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HomeMy Public PortalAboutResolutions-2023-036RESOLUTION NO. 2023-036 A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE POLICIES, GUIDELINES, AND PROCEDURES FOR THE CITY OF TIFFIN FIRE DEPARTMENT AND DESIGNATING AND APPOINTING CITY STAFF AND FIRE DEPARTMENT MEMBERS FOR THE ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION OF THE 2021 SAFER GRANT AWARD AND ACTIVITIES AND ALSO AUTHORIZING ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE OPERATIONS OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ALONG WITH THE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WHEREAS, the City of Tiffin (hereinafter "City") is a municipal corporation under Iowa law; and, WHEREAS, the City maintains a fire department pursuant to Iowa Code section 364.16; and, WHEREAS, the City provides fire, rescue, and non -transport emergency medical services; and, WHEREAS, the City accepted the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (hereinafter "SAFER") grant award in the amount of $604,470.00 for recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters over a four-year period of performance pursuant to Resolution No. 2023-023; and, WHEREAS, the objectives of the SAFER program are to assist local fire departments with staffing and deployment capabilities to respond to emergencies and ensure that communities have adequate protection from fire and fire -related hazards and to fulfill traditional missions of fire departments by assisting local departments with improved staffing and deployment capabilities, increasing the number of trained and certified firefighters to help communities meet industry minimum standards (NFPA) and attaining 24 -hour staffing to provide adequate protection. With enhanced staffing levels, recipients should experience a reduction in response times and an increase in the number of trained personnel assembled at incident scenes; and, WHEREAS, the City wishes to meet the SAFER program objectives and goals, including meeting industry standards (NFPA) for the fire department; and, WHEREAS, Council Person Skylar Limkemann serves as a member of the volunteer fire department and planned, prepared, and wrote the 2021 SAFER application on behalf of the City; and, WHEREAS, Council Person Limkemann is experienced with writing and administering grants, including with prior SAFER grant awards for the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters, and has education, training, and certifications in the fire service; and, WHEREAS, FEMA, in offering the City the SAFER grant award, modified or changed some grant activities, including modifying or reducing the funding for certain grant activities, including stipends and PPE for new recruits; and, WHEREAS, it is anticipated that some grant activities may need supplemental funding from the City due to unforeseen and uncontrollable increases in costs, inflation, and supply chain and manufacturing issues, including products being unavailable; and, WHEREAS, since the 2021 SAFER application was submitted to FEMA, the City has grown and continued to evolve, including in the fire department, rendering the intended plan with grant activities as obsolete; and, WHEREAS, after the 2021 SAFER application was submitted to FEMA the City hired Bill Erb as the Fire Marshal/Code Enforcement Officer (hereinafter "Fire Marshal"), who started on or about January 3, 2023; and, WHEREAS, the Fire Marshal has experience in recruiting volunteer firefighters, including advertising and marketing for volunteers, pre -employment physicals (medical evaluations), onboarding, orientation, budget and finances, purchasing, documentation, training, and managing volunteer applicants, recruits, and firefighters; and, WHEREAS, the Fire Marshal has the education, training, and certifications, including Instructor II and Fire Officer II, to serve as the Program Manager; and, WHEREAS, it is necessary to amend the Fire Marshal's job description to add additional duties and responsibilities as a result of the 2021 SAFER grant award; and, WHEREAS, it is anticipated that a variety of factors will contribute to the fire department's performance under the 2021 SAFER grant award, including changed circumstances since the grant application was submitted in 2021, and that changes, modifications, and amendments to the attached policies, guidelines, or procedures, or adoption of new policies, guidelines, or procedures, or amendments to the grant, may be needed from time to time, and some trial and error will occur; and, WHEREAS, flexibility with changes, modifications, and amendments to policies, guidelines, and procedures is appropriate and in the interest of efficiency and innovation; and, WHEREAS, trained fire department members who are on call, on standby, on special assignment including department business or training, and who staff the station or apparatus, benefit the public by improving the fire department's deployment capabilities and reduce turnout or response times to fire, rescue, hazmat, and emergency medical calls; and, WHEREAS, the Tiffin Emergency Responders Association (TERA) purchased car wash supplies and has agreed to periodically donate additional supplies to enable the 2 department members to maintain a car wash program at the fire station for department members; and, WHEREAS, the