Thank you.
Good morning everybody. Uh,
the committee's going to come to order.
Good morning. Uh, it is Tuesday the 19th,
and we have with us today the Chicago Fire Department.
Um, we're gonna go ahead
and start with public comment first and up.
First we have Mr. George Blakemore.
This place will be packed with these Altimas
making this presentation about the money
that's gonna be spent for the fire departs,
since you don't have, you only have about 10
uh, people here.
This is really not a legal meeting. You have no quo.
So you say, since the people are not here on the committee,
2, 4, 6, 5,
or six, well, what we'll do, we'll hear from the public
that, that, that the, we we'll just use the public to get up
and whack, whack, whack on on the mic.
On the mic. So perhaps for what you can do with your budget,
until these numbers, racial numbers change,
do not give them any more money.
And they increase of,
of the budget in a capitalist system the way it's worked.
He who has the gold control the rule.
So you got the money here.
I'm not excited about what's going on
with the fire department, what's going on
with the police departments.
Now it comes up for finance.
So if you don't have enough money, perhaps you ultimate
have given all your money away to illegal immigrants.
Where, where's the money? Waste, fraud, and abuse.
So it is not US citizens, it's you,
but no, it's US citizens.
We let them get away with that
because we are
So, you get the government you deserve
and you deserve the government.
You get. Racism is alive here.
It's evil America don't like black people.
The Democratic Party, the Republican Party. Mr.
Blakemore, why'd you go, go red revenge to get even
with the Democrats on my way to freedom land, that means
to have our own God bless the child
that has its own.
So the notorious fire Department, Mr. McKay said they used
to fight in the fire station.
The, the white farmers jump on the black fire.
So with that consent decree,
they decided maybe we get a black lady, uh,
to be over the fire department.
And she will do the best she can.
When she sees me, there she is over here.
She always say, Mr. Blakemore, pray for me.
Pray. Prayer's not going to get it.
We have to change our mindset. Pray for me.
So my minutes are coming up.
So look, the people are not here to hear.
Bless you, Mr. Blake Moore,
a bless me is about
Thank you, Mr. Blake Moore.
Uh, next public speaker will be Benjamin Smith.
Hello, uh,
Go ahead, Mr. Smith.
My name is Benjamin Smith.
Uh, I have been working in Chicago as a paramedic EMT
for about eight years now.
Uh, for these past eight years I've been working
for private companies now for the city directly,
but with the end goal of working
for Chicago Fire Department.
And in the last eight to nine years, almost,
I have been tr work.
I have applied for every list
and I've applied to all the avenues to try
to get on the fire department.
And I've seen colleagues and, uh, coworkers
and friends get on the fire department
and get called for the fire department.
Uh, while I've been continuously ignored,
even though I've met all the qualifications
for a number of years now.
And unfortunately, it's led me to the conclusion
that the the process of which, uh, recruitment
for off the list or for the fire department has either been,
uh, is either constructed to ignore qualified black men such
as myself, or it has, uh, been actively perverted
by bad actors using the system to favor people.
They prefer on the fire department
that aren't black such as myself.
And it's not to discredit my friends
and colleagues who have got on
because they are also qualified,
but, uh, it is an, it is come to my obvious.
It's come to an obvious conclusion as there is no other, uh,
reasonable explanation that I can see.
Uh, and I'm asking that it be looked into that it can be,
uh, either completely overhauled
or, uh, steps be taken to change the system as a whole.
Um, uh, I apologize for my voice.
I'm a little, I have a little cold, but, uh,
that's all I wanted to say. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Smith. Our next speaker
is going to be Zoe Lee.
Uh, I know this is a budget for, um,
the Chicago Fire Department.
And, um, the last couple of weeks,
I don't know what's going on with our trucks.
Y'all done hit couple of cars
and moving cars and stuff like that.
So I don't understand all the money that the city has for,
uh, firefighters
and our vehicles and stuff like that.
And we are a billion dollars in debt.
Uh, and we,
and we're here to talk about this, um, this budget
that y'all trying to pass December 2nd.
Uh, we should not happen. Um, I am many.
I am and many other residents
of Chicago are demanding a forensic audit of city finances
before the 2025 budget is passed in December.
This is not just a request, it's a necessity.
Concerns are mounting over the allocation of tax dollars,
including funding for illegal immigration,
property seizures, imminent domain abuse, TIF spending,
and widespread mismanagement of city resources.
As a member of the city council, someone needs to take lead
and call for a forensic audit.
And we can start by examining three critical areas.
Immigration spending reviews,
funds allocated from 2021 until now.
Tiff abuse analyze whether these funds have genuinely been
benefited, the communities they were met for.
And as you see the south side
and west side, it has not
building department investigate the role this department has
played in illegal imminent domain practices.
Because for some reason, y'all have normalized
that y'all can knock down people's buildings, um,
because y'all want to.
And it is really because y'all want that land
to put y'all affordable housing.
Um, here's why This is crucial accountability.
A forensic audit identifies fraud, waste,
or misuse of taxpayer funds.
And that's where y'all can find that billion dollars,
um, public trust.
It demonstrates that we as city leaders are committed
to transparency and accountability,
which half of y'all are not.
That's why y'all not are here.
Um, cost recovery, financial loss is uncovered
through audits can be recovered through legal action.
We are not reinventing the wheel here
because Detroit did it when they went bankrupt.
Um, Los Angeles did it
with the public corruption scandals there
and even Chicago when it comes to the police department.
So if y'all can do it in the police department,
y'all definitely can do it for y'all
Colleagues, let's be clear.
If this city council fails to prioritize transparency
and accountability, the voters will remember.
Like we remember when Carlos Rosa Ramirez,
whatever his name is, um, uh, suppress that vote
for the sanctuary city.
Um, ignoring these demands will cause your seat.
The people Chicago are watching
and they're tied of leadership that refuses
to act in their best interest.
If other cities can demand accountability, so can we.
A forensic audit isn't just about finances.
It's about restoring trust
and ensuring every Chicago resident knows their hard earned
dollars are being used responsibly.
Do the right thing or prepare to be voted out.
The people Chicago deserve nothing less. Thank you.
Thank you Ms. Lee. Uh, our last
and final speaker is, uh, Tiara Conway.
I apologize if I misspoke, mispronounced your name.
Hi, my hi.
My name is Tiara Conway
and I'm here to speak about my loved one who's been
wrongfully detained
for over two years in the Cook County
Department of Corrections.
Ramon Banks was a passenger in a parked vehicle
when he was approached by four officers in an unmarked car.
The officer approached the vehicle state,
the license plate stickers was expired.
They didn't ask for any identification.
Instead, they unlawfully opened the car door,
handcuff the driver,
and search Mr. Banks without any warrant, consent,
or reasonable or suspicious.
Mr. Banks got out the vehicle informing, informing them
that he didn't have anything on them.
And the response of this escalation on the part
of the police, Mr. Banks started running
and fear for his life.
He is on parole.
The police officer stated to me he had
to put the other half in the car.
I asked him the other half of what he told me.
I was not under arrest. He just needed to search my car.
When, when later found, when, when,
later when Mr. Banks was found, he was questioning
and asked why did he run?
He stated to them that he was scared for his life
and they were killing us.
The officers falsified the entire report.
They stated that they pulled us over
to conduct a traffic stop.
We were sitting in front of our house already parked.
It was not pulled over.
They stated, upon approaching the vehicle,
they seen Mr. Banks reaching with his left hand.
Mr. Banks never moved.
Mr. Banks was instructed to raise down the window.
If he's the passenger of a car, why would he turn
to his left to raise the window down when the window was
to his right, Mr. Banks?
The the officer also stated when they ed Mr. Banks
and asked him why did he run that he admitted
to having the weapon and he carried it for protection.
I have body cam, I have everything that I need to prove
to you guys to prove that Mr. Banks is innocent.
The body cams proves that innocent with direct evidence,
it shows the total opposite
of the false allegations made on the report.
It shows that the officers could not see inside the car.
The car windows were tinted.
The officer states on the body cam
that he could not see inside of the car.
That's why he instructed banks to raise down the window.
Officers also lied
and said when they found Mr. Banks, they forced entry
inside the residence.
They did not force entry.
The body cam shows clearly the young man opening up the door
for them to come in to get Mr. Banks
when they found Mr. Banks.
Mr. Banks is already laid on the floor
with his hands behind his back.
Ready? Re uh, ready to get arrested? I have a body cam.
The officers are already stating
Mr. Banks is gonna catch it.
He told Mr. Banks, we will see
what happened when you get 30 years. And he
Thank you Ms. Connell. Your
time's up. Thank you.
Uh, we'll start this morning
with a report from Kofa, Daniel.
Janice,
Good morning Chair Lee Esteem, members of this body.
My name is Daniel Strom with the Council Office
of Financial Analysis.
And today we have just department 0 5 9,
the Chicago Fire Department.
So the proposed budget for FY 25 is 760.8 million.
This is a 2% decrease from the revised FY 24 budget.
Contractual services have seen a significant decline
of 72% in the FY 25 budget.
This is a reflection of grants being spent down from FY 24.
The total number of full-time equivalents for F
Ffy 25 is 5,145, reflecting a
reduction of seven FTEs from the FY 24 budget.
Additionally, uh,
the Chicago Fire Department is 87 point 36%
funded by the corporate fund.
The personnel budget is 678.2 million,
while the non-personnel budget is 82.6 million.
Thank you.
Thank you Daniel. Uh, we have
with us this morning Commissioner Annette Nance Holt.
Um, commissioner, if you wouldn't mind please introducing,
uh, the staff that you have
with you here on the diocese as well as in the box.
Thank you. And good morning.
Uh, to the right of me, I have Mary Sheridan,
my first Deputy Fire Commissioner, Cynthia Rivera.
Uh, my Deputy Commissioner Mike Devita, my Chief of Staff.
In the box you have Mark Furman.
If you could raise your hand. He's the Chief of Operations,
deputy Fire Commissioner.
I have Cynthia Herring, deputy Fire Commissioner,
fire Prevention Bureau.
Brandon Keller, deputy Fire Commissioner Logistics.
Juan Hernandez, assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner, EMS
Jamar Sullivan, district Chief Special Operations.
Michael Quinto, district Chief Logistics.
Francisco Valles, district Chief,
deputy District Chief Special Events and Public Education.
Evan Hay, my General Counsel,
Deborah Summer District Chief Diversity,
equity and Inclusion.
Jonathan Zas, my District Chief of Special Projects.
Ryan Rivera, my commanding fire Marshal.
Bethany Han, assistant Commissioner for Grants.
Joy Brown, director of Human Resources, OPSA
and Naty Gutierrez, managing Deputy Director OPSA.
And in the gallery we also have Jasmine Guy,
our Senior Equity Officer, Latrice Moore,
our Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner.
And, uh, I believe Sote Smith is over there in finance.
OPSA and Claire from Medical OPSA. Thank you Commissioner.
Uh, would you like to read your opening statement?
Yeah, I have a brief statement. Good. Good morning.
Chairman Lee and members of the budget committee
and council members, thank you for the opportunity
to present the Chicago Fire Department's fiscal outlook
for 2025.
The Chicago Fire Department is a vital component
of the city's public safety department,
and it is dedicated to protecting
and serving Chicago's residents.
Every day, our firefighters
and paramedics are on the front lines, responding
to emergencies, ranging from structured fires
and medical calls to hazard hazardous materials, incidents,
and natural disasters.
They work under intense and often dangerous conditions,
and we owe it to them
and to the communities they serve
to ensure they are equipped with modern,
reliable apparatus tools, personal protective gear
and safety equipment.
We understand the difficult budgetary decisions
before the city council and fully appreciate the need
for prudent fiscal management.
As the demand for our services continue to grow,
our resources must also grow.
For example, mass casualty incidents are on the rise so far.
In 2024,
we have seen an almost 7% increase in incidents over 2023.
The requests we bring forward today are essential
for maintaining safety
and service standards for our firefighters
and paramedics and the public.
Our planned investments in 2025 include replacement bunker
gear to ensure our personnel safety
and upgraded patient care reporting technology,
which enables us to comply with the state
and federal mandates and to ensure
that the city is reimbursed for emergency medical services.
That is really important. Each request we have is made
directly tied to our mission saving lives and property.
We work closely with the administration at OBM to ensure
operational effectiveness while protecting the community.
Public safety is always our top priority.
We are also committed
to minimizing cost while finding operational efficiencies.
For example, we have greatly reduced overtime in areas
that we were will not impact emergency services.
We ask for your continued support in facing these challenges
together and ensuring that the level
of service we provide remains at the high standard
that Chicago deserves.
Finally, I would like to extend condolences on behalf
of the Chicago Fire Department to the family
of Officer Martinez and our police department family.
I would also ask that you keep in your prayers the Chicago
Fire Department because we had two members injured a couple
weeks ago in the performance of their duties.
And an off-duty active member suddenly passed away.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
I'm happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, commissioner.
Um, we're gonna go ahead and start with Alderman O'Shea.
Thank you Chairman. Morning Commissioner.
Good morning. I'd like to start out talking, um,
about our apparatus
and referring to ambulances, engines, trucks,
uh, and our fleet and the replacement of our aging.
Um, can we just kind of go through
how many ambulances, engines and trucks we have
and where we might be with the replacement and,
and the opportunities for grants, et cetera?
Okay. So currently we have, um,
80 a LS ambulances for the whole city.
A LS Fire Companies 80,
which are advanced life support fire companies.
We have 74, 62 of them are engines and 12 are trucks.
BLS fire companies.
We have a total of 85,
which is basic life support fire companies, engines.
We have 36 trucks. We have 49 for a total of 159.
In addition to that, we have, um, a LS fire bolts.
We have three of those. Engine 2 6 8 8 and 6 8 9.
Um, we have a LS med carts. We have eight of those.
We have a LS bikes, 38 of those BLS bus, eight eight,
which is 8, 8 12.
It can transport 18 patients, uh, spare ambulances.
We have 28 and surge ambulances. We have 11.
So when we talk about ambulances, what is the, uh,
life expectancy?
I'm, help me out with a better term. Okay. So
I have Michael Quedo, uh, talk about
that since he's responsible for that part of this.
Uh, Can you speak into the mic? Sorry. Oh,
Can you hear me now? Yes.
Uh, Michael La Kendo, district Chief of Logistics
of Chicago Fire Department.
Uh, lifespan of an ambulance, roughly, uh, five
to seven years, uh, depending on use.
Um, there's no NNPA standard that that dictates
that we go more on, uh, mileage and engine hours.
So an ambulance that's seven
or eight years old could have as many
as 300,000 miles on it.
And h how many ambulances do we have currently
on the street that have surpassed that five to seven years?
So we did a fairly large replacement
of ambulances over the last two years.
Um, we put 31 in service last year,
I believe 26 in service this year, 27 in service this year.
So as of right now, our ambulance fleet is sitting
in a pretty good position.
What's the average, wh what's the cost
of an ambulance? A fully stocked,
Um, right around 275
to 300,000 depending on the equipment.
And now, um, switching onto, uh, fire engines,
what is the, uh, life expectancy as far as years
of service mileage, uh, et cetera, on, on an engine?
The NPA standard for that,
which is the National Fire Protection Agency Standard,
recommends replacement of frontline engines in 15 years.
Um, they can be moved to reserve status for another,
another 10 years after that.
So 15 years is generally what's recommended.
And how many engines do we currently have beyond their
suggested lifespan?
In our frontline fleet, we have roughly 63%
of the fleet is beyond 15 years.
63% of our fleet is beyond? Correct.
Okay. And what is the cost of a fire engine?
It's about, uh, 9.7. Uh, I'm sorry, uh, $975,000 roughly.
Okay. And how about our, uh, fire trucks?
Um, what is the life expectancy in mileage and,
and years of service?
So generally trucks fall under the same, uh,
NFPA standard, which is 15 years.
Um, currently, uh,
probably 30% is where we're sitting
30% or beyond that.
Beyond that, yes. Okay.
And when we replace our fleet, is that,
how much of that is from grants?
Is any of that from grants?
Yes, actually, uh,
let me talk about the Foreign Fire Insurance Board.
Um, because we have replaced some of the vehicles through
that, uh, process, which is money from the insurance
companies that we are able to vote on apparatus.
We've actually, if you'll allow me, I'll tell you
what we put in service so far in 2024.
Okay. And then we have, um,
Bethany Hand can talk about any
grants that we've applied for.
'cause I know we have congressional, uh, appropriation
that we're waiting on too.
But so far this year we've put five engines in service
engine 78, 56, 55, 1 22,
and 99, 4 trucks,
7 27 32 and 48.
One Tower ladder 54, too many pumpers, 6 4 2 6
and 6 4 2 7 31 ambulances, two collapsed rigs,
two rehab rigs, 5 7 1
and 5 7 2 2 OFI trucks.
That's Office of Fire investigation one,
hazmat training rigs.
Also a variety of support vehicles,
logistics box truck logistics, F two 50 buggies, which are
what the chiefs drive and the, uh, field chiefs.
So, um, in 2025, anticipated already,
and you see we've met with Fleet
or two FM to talk a lot about this
because this is a problem
that did not just occur on this watch.
And under this commissioner or the last one
before this, this can, has been kicked down
the road. So here we are.
Absolutely. Yeah. For 2025, so far in on order,
we have, we should receive six engines, five trucks,
eight ambulances, two hazmat, uh, box sets, um,
and a chase vehicle, a tower ladder, a MA casualty vehicle,
a command van e equipment ordered in 2024, um,
but anticipated to re arrive beyond 2025.
Uh, and then, uh,
this looks like we might have additional five engines,
three trucks, and 16 ambulances sometime after that fact.
And, uh, chief Oquendo can clarify that.
But like I said, we've worked hard with them,
with the commissioner of, uh, two FM to try to figure out
how do we fix this problem.
It's a a really large problem
because if you replace a lot of stuff at one time,
number one, we don't have, the fleet doesn't have the money,
the fire department doesn't purchase the vehicles.
We just work hand in hand with them.
But it costs so much now to replace these vehicles
as it used to not cost as much.
And grants are very competitive.
So as we compete for these grants, so do smaller departments
who they'll look at faster than they will us.
Uh, Congressman Quigley, uh, offered us a congressional, uh,
uh, grant, and I think we're supposed to,
or we might be getting a, a engine, I believe,
and maybe some SEBA harnesses or something.
What are we getting? Uh, Bethany,
Good morning. Bethany Hand,
assistant Commissioner of Grants
and Homeland Security.
Uh, yes, that is correct.
We, we received one engine from Congressperson Quigley
that is awaiting approval through Congress
to be appropriated in this, in this next year.
And also, um, we gotta say this, so during Covid,
pretty much all the manufacturers shut down.
They wasn't building anything. The chips are from China.
That's what we are told.
So back orders on these vehicles are two years behind.
So everything you order is two years behind.
The only department that we know of that's large,
that have 'em rolling off is New York.
They have theirs funded where their rigs are the
same and they roll 'em off.
We have specialty rigs,
so it takes a lot more to get 'em done.
And I'm sure if you wanna hear more about it,
uh, they'll be happy to.
Okay. Um, I, I think it would be important
that moving forward, um, there be strong communication
between our body and
and your office as far as maybe some
of us making phone calls
to our federal partners asking for assistance.
Um, you know, it's, it's been widely reported in the media.
Uh, maybe it's accurate.
Maybe some of it is inaccurate of, of
wheels coming off rigs and, and, and other things happening.
But I, I think it's incumbent on all of us to, to try to
work with you to see if there'd be some, uh,
more communication with our federal
partners trying to get that help.
Because, uh, obviously this apparatus is so important,
especially when you're talking about communities
where we see more emergencies, more large scale fires.
Can we talk a little bit about training?
Um, in recent years, uh,
we've seen an increase in injuries,
uh, dealing with fires
and line of duty death.
What, what can we do as a city
to better prepare to train, um,
our, our personnel?
So, um, one of the things that we've been pushing
for every year is additional assigned training, um,
positions at the Queen Fire Academy
and at our joint training academy.
So right now, the way it works is we only have four
lieutenants assigned to the training academy.
That's it. So when we have a candidate class
or we have a promotional class
or any class, we have to detail members out of the field,
down to the fire academy to help us train them.
And for us to do year-round training, we have
to detail people out the field, which drives overtime
because I have to backfill those spots.
And anytime I bring any, uh, firemen or engineers
or firefighters to the academy to train,
we have to backfill all those spots.
So that's increasing over time.
But our goal has, has been to build, we got two last year.
We were trying to get additional this year,
but to be fiscally responsible, I'm sure
that's why we didn't get 'em.
But it is very important for us to continue
to train year round, especially on things like roof
operations, which are very important.
Our job is young, it's very young,
and they're not seeing what we're seeing,
what we've seen in the past.
A lot of the older people are retiring at this point.
I think my age range,
it's only probably 16% left on the job.
So that institutional knowledge is going out the door too.
So in order for us to do a robust training program,
we need more resources.
Uh, I I couldn't agree more.
Um, last question.
