02-24-2020 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, February 24, 2020 6:00 o'clock p.m. Chief Van Eyll said it's dependent on what time it is and what they are doing. He noted that firefighters do not have authority to do 45 in a 30, coast through stop signs, et cetera.People in the fire department have been pulled over and given a ticket if needed because other lives are being put in jeopardy. Johnson noted there's a 50 percent chance it is a false alarm. Chief Van Eyll said that was true. Crosby commented that it adds to the response time numbers. Chief Van Eyll agreed with Crosby. He noted in the Station 2 area there are members who live a couple blocks away from the station but others live farther away.In the Long Lake area people live a little bit closer,but they have people that live on the western edge of Orono and the eastern side of Long Lake so it takes some time to travel to the station. They like to have four in a rig and call it "four and out the door." Crosby agreed that the most important number is once you have a unit in service that has a crew. Chief Van Eyll added that from a medical standpoint, it does take somebody responding right to the scene.He referred to an overdose incident where one of the firefighters drove by the scene and the police department was already there,so he turned around and assisted.However,if the call location is not on the way to the station, they are asked to get to the station and truck so the truck can be put in service. Chief Van Eyll said there is an average of 11.2 responders per call. During the weekdays,they average 10 responders.47 percent of the calls occur during the six a.m.to six p.m.time period, which is down a little bit. Orono had 3,730 calls, which is down from last year.The total calls were 5,815 compared to the previous year of 5,900. Chief Van Eyll discussed the training goals for 2020, including: giving more power back to companies to do training with their fellow firefighters; making the pump operator curriculum easier to get more drivers; having not-on-call training tasks;having short trainings while people are at the station; doing more live fire trainings; and doing more mutual aid/Orono PD training. Overall goals include: streamlining the on- boarding process;using technology more; doing a road map for new recruits for the first five years for expectations; increasing Station 2 membership by 20 percent;and purging/updating old equipment. Chief Van Eyll reviewed last year's goals: The north ride-along did not happen;that is now part of the 2020 goaL They did some mutual aid partner training and would like to continue that, and also do more training with the Orono and Wayzata PD.They did a lot of"Get to know your firefighter and their families" so they had family training with fun activities once a quarter.They implemented a recruitment committee which helped increase the number of new recruits.They want to improve service times. He thanked the Council for their help with the new uniforms. Also, the quality-of-service measuring and understanding was taken up by a firefighter at Station 1. He identified the top responders at Station 1: Tom Aldrich, Blair Mileski, Zach Berbig, Pat Cotton, Ryan Gonsior; at Station 2: Scott Spinks, Shane Gardner,Derek Lee,Jeff Krahl, Ted Woychick. Top training attendants at Station 1: Blair Mileski, John Paszkiewicz, Ryan Hoster,Cody Farley, Matt Smiley; at Station 2: Ted Woychick, Shane Gardner, Shawn Revicks, Scott Spinks, Jeff KrahL 2019 milestones include Tom Aldrich at 30 years;Paul Bullemer, John Hall, Jeff Krahl,and Ted Woychick at 15 years;Zach Berbig at 5 years. Page 4 of 15