City has purchased apparatus and equipment to enable the fire department to carry out its mission and which will be used to assist the department in meeting the objectives and goals of the award, including NFPA 1720, and has future investments in the fire department planned; and, Now, therefore be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Tiffin, Iowa, as follows: 1. The City previously established the goal of meeting or exceeding NFPA 1720: Standard for Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Volunteer Fire Departments, 2020 edition, and reaffirms this goal. 2. A recruit is a candidate for membership in the fire department as a Firefighter and/or EMS Provider. Recruits are either non -certified or certified. A non -certified recruit shall serve a probationary period of at least one (1) year of service but not more than two (2) years. A non -certified recruit shall not be released from probationary status until the recruit is certified as Firefighter 1 for Firefighter membership or EMT for EMS Provider membership. A certified recruit shall provide proof of certification, serve a six (6) month probationary period, and shall meet any requirements established by the fire department before being released from probationary status. While a recruit is in probationary status, they may be released from the department for any reason. 3. The fire department is hereby authorized to establish residency requirements for the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters. In recruiting and retaining applicants, the department will weigh factors and considerations, including applicants who reside in the City of Tiffin, applicants who work in the City of Tiffin and are able to leave work for calls, applicants who are certified as Firefighter I, Firefighter 11, or EMT or above, the distance the applicant lives outside of the city and potential response time for calls, the applicant's availability, including for station staffing and standby, and other factors as permitted or required by law. 4. The City designates Skylar Limkemann as the Grant Administrator and primary point of contact for the 2021 SAFER Grant, Fire Marshal Bill Erb as Program Manager and secondary point of contact for the 2021 SAFER Grant, and City Clerk Abigail Hora as the Finance Officer and third point of contact for the 2021 SAFER Grant. 5. City Administrator Doug Boldt will serve as an alternate point of contact for the 2021 SAFER Grant and will monitor the grant and all staff or volunteers. 6. The 2021 SAFER grant award activities and the draft policies and procedures for the grant activities and fire department be approved. 3 7. The City Administrator is hereby authorized to review, modify, deny, or approve changes or amendments to any policy, guideline, or procedure of the fire department or the City on an as needed basis without further approval from the City Council to implement or carry out the 2021 SAFER grant award for the fire department. It is the City Council's intent to provide flexibility and support to adapt to the circumstances and allow for innovation within the fire department and under the 2021 SAFER grant. 8. The City authorizes the City Administrator, Grant Administrator, Program Manager, and/or Finance Officer to communicate with FEMA on behalf of the City and to take all steps to carry out and implement the 2021 SAFER grant award. The Grant Administrator will prepare and submit any amendments under the grant award to FEMA subject to review by the City Administrator. 9. The Grant Administrator is hereby authorized to administer, oversee, and coordinate the 2021 SAFER grant award and its activities. In addition, the Grant Administrator will ensure data collection practices and procedures are implemented, measure the performance and effectiveness of the grant activities, and review, evaluate, and make changes to grant activities and fire department operations to meet program and activity goals and objectives, including NFPA 1720. The Grant Administrator will be responsible for preparing and submitting any amendments to FEMA, including requesting FEMA changes the start date of the Period of Performance to June 1, 2023. The Grant Administrator will oversee and evaluate the Program Manager's performance for grant related activities, prepare periodic grant reports to FEMA, or will cause said performance reports to be prepared, and will provide analysis of goals, objectives, and benchmarks, including as requested or required by FEMA. 10. The City hereby authorizes Fire Marshal/Code Enforcement Officer Erb to serve as the Program Manager for the 2021 SAFER grant award and amends his job listed duties to add the following: a. Manages recruitment of volunteer firefighters for the fire department, including print and media marketing, onboarding, and orientation; b. In conjunction and coordination with the City Clerk/Finance Officer and Fire Chief, manages payroll for the fire department's volunteers and documentation; c. Manages and schedules NFPA 1582 compliant physicals (medical evaluations) for applicants to the fire department and manages documentation and all records related to the same; d. Manages and maintains confidential personnel records and medical records for the fire department; e. Manages, purchases, and issues new NFPA compliant personal protective equipment (PPE) to new recruits who meet the recruitment requirements in coordination with the Grant Administrator; 4 f. Manages training for the volunteer fire department, including establishing and implementing documentation and record keeping practices, training programs and schedules, and manages and evaluates all non -certified instructors and Instructor I certified personnel pursuant to NFPA 1041; g. Manages the tuition assistance for higher education program and its grant activities. h. Other duties as assigned related to the 2021 SAFER Grant Award. These duties will remain with Fire Marshal/Code Enforcement Officer Erb and are specific to the person, not the position. 