Um, could we, could we ask our legal counsel,
um, are there any updates as far as communication,
possibly progress on contract negotiations, um,
on a new contract for our firefighters and paramedics?
Sure. Evan, would you like to answer that?
Good morning, Allman. And let me just preface this
with, I understand there's probably things you can't get
into, sir, but just
because so many of us, uh, are communicating
with our first responders,
any information you could share? Thank you.
Thank you. Alderman Ham,
general counsel for the fire department.
Um, you're are correct.
There's very little that I can say in this body.
Other than that we are continuing
to meet on a regular basis with local two.
And, um,
there is incremental progress being made
towards resolving the contract.
Thank
You, commissioner.
Thank you to you and your staff,
and of course, most importantly, the men
and women out there each and every day.
Um, looking out for us. Uh, thanks Chair.
Thank you. Uh, alderman, osha, uh, Alderwoman, Dell.
Thank you. Good morning. Hold on one second. Sorry.
Hold our time. Can we, through the chair.
I wanted to do this earlier. Can you provide
through the chair an inventory of all of the equipment, uh,
that CFD has in its inventory?
Uh, and include, um, the mileage, the years of service,
as well as when it was brought online.
Um, I think everybody would love to be able to see that.
And we weren't taking notes fast enough, I apologize.
But if you can provide that
through the chair, that'd be great.
And we'll work with two FM to make sure you can. Perfect.
Thank you. I apologize. Go ahead.
Uh, thank you Madam Chair.
Um, first I wanna, uh,
compliment my colleague Alderman Taylor for, uh,
a very robust set of in through the chair questions.
So I won't ask those questions here this morning.
Uh, commissioner Haw. Um, thank you for being here.
I wanna start with, um, when the, uh, PSA was here,
uh, I learned that there were over 910
police officers on what's called layups.
And in the fire department over 237, um,
fire, fire personnel that are also on layups,
which is amounts to about 5% of your department.
And at the same time, your overtime costs
has gone up at 43 million.
And I think there's a correlation there.
Um, if we could get more people back to work,
you could probably reduce your overtime.
It's, there's also the point about, uh,
there being one doctor to cover not only the nine 10
and police, but the 237 in fire.
Uh, that is not enough.
I'm wondering if you could speak to
what efficiencies you think we as a council should be
pursuing to, to, uh, help you reduce your overtime
and bring back more people, uh, to the job.
Okay, so I'll, I'll start with this.
Um, so actually I got like for our highest day
of layups was 297, and that was on January 2nd.
And the lowest amount of layups we have was May 3rd,
and that was 226.
Currently we have 251 members on layup.
So when we talked about the cost
of overtime, that's back filled.
So every time someone is missing due to the contract,
we have to hire rehire someone to sit in that seat.
Um, every time that we allow members
to cancel their appointments,
which is what's happening, they call and cancel.
So for example, uh, we had rescheduled members from one one
to 10 31, uh, 647 members rescheduled.
And this is throughout that time period, their appointments
and really only an extreme emergency should they be allowed
to reschedule their appointments.
Um, we actually had, uh, did
You say Six hundred, six hundred and forty seven?
They had rescheduled their appointments from one
one to 10 31.
So that means you can call in.
If they told me I was going today
and I can call in this morning
and be like, you know what, I can't make it.
Okay, come this day.
So they could call and they could do it over and over.
When we ran medical, we did not allow that.
Um, and that's what I was telling Alderman Gardner,
that medical was different then.
Now medical is not run by CFD at all.
It's, it's definitely OPSA.
So, uh, some of the efficiencies that could happen,
they definitely need more than one doctor
between two large departments
because the police, you're talking about,
what about 11,000 people
and you're talking about five on my end.
You got one doctor
and it's not adequate enough
to serve when we had our own doctor when we ran medical.
So you need, at least in medical for us,
you probably need two doctors
and you'll be able to get a lot of people back to work.
And we're trying to eliminate the abuse of the system
because if you don't bring them in frequently,
then they're just off and off and off.
And the other problem is that when they are return to duty,
instead of returning them right away like we used to do,
they give 'em more days off, then return 'em
after that, which dries over time as well.
So we've tried to communicate that,
but it's not being very effective.
We wanna work together
because we want our people back to work
and we don't wanna abuse other system.
And I know, uh, something was said that we can go
and find out who they are.
We don't know until it's too late.
And the problem with people rescheduling
or not showing up at all,
'cause there are people who don't even show up, is
that something could happen to them
and we won't know we can do a wellbeing.
So when we ran medical,
we did a wellbeing check, we'd immediately know.
And the one person Chief Schultz, who's helping run
that part of this to track all this, she would be able
to let us know the center of battalion chief
to do a wellbeing and make sure the member was okay and home
and not in another state or on vacation. So
Thank you commissioner for that.
I thank you. And, uh,
superintendent Snelling share a similar perspective about
wanting to have more control over that.
And hopefully that's something that we could try
to address in some way through this, uh, budget process,
which would help us save on overtime in both departments.
Um, I wanted to ask,
I, I know in 2024 there was a, uh, approved, um,
data analyst that was supposed to be shared
by both the police department and the fire department.
I think in asking, uh, PSA if they hired in that position,
they said no, is that position in this year's budget?
And if so, what is the, what, what does that person do
that would be shared between both departments?
Right. Um, so we've never had a data analyst.
That's the, the bad news.
We can't track our response times
and all those things without a data analyst
or analyze how we can effectively work better doing our jobs
with the resources we have.
Um, I think Mary, you could add to
that about the data analysts. 'cause we never got it.
Okay. Okay.
Do you know if it's in this year's, uh, to be hired in 2020?
She's shaking your head yes. So it's in that. Okay.
So we just need to make sure that that gets filled.
It would be an opsa budget. Okay.
Because they're supposed to share them with us.
And I was told we asked for our own analysts
to do our own data, but they said it would come out of PSA.
Okay. Thank you. Um,
I noticed that, uh,
the fire department does not use any ARPA funds,
although it seems like you would be eligible for that.
Is that something that you looked into or,
Uh, no, we never looked into it.
We were never offered those funds.
They were used for other departments.
Hmm. All right.
Uh, and I know to the, um, person
that was talking about your, uh, negotiations
with local two, um, New York in 2023
reduced their truck staffing from five to four.
Um, that's one of the, uh, things that I keep hearing about.
That's something that Chicago should be looking into
and that if we did that, we could
put more money into paramedics and, uh, ambulances.
Can you, uh, address that and if that's part of your
I can't, I can't really talk about local two negotiations,
but I thought I read in the paper about New York, um, saying
that they had to put 'em back.
I think initially they did try to do that,
but I believe they put 'em back Okay.
From public outcry.
They, uh, elected officials and the public, they
and their union of course, wanted more people in a truck.
I think it's a safety factor.
You know, we have different things in this
city that most cities don't.
Just like New York, we have a lot of high rises.
We have a lot of, uh, waterways.
We have a lot of, um, horrible accidents. Now.
Truck companies are able to do a lot of different things
besides, you know, they do ventilation, they do extrication.
Last night we had a serious,
serious pin in accident on Vince ends where it was extended,
um, extraction time.
And I'm saying having those additional members on the truck
allow us to put our hands on people faster.
Plus just like engines
and trucks, they all go on EMS runs too.
A lot of people don't know that they respond to those runs
as well as first responders
or a LS companies on emergencies.
So it is a great need.
And with all the injuries that we have
and our LODs, I think we need those people.
We need to keep 'em personally,
But we're sure the paramedics aren't. We.
Um, who you gonna talk about paramedics or Juan?
Juan Hernandez, who you wanna talk about it?
Yes, ma'am. Can you hear me? Okay.
Uh, Juan Hernandez, uh, assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner
of EMS, uh, there is a shortage, uh, paramedics nationwide.
Uh, it started off with covid.
I, um, we have not experienced that yet on our end,
but we do see that there are less, uh, paramedics
who are applying for the position.
So in preparation for that, we're encouraging our schools
to, um, start.
In fact, I'm with the committee, uh, with the state trying
to increase our enrollment, uh, in paramedics.
Um, and also, um, trying to encourage, uh,
have some incentives with the state, uh, with Chicago so
that, uh, we don't feel or see that shortage in paramedics.
Okay. Thank you. Um,
and I'm gonna let, uh, my colleague, uh,
alderman Taylor follow up on some of the other questions.
Uh, but the last question that I have is, uh, you know,
we recently approved, uh, the finance
committee recently approved a $400,000 settlement
for a collision that happened between a fire engine
and a passenger vehicle where that, uh,
fire engines brakes weren't functioning properly.
And so I just wanted to, um, support the point
that Alderman O'Shay was raising about the need to, um,
have more quicker replacements To hear
that 62 3% of the engines are beyond the 15 years
is troubling.
Um, and can you address that a little bit more?
What, what are we doing to
bring that percentage down?
Is there money in your budget to do any more for next year?
So, um, any apparatus, all the equipment is owned
by two FM or Fleet.
So we just use the equipment.
We, it's not in our budget at all.
So that's the question I should direct
To that. But we work, we have, I've
met with the commissioner
numerous times since she's been the commissioner.
And, um, my staff work closely with their staff
to figure out how can they do that.
Um, because apparatus cost so much.
Now, we used to get, if you could get one
and a half apparatus,
now you're getting one with that money.
And that's the other problem. Covid drove up the prices
and it drove up the demand.
So for us also to replace our, even if we had this magic box
of money that we could buy all the apparatus we wanted,
that would not be a good move either.
Not that we'll ever have that problem,
but that would not be a good move either,
because now your replacement will be the same time.
So strategically identifying like smaller, uh, pots
of investing in equipment,
but keeping it steady, that will help us get there.
We won't get there overnight. Have
You explored use, and I know this is my last question.
Have you explored using, uh, TIF funds for that kind
of capital investment since those engines run within the TIF
district and maybe into areas where you might have been able
to port money into those areas as well?
That's a good question. Thank you.
And I think if you talk
to the commissioner when she's up from two fm,
that would be a great question.
But thank you for that support.
I love that. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Uh, thank you Madam Chair.
Thank you. Um, alderman LaSpada,
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much for being with us.
Uh, always deeply value the work of you and your team.
Uh, relatively flat budget, both in terms
of overall dollars in terms of headcounts.
So it's great when we get to like,
talk about a departmental budget on that level.
I only have two real questions.
So I was noting,
and I, I know you're going to see a lot
of us beating the same gong today, so apologies
for that in advance.
But in terms of the overtime numbers, I, I'm noting
that the seven, the 2023 expenditures for overtime
were 77 million.
It looks like we were at 43 million for just
through half the year.
Which makes me question as we do sometimes
with our public safety departments, whether the,
the 45 million for overtime in 2025 is,
is a realistic number.
You're shaking your head, can you,
It's it's probably not.
I think it's just, um, a placeholder.
Um, some of the overtime drivers
that we gotta consider is parental leave, which was added,
um, under the last mayor.
And we did not have the manning factor for that.
So that means any member who applies
for parental leave can be off 21 to 22 days within
that year or within a period.
Also, our special events over time for fire
and e em, uh, EMS, which is reimbursed not
to the department, but to another, uh, uh, fund, I guess,
uh, city sponsored special events.
Another thing that drives overtime for fire and e
and EMS, which is non-reimbursable,
but we staff it, uh, personal, uh, personnel laying up.
So high numbers on layups drive our overtime.
Um, and like I said, the manning factor being off,
that's a big problem with this, um, parental leave
and, um, leave of absence.
And actually we have, uh, military leave
and FMLA to put into the mix too.
Mm-Hmm. So because we are required by contract
to man in special ways, in certain ways,
that drives our numbers up.
So we are trying our best alderman
to be fiscally responsible, cutting out all overtime
where we can, but where we have to put people we do.
So we would hope we could get to that number.
It's not gonna happen like this.
No, I appreciate that. I really do.
And I want to be clear.
Like I, I very much support our parental leave policy.
Every parent out there deserves the time that they need
to parent their young children free of the anxieties
of their work responsibilities.
And your, your staff, your workers,
your firefighters have a more anxious life than most.
And that transition back to full-time employment has
to be hard for them.
But it's hard to pass budgets that have
place on holder numbers.
It's hard to pass a budget when we know the number
that we're looking at is not the real number.
So I don't expect us to solve that in the next 30 days.
I think it's a conversation that council should be having
moving forward over the next nine months
as we're working on these budgets to make sure
that our budgets are realistic factual documents.
I know we've been talking about the labor negotiations.
I don't expect you to comment on the status of them,
although when, when the folks in the box were saying
that we're making incremental advances
on a contract that I think we're few years back on,
that's distressing.
It's distressing because we know
that there's a retroactive balloon payment
that is going to come with that.
And that is gonna be a bite when we finally do
negotiate out those contracts.
My question was,
'cause we've had this conversation
with a couple other departments who are either
increasing or sometimes decreasing the salaries
that we list see listed in the budget in advance of,
or in preparation of contracts being resolved
or anticipating they're not being resolved.
Do you feel like the salaries that we see listed
for your department reflect an anticipation of
that contract being resolved in 2025?
Mike, can you ask that? Can you answer that?
So, um, I don't know.
I know what is in our budget right now currently
that those are increases according to contractual
that is already there, step raises or whatever is there now.
I don't know if that amount is in there.
Yeah. So, but uh, you can go right ahead.
Mary Sheridan first deputy.
Um, in anticipation of
appearing before this body, I think several
of us have listened to some of the budget hearings.
And I did hear Ms. Guzman answer this question,
uh, in the initial day of hearings when OBM was up
with the comptroller and the Chief financial officer,
and I believe her answer was that the
anticipated raises due to
labor contracts are not put within that department's budget.
But that money is calculated based on previous contracts,
settlements, previous raises,
and that money is held by finance and
and it's not allocated to a department
until the contract is signed
and the raises are put into put into function.
Okay. May I ask through the chair if it can be confirmed
that the anticipated raises in retroactive payments
that would result from a concluded local two
contract are reflected within Finance General?
Yes. We can get that through the chair.
And, um, I know there's IGA folks here.
If you can just confirm that with the, um, with OBM, um,
with regarding Finance General, the question that, uh,
alderman LaSpada has just asked about, confirming that, uh,
the, the dollar amounts are there calculated, assuming
that the contract is resolved this year
And hopefully so.
Thank you very much. I I really appreciate the time
and the work of your entire department.
Thank you very much, chair.
Thank you. Um, let's see.
I'm gonna go to Alderman Moore next.
Thank you, um, so much, um, chairman, um,
to, uh, fire commissioner.
Hope, thank you so much for, uh, always being responsive.
Um, whenever I call
and being, um, um, there to assist in anything, um,
that I need for the residents of the 17th Ward.
Also wanna just thank this entire team
and definitely get a, um, shout out to Chief Valles
for always being proactive
and, um, helping our, um, residents, especially, you know,
um, and, and our, for our seniors,
but all our residents making sure we got smoke detectives
because all of that matters.
Um, you know, a lot of people don't always, um,
you know, get to see the fire department the way they see
the police department, but that's a good thing
because they don't want their houses caught on fire.
But we see them definitely, uh, uh, EMTs
and emergency situations to help people, um,
get out the house and things like that.
But for us to limit the number of fires
that we have in our communities by having work,
working smoke detectors, um, is an asset.
And, and again, in the climate when people don't have enough
money, that that's one of the things they ignore.
Um, that in terms of, um, you know,
if I gotta go buy something,
the smoke detector is the last thing on my
mind, unfortunately.
And so when you all are being proactive,
like this department is doing
to get us those smoke detectors, I can't stress it enough
how important, um, that is.
So thank you, um, very much.
Um, I know, um, um, chairman
Taylor is gonna, um, focus on some issues,
but I just want to hear from you in terms of, um,
when we are looking at these numbers, um, in terms
of union employees, 63%, why 14%?
Um, black, um, Hispanic, 20%,
and now we've had offline conversations
and you've had public conversations.
Just reiterate to us from your standpoint,
what you've been able to do
and what you feel, um, that we need to do.
Because at some point, uh,
and I get to some other things, we gotta stop going
to circles and this council has to act.
And so just give and,
and just summaries, um, as you can just, you know,
what you've been doing, um, um, to help these numbers
and then also what you feel that we, um, can be doing, um,
to make sure that, uh, we get better numbers.
Okay. Thank you. Um, you know, uh, I think one
of the hardest things to do is sit here
and tell you that I don't have a magic wand
to get blacks on this department.
I absolutely do not. I wish I could tell you I
could, I don't.
Um, what I can tell you I do
or we do as a team, as our department.
We have gone out despite,
we're not having an exam this year.
We all know that. 'cause it
would've been announced by now, right?
We at the end of the year, so that's quite obvious
for me and all of us.
But we've gone out
and visited 66 schools, my DEI team,
I've sent fire companies, my staff, um, we've been
to community events, career fairs.
I went to al the Women's Taylors Fair,
which was phenomenal at Kennedy King.
A great showing. We talked to a lot
of young people, engaged with them.
Uh, we've done recruitment events since last budget, 176
of them that's without an exam.
And let me be clear, my recruitment team is Deb,
summer chief Summer over there,
and I have Jasmine ga that's it.
That's all I have. I don't have a
dedicated recruitment team.
I've tried to get one, I don't have one.
I detailed members in from the field to help me go out
and recruit and talk about
how important it is to take this job.
Um, all 50 auditors were visited by our court unit
with information about careers
and resources so that we can help out.
We also have a Facebook page.
We have a, um, Deb Summer has been very good about helping,
um, members who are having ob seeing obstacles
and getting through being hired.
She has been very good reaching out and helping.
As a matter of fact, all of us had,
and one of the obstacles
that we see is members being prepared for the CPA,
especially our women.
We wanna, I wanna see more women forget.
We, I wanna see more women come on this come in this store.
But the CPA is very challenging.
It's challenging for men too.
So we've been, we've got a, uh,
something on our Facebook page
or something on our website that shows them how you prepare.
And I think the hardest thing is I talked to a young man,
I personally called him because he needed his CPA
and he told me, well, I'm just gonna wait.
I said, baby, don't wait.
And I, I talk to young people like that, right?
Because I'm a mother figure and I said, don't wait.
You might not pass it if you can take it earlier,
take it so you can get in the class.
So he ended up taking it earlier.
He failed it because he thought he knew what it was about.
And then when he went back the second time, he passed it
because he actually figured out how to do it.
So I think those are the things we can do is better prepare
our young people to be, um, ahead of what they need
to do before it's too late.
Because it seems like it's easy.
It's not, not, this job is not easy. Thank you.
It's very physical, it's very demanding. Alright.
Um, we've hosted various firefighter for a day.
Um, events over 350 people.
Were exposed to careers as firefighters and paramedics
because we gotta reach out and get paramedics too.
And everybody knows the fastest way in the fire
department is to be a paramedic.
So I don't wanna cut you off, uh, commissioner.
So it sounds like you're doing what you need to do,
but we haven't had the classes. Correct.
Uh, you know, uh, what now
Exam, we haven't had the exams. I mean right.
They have to have a new exam for this to change.
Because let me say this too.
Although we're doing all this outreach,
we gotta continually do it.
We can't stop. So recruitment is every day, all day.
You see a young person, we have a QR code on a card the day
of summer came up with, I go get a smoothie here, young man,
have you thought about being a firefighter?
No, I don't want to do that. I said,
baby, this is a great job.
It's a profession. Look at me. I said, I'm a girl, I do it.
I said, I love this job. I absolutely love it.
That's how we get 'em. But it's, this is 365 days a year.
This ain't like one time having firefighter for a day,
having a resource fair
because we have to remind our young people
they can do this job.
No, I appreciate that. And so we gotta focus on these,
um, exams.
So part of that is coming to my, uh, next few questions
and then I'll, I'll let you answer.
I'm gonna just ask 'em all at, um, once, uh,
from a time standpoint, it sounds like one, we,
we need another doctor.
And so with that, I'm gonna ask if you could just
provide a list through the chair.
Uh, and I know people gonna say what you need for, so,
but I wanna make sure we focus on those critical things like
another doctor, like if we did more exams, critical things
that you need, um, for us to be successful.
Okay. Um, including if that does include equipment,
but just don't ask for the whole thing.
'cause we know a lot is needed. But those major
things that's needed.
Because when, um, when I see what Arthur McDowell,
when she talks about the medical part
and the overtime part, if we get enough, somebody say, Hey,
we can't afford another medical person.
Yes we can because we can't afford the overtime.
These are critical things we have to push back, uh,
on from an automatic standpoint.
My other, uh, thing was,
and I'm glad it was brought up, I think brought up,
I was gonna ask about it was the arpa, um, dollars
because, um, uh, do we have somebody for grants
that's getting grants?
Because I saw that other, um, cities, um, got,
um, ARPA funding, uh,
let me just Baltimore City Fire Department, 10 million St.
Joseph department, 280,000, um,
north Queensbury 150,000.
William Cameron, 1.5, and banger Maine, 20 million.
So I know you said you wasn't offered,
do we have a dedicated grant person
or somebody that's making calls trying
to get additional resources?
We have, uh, uh, Bethany Hand who's over there in the box,
and Bethany actively goes after grants.
