roe stated he appreciated the presentation from the Fire Department. Mayor Roe offered an opportunity for public comment.