06-22-09 Council Workshop Minutes

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL JUNE 22, 2009 on the freeway, regardless of which City the vehicle is in. The Unweave the Weave project eliminated emergency turn-arounds on the freeway, and there are areas where either city has a quicker access to a freeway fire iu the other city. Smiley next reviewed an Incident `T'ype Summary for 2008. It was noted that the estimated value of building fire losses was mainly related to the Keenan house fire. It was also noted that false alarms and false calls relate to about 24% of the Fire Departments calls. Smiley felt that this was about the average for fire departments. The Fire Chief next reported that the Department has appointed one new member in the past year, Karl Strohmeier, who replaced Jack Fitzgerald who retired. 'There are no pending retirements. Strohmeier was previously on the department for a few year, but moved outside the City. He has now returned to the area and reapplied for membership. The Fire Department is at 34 members, which is their preferred roster number. The Fire Chief reviewed the Fire Depar•Cment's Master Vehicle Replacement Schedule, noting that the Department uses 20 years as the optimum replacement for most of the fire apparatus. The reason for the 20 years is that manufacturers will only guarantee replacement parts for 20 years. The Chief noted that the utility truck is on a 10-year replacement schedule. This utility truck was due to be replaced in 2008, and a committee has been formed to make a recommendation on its replacement. The Chief noted that the plan is to replace this truck in 2009. Blesener noted the estimated replacement costs in the schedule. Smiley indicated that a 6% inflation factor was used to estimate replacement costs. This factor has been very close for past purchases. Steve Morelan asked if there were dollars in the Capital Improvement Budget to replace the utility truck. The City Administrator did not recall, but indicated that covering this cost should not be a problem. There was discussion about replacement of the aerial truck in 2012 and the estimated cost of replacement at•just over $1.2 million. The Chief noted that the replacement process begins about a year ahead of time, with six months devoted to developing the specs and six month to manufacturing the apparatus. Blesener stated that it was his recollection that the aerial would have a 24 year life. The Chief noted that the problem is that replacement parts are only available for 20 years. That also impacts the resale value of the equipment. Another impact on resale value is that NFPA standards change every five years. Therefore, after 20 years, equipment standards have gone through four revisions. McGraw asked if the City's fire rating is impacted by whether or not equipment meets 2