And as a matter of fact, every time we see something in fire
engineering or we see anything in the paper about a
grant, we go for it.
We work with OPSA, there is someone in grants there as well
that works with us and someone in city.
So the one thing about grants, they're very competitive
and bigger departments, we tend not
to get what we used to get.
And she can talk a little bit about it, please,
like a UIC grant because a lot of our equipment
and supplies come from grants, not
through corporate as it looks like.
So I think what's important is that we just keep applying
for as much as we can.
We even applied to get additional firefighters in the grant.
And you can Yeah, because
They did. But the, the
smaller departments like Calume City, um,
they got 'em, or,
or little departments like Calumet Park,
they'll get those grants and then we can somehow find money.
But we're trying strategically best.
Can you speak on that before my time is up just
to see? I can understand what's
Going on. Bethany, you wanna talk about the grants?
Yes. Good morning. Bethany Han Chicago Fire Department.
Um, I would just say as an overall grants perspective, yes,
we see that grants are very cyclical in nature.
That if we get a grant one year, we do not tend to get it
for the next year, or maybe we'll get it for two years
and then not the next year.
Another thing that we're seeing is
that grants are both shrinking
and becoming much, much more competitive.
Mm-Hmm. Um, the word is out
and everyone in their brother are applying for grants
because they're in either the same position we are
or a very similar position than we are.
But, um, that being said, as the commissioner said,
we are applying for more grants than we ever have before.
We're looking to new funding sources, we're looking
to the private sector, we're looking
to other federal agencies
that we've never sought funding from,
and we will continue to do so. So
Did we, did we inquire about
why others got ARPA funding and we didn't?
Did we at least make that inquiry and, and why didn't we?
Um, yeah, I'm gonna ask Natalie Gutierrez from
PSA to talk about ARPA funding.
Um, I can certainly get look into it on my end, but
Morning Alderan, Natalie Gutierrez, PSA, um, we were part
of a larger city conversation in relation
to public safety utilizing ARPA funding.
Um, but in the grand scheme of the utilization
and what was needed citywide, as you see, fire department
and public safety did not receive any of those funds.
So the, the ones that you do see nationally that, um,
were able to acquire that funding, it was a local decision
that their fire departments were able
to participate in their local needs process for arpa.
All right, I, I'm done. And just, um, just, you know,
hope you all know to get it through the chair.
Those critical things, um, that you all need
because from a, um, there are certain things you can do,
but then there's certain things that we have to really hold,
uh, the administration on to making sure that, uh, we get,
so we're not back here repeating these things each year.
Thank you. Thank you, chairman.
Thank you. Um, yes. Uh, chair Dell.
Thank you Madam Chair. Just a clarification.
Alderman Moore, um, yeah, we need an extra doctor,
but the doctors can't be in PSA.
We need to make sure that there's, um,
control in both the police department
and the fire department over
decisions related to those layups,
Because that's one of the things she's gonna
put when she give it to me.
This is what I need.
I need an extra doctor, but I need to have control.
So, thank you chairman for making that, um, point.
Thank you Alderman Moore.
I'm gonna go to, uh, alderman Napolitano next.
Thank you very much. Appreciate the opportunity to speak,
um, to my firefighter brothers and sisters.
Thank you for being here today.
Um, I'm actually gonna like to take a moment.
I did this like maybe six
or seven years ago on behalf of something, uh,
the commissioner had mentioned, and one
of my colleagues had brought up too.
And I do this as a colleague, as kind
of an informational point of, of, of clarification.
Um, question I'll always come up in here that you'll ask.
Um, the fire department is about manpower
and eliminating a, um, a firefighter from a rig.
And, and I'm, I'm just doing this
just as informational, please.
So I don't, I don't, and I'm not
coming at anybody the wrong way.
But the reason why I feel it's beneficial for us not
to ever remove, uh, anybody from that, from these rigs is
if you, if you haven't rigged,
not if you haven't been on a rig in a fire,
just imagine the situation.
If you go to a, uh, a fire of a, uh,
multi-unit complex on fire, two in the morning, um, you know
that there's, there's a, uh, victims in this building.
When a fire engine pulls up,
you usually have five firefighters in that engine.
One of 'em is an engineer. That engineer always stays with
that rig, that rig, that their, uh, their objective is
to make sure that when that pump goes in the pump,
that everything's running properly
and they're getting water to the sea of that fire.
So that number five is out of that equation.
Number two or number one is gonna be your hydrant person.
They're gonna run to the hydrant
and make sure that they secure hydrant,
that they got a positive source of water to get to
that fire engine so that we
can get it to the seat of the fire.
They might have to travel a couple
of blocks if it's a cold day in case a fire,
in case a hydrant, uh, freezes up,
or they just have a bad hydrant.
When they're done making that hydrant on the way
to the back, they have to make sure every line is working
properly and there's no kinks in the line.
And they check with the engineer
to see if they need any help before they go into the fire.
Number two, or num, I'm sorry, number three is gonna be
that pipe man or pipe woman.
They're gonna take that pipe,
put two lines over their shoulders,
take a couple hundred pounds to the seat of the fire,
could be up a couple of staircases.
They're gonna make sure their line is, is properly laid out,
and they're gonna have a, a, a, a firefighter with them,
which is gonna be called the second up.
And they're gonna make sure that that line
is stretched out properly.
There's no kinks in the hose,
and that they, uh, could possibly get a positive source
of water to the seat of that fire for
that multi-unit building
that's under fire, that's in a fire.
So that's four people right there that are accounted for.
The fifth one is gonna be your officer on that rig.
And that officer's main duty is, is fire safety to make sure
that everyone in, in that building is,
knows exactly what's going on,
on the outside and on the inside.
If they call a mayday, they have to get out as soon
as possible, but they have an eye on
the objective of that fire.
So that's why it's hard to eliminate anybody from an engine.
Now, if you take the truck, which is, I believe,
even though I'm an engine guy, as one of the most important,
um, aspects to firefighting too, is that firetruck pulls up
and there's five people on that fire truck
person driving the truck is gonna be, is, is gonna go
to the roof, and he's gonna go with another firefighter.
So there's two that are always going to that roof.
When they jump off that rig, they're gonna put the aerial up
to the best of their ability to the top of whatever fire
that they're at, going through obstacles of trees,
electrical wires, whatever area that they have to work in
to get an aerial properly to that, that roof.
And then they're gonna make sure that the outriggers can
come out and secure that rigs from tipping over.
When that ri, when that aerial goes up, those two
incredibly insane firefighters are gonna go to the roof of
that fire with chainsaws axes
and try to make a hole in that roof to,
to create ventilation, which is one
of the most important things for an engine guy
or an engine girl to have on the inside of that fire
to make sure that smoke clears as quick as possible.
So that's two people accounted for on that truck.
Number three is gonna go to the rear of that fire
and they're gonna find a, a, another source
of egress if needed.
They're gonna open the back of that building or, or,
and so that we have a way in or out.
And then they're gonna go in and start.
What's one, the most important things
is a search and rescue.
So that's three firefighters that are accounted for.
The next two are gonna be your officer
and whoever's going with that officer, they're gonna go into
that fire and they're gonna do a search and rescue,
and they're gonna look for whoever cannot make it outta
that building and rescue them as well as
that officer's job is, once again, to make sure
that everything is, is maintained in positive
and that there's no threats.
And if they have to call a mayday
or get anybody out as po quick as possible, going back
to the fire, going back to the engine, why that number two,
that second up is so important on the pipe is
'cause when you're in a fire, you have an oxygen tank on.
When it runs out of oxygen,
it might be your time to get out of there.
So you hope that the second up still has some oxygen
to still fight the fire for whoever's inside that building.
At the same time, removing firefighters from a rig
may have been tried in other large municipalities,
but has been canceled and stopped for many reasons.
You don't always, we're not as big as New York.
So we, we get help as quick as possible,
but sometimes it's not there as fast as you really need it.
New York is a lot larger
and they had pulled back from
removing manpower from their rigs.
I've worked in suburban departments that don't have five,
they have four and sometimes three.
And every time they pray,
and I've seen it happen, we wish
that we had more firefighters on that rig
to help us in those situations.
So pulling that manpower out, I always tell everybody,
if you haven't done it, please look at it.
Please go experience it before you take that, that avenue.
And I don't mean that in the wrong way, it's
because we don't all have the opportunity
to do a ride along on a fire truck that we do on, on a fire,
in a police, in a police car.
I want you to take this aspect back to, you know,
two years ago we asked for more help in our offices.
'cause we have a lot of call volume
and a lot of issues that come across.
Can you imagine eliminating a person
or a firefighter from a rig in a situation as, as, as
critical, um, as the ones that are,
that these firefighters go into,
every person's accounted for.
We work on a, on, on a regular basis with
one firefighter less.
Um, sometimes that engine will be with four.
Sometimes that truck will be with four.
They do it all the time.
They do it, they get through it, but it's not the easiest.
It's not the safest,
and it's not what a firefighter wants
to do when they go, when they show up.
There's nothing greater
that I've ever experienced than being in a raging fire
to turn next to yourself
and know that someone's right there to help you, not only
with the water, but if you go down to get you out
and know that helps on the way.
So I only say that to always make sure that we get away from
that whole concept of removing one firefighter, uh, from it.
We do need more paramedics. We need a lot more paramedics.
I think our department's doing their best job they can
to recruit paramedics.
I'd like to see that we get more ambulances.
Um, I, I know that's a need.
If anyone says we don't need 'em,
just start looking at the call volume citywide.
Um, we need more, we need more, uh, ambulances
to report to these scenes.
But on that same aspect,
and I'll end here, we have paramedics
and EMTs on these fire engines and fire trucks.
So when they get that fire call that engine
and that, that fire truck might be at an EMS call.
So that's one less rig that you might have at that location.
So eliminating any manpower from any scene of any fire
because someone's on an EMS run would be catastrophic
or is catastrophic in some cases.
Um, I just,
if anyone has any questions about why this is never ever a
good idea, please come ask myself.
I'm sure you can ask Alderman, uh, Gardner
and Alderman Spto, uh,
who have done it even longer than I have.
It's, it's not the way to go.
There's other ways to find revenue.
There's other ways to find manpower,
there's other ways to, to do things.
But removing that helper on a rig is, is is catastrophic.
It's absolutely catastrophic.
And again, I followed up with this.
I'm not saying this to put it on anybody,
I'm just letting you know if you have any questions of why
that doesn't work or why it won't work for our department,
please come ask me
and I will walk you through it, uh,
without, without hesitation.
That's all I got. Yaman. Thank you. Thank
You. Thank you Alderman.
Yes, please go ahead.
So let me add a little something.
So what we do have every year is firefighter four
a day for the alders.
And we invite you to come out.
Some of you have been there
and you've seen how difficult it is to do what we do
before we even get to the fire.
So with all the gear on all the equipment.
So I think if you really wanna see
what it's like in a non-emergency situation, we invite you
to or stop in at one of your local firehouses
and have them talk to you about or show you the equipment.
I think that would help with this too. Thank you.
Thank you. Um, alderman Napolitano, um, just to,
can someone tell me how many vacancies you currently have?
Um, I believe 194. 194.
And, um, with our vacancies,
actually we have a candidate class.
We have two a year, so us usually may in December.
It depends, and the number depends on attrition from
retirements or whatever else is going on in the department.
So we hope to have like a hundred in each class. Mm-Hmm.
That reduces and that's where some of our number is already,
and most firefighters
and paramedics will retire in November as well.
Um, so they will retire in November as opposed to like CPD.
They retire year round. Most of us wait and go in November.
Okay, great. And if you were fully staffed with the,
if you didn't have vacancies at all, um,
how much do you think that would help
with your overtime issues?
Oh, it would reduce 'em, definitely. Yeah. Yeah.
But it, it, but it's like cyclical, you know,
like we have a, um, a higher plan that we work with budget.
So every time it's like,
and I, this is a piggy move up,
so if you have a firefighter in order
to have a firefighter vacancy, we either have to promote
to lieutenant or engineer that opens up the vacancies
or you have to have retirements in that rank.
And then in order to have a captain's promotion
or a lieutenant, you have
to have people come up from those ranks
and it goes all the way up to battalion chief.
So we try to work to reduce the overtime
by having promotional exams set at certain times.
Because if you don't, it will drive the overtime up
and the least of the overtime is in the firefighter
and entry level paramedic ranks as opposed
to when you go up the food chain
to the battalion chief rank, which is a lot more.
Okay. Got it. So that's our goal to reduce overtime in
that way, being fiscally responsible and hiring
and filling vacancies as soon as we can.
Absolutely. I mean, I know that you mentioned earlier the
sort of average layup number somewhere
around like the 2 20, 2 50, um,
so that's pretty close, right?
194, you're go, you're always gonna have some, um,
some gap in between there,
but having more, uh, consistent classes would definitely
The two we can't have a year. Okay. Yeah.
Okay, great. Um, I'm gonna go to,
uh, alderman Rodriguez next.
Thank you so much Madam Chair.
And, um, it's always a pleasure to see you, um,
chief ho you, your work.
I just really appreciate you always reaching out,
particularly when there's, uh, incidences that require, um,
a holistic approach fires that, that really require a lot
of, a lot of support and engagement.
So I just really appreciate your communication
and to the men and women of the fire, uh, department.
I just can't say enough about the work you do
and the fact that you put your lives on the line.
Um, it's be it's, you know, I was proud to to, to sponsor,
um, uh,
a resolution honoring first responders, and we're gonna do that every year.
I, I think, and we're definitely gonna be communicating
with you about, you know, some of the folks who we need
to be highlighting, uh, who've done, who've gone above
and beyond every year to make sure that they get recognized.
It's important to me, um, that, you know,
the working class folks of our city get recognized when they
do miraculous things and,
and that's happening every day on your forest.
So thank you for that work. Um, I do hear from a number,
and, and by the way, I really appreciate, uh, all the women,
Taylor and others bringing up this issue, particularly
as it relates to black firefighters.
Um, the numbers do indicate that, that, that,
that we're not where we want to be.
I realize some of the challenges
that you have in getting there,
but I always believe that transparency
and bringing light to a situation helps to resolve
or adjust the issue best possible.
I do know that the, um, uh, many of what's called
for an Appendix GI hope I got that right.
Um, you know, some of the data as far as minority hiring,
you know, uh, in many respects it, it,
it looks a little better than it is
because Latinos are entering the force, in my opinion,
or as I understand it, at, at higher rates.
So I wanna make sure that, you know,
folks aren't necessarily being pinned against each other.
That's not something we wanna do.
Not, not saying anyone has done that, by the way.
Um, but I want, when we talk about data
and transparency, we recognize some of, uh,
where we need to achieve.
One of the things I do hear from Latino firefighters is
around the promotions process.
So as far as the data is concerned that other women,
Taylor has, um, asked for, I like to add, um, uh,
on, you know, demographic information as well,
on on promotions.
My understanding is that there's some talk about, uh,
and I may be butchering this, but fair testing.
My understanding is, uh, to, to on promotions,
it happens maybe that those tests may happen maybe every
eight, eight to 10 years.
Is that accurate? And is, is there any kind
of effort towards maybe making that more, uh,
happen more often so that folks who are,
who are later in the field kind
of kind of be able to move up?
So unfortunately, since we're in active negotiations,
we can't talk a lot about that.
I can let my general counsel chime in on that. Evan Hay,
Evan Ham General Counsel, uh,
as the commissioner mentioned, we can't get into any
of the details, but promotions is a topic
where there has been significant progress made
with local two in terms of negotiating.
Um, and that, uh,
more regular testing is something the city has, um,
put at forefront in that.
Okay. Um, thank you so much for that.
That's really all I had. I, I just wanted
to talk about the data and just thank you
all for your, for your work.
I appreciate it. Thank you Madam Chair.
Thank you. Um, I don't see Alderman Sigil Lopez, uh,
we'll go to Alder, um, Vasquez and then Nugent.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Um, I'll just get right into the questions.
Thank you all so much for being here.
Um, what is the Urban Area Security Initiative from
the Federal grant and who are we contracting
with to complete that program?
Okay, thank you for that. Uh, Bethany Ham will answer that
Bethany Hand, uh, grants and Homeland Security.
So our Urban Area Security Initiative
is one of our largest grants.
Its, it supports all of our, um, efforts to prepare
and equip our special operations units,
and it has to have a nexus to terrorism.
So all of that funding
that supports our special operations is in doing so
for planning, preparing, responding to,
and recovering from an incident with a nexus
to a potential nexus to terrorism.
That funding, um, typically will do
cover both training, planning, exercising,
and equipment for those, those units.
Um, and can you tell me
what specific information you'd like?
No, I, I think, I think that actually does it.
That's what I was trying to go through,
so I I appreciate that.
Um, I guess the next question I have,
what does the budget line look like for training?
Um, I think currently there's, if I'm reading correctly,
four lines for training.
CPD has about 250 lines for training.
So I think that could cause downgrades when people are being
pulled from engines to do training.
As far as staffing, just kind of curious on
that, taking the budget. Um,
We try to be cognizant of that.
And downgrades are based on day-to-Day operations.
We don't know, uh, you know, when people get out of the, uh,
EMS program, uh,
and when you talk about downgrades,
you're talking about a LS engines and a LS trucks.
However, when we do downgrade,
you still receive a BLS company that does have a, a d
and equipment as well.
And you will have help coming, uh, soon.
So, um, it's not a choice of ours to do it,
but rather than overwork our, uh, medics who crossed over
to be firefighters and their ability
to drop their paramedic license
after a certain period of time, that's what we have
to work with, unfortunately.
But when you say training, um,
the four positions we have at the academy, um, that I know
of, none of them are medics, uh,
lieutenant medics, not that I know of.
So I guess when you're looking at four compared to two 50
that CPD has, is there I ideal number
or something that you would ask this council
to keep in mind going forward?
My goal when I first took this spot was
to at least get 10.
And I knew we couldn't get 'em automatically
because of budget constraints and everything else.
So I figured if I go for four a year,
then I know they give me two a year.
And so now, like I said, we only have four
and it's taken us two years to get the four.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I mean, something
that I would imagine a, a large number
of members here in this body agree is that
safety clearly needs more
investment than it's currently getting.
And when we talk public safety, we get so focused on CPD,
I think a lot of the CCFD needs are neglected, right?
Like I met with, uh, some members who kind of explained
to me that like the average life
of an engine should be somewhere around 10 years,
but the average life it actually is is 20 currently.
And the concerns about trying to fix those.
So I think the more we hear about what we need
to do throughout the year, the better.
Um, uh, the, I guess next question, I,
I see two positions under securing the city section
that are funded by federal grant also,
and 15 positions across different sections like first
responder, wellness, fire Academy training,
and improvement from a state grant.
Can you talk about what those grants are hoping you achieve
and how you're measuring their success?
I think in particular, there might be one about
creating like a training center.
Uh, so in 40 we've got, um, one
of our fire engines over 64, 64 Clark Street, where we,
they talked to us about some kind
of training academy being set up.
Oh yeah. And I just didn't know where that was at.
I think they were trying to build a satellite training
academy at the firehouse.
And we ran into some obstacles.
I don't know if that's gonna happen this year
because the cost went up.
So we reallocated it toward, what did we do
with the reallocation?
Was it engines or trucks?
Ambulances, training, ambulance
for the fire academy since we trained our paramedics, um,
and our EMTs to drive the ambulances in Chicago.
Uh, as far as your other question was, uh,
the other grants we have,
we have a training grant actually from the state.
Um, the state fire marshal, which helps fund a lot
of our positions that are at the academy.
Like the head of the academy, I believe is covered
or the deputies covered.
And we have other positions in there, some commanders.
How many, uh, total positions do we have in that grant?
Uh, Bethany that cover
The state training grant covers 10 positions, currently
10 positions. Okay.
So that's one of 'em.
We had another grant for wellness from, uh,
representative Lepont LaPointe.
And we've been working toward that.
We've had, we have four clinicians now unheard
of in our department.
We are so grateful for her and that grant.
And we have one, uh, clinical lead, um, who,
uh, runs the department.
But the fact that we have four,
we have one person doing it all
because the other person retired.
So that's huge for us
and we're trying to make additional improvements in our
wellness initiatives, um, to, for our members to fill.
They have, uh, different options
and opportunities that they didn't have
before. So that's our goal.
Well, thank you for that. And thanks
to Repla point for that work.
Yeah. I think you had mentioned something about
that training center that it's not happening
'cause they're going towards ambulances.
'cause the cost went high this,
This year, I believe.
And I think, uh, Michael Quedo can,
he can quote on that one.
Go on. Mike.
Um, Michael Kendo,
just Mike Kendo just chief of logistics.
Um, it's not that the training center won't go forward,
it's just we ran into some obstacles with some
outside things like zoning and,
and permits and things like that.
Um, because of the timeline of the training grant, um,
we decided to, to reallocate some of
that money towards the training ambulances with the thought
of pursuing it again starting in 2025. Okay.
If you could send through the chair kind
of a list of those conflicts.
One, just for hold me accountable
'cause I wanna make sure we talk to the departments to help
and expedite some of that.