11. The Grant Administrator, Program Manager, City Clerk/Finance Officer, City Administrator, and fire department are hereby authorized to proceed as needed with all grant activities and operations including expenditure of grant funds to be reimbursed by FEMA or to be supplemented by the City. 12.The City will not supplant city funds with federal funds under the grant award. 13. Funds awarded for the employee salary activity under the grant award will be used to pay for the Program Manager (Fire Marshal Erb) who will perform additional duties as a result of the 2021 SAFER grant award. 14. The City will advance funds for the grant activities. The Grant Administrator, Program Manager, City Clerk/Finance Officer, and City Administrator are authorized to expend funds for purchases related to grant activities. The Program Manager will prepare reimbursement requests to FEMA monthly, or as needed, in coordination with the City Clerk/Finance Officer, and with review by the Grant Administrator. The Program Manager and City Clerk/Finance Officer will maintain and provide records and documentation in accordance with federal and state law, rules and regulations, including the 2021 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), and generally accepted accounting practices. 15. Stipends will be considered by the City Council pursuant to a separate resolution. 16. The fire department is hereby authorized to establish a duty officer program to provide for the periodic staffing and take-home use of the department's command vehicle by volunteer members at the rank of Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief or Deputy Chief, or Captain. Minimum qualifications shall include IS/ICS 100, 200, 300, 400, 700, and 800, EMT, and Fire Officer I in accordance with NFPA 1021 or certification as a Fire Officer I within two (2) years of June 1, 2023, and a minimum of five (5) years' experience as a fire officer in the fire service. If a duty officer is on duty or on call and insufficient trained personnel or no personnel respond for a call for service in the fire department's district, the duty officer will respond or, if unavailable, will request mutual aid to respond if another agency is not responding. The fire department will implement and maintain a duty officer guideline not inconsistent with this resolution and consistent with the goals of the grant award. 5 17. The fire department is hereby authorized to establish recruitment and retention activities in addition to those awarded by the 2021 SAFER grant award. The fire department is encouraged to implement activities that are intended to improve the fire department's deployment capabilities and reduce response times of trained and certified members, including a station car wash program. The fire department may implement and maintain recruitment and retention activities outside of the 2021 SAFER grant award, including those supported by donations through the Tiffin Emergency Responders' Association, Inc. On the 30th day of May, 2023, at a special meeting of the Tiffin City Council, Tiffin, Iowa, Councilperson Limkemann introduced RESOLUTION NO. 2023-036, A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE POLICIES, GUIDELINES, AND PROCEDURES FOR THE CITY OF TIFFIN FIRE DEPARTMENT AND DESIGNATING AND APPOINTING CITY STAFF AND FIRE DEPARTMENT MEMBERS FOR THE ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION OF THE 2021 SAFER GRANT AWARD AND ACTIVITIES AND ALSO AUTHORIZING ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE OPERATIONS OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ALONG WITH THE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT and made a motion for approval. Motion seconded by Councilperson Schnedler. Ayes: Orris, Olney, Schnedler, Limkemann, Havens. Nays: None. Absent: None. Whereupon five Council members were present and voted approval and Mayor Berner declared that RESOLUTION NO. 2023-036, A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE POLICIES, GUIDELINES, AND PROCEDURES FOR THE CITY OF TIFFIN FIRE DEPARTMENT AND DESIGNATING AND APPOINTING CITY STAFF AND FIRE DEPARTMENT MEMBERS FOR THE ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION OF THE 2021 SAFER GRANT AWARD AND ACTIVITIES AND ALSO AUTHORIZING ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE OPERATIONS OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ALONG WITH THE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT to be adopted and signified his approval of the same by affixing his signature thereto. Passed by the City Council on the 30th day of May, 2023. City of Tiffin ATTEST: (,)\j Abigail Hord, City Clerk 6 even L. Berner, Mayor