And then if some
of the grant money's going towards something else,
how much money might be needed to then go to state as well,
if it's necessary to find more funds.
'cause we've been talking about that, uh, site for a couple
of years now, and so I just wanna make sure any obstacle
that's there that we're able to clear that.
So thank you for that. Thank you.
Um, I got two more questions.
Um, does this budget call for data analysts
for call response time data?
I know CFD requested for at least two in this budget.
Uh, we definitely wanna make sure we get the data on
how we can prove outcomes.
And so just wanted to get a take on
how you feel about the number
of data analysts and what that's looking like.
Well, actually, uh, CFD doesn't have any, so, um,
they're gonna be embedded
and they were, um, allocated to O-P-S-A-I believe last year.
But, um, I don't,
I think in their budget hearing they might've stated they
don't have 'em yet, but we don't have any
analysts at this time.
Okay. So we have OPSA in the box.
Yeah, you, I think you responded
earlier, joy. Yep.
Uh, director of HR for PSA.
So we did have them in the budget for last year,
and we did post, uh, this year for the two positions.
We were unsuccessful in getting qualified candidates.
It's an EE title, so we planned to repost again in 2025.
Okay. So I think I need to follow up on that.
Um, if through the chair, uh, you could share
what you would like to see as far as the data folks data,
things that we need data from CFD, so
to make sure we're keeping a communication with OPSA, um,
that way we know what rights look right, looks like.
And I know, um, members of this council, uh,
including our vice chair, have voiced like wanting to know
how well we're doing as far
as hiring when there are positions.
So I think that's a separate conversation about
accountability and hiring, which I think we all need.
Uh, and I guess the, the last question I've got to relate it
to, uh, and I'm, I'm looking at You're okay, you're okay.
Okay. No, I know. It's, it's, uh, something
that happened this year, CDOT and CFDs relationship
and the need to formalize some of it.
So there are a number of us in council
and the city that we're looking
to improve the infrastructure.
You're creating bump outs, you're creating bike lanes,
you're doing all of these things that we've kind of learned
that the relationship with CFD isn't one that's so clear
to know when there are conflicts
or things to think about how they affect the engines.
And so really formalizing at least who the point people are
is important to us because we've had instances where, we'll,
C CDOT has met with CF d they've ridden in engines together,
they'd agreed on on what's workable.
And because it hasn't been formalized,
you'll get another member who isn't a part
of the conversation, say, well,
CCF D doesn't support any of this stuff.
And so we would love some level of formality
and standardization about who we have to hear from to like,
make sure that CFDs in support
or sees any conflicts we need to address.
So I guess I would ask, yeah, you want me,
who is CFDs the best person to talk to,
to make sure they're talking to cdot
to make sure the right people are talking
to the right people rather than hearsay
from one member or another? Uh,
My chief of staff, Mike dta, has been currently working
with CDOT on some things,
So, okay. So that'd
be the point. Mike dta, he would, he's right here.
He's the point. Got it. Got it.
I just wanna know, whenever we do any kind of bike, anything
or bump out, you're the person to email to co-sign that,
because if we don't know who that is, like I said,
I get mixed results from different members.
I get members that are neighbors
that say we didn't agree to anything.
It's not the best for community meetings
or any level of confidence in government.
So glad to know, like that's who we'll be reaching out to.
So actually, uh,
alderman and thank you for can you speaking to
The mic a little closer? Sorry,
chief. Thank you Alderman for bringing that up.
Um, we actually did meet at the firehouse, um, with cdot.
Uh, commissioner Carney has been very receptive
to having open dialogues.
Um, and we, the CDOT engineers that came out
for some proposed work, uh, along grandville, um, yep.
We actually put the truck, uh, on special duty for,
for just about 15, 20 minutes
and we gave them, uh, a ride so
that they could experience the challenges
that our drivers have with some
of the restricted, uh, lanes.
And we, we will continue to do so throughout the city. Yeah.
So I will absolutely be honored to have
that, uh, be that point person
So that, that's actually what I'm referring to.
So they had that meeting, they got feedback about, Hey,
we need to make some adjustment adjustments.
Uh, my understanding is some of the CFD members were like,
Hey, we understand what you're doing also saves lives.
We gotta figure out what that balance looks like.
But subsequent to that meeting,
there was a community meeting by one of our colleagues
where all of a sudden other CCF d members showed up
and said, we don't wanna do any of it.
We need to stop all of it.
And because there isn't a clear identification
of which position needs to be the one to talk to,
any member can fill in the blank in a way
that causes larger problems.
And, you know, we're not all gonna be here forever.
So knowing exactly which position
that is would help us know who to reach out
to. So thank you for that.
And I would add to that just that there's communication
through to the appropriate, um, engine companies
that are sort of in the vicinity.
I know we've had some challenges,
not necessarily in my word,
but in a neighboring word, where we share a community where,
um, you know, cul-de-sacs were put in
and, you know, the, the local, uh,
engine company had some challenges with that.
So Yep. As you said, um, you know, with the bike lanes
and bump outs and, you know,
we're looking at changing some streets
to one-way streets from two-way and, and vice versa.
We wanna make sure that all of that's being communicated.
The last thing that we wanna do is to impede, uh, you know,
first responders to, to getting to, uh,
where people need the help the most.
Um, so thank you for that.
We're gonna go to Alderman Nugent
and then Alderman sig Cho Lopez.
Thank you Madam Chair.
And, uh, good morning commissioner, and good morning to you
and, and your team and everybody here.
Um, I first wanna just thank you
and your colleagues for their,
your partnership on the Drew Price ordinance.
That was a really, uh, timely and necessary ordinance.
I wanna also thank my colleagues and council.
Uh, we did support that unanimously
and without the partnership from you and your team
and Commissioner Hopkins in buildings,
we wouldn't have been able to do that.
So, so thank you. Um, you know, most
of my questions were addressed.
Unfortunately, I'm, I'm running into a problem with, um,
with something that I, I had never hoped to experience,
but I need some guidance.
I have homeless encampments, um, with tons
of propane tanks, and I don't know what the policy is.
And quite frankly, we've been directed all over the place
with respect to what is, who is responsible for the removal
of propane tanks.
Um, I've had instances where I've had 30 that needed
to be removed at a time.
And I will preface this
by saying I don't think we should be having a homeless
encampment, uh, at parks.
But, um, I have 'em and multiple propane tanks.
And I'd like to thank, um, the folks from CFD that put out
yet another fire at Gomer Park last night.
But can you talk me through
what the policy is on propane tank removal?
Sure. Uh, Mike Devita will answer.
Hi Mike Devita from the Commissioner's Office.
Thank you Alderwoman for that question.
Um, so when we started seeing an increase in homeless
encampment fires, uh, chief Furman in operations, uh,
amended, uh, put out an operations memo.
Anytime one of our engines goes to a fire,
a confirmed fire at a homeless encampment, um,
we have them request a battalion chief
and also the police for an RD number.
And then the battalion chief will ask
for an investigator from our Office of Fire investigation.
They will go out and determine cause
and origin of that fire.
They'll take pictures, they'll document
after that process happens, we make phone call notifications
to the s if it occurs in your ward.
And then there is also notification through the OEMC
to the operation center
where they have a distribution group, um,
to the Park district cdot, there's a, there's several, um,
city agencies that are notified.
So like the encampment fire
that happened this morning in your ward streets
and stand was notified that there were propane tanks
and then it's under their jurisdiction to go
and then remove those and clean up the area.
And then if it is under a viaduct, cdot, the Bureau
of Electricity will go out to make sure
that there is no structural damage
that was sustained from that fire.
Okay. Thank you for that. And can you talk me through the
type of damage that one propane tank could cause
if it's, if there's a fire
with one propane tank in an encampment, can you walk me
through what theoretically that could look like?
Uh, chief Rivera can answer that from OF five. Thank you,
Mayor. The commanding
Fire Marshal Chicago Fire Department.
Uh, we spoke this morning and
Good morning again.
So morning. Uh, uh, unfortunately, I mean,
I've seen video footage of a very small propane tank having
an explosive effect on the room or the area of, of origin.
So if you can imagine, just as simplest terms,
you grab a Tupperware, you squeeze the, the pliable sides
and the top goes off, it's that level
of expl explosive force that can happen.
So a case by case,
any propane tank involved in any fire is not good for us
responding, putting the fires out,
or for anybody who may be in the area, it could cause uh,
life threatening
and life ending, uh, devastation,
if that answers your question.
Sure. I'm gonna follow up a little bit more.
Do you have any idea on how, how many feet,
one propane tank, how big of an explosion, one tank,
how far it could go?
Again, that, that's several variables.
So you're talking about what the path of least resistance
for that explosive area to move
and it's gonna move in that path.
So every scenario depend, it's depending on
what you're dealing with.
Uh, obviously in a closed environment,
you've seen walls blown out, windows blown out.
Uh, so it,
it really depends on the different variables of that scenario.
But e either way, it should be noted that that is a very,
very dangerous situation to have.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
And is it legal to have a propane tank at the parks?
Chief, chief Devin
and myself have worked with the previous
mayoral staff about this.
There's several departments that need to get involved.
The fire department operates within a very small lane
that is respond suppress and in our efforts document and,
and photograph and notify the authors to push
that information up.
But I think that's a question better asked for a,
a law enforcement agency
or somebody that has the authority
to deal with that specific.
Sure. Maybe counsel Evan is, or, or I don't know.
I mean, is can I legally walk into a park
with a propane tank?
Kevin Ham, general counsel? I cannot answer that question.
Um, that, that you're talking about, uh, code enforcement,
which is beyond the fire department.
I just, I didn't know if I,
I would think it's an explosive, I didn't know.
I, I'm, as you can see, I'm, I'm trying to
sort of figure things out here.
And I would guess based on, um, what Mr. Rivera just said,
if one propane tank can cause such extensive damage,
I would think that we,
we would be very frightened if there's up
to 30 propane tanks in an encampment at a park.
And I would think that it would be illegal,
but I don't know, uh, for me
or folks in the community
to walk around with a prop painting.
I'm, I'm, I'm trying to get answers to explain
to a community why they are dealing with these types
of situations every day.
This is the second fire I've had in Gomer Park,
within 72 hours in the third, within a month,
and we need help.
Um, if there are rules
or regulations in fire code that I can be using,
please advise me.
Um, I am struggling here
and my community is scared, rightly so.
This encampment abuts the Salvation Army
and the Mayfair community,
and they're begging the administration
for an accelerated moving event.
Barring that, I have you guys coming in
and I can't imagine those are safe conditions
for your firefighters either to be dealing with
a potential landmine.
I think educating the public about not dropping them off,
they're, they are definitely trying to do good things
for people who are unhoused.
And I get it. But I think what you could start with,
because we are not that authority,
is educating your constituents on the hazards of propane.
Well, well, I I appreciate that.
I think they don't want propane tanks in the park, and
I get it.
Something's gotta give here.
Um, well, I, I, look if you have any advice or,
or good counsel, I'd appreciate it through the chair.
Um, thank you Commissioner and,
and thank you Madam Chair. Thank
You. Alderman Nugent,
uh, alderman Sig Cho Lopez, followed
by Alderman Knudsen.
Um, thank you vice chair
and uh, thank you commissioner for being here with us.
Um, my prayers also go out for the victims of, um, violence
and also my prayers to the members of the fire department
who have been injured, uh, serving our community.
I appreciate, uh, all the work that
or firefighters do especially, um, wanna shout out my,
uh, people in the 25th ward, the work that goes in
and out in our communities, really life saving.
My questions around, um, some of the, some of the questions
around overtime, and I think you discussed the importance
of, uh, being able to fully staff the department
to prevent overtime.
Um, as, as you, you know, mentioned you are, um,
allocating about $45 million,
it was almost $80 million in 2023.
Um, I do think it's important.
I think that there's also to point out,
there's being some settlement allocation, right?
That has gone from 2 million not to $12 million.
Some of that, I think, um,
and not to speculate has to do with actually fair practices
around entrance exams.
And, um, I wanna
hear a little bit of what we can do.
I'll tell you one of my mentors
and I won't be here, um, one
of my mentors was actually a police firefighter.
He passed away a few years ago.
Um, and he often talked about how, um,
easier was accessing, you know,
opportunities in the police department years ago.
I wanna make sure that we have consistent practices in
entrance exams so
that we can recruit more people from our neighborhoods.
Um, I like to echo, uh, some of the questions,
but, uh, all the women Taylor, uh, add
to it the same information by,
for the Latino Latina firefighters through the chair.
But in terms of entrance exams
and consistency in the practices that can be saving
potentially even lawsuits,
what changes do you think can be done
or you've done already to prevent such issues so
that we can make it easier for, for, um, a more fair
for insurance exams in the department?
So, um, just so we are clear,
the fire department does not give interest exams.
All exams are given through DHR,
the Department of Human Resources.
So we don't have anything to do with giving exams.
So in terms of like the practices
with the department in terms of promotions, also go
through hr, right?
What is the feedback? And I think what I, what I'm gonna get
to, we have a whole department, the Office
of Public Safety Administration, we have hr.
What is the connections, what are the feedback,
what is the relationship between the department
and such agencies like I know the public safety
administration with a budget of about $167 million, supposed
to be giving recommendations of over time
of staffing and so forth.
hr, HR practices should also, I'm,
I'm assuming getting some kind
of feedback from the department as well
to prevent any discriminatory practices
around promotions and entrance.
What is the relationship, what can be done in, in there?
Again, since it's out, out of your hands directly,
but what can be done in terms of feedback?
I think your feedback would be critical in terms
of addressing these issues.
Uh, when we had the last entrance exam,
we did give some feedback,
but we are not the ultimate decision makers.
Um, we tried to, uh, actually,
and this was under another administration, so
that's all we can do is give feedback about
what we think needs to happen or,
'cause there are things that needs to be better.
And we know that, we all know that.
But, um, I think, um, OPSA might be able to answer
that You have joy over there from, uh, personnel,
so she might be able to answer that question.
Yeah. And, and I would like to get maybe
through the chair those recommendations.
I do think, like for us, again, being able to address some
of these systemic issues are gonna be critical in the years
to come again, to address the issues of over time, uh,
the issues that you mentioned.
I think concerned about also promotions and entrance.
I do think that's something that the
council should look into.
And again, I appreciate your,
your feedback through the chair.
Maybe we can get, uh, some of those recommendations around,
um, around some of the budget questions that I have.
Uh, and I wanna thank again, Kofa for the detailed analysis.
I think this is very helpful and
um, I wanna thank you for that.
There's about a $54 million in terms of contractual services
that have been changed.
One of some of the, um, main, um, cuts.
I actually, uh, I do support avoiding, uh, layoffs,
avoiding cuts and personnel.
I think that is our biggest investment.
I fully supported that.
I wanna look at, you know,
you have contractual relations, contractual services.
I wanna maybe get one of some of those main cuts
that you had because my concern got, I,
I think Alderman Oche mentioned, you know, maybe,
maybe making sure that our paramedic units are fully
funded, fully staffed.
To me that is one of the main, um, you know, priorities.
And I wanna make sure that we are cutting in areas where we,
where we are not affecting such functioning.
So if you can walk a little bit
through those fif almost $55 million
in contractual services.
'cause sometimes I think we, we hear
that there's not being cuts, um, in, I think
that these cuts, I think this is in COFA analysis, page 87.
Um, I think there is, uh, the, uh,
category contractual services from 24, from 2024
to the proposed 2025.
It used to be about $76 million into contractual services.
It's gonna be about $21 million for 2025.
So maybe if you can walk us through that.
'cause I wanna make sure that, um, again, paramedic units,
fully staffing units, it is, it is something
what we must do.
Um, I'm, I'm agree with you commission in terms of like,
and since your budget reflects
that you're prioritizing staffing, I wanna make sure
that we are cutting in those areas where we can
and making sure that our paramedic units the fully staffing,
and I think you're doing the best you can.
So I wanna just kind of differentiate
or see what, what is in terms
of contractual services where those codes work.
Well, I can assure you our paramedic units are staffed
and, um, we follow a higher plan, like I said earlier,
as far as putting classes in right now,
we currently have a paramedic class in the academy
and a candidate firefighter class, um,
and a, a promotional, uh, class.
So I'll let, uh, Cynthia Rivera answer that.
Cynthia Rivera deputy commissioner.
So in our corporate fund, the contractual services, um,
we're, we're up about $400,000, um,
in the one 40 professional, um,
technical professional services.
Um, that funding line went up from 24 to 25, um,
for two increases in new init, um,
and additional funding for, um, our bunker gear cleaning
and our electronic patient care reporting technology.
And our 1 6 60 appropriation, it went down 95 90 $400.
And our 1 62 repair
and maintenance of equipment, um, it went down, um, $78,000
on our dues and subscriptions.
It went down $3,200.
And our technical meeting costs, we had a reduction
of $34,000. Mm-Hmm.
Thank you. Thank you for that.
Uh, um, I do think, like I said, I think we wanna recognize
that you're looking to saving the city as much as you can.
I do agree. Um, making sure
that we don't sacrifice personnel, I think is a priority,
I think for some of us in the council.
Um, in terms terms of, like, I know
that we discussed a little bit about the fleet replacement
and some of those units that are,
you know, you need to replace.
Um, what are the opportunities that you see in terms
of federal grants that really welcome your, your,
your leadership seeking on congress delegations,
and I think you mentioned Congressman Quigley.
What else can be done at the end, at the federal
and state level to secure, uh, support, uh, for such a,
again, understanding that there's some
of the issues in terms of funding.
Uh, where else do you see possibilities in terms
of grants at the federal and state level so
that we can replace an, I know I saw an article about some,
even an accident recently with one of the, um,
uh, one of the units.
So I wanna make sure that you have
as much support at all levels
of government, not only from the city.
I do appreciate everything that you've done
to help the city balance this budget
without cutting personnel.
And I just wanna sh you know, hear maybe
what else we can do in terms of securing those,
those renewals of fleet, um, units. Yeah,
So we all, we did actually cut
11 positions out our budget.
Um, we are actually, um, 89% is our salaries.
11% is our operating expenses.
But, um, we also, we always seek any opportunities
for grants to help us, um, fill those budget holes
or fill those holes where we need equipment supplies.
Um, we work with our vendors to try
to negotiate better contracts and everything.
I think, um, either Natalie
or Bethany could talk a little bit more about the other
grants that we have and how we seek opportunities.
But what we are noticing, like you, I see
and our other grants that we have securing the cities
every year, we're noticing maybe a little bit less,
a little bit less, and we have to split the pot, you know,
with other agencies, including police,
including Cook County.
So I think, um, either Bethany
or Natalie can talk a little bit
more about those opportunities.
Uh, good morning Alderman.
Natalie Gutierrez, PSA, uh, so we support fire department
and the other public safety agencies
with all their grant work.
So to your point and to what Bethany was speaking
to earlier, and the commissioner just mentioned,
we had a lot of standard routine grants
that have been coming in for, you know,
20 plus years when it comes
to anti-terrorism funding, things of that nature.
This u Ossi grant we keep speaking about,
but that eliminates the option for
basic apparatus, for example.
So when we're talking about the engines and trucks
and ambulances that we're all speaking about today,
those grants do not support that.
They're very specific mission-focused for very detailed, uh,
special operations work.
So unless those apparatus were doing that work,
it's not eligible.
The commissioner also mentioned that there's
so many opportunities nationwide for smaller departments.
So CFD being
what second largest in the nation doesn't qualify.
They're looking at the volunteer fire departments
and to bring those up to speed.
So what we're hopeful for is advocacy efforts.
Um, we continue to work with any congressman, anybody
that is willing to listen, um, advocating
that all these years of continuous operations
for special operations, basic functions, I mean,
we're all facing budget deficits nationwide.
And so that does not go away.
So at the same time, we need to do basic
fire department work.
We're also every time learning about new terrorism threats
and every time the department needs to be trained up,
equipment needs to be supplied
to combat each one of those threats.
And so with anyone's support, uh, state bond funding, uh,
for the first time in a long time has actually been very
supportive of other public safety efforts.
We've had a lot of luck with license
plate recognition and cameras.
So if we could advocate for the same types of resources
to be reviewed for fire department, um, that's one avenue
that has kind of increased, uh, for public safety
as a whole, not for fire departments specifically.
So PSA will work as hard as we can along
with fire department and city Hall to advocate for that type
of funding at the local level, um, national level.
It's gonna take some additional work to bring it out
of very specialized mission focused areas to be able
to support things like the apparatus
that we've been speaking about.
Thank you Commissioner. Yeah, absolutely.
And, uh, just would end saying that it is indeed important
that we advocate, seems like a lot of money
and a lot of resources go to
uploaded military budget while we are neglecting really
critical services locally.
So I appreciate working together on the advocacy
and maybe through the chair.
I know that you mentioned that I see about seven full-time
positions that being cut maybe through the chair to see
where those cuts, uh, are.
Again, I understand that you're, at least this is again,
based on the COFA report.
I mean, we just wanna make sure that we sync,
you mentioned 11, the report says seven,
but just maybe we can align where those cuts are actually at
through the chair and um, see what we can do to help out.
I think this is in the cofa.
Like I said, this shows seven full-time positions so
that we can align that on the, through the chair.
Don't have to respond right now.
Actually, I, I'd be interested too, just to,
that was gonna be one of my questions is just
to better understand Oh yeah, if you wanna, the, the cuts
that, uh, that have been made, the seven positions,
where those are and how that impacts operations.
Actually it's 11 cuts
and then four rolled over the grants.
Oh, okay. So, um, the graphic artist, our graphic,
we only got one, our photographic specialist,
we only had one, two, um,
of our investigators from internal affairs, um,
our coordinator of fire awareness, which, uh,
Francisco Valle has stepped in to help.
He's wearing two hats now.
Two of our administrative assistants.
Um, one firefighter per per arbitrator award, um,
that says pm which probably is eliminated.
One assistant deputy fire commissioner, which I really miss.
One associate fire prevention engineer, which came out
of fire prevention bureau and one staff assistant.
So that's 11. And that's um, one point 12, uh,
million out.
And then we rolled over positions into the grant.
So, uh, securing the cities,
we had one projects administrator
and another securing the city grant,
a project manager, a training grant.
We have a paramedic assigned
as an instructor at the EMS academy.
And then we have a wellness grant one program
development coordinator.
So, so those are rolled into a grant
and they're not coming off that line, but we lost 11 spots.
Can you? Thank you. Thank you, Mitch.
I appreciate your advocacy. Looking forward
to working together in any way
We can. I appreciate that.
Can you tell me what the role of a an assistant Deputy fi
Fire commissioner. Commissioner? Okay.
So right now for, uh,
a department this big, let's say round out to 5,000,
you have, uh, deputy Fire Commissioner Furman over there.
Raise your hand. He's over all
of the operations for the whole city.
So that would mean fire and EMS.
He's responsible for all these special events,
making sure they're man, making sure his Riggs are staffed,
making sure the safety and training of his people
after they come out the academy.
He has one person under him that's doing that same job
with the whole city, just, and he's not here.
Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner Walker,
who's on vacation, bless his soul.
Um, he is his other person.
So those two positions helped us split up the city to ensure
that we got another level of oversight.
Like you split up the city in the middle, so like downtown
to the, uh, we would take the fifth district,
which is far south side, the fourth district,
which is the west side,
and maybe half split up the first district.
And we could have Chief Walker do that.
And then if we had another person do the other part
that we cut, they could get the rest of the city.
It's another level of oversight, especially
with all the young people we have.
We need the extra eyes, we need the extra experience.
What, um, was this position vacant
Previously? It had been vacant
for a while
because I'm glad you asked me.
Now I'm on my soapbox. I'm sorry. Everybody bear with me.
So you all know about salary compression,
which really hurts my exempts them.
It really hurts them. They stepped up to take these jobs
because they believe in this department.
They love this department and they believe in me.
And I say thank you to each and every one of them
because they could go back to the field, make more money,
catch less flack for me
and everybody else for that matter,
stop taking my cost 24 7 plus they retire
with a pension less.
There is no pension for these ranks.
They don't have a pension. So when you look at span
of control and management,
these people are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
They really are. Some of them have duties on any given cycle
of seven days.
And every time we just lost our, uh, head of safety.
He retired finally after, uh, 34 years
and he took another job that's less stressful
because with everything going on with safety,
it was a stressful job.
But now we have somebody else that has to fill that role
and Chief Zain stepped up to do that.
Plus he does our mobile integrated health.
So when you talk about it, I mean, looking at the,
the people here that are doing this job, it's a heavy lift.
It's a heavy lift. And we need help. We need help.
It's only so much you talk about mental wellness
of our uniform members who are the rank and file.
What about these people? What about these people?
I broke down the other day for the first time
when we talked about, uh, price,
because I didn't realize what I carried
because I don't have time for mental health,
because I'm busy making sure my people are okay.
A good leader can't do that because I will fall too.
So we need the help.
Um, thank you for that, commissioner.
Um, so it sounds like you could use the, a,
a deputy commissioner
To help Chief Furman
Help Chief Furman Well, and to help the city of Chicago.
Yeah, that too. Um, okay. I'm just making a note of this.
And then the, the, you mentioned
that you just lost your head of safety.
Is that a vacancy that's gonna be filled in 2025?
We're gonna try to fill it,
but like I said, due to salary compression, you,
I just wanna know who wanna take a job
where you're gonna work more, be stressed out
and get paid less and not have a retirement benefit?
Has has, that's the truth of it.
Has DHR done, um, done the,
the wage schedules yet for CFD?
They have, but you know, when you have contracts,
Uhhuh unions are pacing faster
and the city decided under the last mayor to have a salary
schedule to try to, you know,
speed it up a little, a little bit.
What would help is to get a
retirement benefit for the members.
That would help a lot. That would help the most.
So now people who take this job know that when they retire,
they don't go back into like being a regular battalion
chief, which would make more than they would,
and their pensions will be a lot less.
Or a paramedic chief like Mary, who's gonna retire
and make less than a battalion chief
with 40 plus years on the job.
That's the reality of this.
Understood. Oh, sure.
Uh, Al Alderman Nugent, go ahead, please.
Point of information. Thank
You. Uh, I'm wondering if
it's possible, uh,
for a deputy commissioner position, if
Assistant deputy commissioner,
Assistant deputy commissioner position, if it was defined
under UAE to, I'm looking at Natalie, prepare for protect,
respond, mitigate, recover from all
disasters, manmade or natural.
Could we pull it from you Assi?
She's laughing Because it fits under the grant
and it wouldn't come out of the corporate.
And if we could use it under UAE,
perhaps we could help the commissioner through that.
Thank you Alderman. Natalie Gutierrez, PSA, um, yes.
If it had that very specialized focus
and that's all that the position was supporting,
then it would qualify under the grant.
I will preface by saying, you know,
if you look at the budget book for CFD, um, you know,
the alderman just brought up grants in general,
a huge portion of the, uh, over half
of the non-personnel budget
for fire department is actually grants.
And so you still have that limited grant funding, right?
So we can add another position onto grants,
but then some of the non-personnel repair maintenance
sustainment that we're funding for special operations
will inevitably shift and drop off.
So it's just part of a bigger holistic picture moving chess
piece, you know, where things are.
So yes, adding that very specialized focus under
that title could be a possibility.
But as Grants shrink, that personnel line becomes, uh,
you know, a question mark in the future.
And those non-personal costs that over half
of their budget is relying on under grants, um,
may have a sustainment issue in the future.
Yep. Appreciate that. Thank you Madam Chair. No problem.
Thank you. And we're gonna get back to,
uh, committee members.
It's Alderman Knutson, followed by Alderman Conway.
And is this thing on? There we
Go.
I'm joined by my former Seatmate. I'll just say Tom T
Yes. Alderman t
welcome back.
Um, Back, uh,
maybe. So,
Uh, you know, commissioner, I just want to start
with a thanks to you
and a thanks to everyone in the box, especially
after the description
you just gave us on your leadership team
and the exempt nature of their employment.
Um, I've gotten to know you fairly quickly under, um,
you know, devastating terms.
Uh, the 43rd ward was the location of the,
the deaths of both Lieutenant Jan Toric
and, um, firefighter EMT Drew Price.
So whereas I'm, I'm grateful to know you, it's been more so
because I, I get to see how, um, how a part
of your team you are.
And, you know, last week, right, we had the memorial for,
for Drew Price a few weeks before we had a sign unveiling.
And you're always there and you're always present.
And I think that leadership is, that hands-on leadership is
so important, um, to your note about mental health
and your mental health, we need you to take care of it,
even if that's asking us
or asking, um, you know, different,
different colleagues for the assistance there.
'cause we're in, in NCFD, we're just as strong
as you are from your leadership.
So, so thank you. And, and let's focus in on that.
Um, uh, I want to ask just a few, um, questions
that are, uh, quite frankly, things
that I just don't know about.
So feel free to look at me
and tell me they're, they're silly if they're silly.
Um, but my understanding is
that historically there's been this
unpaid ambulance fee bucket in the city
that's grown over time.
And my question is are, are you aware of
that continuing to grow?
And does that impact your budget?
I'll turn that over to, uh, Mary Sheridan.
I don't know if you can answer that though.
'cause I don't know about the unpaid ambulance bucket
because they have someone billing
and that's not in the fire department that does the billing.
Right? So,
So the City of Chicago does charge
for ambulance transportation.
Um, we,
we are paid for ambulance transportation
by the major insurers, uh, Illinois Department of Medicaid,
Medicare, all the private insurance companies,
blue Cross Blue Shield, UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, whatever.
Um, I'm not sure if you are talking about
what the city does if someone is unable
to pay for the ambulance bill.
Those are unpaid.
We do charge Joe citizen, you know, he does get a bill.
Um, the city contracts out the billing. Okay.
If you're asking about,
are you asking about the federal money that
subsidizes the ambulance billing? Yeah,
So I, I'd ask about both.
Could you talk more about that?
Well, again, the city, the fire department has nothing
to do with billing that is all done through finance.
Um, they have contracted with an outside vendor
and meet monthly, quarterly, whatever.
Um, the, the feedback that comes back
to the Chicago Fire Department,
and it trickles down to our paramedics.
The, the insurers Medicare in particular, um,
is very stringent about
medically necessary ambulance calls.
So you might not call an ambulance
for the same reason that an elderly senior citizen living
alone might call.
And Medicare often looks at the ambulance bill
and says, that's not medically necessary.
And the feedback that comes back to our paramedics is
make sure that when you document patient care,
make sure you're doc documenting it accurately,
make sure you're documenting it so that you can defend it.
Should the case ever come to court.
Because a medically defensible patient
care report is usually billable.
However, again, we're not part of that.
There is federal funding that
subsidizes large municipalities.
And, um, the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois
participates in that.
That was a collaboration between the
large metropolitan communities in the state,
the Illinois Department of Public Aid
and the federal government CMS, which regulates Medicare,
Medicaid ambulance billing.
We do not see any of that money.
It goes to the general fund.
Okay. That's helpful. So it's a separate bucket, you know,
and maybe that's a question, um, we'll make to, um,
the budget director seeing what, what it looks like
that's going into the general fund.
Um, dollar wise. My next question is related to,
Do you want that through the chair?
Just Yeah, the chair on the record.
So through the chair, we'd like for the budget director
to provide the breakdown of the in income,
the revenue coming from the ambulance fees. Yep. That okay.
Exactly. Thank you. Thank you.
Um, my next question relates to the system downgrades.
Um, we had in, uh, 43rd Ward, um,
engine 55 had experienced some, several months ago.
And then, um, uh, I, I do believe they're,
they've been less affected since we had talked to some
of your leadership, um, team about it.
And there was a, a potential re strategy
to make sure they were less affected than they were.
'cause a few, for a few weeks straight,
they were getting down downgrades really regularly.
Um, I know that this comes down to, of course, the,
the hiring of of more EMTs, which you,
you are all working to do.
Um, my question is, are those downgrades being, uh,
reduced citywide?
Um, uh, uh, in the same way that I,
we've seen them at Engine 55.
And is there any strategy
to reduce them other than hiring more EMTs?
Okay, so the downgrades are
because of, uh, paramedics. Paramedics,
Yes, sorry, Crossover, we call 'em crossover.
So, firefighter paramedics who have crossed over,
which they have a contract, um, they can drop their license
after seven years if they crossover based on the contract.
So they don't have to keep it after that.
So when we have that happen, and that happens twice a year,
and it impacts us when it does happen.
So currently we have about 321 of those people
who can staff 62 a LS equipped engines
and 12 a LS equipped trucks.
And we're talking about over three, three shifts,
24 hour shifts.
Um, strategically we try our very best when we have
downgrades is to spread them across the city
and not to typically hit the same place all the time.
Sometimes it's very challenging
because you might have somebody just lay up, go medical,
or somebody just whatever, take a trade
and they trade with somebody who's not a paramedic
that causes us a flux.
Or it could be a holiday and people like Father's Day,
and then you see a drop or mother's day,
you'll see a drop in people working who are paramedics.
So, um, our strategy has always been
to try to spread it around.
It is very challenging, let me say that.
It's not something that I wanna see as a commissioner,
and it's not something we wanna see as a department.
But the ulterior,
the other thing is you have BLS companies responding
as well, basic life support companies that have AEDs.
So they are, they're responding as well
until an ambulance can get there.
And some of those on those companies,
pretty much everybody now is an EMT Emergency Medical
technician or a paramedic who downgraded their license
to be an EMTB.
So you have great care,
you are never left without any care or response.
So, I don't know, Mike, would you like to add something? dta
Okay, alderman, thank you for that question.
Mike Ditta from the Commissioner's office.
So, um, we do, like the commissioner said, we do see people,
they, after their, their contractual obligation,
they no longer the city,
the CFD doesn't recognize them any longer as a paramedic.
They're now a firefighter, EMT,
um, they're allowed to do that.
We also have an arbitration,
it's called a Stark arbitration, where they hold a,
a paramedic's license with the state of Illinois.
They drop down as an EMT.
Um, and, and they're allowed to do
that per the arbitrator award.
And then we have our, our smaller variables.
But every little small bucket, it, it all adds up.
So, um, the, in February we lost 23 members,
they dropped down their license.
We have the parental FMLA, we have layups, we have members
that are detailed to the fire academy,
so they all take a hit.
Um, when we do downgrade, we try
to do it very strategically.
Uh, there was a question, Alder room
and Taylor, uh, asked through the chair,
which this morning we were able to
identify all the different wards
and the amount of downgrades from October of 2023,
so that'll be coming to you.
But what we have done, uh, in March,
we saw a pretty big spike of downgrades.
So the commissioner, uh, uh, took her sta her command staff,
and we tried to figure out how we can fix that.
So what we're doing now is we're offering overtime forwards
and backwards on your 24 hour shift.
Now, the downside of that is
that those members are working a 48 hour platoon,
but that is an option.
We are not mandating that we don't know
what people have going on in their, in their personal life.
So we give the opportunity for the overtime,
but we don't mandate it.
Since we've been doing that, our downgrades have, have,
have improved greatly.
Thank you. Go ahead, alderman Curtis.
Uh, so, uh, the reason why
the downgrade would be, why, why would they want to do that?
Why would they want to downgrade from paramedic to EMTI?
So alderman to, to answer that question, it's,
it's dollars and cents.
The, the amount of money
that an EMT makes versus a firefighter
paramedic is marginal.
And that member is responsible for the care
and quality of that patient during medical runs.
So there's a lot more responsibility. There's inventory.
You're responsible for all of that equipment on that rig
because all of our a LS equipped fire engines
and trucks in order to maintain that,
they have a certain inventory
and we need one firefighter paramedic
and then one firefighter EMT.
But that firefighter paramedic is re is the,
is medically responsible.
So without getting into a lot of great detail,
that is something that is being looked at
in through negotiations.
Okay. Thank you. Great.
Thank you. Um, that is all I have,
but again, a thank you to you all in the 43rd Ward Ward.
We're gonna continue remembering, um, the firefighters
that we've lost, um, and out of a terrible, terrible thing.
Hopefully it, it makes us, you know, all work together.
I work together with our, our men
and women locally, um, to make sure we know
where we can help them, whether,
whether big or small. So thank you.
Thank you. Alderman Knudson, uh, alderman Conway.
Uh, thank you madam. Uh, chairwoman.
Um, well, I'll say based on the, uh, some of the questions
of Alderman, uh, SIG Chi Lopez
and Alderman O'Shea, I think it's, it's pretty clear
that we need to be assisting the administration on
intergovernmental affairs at both the federal
level and the state level.
Based on, based on some of the questions
and answers we heard in that, um, uh, in that discussion,
uh, beyond that, most
of my questions have already been answered.
A, a question, a small question, man.
You mentioned when you're going through equipment
Manpad, what is that?
Or maybe I misunderstood the name.
I'm sorry, what is that Alt
You, you asked you, you mentioned a piece
of equipment called a man pad,
A piece of equipment called a, A pad.
I thought that's what you said. I I
Didn't know EPCR was it?
It wasn't EPCR.
No. If I, if I misheard, you were going
through the equipment list with all the men, osha,
and you said, and you said something about Manpad.
I don't know if that's,
man, I just didn't know what that was. So, manpower,
We talked about manpower.
A mini pump. Oh, A mini pumper.
Okay. I didn't hear. I, those are many.
Obviously I missed her. I'm up here in that,
up here in Socialist Alley in the cheap
seat, so I don't hear everything. So,
Yeah. So those
are, uh, those are smaller, uh, apparatus.
Yeah, we have stage at logistics
and we're able to deploy those, especially
for special events using our logistics staff.
Okay. Yeah. Wonderful.
Tha that, that was, uh, beyond that, I, I, uh, I,
I didn't hear anyone ask this,
but if I missed it, I apologize.
The, the significant decline in contractual services
that is, was noted, uh, by kofa.
What is, you know, what does that relate to,
or what's kind of the effect on your department on that?
Grants? So that's mostly through our grants.
Uh, the decrease. So I don't, uh, Bethany,
do you have anything from grants or Natalie,
The Bethany hand, um, assistant commissioner?
The, the reduction in, in the contractual services,
just our normal grant spend down, we've been able to,
to spend those grants down a lot over the past year.
And so those, the amounts left in those funds
are significantly less than,
than we've seen in previous years.
So that, that's due to ARPA grant spend down, did you say?
No, um, all of our grants combined, we, we have
Congra Con Contractual Services lines in each
of those grants or some of those grants.
So, like, for instance, our state training grant,
we use contractor services
to provide training for our members.
In some cases, some of our special operations.
That all comes out of grant funding, um, as well as some
of our other grants as well are securing the Cities grant,
which is a red, new red nuke detection
and enhancement program that uses some
contractual services as well.
So that's the, the reduction that you're seeing there,
Sounds like you're saying we're gonna have 72% less
training of firefighters in the next budget.
Maybe, maybe you could clarify that the 72% reduction in,
and most of this goes to training.
It seems like a problem.
N no, I think we can provide more information if you need
to, but, um, we had an increase in equipment
with a reduction in contractual services
that we were using on those grants.
And I'm gonna, I think Natalie has some additional
information she can provide you on that.
Hi, alderman. Natalie Gutierrez.
Um, the contractual services terminology is a little
misleading because even equipment that relies on purchase
and like long-term maintenance of that piece
of equipment is purchased as a contractual service.
So when we say that, you know, Bethany was just mentioning
that a lot of our spend on was, for instance,
we purchased cardiac heart monitors for the fire department
that is labeled in the budget book as a contractual service,
a 0 1 40 line, because you're not only buying the asset,
but you're maintaining it beyond its, uh, you know,
first initial, uh, purchase.
And so it's not training, it was routine equipment purchases
and things of that nature that brought down
that amount that you're seeing.
Okay. So it's kind of a capitalized cost
that's already been expensed.
Yeah, and you know, to Bethany's point,
when we were in the covid years, we were running about one,
at least one extra grant year, uh, federally.
They extended all the grants giving us more time due
to supply chain issues and everything else.
And so it was artificially inflated.
So now that we're back, things are back on the shelves,
we're spending that money down.
So it looks like a significant decrease,
even though we're just buying what we originally intended
to purchase in the first place. I,
That's, that's great. I hear you.
You know, I was issue across
the whole city during Covid.
Our, our budget got artificially inflated.
And that's kinda why we find ourselves
where we are here today.
Uh, uh, the, the remainder of my questions were answered in,
in your, uh, in the Illuminating Exchange
with Alderman Napolitano and the Civic Federation Report.
Really wanna appreciate you all for the education on that.
And Madam Chairwoman, that's all I have. Thank you.
Thank you. Uh, alderman Conway, uh, alderman Silverstein.
And then we're gonna go to Chair
Taylor. Mm-Hmm.
Thank you. Just checking. Good afternoon.
Uh, I'm gonna be very brief.
Uh, first of all, I wanna just thank all of you, all
of our first responders for everything that you do for
not just the 50th war, but the entire city of Chicago.
So thank you all very, very much.
Um, what I'm gonna say, it might be part
of a budget issue that I need to talk to,
but I also wanna make sure that you're aware that, um,
we have, if not the smallest, one
of the smallest firehouses in the 50th ward.
Um, it might be the only one without an ambulance.
Um, and we currently have $5 million
as a state grant waiting for an annex
that we have been unable to get.
And it's just very frustrating
that we've been working on this
for years and years and years.
We have the money and we're not able to use it, um,
to make it better for us in the 50th ward.
Okay. Chief Oundle, could you speak to that
because you've been working on that for a while,
Chief of Logistics?
Um, so, uh, the last communication that we had regarding
that annex is we went out
and did another walkthrough, had another, uh,
architectural firm come out and give us an estimate.
That estimate came back roughly
seven and a half million dollars.
Um, as far
as I know from this point on the Public Building Commission.
And the mayor's office is gonna be handling
all the communications with that.
Um, that last estimate we had was back in June.
In June, okay. Because the last thing I heard from
the city was $15 million, which is a little bit unbelievable
that we started at 3 million,
then we got 5 million from the state, then we went up
to 15, now it's back to seven.
So, um, I think a little bit
of communication would be helpful from somebody.
And I, and I don't mean to be taking my frustration out on
you, but it's just been a process that we've been working on
for years and years and years, and it has gotten nowhere.
So the, the estimate that we got actually includes, um,
like of the permitting and the site prep,
but maybe there's some fees in there that I'm unaware
of there that, uh,
that just aren't included on that estimate. Well,
There's any way you could share those numbers
with me, I'd appreciate it.
Absolutely. Thank you. That's really all I have. Thank you.
Thank you. Uh, alderman Silverstein, we're gonna go
to Chair Taylor and then we'll come back to the couple
of committee members after.
Thank you Chairman. Alright, commissioner, can you tell me
how many firefighters we currently have?
Uh, total? I, I the CFD? Yes.
So are you talking single role firefighters? Yes. Okay.
So just specific firefighters.
We have, uh, 2,541.
So that's not promoted ranks or anything.
Can you gimme the total number? So
You want lieutenants, captains,
chief, absolutely, everybody.
Okay. Let's see.
So the total uniform, um, for the, the department.
Just uniform, not our civilians. 47. 57.
So 4,757.
Can you tell me how many are black?
Uh, the total department?
Uh, 669. That's just uniforms.
Oh, 600. So if we go back
to 1980
Oh Yeah, the numbers have not really
changed as much, is that correct?
Well, in 1980, you had something that was unique
to the city of Chicago.
You had a labor strike.
So when members walked out the firehouse, uh, members
who looked different than what the,
the whole department was, were able to apply
for these jobs and come in the door.
It wasn't like as stringent as it is now.
So back then we had over a thousand black
firefighters at that time.
Since then, numbers have dwindled
because all those people have retired, of course.
And then without consent decrees
and without any type of mechanism to increase it.
That's where we stand today, unfortunately to my pain too.
Trust me. But that's where we are. So
You just answered my next question.
It seems like there was a very big mistake at
getting rid of descent degree.
'cause there's nothing to hold us accountable to make sure
that we're getting more black men
and women to become firefighters. Is that correct?
I agree. And that happened under the last administration,
and I did not agree to that at all.
I fought for the last commissioner to keep it.
So I know that you all are going to hiring fairs
and you all are working with CPSA lot better.
What are we doing to reinsure that?
Those numbers change
because if you look at the number of firefighters
that are coming in, you see more Latino than even black.
And so the black continues to dwindle
and blacks are not going up.
And so what is the department doing with, uh,
human resources, OPSA to reinsure
that We're getting those numbers up and
I'll let OPSA I'll start out by saying we have gone way,
I mean, we've been recruiting all the women
before this, um, without a new exam and,
and you still got quite a few people on this list.
Um, we won't see any change right away, unfortunately.
And I hate saying that every year.
I know how frustrating it is when I get near my end.
It's frustrating for me
because I had the opportunity to work in a very,
a little bit more diverse than this.
But when you get, when the consent decree is gone,
when there are no other hiring mechanisms to bring people,
you know, in this is where we are.
What we have done is, besides that,
besides Firefighter four Day, which is really a great tool
to get young people interested in doing this job.
We have hired through DFSS individuals to come
and work with us young people
who are now considering being firefighters
because they see what we do.
So they're spread out through different divisions.
They're in fire investigation,
they're in my administrative staff,
they're in our logistics department.
So that's another way we're going.
We've been going out to all to take back the blocks
that the alderman, I mean, that the mayors had.
I've been, my people have been out there
recruiting my uniforms.
I sent fire engines, fire trucks so
that they can see us there.
We did Chicago's Ability Camp Courage this year for 14
to 15 year olds with DFSS.
We had over 50 youth,
which is every little bit is gonna help us
chip away at this.
Um, youth employment.
We hosted 15 C-P-F-T-A Chicago Police
and Fire Training Academy, young people to work with us.
14 one Summer Chicago, which we just lost two
of our people for age.
'cause once you get to a certain age, you can't.
But they've been exposed to the inner workings
of our department, which is very, I mean, integral.
We hosted 11 youth year round from the Chicago Youth
Service Service Corp.
We work with Linx, we work with the Boys and Girls Club.
We work with a lot of different organizations.
Um, in addition, I told you about my QR codes
that, uh, Deb did.
I love them. I carry them everywhere.
When I see a young person scan this, check this out, see
what you think, you know.
Um, and we've had, I mean,
we are trying, we're trying our very best.
And it's not just firefighter. We need paramedics.
We need, we need young people to be paramedics.
And we're trying to encourage 'em.
That's the other way around.
Our Latino brothers
and sisters, they equally took the exam with whites.
They did. They showed up for the exam.
I mean, PSA can, they might, can, uh, elaborate on that.
I'm not sure Joy, but we really don't control that.
Unfortunately. All I can control
and we're doing our very best
to help these young people come through the door.
Have we seen obstacles? Of course we have.
Uh, I can tell you for sure, like people not being ready
for the CPA us calling the Mavis division saying, Hey,
can you offer more CPA days
so we can get these people ready for this class?
Or young people not having documents
that they need in day of summer.
And, uh, Jasmine ga working
with these young people to help them in.
We've had young people wanna quit, wanna give up.
Not because they felt some kinda way,
but they might have had a personal problem going on.
We, we went above and beyond to help them overcome that.
Because we look at them as resources.
We invested in them and we wanna see them be successful.
But we have had some people who have come in
and they go, it just ain't for me.
It ain't for me. And it's, it's, it's a challenge.
It really is.
So for me, the fire, the fire department has been sued
17 times by black firefighters and nothing still changed.
And, and they've won the majority of those times.
And so explain it to me, and maybe it's through the chair.
Where is the list of folks who's on it?
The names of the folks, and how many
of those are African American?
'cause it seems like to me, and this is not on you,
this is on a system.
So let me say that. 'cause I somebody, they always think
that this is about Commissioner Holt.
This ain't about Commissioner Holt.
This is about a system that keeps
black folks from being, becoming firefighters.
If you, I'm looking at the numbers from, from, from 1980,
90% white men, 70, 70% black men,
2% Hispanic men.
And then there were no women at that time.
Yeah. Were you one of the first?
No. Oh, no. Can you tell me off me the first,
It was one, it was one woman in 1980 Lauren Howard.
Okay. So I do know that.
And she was the lone woman until 1986 when other women
and men, and that's because they had, um,
not a consent decree, but some type of hiring.
And I think Evan can speak to that a little bit,
but that was under Harold Washington,
where we have 50 50 hiring, which then you could do it.
So for every white there was a black
or Hispanic, I came on during that time period.
So we did have, not as diverse as we could have been,
but there was some leeway being made
that is no longer in existence.
All set asides, all affirmative action.
All of that has been stricken down by the courts.
Even in universities, people are trying
to find more creative ways to increase diversity.
Um, I think Evan can talk about that.
Like in 1986, the 80, we took the 85 test.
So 1986, a lot of them over,
they came on off that list like me.
So can you talk about that a little? Evan?
Thank you. Commissioner, uh, alderman Taylor. Yes.
They, the, there's a long history of litigation,
as you pointed out, um, against the city, uh,
regarding diversi diversity in the fire department.
And through the course of that, going back to the seventies,
there were a variety of consent decrees
and, um, agreed negotiated injunctive relief
that over the course of time expired, um, either the courts
or the city, or both, uh,
deemed it no longer, uh, appropriate.
Um, the last consent decree
that was taken down was the albrook decree
that was pulled down in summer of 2022,
that dated from the mid eighties.
Um, the courts have simply deemed it no longer appropriate
for those, um, remediative measures that you
Said. The court deemed it
no longer court no longer appropriate
The courts as well as the Department of Justice,
which is which, which was, which was the body
that had brought the consent decree, uh, to the city.
Um, so all of, as the commission pointed out, all
of those tools that were available to the city have expired.
Um, and the, the difficulty is finding the new tools
to reach the goals that you're speaking of.
Is there some conversation about us going back
to the dissent decree, because
it's just gonna be another lawsuit.
The way they got there was through a lawsuit.
That's how they got there.
There was a legal remedy at that time.
But because things changed
and they have changed, it's no longer
a legal remedy anymore.
So my, my thought is,
this has been my thought since we're going up against all
these walls and like, you're right,
we come back here every year, we got the same problem.
We have to all actively recruit,
like our lives depend on it.
'cause they do. And I'm telling you, when that box
of people is gone, many of those people in that box can go,
including me, she'll be gone.
But I'm just saying we're gonna lose a lot
of people institutional knowledge.
But we came on under
Harold Washington when things were different.
This is a different time.
So with a different time, we need a different strategy.
And that means we have to actively go
after these young people, hold their hands
and bring them to the table and sell this job to them.
Because some of them,
and I'm gonna be honest, some of them tell me,
ma'am, I don't wanna do that.
I go, well, I didn't wanna do it either.
I just thought about a opportunities
doing something different.
I came from corporate America to this job
and nobody could have ever told me I'd be a
firefighter ever.
But I, I wanna say it is the best job I
never asked for in my life.
It really is the best career or profession.
And so I think we have the opportunity
or the obligation to get as many people hungry for this job.
And when they do have the next exam,
we gotta make sure they're there.
We have to make sure they're there.
When was the last exam?
Ooh, what year was that? 2020. 22. 22.
But they didn't start, I don't think, uh, joy,
they didn't start hiring off until what,
21st. Our first real
Dig into that class was, uh, December of 2023.
Right. And we don't just, just, just let me,
I'm gonna be clear every year I'm gonna be clear about it.
We don't give the test. We don't administer the test.
We were though out there encouraging people
who were taking the test to do good.
Like we were encouraging all my command staff.
I had them spread out across all the city
colleges, spread out.
And I mean, they gave the test.
We were there cheering them on, encouraging them.
They had a lot of people from
what we're told that didn't show up.
I don't have the number. But we noticed,
like while we were there, they have all the terms.
They're not full, you know, of people.
But we also need to address what happened
with OPS last time about them sending out those letters
to tell people they failed a drug test that they never took.
That was never a conversation.
There was never any feedback to this, this committee to,
to alders about how they were gonna fix it.
Can I have around to my second,
my la well my last question is, what happened
to the Fire Community Advisory Board?
Why have we not reinstated that board?
I think that's under contractual, uh,
discussion right now too.
Uh, Evan might, you know,
Sorry, alderman, Evan Ham, general counsel,
and, uh, I believe you're referencing Appendix G,
which is currently subject to the bargaining with local two.
Um, as to why the board has not been filled.
That is a question for beyond the fire department,
because it definitely involves the mayor's office
as well in terms of staffing it.
I didn't hear the last part. Can you repeat that?
You said that that's the mayor's office.
That's, I wanna make sure,
'cause I, I I need to be clear about who we talking to.
Can you say that again? I want,
I just wanna make sure because I didn't hear
You. Yes, alderman,
I believe that the mayor's office is involved
and maybe not singularly,
but is involved in the process of identifying
and filling that board with, um, the appropriate, uh,
community representatives.
I'll take a Yeah. Through, through the, the chair
and someone from IGA, if you can respond as to
what the status of that is, that would be great.
Um, of the, uh, fire safety community, um, committee.
I had the same question last year.
Advisory fire, um, advisory board.
Sorry, I had the same question last year.
So, um, it'd be great to get an answer, um, as to where
that is from a priority perspective
and what progress has been made on it.
Um, happy for you to have around two. Okay, great.
So, um, before we break for lunch, um, I think,
I think it's clear we're gonna have a lot of questions
for DHR when they come before us as well,
because so much of this is not in, uh, in the control of,
uh, the commissioner and the department.
Um, I think we can recruit as many people as we want,
but if this test system is broken, it's broken.
Um, you know, you, we have, you show up for the test
and the list is, you know, 11,000 people long.
What, why are we doing that? Um, it doesn't make sense.
Um, so I, I think there's a lot to be reckoned with
as far as that's concerned.
Um, before we end for lunch,
and one question that I didn't get to ask earlier,
and this was in regards to grants, um,
with the, I know that we, we had, uh,
vacancies throughout the year,
or the director of safety is just gone now.
Um, is that the person who would typically write
the grants or is that No. No. Okay. So, yeah.
Um, actually our safety, uh, uh, chief would go out
to all the fires and when we have accidents,
vehicle accidents, or we have member injuries, he, the last,
it was a he uhhuh he was responsible
for ensuring all the steps were followed communications
to other agencies, notifications, wellbeings.
He had a huge role, um, coming up
with different traffic safety policies
for our department to reduce accidents.
But as far as grants, Bethany Hand,
um, is our grants person. Okay.
Then my question is for Bethany then, Bethany.
Was there a, a state grant, um, for $750,000
that we didn't apply for this year? Do you know?
Uh, good morning, other Thank you, um,
that we already receive a state grant, uh,
grant from the State fire Marshal's office.
It is approximately $4 million.
It's our Illinois State training grant.
I have, I, I consistently check those websites
for new opportunities, and I was not aware of a grant
for $750,000 for safety.
Okay. Thank you.
Um, I would love to hear about it. If there is,
I can, I can probably say, sure.
I know they've had grants, um, in the past that have been
for smaller departments for things
that they really couldn't get a larger department like ours.
We are fortunate that the state fire marshal,
that they do give us the grant that we have,
because that helps us operate,
especially our training academy with the staff
that we use as well.
But those other grants that are smaller,
usually they divide it throughout the
whole state of Illinois.
So they might need, let's say, SAS
or something, they're able to apply
for those grants and get 'em.
So through the chair, can we get, um,
a a comprehensive list of the grants that were applied for
and then received,
and then for what purpose they were, um, in the prior year.
And then if you have a list of anticipated grants that,
you know, we're gonna apply for going into 2025,
please include those as well.
And then I'm gonna echo just, uh, on the test piece of it,
you know, this is my third budget, my whole third budget.
Um, and the, the numbers for Asian Americans are,
are also very lackluster.
At the end of the day, there's fewer than 100 Asian
Americans, um, based on the, the breakdown here, um,
and I know that's not for your lack of trying.
Um, I think that there's something that, that we need
to do collectively, um, to ensure that, you know, the,
the people that are, um, working on the,
the fire department, EMTs
and the people that are responding, um, to the needs
of our constituents reflect the
constituencies that they're serving.
So, uh, I, I think there's
lots of work for us to do together.
And, you know, I, we're gonna partner up together
with Chair Taylor and with yourself, um, and your team.
So I, I wanna thank you for all the, the hard work
that you all do, uh, with, with the little that you have.
Um, because I know in my community, uh, you, you come out,
you do, you know, community safety, um, forums, uh,
whenever we call the calls are answered.
We, we, uh, we do a flag day ceremony
that the fire department's very involved
with in the 11th ward.
Um, and, uh, we're, we're very proud
of the partnership that we have.
And, you know, uh, really appreciate, uh, what each
and every single one of you are doing.
So with that, we're gonna give you a break for lunch.
Um, it is 1230 now we're gonna take a full one hour
break, um, for lunch.
So we will, uh, stand at ease until one 30. Thank you.
If you wonder what
I said, this fine.
11,
thank for you
and I can let go.
My friends wonder what is wrong? Me?
Well, I'm in the from
Good afternoon. Uh, apologies. Uh, on the delay, uh,
I think I have, uh,
Alman Taylor for round two.
Commissioner, you talked about, um, the relationship
with CPS through the chair.
Can we get the, um, racial makeup of the young people
who are in those programs?
And can you talk about
what grade are you all starting at when it comes to, uh,
getting paramedics
and young people interested in those careers?
So, what, I'm sorry, the first part,
I, I think I do have that on, uh, C-P-F-T-A.
Yes. That's who we work with.
'cause I reached out to them before the hearing to try
to get that information.
And then your second question while I'm looking for
that number, here it is.
Okay. So, um, as you know, they're gonna
increase C-P-F-T-A.
So when we talk about, uh, 24, they graduated this year.
So next year is graduates.
So we have for 24, we had,
or they had 34, uh, Latinx,
um, for 24.
And let me look, see what else we had.
We had 21 African American for 24, 1 Asian.
So you had a total cadet class of 77.
So this class has moved on in May
for next year in May, which there
it will be 99.
And of that number 26 are African American,
one is Asian again, and 49 are Latinx.
Then you have, we still have multi-ethnic, uh, prefer not
to answer tribal affiliation.
And then white, you only have 16 white that year.
For 26 we're gonna have a larger class
131.
And they are projecting the numbers
to be 28 African American, two Asian one, um,
Hawaiian Pacific Islander 66
Latinx, right?
29 multi-ethnic 13.
Prefer not to answer one with tribal and 18 white.
So, but we are trying to go into schools
that we have not been in
before to try to encourage young people.
Our problem with this program is we're, uh, competing
with afterschool programs.
So young people who are in athletics, um, be it basketball,
football, we're competing with them.
And I don't think the program lets them off for practice.
You have to participate in this program.
And it also, the best thing about this program is
that you can be an EMT through this program.
That is phenomenal, you know,
but it takes, the kids are doing their schoolwork
and they're trying to do their EMT.
So it's a great program
and it's a great feeder into the fire department
because it is at this point, one of the preferences
to get into the Chicago Fire Department once you take the
exam, so is, um, Chicago public, uh, schools.
And so is, um, duty, uh, military, LODD
or A-C-F-D-L-O-D-D or a police, uh, LODD.
Did I miss any? No, no. Okay.
So my request is that you work with every alderman so
that we could have a day that you're doing the ward
with our students at elementary and our high school.
Um, a lot of the times we hear the problem is
not necessarily who's testing, but who is on the list.
Can you talk about how the list go?
'cause there's been some controversy about,
there's a list from this year.
And then make me understand what happens with the list.
Well, thinking about the class from 2014 to then a class
of 2017. Oh, so
You're talking the entry exam? Yes.
So for the entry exam, from what I understand,
the 2014 list is, is done.
But if they touched them
and Joy will be able to help, um, answer this
because they were the ones who processed.
We just heard what happened.
And if they were in 2014,
they've all been processed off the list.
So if you didn't complete everything you needed to,
by the time they started utilizing the new list,
which is 2022, then that's done.
Now they're on the 2022 list.
And so, uh, the young man that was here, for example,
he told us he was a paramedic.
He was not a paramedic.
He's only an EMT, which is totally different because EMTs
and paramedics are different.
The paramedic comes in off a list
of already being a paramedic.
When we open the list, the EMT has
to take the firefighter exam
and then they get put into, I don't know
how it goes the lottery,
but whatever your number is, you're on a referral list.
So that young man, his referral list number has
not been processed yet.
He's still on the list, but it has not been processed.
So they're not hiring off his list yet.
Can you tell me how many black folks were on that list?
Uh, I would have to pass that to, uh, joy.
Sure. Uh, director of hr, joy Brown.
Um, so the current eligibility list, uh,
opened up in 2022 when the new test was given.
And so currently, um,
there are about 1,369 applicants still, uh, left
to be processed on the list.
So about 822 have been referred over to us thus far.
And so, just to give you an idea, um,
left remaining in the pool, it's, uh,
19 currently having been referred to us as 19%, um, black,
but 16% are remaining in the
pool that we have yet to contact.
So you're saying out of, say the number again?
'cause you're giving me percentages
and not you don't have numbers.
Okay. I do. So the number that has been referred over
to us thus far is 822.
So we have 1,369 applicants that we haven't,
or candidates that we have yet to process.
So of the percentage that we have left to, to, to process,
uh, the black, the number of blacks is 228.
Thank you. Thank you, chairman.
Do you have any other questions? No. Uh, alderman Viegas.
Thank you, uh, Mr. Chairman
and commissioner, good to see you and your team.
Um, could you talk
to me a little bit about recruit recruitment
of, uh, veterans?
Um, I know that CPDA couple years ago, um,
and I was working closely with the former, um, recruiter,
the deputy chief, um, recruiter that she was going
to like military bases in order to try
to on onboard people, people a lot quicker.
Are you guys doing that as well?
Uh, yes. Uh, chief summer, if you'd like to answer
that about, uh, veterans and recruitment
Question. Alderman, uh,
Deborah Summer District Chief.
Uh, as far as recruitment for veterans go,
we do do veteran affairs, uh, recruitment events.
We have not gone to any military bases
because we don't have a budget to travel.
Gotcha. We also don't have any recruiters,
but working through the mayor's office with, uh, Mr.
Kevin Baris, uh, we go to events within the city limits
where, or just on the outside,
wherever there are recruitment events.
And then the, uh, the Legion posts.
I've had a number of firefighters come up to me
and ask me for information in our cards so
that when they have an opportunity as members come back
and start to return to civilian life, that we can go meet
with them and do a presentation for them. Thank
You. Um, and
then, um, Mr.
Chairman, I'm not sure if this question was posed.
I came in really late around some
of the assets, the fire trucks.
Um, do we know, um, how many fire trucks we need to, uh,
purchase or procure?
Okay. So I'll probably pass this.
Either, uh, chief O Kendo or Chief Keller? Either one.
Mike,
Can you speak into the mike please?
Mike O Kendo, I'm District Chief of Logistics.
Um, as far as how many we need to purchase, how many are
beyond the 15 year mark?
Or for cyclically?
Well, well, what's the, what's the shelf life for a
Motor truck? So, NA PA
standard is a 15 year, they recommend replacement
of frontline vehicles, uh, currently broken down
by truck engine and towers.
63% of our engines, uh, 30 to 33% of our trucks,
and 20% of our tower ladders are over the 15 year mark.
So 66%, 33
and 15 are over the 15 year, uh, requirements or
Standards. Recommendations.
Recommendations. Okay.
Um, in this budget, is there a plan
to try to fix that a little bit? So
I'll start a little bit.
Yeah. So we've been working actively
with two FM from the last Commissioner, Blake Moore,
to the new commissioner.
And we've been working with them to try to figure out,
and they have a plan of replacement.
Um, chief Oin can tell you
what we've gotten thus far this year,
and then what we'll be getting next year.
But the fact is, um, this has been kicked down the road
for a lot of years, didn't it?
This just didn't happen.
And the fact that you can't replace the whole fleet,
we would all be outta jobs and bankrupt.
And really we would,
because apparatus costs so much money, money,
and the build time is prolonged since Covid.
So, um, there is a plan to replace them.
We do have, like he said, a fleet that's aged,
but it's impossible basically, except for working
with two fm, which they are responsible
for purchasing our vehicles.
And they have been very responsive.
But I think if Chief o' Kendall would tell you all the
assets that we've gotten thus far this year,
and then what we anticipate for next year,
if you could do that, Mike, um,
Or Chief Keller, either or.
And then while, while the chief is getting
that information, isn't, doesn't the capital bill
that we passed a few years back allow for assets
to be procured as well? Uh,
I'm not, I'm not familiar with that all.
I, um, I don't know the, uh, we,
we can ask, ask that question.
Uh, I would probably say not. But, uh, it's worth asking.
They do have prolonged, uh, prolonged life. So, yes.
Um, who, who, who should we ask? Uh, chairman,
We probably direct that to, uh, C-F-O-C-O.
Okay. If they would, if it, if it was on the bond,
then they would have to know
what assets were able to be purchased on the bond. So,
Uh, can we make that request? We
Can make that request through the chair for, um,
for asset classes for purchase with bond proceeds.
Yes. Thank you. Um, as far as the list for, uh,
items are, are scheduled to arrive in 2025,
there's six engines, five trucks, eight ambulances, uh,
two hazmat sets, which is actually a chase vehicle and a,
and a following vehicle.
One tower ladder, one mass casualty
vehicle, and a command van.
Gotcha. Okay. And then, uh, commissioner, are we, um,
do we have, are, are there grants available out there
for equipment that we're pursuing?
So we had a congressional grant, um,
or award from, uh, Congressman, uh, Quigley who was able to,
and we haven't gotten it officially yet,
but provide us with a, a fire engine.
They cost quite a bit
and some, um, SCDA help with our, uh,
air bottles and harnesses.
Um, but we've, uh, purchased many pumpers
with our foreign fire insurance board
where we have a little, wherever we can purchase something
and we vote on it and agree to it, we can do that too.
But the grants are very competitive
and like we talked about a lot
of different grants that we go for.
Most of our funding comes through grants for our equipment,
except when it comes to apparatus.
Gotcha. Um, it's pretty competitive.
And I don't know if, uh, Natalie
or, uh, Bethany wanna speak a little bit more to the grants
and apparatus.
Thank you, Nancy. Well, commissioner, that's commissioner.
That's okay. Um, could you give us like a, a request, um,
'cause maybe we can start talking to our Illinois delegation
while the administration that's currently in place,
we can try to figure out if there's an opportunity
to request some funding in order to help with this.
Well, I can tell you engines, trucks,
tower lettuce, we turned down nothing.
Oh, yeah. So thank you. Yeah.
So if you could let, let, let us know through the chair
and I think we can talk to our Illinois delegation while
this administration's in
place and see if there's an opportunity.
Great. Thank you for that. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. Thank you Alderman.
Uh, just a couple of questions, uh, that I have, uh, one,
um, issue that, uh, pops, and this is
because of, uh, disability and,
and pensions has been mandatory retirement for paramedics.
Um, my understanding is that we don't have one,
but we do have one for firefighters
and just trying to get the understanding as
to why is it set that way.
Thank you Alderman. Um, one of my favorite topics,
and if I were a firefighter,
I would've retired several years ago.
Um, initially when I was hired
by the Chicago Fire Department, paramedics were part
of the Municipal Employees Pension fund.
And I believe the Municipal Employees Pension Fund has a
retirement age of 65.
I don't believe that's mandatory.
In 1983, I believe
we were moved from the Municipal Employees Fund
to the Chicago Firefighters Pension Fund.
They moved us under the umbrella,
but they never wrote any legislation specific to paramedics.
So they never, um, wrote a mandatory age.
And that mandatory age comes
with another thing for firefighters.
We have a maximum age
where a firefighter can enter the fire academy as a cadet.
And, um, I believe that's 38 currently.
Same with police on the state
Law, which ensures that someone who gets hired by police
or fire and works a career is entitled to a pension.
The, the thing that goes along with fi with paramedics
not having a mandatory retirement age,
we don't have a maximum higher age.
It is a very physically demanding job,
and we can hire someone who's 50 or 55 years old,
and then they have difficulty keeping up
with the heavy physical demand of the job,
or they get injured and then they sustain
a, a, a disability.
And they're not entitled to that pension benefit
because they haven't accrued enough service.
So I would support a maximum age
to hire a paramedic and a mandatory retirement.
Not necessarily mirroring exactly the firefighters,
but it will take a change in the legislation.
Okay. Uh, the,
and I think this has probably already been, uh, been asked.
I think people have been talking about the diversity in the
department and what you guys are doing.
So we just need to continue down those lines to, uh,
help bring more, uh, diverse, continue
to diversify the race, especially amongst the, uh,
African American, uh, young people in the, uh, coming on,
coming onto the department.
So, uh, I'm sure that that issue has been, uh, brought.
So who do I, I have Alman, Mosley Alman. Manna Howorth.
You have questions, ma'am? Okay.
Alderman Lawson, do you have questions? Just got a couple.
Who else there? Alderman Robinson. Do you have questions?
Okay, we're gonna go to, uh, we're gonna go
to Alderman Mosley, uh, followed by Alderman Robinson.
Followed by Howorth. Dan Lawson.
Thank you so much, Mr.
Chair and good evening commissioner and team.
Um, I'm glad that OSPA is here today.
Can you tell me more about this relationship?
Because I'm finding that year
after year, it's a lot of questions get
between you two,
and I'm wondering, is there something
that we can do from our end as a legislative body here
to have better cooperation to,
to get clearer answers at times, uh, even if that's the, uh,
decision making ability that can
live in whichever department as opposed to it kind
of going back and forth.
So, uh, CFD is always willing to work with OPSA.
They have the administrative responsibilities
of a lot of our things.
They have, um, medical, uh, they have personnel,
they have finance and payroll,
and they have, um, communications.
I would say, oh, hr.
So those things lie within that department.
They used to lie within the fire department.
So a lot of questions that may be asked
of us we can't answer
because they lie in their administration.
But we do try to work together.
And it seems that maybe, I mean, we,
sometimes we love the past,
but if things didn't work better,
at least it was a little clearer in the past.
Like earlier I heard your comments about, um,
the medical doctor and so forth, or medical aspect.
Um, so would love to work with both of you all
to see if there's some things
that we can streamline better efficiencies, um,
which may have been the birth of OPSA,
but, uh, just a, a opportunity to look back at it.
Um, commissioner, can you tell me,
when you spoke earlier about recruitment,
is there an opportunity for retirees and
or, um, I'm learning still this term, layups
to accompany you at like those school visits and so forth?
Um, usually when you enter, uh,
Chicago public schools, you have to be cleared.
Number one, they won't just let anybody in them.
So I work with CPS when I do go,
but I know, like for example, Chicago Vocational, CVCA, um,
somebody like Anthony Frazier, he's able to go in there
because we've already been vetted
and we can go into other schools,
but if people are interested, we need the list of people
and we have to be on the same topics
when we do go talk to them.
So we're all telling the same story.
Because when we recruit for C-P-F-T-A Chicago Police
and Fire Training Academy, when I go with, um,
CPS representatives, Carolyn Jordan,
and one of our members, we make sure
that we're covering the same thing.
So there is no confusion in
how young people get into the program, what it takes
to do the program and
what the outcomes can be while being in that program.
So that's an example of it.
But I'm, we are always open
and we do actually have people
who volunteer to do other stuff.
Like maybe they go to community events
and help chief Summer out
because we don't have a true recruitment team.
You know, we do have people
who help on their off time volunteer.
Yeah. I know I've seen you
and your team again at like reading stories at the
libraries, you know, test the truck events and so forth.
Um, get in a bit into,
and let me know, uh, again,
if these things live with you or somewhere else.
Last year we brought up the point of are we able
to start posting the, the testing results or list online?
Is that something that lives in your
department or another department?
Uh, joy from OPSA can answer
Director of hr, joy Brown.
Um, so DHR has actually published both the, uh,
lottery list
and processing, uh, list, basically the lottery number
and the processing number on their website.
So candidates can see, um, kind of the eligibility list
as it stands with relation to your lottery number
and your eligibility number.
Great. And how long has that practice been in effect?
Um, I've forgotten when they posted it.
Uh, but it was, I think it was earlier this spring.
Thank you for that. Another thing
that we talked about was the social
economic disadvantage areas.
If there's gonna be preferences or additional points
Preference to their, uh, referral list.
Great. Um, bad hydrants is, is
that something that this department checks with?
Or water management?
When if we have a fire
or if we, we were inspecting hydrants, we find bad hydrants,
we actually, uh, communicate with the water department so
that they can send someone out.
Um, we also talked about access.
Um, I, I have a, um,
neighborhood organization or,
or area, uh, Beverly Ridge that has been working
to limit some of the access to their property.
But one of the main things is also are we limiting access
for fire or emergency services?
Um, so would love to connect with God for guidance around
that similar situation.
Um, we've heard some stories about 87th Street that Dan Ryan
someway, somehow, I guess Holland Road was used at one point
in time as a way to get to like the Ivory Park community
or, uh, respond to incidents there,
but there's some road blockage apparently.
So we'll love to coordinate with you and, uh, CDOT on that.
Um, and then lastly, we would just say thank you for, um,
coming out to the block clubs in the 21st Ward.
Um, you all came
and did a presentation at our last town hall
to help folks be prepared for this winter,
whether it was tree safety and lights
or, uh, grease fires and so forth.
The, uh, opportunity to do home visits to assess safety.
So thank you, uh, for all of you for what you do
for the city and the 21st floor.
Thank you. Could I ask, um, you said role blockage?
I'm not familiar. Yeah,
It, um, uh, I forget which engine.
Uh, I think it's near 85th.
Um, and like union or so forth.
Oh, engine 73 Emerald, 80 86 and Emerald.
Uh, they were, they expressed to me that they used
to be able to take maybe Holland Road or,
or some road, uh, south to
like the 95th area and so forth, Holland Road,
but now it's blocked and
that adds more time to their response time.
'cause they have to take other routes.
So, um, that would we, I mean, we can talk
to CDOT about it, but if they, if it's blocked by, what do
We know? I think it
is now maybe jerseys
or something, something, something or
Jersey buried. Okay.
But just whatever my office can do
to help increase the response time, we
Have to find out if maybe CPD doesn't have a, a issue too,
because maybe they were blocking it
because something nefarious might have been going on.
We always look at other agencies
to make sure we're not impacting a decision made
by them as well.
So, we'll, we'll try to look into that for you. Thank you.
Yeah, I'm not a familiar Thank you
Chair. Thank you. Allman. Mosley,
Derman, uh, Lamont Robinson.
Uh, commissioner, uh, first of all, thank you,
uh, for being here today.
Also, um, it's good to see your, uh, command staff.
Um, I wanna first start out, um, um, by thanking all of you
for, uh, certainly the work that you all, uh,
are doing 365 days a year.
Um, and many of you I know, um, have come up the ranks.
Um, and so I'm just grateful for, uh, your service.
Uh, commissioner, it is crossed my desk a couple times
where, um, from my understanding you have, um,
trucks in your fleet, um,
that are older equipment.
And from my understanding, that does not
directly fall under your discretion,
but for another department, can you share
with us if you have some suggestions, how that could be
a better approach?
Because I believe that we are putting, um,
firefighters and risk with some
of the equipment that we have, particularly our older rigs.
And so is there something that you believe this council, um,
should be working on, uh, that way that we can make sure
that your firefighters are, are safe?
Okay, so, um, you'll be hearing from, um,
two fm the commissioner.
And we work very closely together to try
to find ways in which to upright our fleet, as we could say.
Um, this can has been kicked down the road for a long time.
This has been, the fire department has always
been the last at the table.
And I'm gonna be quite honest.
I know we always say, but it is true.
And so, uh, to try to catch up is monumental.
Um, they suggested recently another alderman,
I think, uh, alderman Irvin.
They were talking Chairman Irvin about
possibly a capital bond.
And you, I think you mentioned that Alderman Viegas.
So, um, they're talking conversations of what can happen.
This is not, um, the commissioner of two FM's fault.
It's not the commissioner before her.
This is years of disinvestment in apparatus.
Um, it takes a heavy lift to do it.
We are fiscally tied right now, and we don't buy 'em.
They're purchased through two fm.
So if you could work with her to try
to figure it out, that would be great.
That would be great. And we understand
because of the cost of apparatus, a engine, a truck,
a tower ladder, 1.8 million, 1.5, or 800,000
or 900,000, we can't upright this overnight
because fiscally we couldn't do it.
Um, but if we have a road,
which she has already put a plan in place,
and for example, um, in 2024, so far,
because we have such a large fleet, it's a big task.
We've gotten five new engines in various communities.
Four new trucks, one new tower ladder, two new mini pumpers,
31 new ambulances, two new collapsed rigs,
two new rehab rigs, two new, two new OFI, uh,
fire investigation trucks, and one hazmat training rig.
And then also a variety of, um, logistics.
They got a box truck to move stuff around
for all the special events buggies and a F two 50.
So they're, they are working hard.
They are working hard to try to help upright us.
It's gonna take a long time.
I think none of us will be here,
so it's gonna take a long time,
but the effort is being put to do it.
Thank you, commissioner. And can you please share, um,
how many African Americans have we processed this year
through the academy?
Uh, joy, you wanna answer that
One second? Are you talking
about just at the firefighter level,
Single row entry, talking about entry, right?
Yes. Yes. Okay.
So second, see if I got a card.
So for Firefighter EMTs, uh, we had a May class
and that class, uh, was a class of one 17,
and there were 22, uh, blacks.
And the particular class, correct?
I'm sorry? I'm sorry. And, and the class
And in the class.
Yeah, that's correct. I'm sorry.
Now, when you say 22, is that 22
that have completed the academy?
Right? They're, they started in May, correct?
They're about to graduate.
Okay. So 117 African Americans? No,
22 African Americans out of a class of one 17.
Okay. Can you tell me, do we have the numbers of
how many folks got through
and did not go through the academy?
Do we have those? That, that number
When you say got through,
So how many folks applied, met all the requirements?
So they were from, okay,
so from the larger eligibility list?
Yes. Okay. Sorry. Just wanted to clarify there.
So to your question, um,
on the firefighter eligibility list from 2022, um, those
who passed the exam, uh, the number
of blacks were 393.
3 93, correct? Correct.
And 22 have gotten through the academy
This year for as a firefighter? Yes. Okay.
Can you tell me, can somebody break down the, the,
the discrepancy between 3 93 and 22?
Maybe? What could be the,
So I mean, factors the department hires
for firefighter EMTs twice a year.
Mm-Hmm. Um, again, this eligibility list was from 2022, so
that's the number that passed the exam.
So again, as we process those candidates from the referral
list, uh, you know, those who are ready for class meeting,
uh, background, medical, um,
and, you know, the other components CA are then, uh, invited
to class pursuant to vacancies.
Thank you very much. Thanks.
Thank you. Alman. Robert? Thank you. Alman Robinson.
Mosley, you had raised your hand. We
Thank you, chair. I just had
one more question.
Okay. Go ahead. Thank you so much for the
Then, uh, um, then Howorth afterwards,
Commissioner, um, I heard you talk earlier about training
and, uh, or, or experience.
There's a unique situation happening in the 21st Ward
with the Red Line extension, um,
and some of the properties that are gonna be demolished
that has allowed for a unique training experience.
Can you tell me a bit more about that?
Sure. Thank you for that.
That was something I wanted to talk about and I forgot.
Mm-Hmm. So, um, Chicago Transit Authority has some
properties that they have, um, ascertained.
And they are allowing the Chicago Fire Department
to actually train on these properties, the ones
that we have evaluated,
and made sure that they were safe enough for us
to train in like a roof
or an interior that didn't have
compromised structural components.
So we have a plan to actually go out there
and train on those buildings as they are released
to us from CTA.
And I don't know, Mike, if you
have anything else to add to that.
Mike Veder from the office of the Fire Commissioner.
So, CTA has been very responsive.
They've been a great partner. Uh, we did draft an MOU, uh,
we went on site to all these properties.
We have a timeline that we're, uh, currently working on.
We are gonna do some PR with the, the neighbors
around those vacant buildings so
that they know the fire department will
be there and will be training.
We're gonna make a little, uh, impact to the community.
We're gonna, you know, not block traffic.
We're gonna, we're gonna do it only during normal
daytime hours so
that we're not keeping up the neighborhoods.
Um, but we have identified all the buildings, uh,
their strengths, their weaknesses, uh,
and what we can do with
to maximize our training on those buildings.
And that training will be built
to all the fire companies throughout the city.
Uh, we will strategically, uh,
schedule fire companies from all across,
from every neighborhood in the city to go down
and have an opportunity to train on those structures.
And is this something that the city can look at,
maybe develop into its practice, um,
when there is a trouble building
that they may de the city may take, uh,
on ownership demolishing.
So we would just have to work
with the building department on that to make sure
that there's no legal holds, um,
and that we're not gonna destroy a property
that is still potentially held up in the court system.
But absolutely, we're always looking
for a building to, to drill on. Great.
Thank you so much. Thank you, chair. Thank
You. Uh, alderman. Mosley,
may I, Howorth?
Thank you. Hi, commissioner. Hi, team.
I wanna thank you for your service.
Uh, I wanted to let you know that, uh,
we had a fantastic Halloween parade in, uh, the 48th ward,
and there were so many who dressed up as firefighters.
Um, I think it's also
because you all come to exactly what Moseley was saying,
you, you come to the neighborhood, you visit us
for block club parties and, and your present
and your trusted.
So we appreciate your service.
Um, also, I wanted to say thank you for
the day at the academy and chief, um, Francisco ez.
That was a lot of work just standing there in uniform.
So, um, there's so much more to the job just
versus just standing in uniform.
But I, I appreciated the experience, um, very much.
Um, and I learned a lot, um, especially since,
you know, in the Edgewater area.
We did have an extra alarm fire last year around this time
where we had, um, let's see, 45 fire companies
come to put out this, um, this fire
and eight story building.
Um, and the, this is a building that had children
and older adults and those with disabilities and,
and you all saved lives.
So thank you for your, your work.
I, uh, a lot of my questions were answered,
but I did wanted to touch on this, um, flyer
that was put on my table about the, um,
CFD Mobile Integrated Healthcare Unit.
And it says that it's, um,
an innovative healthcare delivery platform
that can serve a range of patients in the out of hospital,
in-home setting by providing high quality patient-centered,
preventative and collaborative based care using
mobile resources.
And I, I, I am interested in it
because I am, I'm still a physical therapist licensed.
I worked at the Cook County Hospital.
I've seen the emergency room used
and the revolving door of, um, clients that have come
through and many repeat.
And, um, it, working in the amputee clinic, thinking
to myself, you know, people's limbs were lost
because they did not have the resources
that they need needed.
And, um, and so I, I'm glad to know that this exists.
I would like to know more about it.
I understand that there's a pilot program
and that is centered, um, not in my ward,
but, um, you know, I think about my ward in Edgewater
and Uptown, and we have a high number of people
who use 9 1 1, um,
because of, um, public safety issues related to, um,
behavioral health and also substance abuse.
We also have buildings that have, um, senior housing,
state funded buildings, renters,
older adults who live alone.
And, um, and I,
and I worry about them, especially as we're coming
to a new federal administration.
I don't want to leave anyone behind.
Um, and so I, my question is, I,
and also I'll add to it that we have a local hospital
that's also struggling as well with, um, folks
who come into the emergency room
and repeatedly, you know, um, so these, these are folks
who, who, who need an abundance of care.
Um, and we wanna be able
to give them the resources that they need.
And every week there's something new, you know,
and so I'm just looking for maybe a little bit more
explanation about what this unit does, um, in terms of
preventative care and how,
'cause I believe preventative care can actually help us
save so much money.
Um, is there something that you can say more about it?
Yeah. So let me tell you, um, I had the opportunity
to ride with the, uh, mobile n greatest health team.
So it's made up of two paramedics.
And, um, I inquired from Chief Saints, he set up the ride
for me, and I was so amazed at all the things
that they can do with the client.
I mean, just spending time with them.
I mean, Jonathan o talked more about it briefly,
but I mean, it is such a great program, and I wish
and hope eventually we'll have it across the city
to help reduce the strain on the emergency rooms on the
9 1 1 and on the Citizens Assist that we go on too,
because a lot of these clients are referred to us.
So Jonathan can talk more about it. He's Jonathan Saints,
District Chief, Jonathan Zanes.
Thank you very much for that question.
Uh, wo the Mobile Integrated Health Program is a
voluntary preventative program.
Preventative care is different, of course,
from emergency care in that it's scheduled
and it's at the request of the individual
to come into the program.
And this was based off the National design
and model for how these programs begin,
is requires a, uh, referral.
Our referrals come from the actual ambulances engines,
trucks that work within your neighborhoods.
These units go to people's houses on 9 1 1 calls.
They then see individuals
for whom this program may be effective in reducing their
dependency upon 9 1 1 in the emergency room.
Uh, it was found at the nation level
that this was the best way
to bring eligible individuals into the program
because they're the ones
that are also utilizing the public safety systems.
So again, voluntary program, preventative care,
and referred in through 9 1 1 RER usage.
We then, if the client, uh, agrees to it,
follow a multi visit model, usually for visits where we go
to their home, we work
with them on medication reconciliation linkages
with their primary care physicians establishment
of a primary care physician if they don't have one,
and trips, tips and trips from nutrition to when
and how to take their medications, working
with their physicians to ensure
that they use the 9 1 1 system
and the emergency room less for preventative programs.
Uh, we've seen about a 55% reduction at six months
of individuals that have come into our program
of 9 1 1 usage.
And those ER visits directly translate out
to longer life expectancies in quality of life.
Thank you for that. Can you, can you tell me how
one comes, can I ask another question?
How, how, um, your officers come into this program, how,
how do they get trained and
how much is allocated in your budget towards training?
And I'm sure, uh, Jonathan can talk about the training
and how we've helped, uh, other downstate, uh,
departments get into this business too.
Jonathan Zanes, district Chief,
again, I thank you for your question.
Uh, actually, Illinois has no, uh,
training facilities at this time.
Uh, community paramedicine
and mobile integrated health is just now being written into
the Illinois EMS Act.
It is in the revised review review, uh, rules stage,
and I do not believe it has been published yet.
Um, so that's step one that is going forward.
We, however, at the Chicago Fire Department
with the University of Chicago,
have hosted two community paramedic classes.
These are classes that take an existing paramedic who's done
9 1 1 work or other work
before, give them the additional training
and expertise to be able to move into this different branch
of preventative care and other services.
Uh, prior to that, we actually went out of state.
We had a group from the department that, uh, through the,
uh, generosity and,
and will of the fire commissioner were able to travel to,
uh, Wisconsin to receive training, uh,
through the University of Wisconsin in, uh, Milwaukee.
And it was about a 120 hour program that we had, uh,
13 members graduate from.
Okay, thank you for that. Um, I think about pandemic
and what we did, um, to help people get their vaccines.
Can you speak on that?
I, um, I ask
because again, I I would like to know how this department,
um, is working towards preventative care
and that is contributing to increased public safety.
Okay. So you're asking me, uh, what now? I'm sorry. I
Yes, yes. I mean, this is
all about preventative care,
but this, did this, was this unit involved with, um,
during the pandemic to Yes.
Assist with vaccines,
So yes. Very, very
good point. So during the, uh, pandemic,
actually, we pulled them off of everything else to help go
and administer vaccines, not only to people
who are in their homes, but also to city employees
and the police department, everybody.
So they helped us get through the pandemic by helping
to administer the vaccines.
And, um, Jonathan, what else?
You guys did a lot of home visits
to give people vaccines in their whole home, their home,
not just the individual, but the whole home.
Anybody who wanted it?
District Chief Jonathan Zas.
Yeah, it was a, a three phase rollout.
Um, Chicago Fire Department, uh, was classified paramedics
and firefighters were classified as one a
vaccine recipients.
So as early as 2020 on December when the vaccines rolled
out, we were able to administer, uh,
the fire department utilized the mobile integrated health
program and other paramedics within the department
to scale up an economy of scale to be able
to deliver these max vaccines, much as
what was done in other surrounding communities and such.
With partnership with the Chicago Department
of Public Health, uh,
we delivered actually out 44,000 individual vaccinations,
uh, covering across as we rolled forward.
Once the one a employees went through,
we moved into other city agencies and departments,
and also, uh, spearheaded the, uh,
home bound vaccination program for individuals
who could not leave their home, either due to medical reason
or mobility care.
And, uh, developed that into a self-sustainable program
that then was, uh, handed off
to the Chicago Department of Public Health to continue.
Thank you. Um, the reason why I'm asking these questions
is because I don't know what the next four
years are going to bring.
And so I, um, I'm looking to you all, um,
to figure out if you are also prepared.
Do you have in your budget to, um, make sure that this unit,
um, is going to be able to help prevent, uh,
and prevent the loss of life, um, in ways, uh, I,
I don't know if you have budgeted more money towards this
end, or how, how is it
that we are preparing for the next couple years?
We actually, um, had to, uh, come in and budget less
because we were trying to, we had
to participate in the exercise,
which all departments were asked to do.
So we just ended up decreasing some of our budget
with, uh, MIH.
But as soon as we get an opportunity to look
for other support systems, that's
what we'll continually look for, to help us increase it,
because that's really the goal
to increase MIH throughout the city.
Thank you. Um,
I, I do wanna make a pitch that, um, this pilot
was, is important and I would love for it to be expanded.
Um, I would love to talk to you more about it.
And also, I'd like to have more information on
how we're going to prepare ourselves in the city, um,
in the next four years under a new, uh,
presidential administration.
We look forward to it.
Thank you. Thank you, commissioner.
Thank you. Uh, m Haworth, alderman Oshe, followed by,
Um, alderman. Thanks, chairman.
Uh, commissioner, uh,
first I wanted to touch on this.
I appreciate, um, your staff going out in my community
to my schools, um, talking to the kids
and providing smoke detectors.
Uh, there are parts of my community as there are many
of our communities where that is sorely needed.
Um, but particularly going into my elementary schools
and talking to the kids, um, it's really important.
And, and I wanted to thank you for that.
I wanted to talk, um,
briefly about downgrading.
I know it came up a little bit earlier,
but, um, it's my understanding that
that has been a problem over the past year,
but in recent months, it's significantly improved.
Um, can we touch on that briefly?
Okay. I'll let, um, Mike dta talk about downgrading.
Sure. Mike dta, Mike dta from the Commissioner's Office.
Thank you Alderman for that question.
So, um, there are a lot of different factors of why we need
to downgrade apparatus.
Uh, at the beginning of the year, we did see a lot,
uh, especially in March.
So the commissioner took a look at the,
the underlying problems and what we,
what tools we had to fix that.
So what we have done is we have offered members overtime,
uh, to fill the firefighter paramedic role so that we
minimize the amount of downgrades
that we have on a regular basis.
Um, that does require members working either a 24
or 48 hour shift, which is a lot,
which is why we don't mandatory it.
We, we offer it.
And, uh, the members are taking up that overtime
and we are able to keep our rigs, uh, from being downgraded
as frequently as we saw at the beginning of the year.
Thank you. Um, I wanna talk briefly about,
uh, EAPI.
I feel like Chicago Police Department has a very
robust EAP program.
And, um, I was speaking with, uh,
chief Sheridan a while ago, um, offline about this.
What more can we do to make sure that we are reaching out
and identifying firefighters
and paramedics who might need
help? What can we do?
So I'll say, being one of those firefighters,
that is tough.
Um, because a lot of times we don't wanna be weak
and we don't wanna admit we need help.
Like some people, um,
anytime we have A-L-O-D-D-A traumatic, um, experience
that a paramedic, a child, um, a baby, um, anything
that's traumatic, we reach out to our EAP
and we have them respond.
If they can't respond that day, they respond the next day.
But our field chiefs and our battalion chiefs
and our deputies, they go
and talk to members too to see if they're okay.
I think the hardest thing to do is get people to accept
that, because, you know, we are like these strong people
and nothing impacts us, nothing hurts us.
But it really does. And it, it's really hard,
even when we have members who have, um, terminal illnesses,
you know, um, we try to stay in touch,
we try to engage with them.
Uh, my hope is one day it'll become the one thing
that we're open to because it's, it's, we're trying
and we're doing it different.
We have, for the first time in the history
of the fire department, and I've been on since 1990,
and they probably didn't have EAP much before that.
I don't think we have four clinicians plus a,
a clinical leader over those clinicians thanks
to that grant we got.
We never had that before.
Do we need to make more investments in that?
Right now we're using our grant right now.
When this grant runs out, we're gonna need help to sustain
what we have and get more.
And they're looking for different ways.
So we had, um, an example,
we had a family focused day at our new training academy,
and I had the opportunity to go, it was phenomenal.
It was police, it was fire, it was OEMC,
it was our families, it was the members.
It was amazing. So it was a day for them to come out.
They could meet the EAP clinicians on both sides.
They could enjoy like acupuncture, yoga,
they could meet other resources.
Um, it could be like substance abuse, whatever it is.
But it opened them up to something different.
And sometimes I think we just gotta think outside the box.
And so we're working on different things.
Um, like I said, our clinic, our, uh, clinical therapist,
she has her team now, and she just got 'em in place.
She's already improved where we're at, what it looks like.
'cause it's just that feeling of calm and comfort
and it's just a whole new group of people.
So we're looking forward to doing more with what we have.
But when we get near the end of this grant,
we are gonna still continue to look for other grants
to help us sustain this program, because we must have it.
It's not option. Do we know when that grant might run out?
Bethany can tell you that.
Good afternoon, Bethany Hand.
Um, yes, that,
that grant is currently funded for three years.
We have allocated. Um, and
however, I think we will be able to get that grant extended.
But we need to look to this grant to serve as a model
to demonstrate the services that we provide
for our department so that we can use that
to get additional funding, whether it's through grants,
through other corporate funding and other mechanisms.
This grant will provide that data that we need,
That should be on everybody's radar.
Uh, we need to do more to look out for the men
and women of the fire department.
Um, and,
and in closing, uh, it, it came up earlier and,
and there was the discussion of, uh, going from five to four
on our apparatus.
Um, put me in the column that thinks that's dangerous,
and that's not something we should look at doing.
Um, at a time when, uh,
we continue to see, um, firefighters injured, um,
and, and, and line of duty deaths are up.
Uh, that's not something we should do.
I think it puts our, uh, firefighters, uh, in danger.
So put me in that column, uh, commissioner two
and your staff, and especially those that are out there,
uh, working today.
Uh, thank you. Thank you, chair. Thank you. Alam.
Oche, Alman Lawson.
Thank you. Excuse me, Mr. Chair.
Hello, commissioner and team. Um, congrats.
You're almost home. If you get
to me, you're toward the end of the day.
So, uh, thank you for everything.
Um, I wanted to thank you and the department
and everyone here for all your help coordinating everything
we do in the 44th Ward, whether that's Wrigley Field,
pride Parade, the Marathon, um, and other big events.
Uh, I, uh, count Congressman Quigley as a constituent.
So I, I'm happy to hear that that has come through.
And I'm gonna egg on all of my colleagues to,
to nudge their congress people to do the same.
'cause I think in looking at your budget, um, and,
and to echo some of our, our concerns over
what we're gonna get out of DC over the next four years,
you have a lot of grants, um, that I,
I'm assuming are all federal.
Um, maybe some state
or some, some private, um, are you guys looking at sort of
traditionally, I mean,
it looks like there's 20 million less year over year from
last year to this year, sort of what,
what is a normal grant year from the feds?
I know we're coming out of abnormal years.
Okay, I'll turn that over to Natalie or Bethany?
Either or. They both,
Uh, good afternoon, alderman.
Natalie Gutierrez, PSA.
So, uh, to your point, grants have been decreasing.
I think Bethany alluded to this.
So, um, we're interested to see
what the next iteration in DC will bring.
So, as an example, typical grants that we've had
for threats such as terrorism, that's,
that's our most lucrative grant across public safety.
Um, and that one took a 10% dip nationwide.
Every city experienced that this past year,
which was a huge hit the first time.
It's decreased in one swift move just like that
for fire department.
Uh, a grant like that, for example, is typically
around the six to $8 million range,
uh, specifically to fire.
And then we share that funding with, uh, PSA for technology
and police department, uh, for their special ops as well.
Great. So I, I think maybe my, my point in this is
that we know we're gonna get less out
of the federal government, right?
And that we've gotten a lot more than we normally would've
in the last few years and, and how we are
correcting city governments
and to, to, uh, be the size that we can pay for.
And I think everyone, uh, you
and I have this conversation, you
guys are pretty lean already.
Um, you know, and making sure that we are able to stand up
what you need without grants going forward
is gonna be really, really important.
And something that is a, you know,
a multi-year effort to make sure we do that.
But, um, certainly on the E-A-E-A-P side, I want to,
you know, echo what my colleagues have said.
I think that's tremendously important.
We did make a change as far as the loss of life
of an officer, right there, there, there was a,
there were no direct orders
or in the general orders that there was a,
a mandatory time off, I think that we,
we made recently. Yes,
Yes. That was, that
was something that was passed in committee,
um, giving members more time off
before that we were doing that.
But they wanted to ensure
that if I'm not sitting in the seat, that anybody who comes
after me will do the same thing
because, uh, my concern is that the member's wellbeing,
especially the coworkers and and everything else,
and I don't know if Mike has something he wants to add.
dta, you got anything to add to it? No.
Alderman Napolitano had passed a, an
or, uh, propose an ordinance and yes, that that is, that is
Law. So I would say, you
know, un unfortunately, commissioner,
you and I have spent a lot of time together
because we lost firefighter EMT price.
And um, you know, I wanna make sure that whether
that's the light wells
or time off, whatever we can do to help you, um, prevent
and assist when we do have things go wrong,
we definitely want to be there for you.
Um, and so don't be shy, I suppose I would say.
Um, I'm gonna ask, 'cause I,
and again, I'm last, if I've repeated myself,
just tell me and I'll move on.
But I don't think anyone has asked about LGBT
inclusion or recruitment.
I know you don't have a lot in the way of recruitment,
but I feel like maybe I see more LGBT, uh,
presence in the police department maybe than in fire.
I know there's an organization.
Can you speak to that real quick?
Are we tracking those numbers?
Um, we don't actually track those numbers,
but we do have L-G-B-T-Q in the fire department.
Um, some people are more, not as likely maybe to express
that concern, whereas some are,
and, uh, chief Summer has been working with the groups
to try to increase that area as well.
So, um, I think it's just a matter
of people wanting to express
That. Absolutely.
And I, I, I know it's, um,
it's not something we track whether
or not we should, is it another question.
We are a welcoming department, right?
As you can see, um, in the Pride parade.
For instance, I am the first commissioner
that has had a float in that parade.
I am happily on those floats, um, trying to show the support
for the community as well.
And I appreciate that. Thank you.
And, and whatever I can do our, uh,
our caucus chair spoke earlier,
but, um, whatever we can do to amplify that.
I, I know we want to, um, just a couple other quick things.
I was actually reviewing speed humps
or actually, uh, bump outs while we were talking
about street planning earlier.
And I want to make sure that we are coordinating
with CDOT when we talk about traffic calming,
when we talk about pedestrian mothers measures,
that you guys can still turn the corner.
Um, I've been enough community meetings
where people tell me, well,
a firetruck can't get down the alley.
I tell 'em, usually they don't go down the
alley 'cause the hydrants in front.
But, um, whatever we need to do
to coordinate with CDOT better.
'cause you know, I I, I changed wavelength to a one way,
a certain direction and I knew better than to do
that without talking to the guys, you know, at, uh, at 78.
Um, so just to echo what some of my colleagues were saying,
um, I did wanna ask, you know, the police department is,
is undertaking a resource allocation study?
Is that something fire has looked at,
done any pre preliminary work on?
So, um, from what I'm told, the prior mayor did
that she did have a resource allocation study done.
I have yet to see that.
Okay. Let's see if we can take that out then, right,
because that, that'll, that, that can be helpful hopefully.
Um, or if we have to do another,
we have to look at that. And
Also, um, my colleague just reminded me, um,
our bathrooms are gender neutral, so we're already Yes,
You're way ahead of city hall. Yes,
We Are
Thanks to two FM and my logistics team. Good,
Good.
Most of your stations are a little newer than City Hall too.
That's helpful. Um, just a couple other quick things.
I'm gonna echo what my colleague said about propane.
Um, we have a real issue with people cooking, uh,
on the streets, that which it touches a lot
of departments, not just yours.
I wanna thank Chief Valez for his help.
I have an ordinance pending now to, to help bring that in.
Um, because I think there's a real public safety
and public health situation there, uh,
that we need to address.
And then just the final thing,
and I'm pretty sure I know the answer is you guys have
Narcan, um, in every vehicle,
in every shift, every day, right? Yes,
We do.
Good. I think that's important. I think, I think the,
the stigma around that has has almost gone.
Um, but we need
to make sure we're pushing that 'cause it saves lives.
I just, I had another incident in my,
my ward yesterday indeed.
Um, And so again, thank you for all that you do.
Thank you for the time that you've spent, uh,
with me and my colleagues.
Um, and keep up the good work. Thank you
Chair. And I can, I can also
give you the number
since you were talking about Narcan.
I just accessed it real quick.
So in 2022, 15,407,
administered 2023, 14,330.
And now in 2024, year to date,
10,088 Narcan administered.
Yeah. Well,
maybe we'll go down a little bit year over year.
That'd be a good thing. Um, but
We still, we still got a few months left in the year
and hopefully it doesn't increase.
Holidays are rough. Right.
Um, but again, I, you guys are on,
on the front lines on everything you do
and then that's a big part of that.
So thank you. Thank
You. Thank
Alderman Lawson Laal.
Yes. Uh, thank you, uh, commissioner.
I meant to say earlier that I wanted to acknowledge, uh,
chief Veles for his support, um,
and what the work that he's done with my ward
and, and with my staff.
So I thank you. I, um, know when I was the budget chair,
uh, the Foreign Fire Insurance Fund,
people would give a presentation to us about,
uh, their spending.
And I don't believe we've had that in 2024.
I don't think so. So do you know
what their 2025 spending plan is?
Um, actually I do not have that.
I know Ante is ante still here. Smith Ante is here.
She actually does the financials for the foreign fire.
Can can we get her, um, microphone please? Thank you.
Hello. Can you hear me? Okay.
Ante Smith, deputy Director, um, of finance for PSA.
So the FY 25 spending plan has not been released yet.
We do have one more meeting this year,
so if possible we can probably, um, give you that
through the chair when available.
Okay. Well the ordinance requires an annual, uh,
presentation to the city council.
Um, and you only have one more month.
So it looks like we'll be doing this in January.
Well, I do have the spending for FY 24
but f up to a certain point.
So I could get you give you that information as
of October the 30th through the chair.
October the 31st. Okay,
That would be helpful. Okay,
thank you. Um,
and then my last question, um, commissioner, is that the,
uh, Chicago Police and Firefighter Training Academy?
I think you did talk about that.
I think, uh, it's a two year program. Is that accurate?
Yes. That's a two year program
where we go into the high schools when they're sophomores
and we try to get the young people to sign up
and they'll be going to school in their junior in their
senior years and they'll be, uh, this is
after school three days a week.
And it actually, uh, chief Keller actually works on it.
You wanna talk a little bit about it? Chief Keller?
He does it.
Brandon Keller, chief Logistics.
Uh, so what's usually done is we have an interview process
in their sophomore year.
We usually interview roughly 200, 250 students
and we whittle that down to a selective
125 based on grade point average, uh, attendance
and a couple of other factors.
Uh, once they're input into the program,
into their junior year,
if they're selected into an EMT program, they go Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday.
If they're not in the EMT program, they go Tuesday,
Wednesday after school.
Uh, in the summertime they get a chance to work as interns
throughout various divisions of the departments.
They go into their senior year where they take, um,
not only the EMT, but they do a haper course,
a cybersecurity course.
They do a 20 hour, uh, unarmed security course
and a couple of other things.
They graduate in their senior year
and they're off
to decide which direction they're gonna go in this year.
Kind of heavy on police, but we're working on it. Alright,
Uh, through the chair, can I get a sense of the account
of the demographic breakdown of the students
that have gone through the program.
Um, I'm also interested
to see if there are any residents from the third ward
or third Ward high schools that are,
um, participating in this program. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you Alderman.
Do are there any other questions
from members of the committee?
Seeing no other questions from the committee members?
Um, this committee will stand at ease in
Chicago Fire Department.
You guys are dismissed.
Thank you. Thank you. The best words of the day.
Thank you.
Hey, Cynthia, you got a lot of stuff to get together.
Bless your heart. No plan.