Budget Hearing Meeting 12-3-2025

Heat. Heat.

So, first welcome everyone. Thank you

for being here tonight as we kick

officially kick off our budget season.

Uh, this will be our first meeting.

Yesterday's meeting was postponed due to

the weather and will be held on December

11th instead at 5:30 p.m. Uh, I am going

to officially call the meeting to order

and ask Mr. Trudale to do a roll call.

>> December 10th though

>> December 10th

>> Miss Daniels

Miss Davis

>> present.

>> Miss Green

>> present.

>> Mr. Jones

>> here.

>> Miss Rolls

>> present. There you go. Mr. Rodriguez,

>> present.

>> Miss Hill,

>> present.

>> Thank you. Uh, we're going to move right

into committee business. Our first

bureau we will hear from tonight will be

the Bureau of Police.

>> They're looking at me confused like they

thought fire was going first.

>> Fire told us that.

>> Would you like to go first, Fire? We can

have Fire go first. No,

>> they're so baby so much. No,

>> my agenda says police fire codes.

>> Thank you, madam vice president.

>> Thank you. If you wouldn't mind

introducing yourself. Um I believe you

should probably have a presentation for

us. Uh at the end of the presentation,

we will go through any questions. Sure.

Thank you. Commissioner,

>> if you could use the microphone.

Commissioner Thomas Carter.

>> Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of

city council. My name is Captain Ata

Aapo Martin, captain of the uniform

patrol division, and I will be

presenting you with the proposed budget

for 2026.

What's that?

>> No promises. Uh

I'll just flick my hand if you

looking at our organizational chart from

2025. We have no changes moving forward.

Uh all of our positions uh remain the

same. Uh we are led by Commissioner

Thomas Carter as well as our deputy

chief Kenneth Young. Uh our divisions

are broken down into four with our

uniform patrol division. Um I'm the

captain of that division. Our criminal

investigation division is Captain Terry

Wheelen. uh our technical services

division which is Thomas McGarity as

well as our community service division

which is led by Captain Russell Winder.

Uh going into the employee diversity

statistics uh as you can see there we

are at a total of 157 officers within

our bureau. Um the breakdown is 123

males and 34 females. uh in particularly

going through the language diversity of

our officers, we have nine Spanish uh

two Farsy uh one Cantonese, one Hindu,

one Erdu, one Punjab, and one Ashi. Um

it's to note that uh the department

received um notification that we were

the first department in the state of

Pennsylvania to hire a female Punjab uh

individual in the law enforcement ranks.

Uh I thought that was surprising.

Earlier this year, she was awarded a uh

accommodation uh through an organization

in Philadelphia. Uh but we were honored

to know that we are the first to hire a

female pun job uh to do uh law

enforcement work. So that's a great

accomplishment. Uh and we think that it

shows that we're moving across lines,

making ourselves diverse into where

we're looking for people to join our

ranks.

Uh going into some of the vacancies that

we're looking at, uh we were budgeted

for 194 officers. Uh we only at this

point are at 157. Uh our total

allocation there for vacancies is 37.

Unfortunately, that number is going to

increase to 38 as we receive notice this

week of another officer that's going to

be resigning from our ranks. Uh so in

2026, we still have to overcome the

hurdle of the amount of vacancies that

we have in our ranks. And looking at

that from the chart there, you can see

that our biggest area is the patrol

officers, but we also have vacancies in

our sergeants, our lieutenants, our

forensics investigator. Uh we have

vacancies in our detective bureau, our

civilian staff because we're looking to

hire a parking enforcement officer. Um

so that's one of the things that we're

trying to overcome moving forward into

2026.

Uh continuing on about the vacancies, uh

over the past year, it's been pretty

challenging for the uh uniform patrol

division as well as the other officers

working in the bureau. Uh a lot of

forced overtime that's been uh allocated

so that we can cover the shortages. Uh

officers that are working seven days a

week as well as the CSAs that have been

doing six days a week to cover community

events in the neighborhoods on the

weekends. Uh looking at the total

numbers there, you could see where the

vacancies uh are going to be. the

greatest shortage. Uh the one thing to

point out, uh the caption at the bottom

is in 2026, not including what you're

looking at on the chart, uh we have 19

other individuals that can retire from

our bureau. So that's an addition to the

officers that you see there on the

chart, uh but because they reached max

service time of 20 years, uh they're

eligible to walk away. So that's an

additional amount of vacancies that we

may have to cover in 2026.

One of the things that we're doing and

you might think about this like what

what are we doing about these vacancies

moving forward? Uh we're trying to uh

explore different arrangements on how

we're going to allocate the divisions.

Uh we're also talking with the city as

well as the FOP uh so that we can align

things in accordance to collective

bargaining agreements. Uh we started the

process of talking about lateral

transfers which is one thing that I

think is desperately needed within the

bureau. Uh and then that situation is

where we can bring in officers that are

already certified uh in the state of

Pennsylvania or other places and those

officers can be brought in uh with a

shorter period of time and then placed

on the streets. In contrast to that,

when we get a new officer who goes to

the academy for over uh six months and

then another three months of in-house

training, we basically go from hiring to

on the streets and it's almost a year

process. So the more people that leave

us, it's harder to replace them quickly.

Uh the lateral will help us greatly

because it reduces that amount of time

for uh us to replace individuals that

leave us.

Uh on a positive note, uh we did make

offers for uh three new individuals to

go into the academy in January. Uh those

offers were made by the commissioner and

hopefully those officers complete the

training and they will join us in the

ranks uh in the 2026.

Uh we talked about on the slide prior,

jump back for a second for me. Uh the

proposed vacancies there uh one captain,

two lieutenants, three sergeants, a

corporal, four detectives, uh a

forensics investigator, and again I

spoke about the 28 officers. Um we're

looking to do promotions uh for those

supervisory ranks, which is important.

Uh you have to have supervisors that are

in charge and uh taking accountability

for the officers on the street. We're

looking to do those uh promotional

testing in January of 2024 and 2025 of

this coming up year. And so that'll be

moving up uh ranks of individuals

eligible to test according to civil

service guidelines. Uh we then are going

to be testing another hiring s class in

February of 2026 where we have in hopes

of uh bringing on at least 10 new

officers into our ranks and putting them

in the academy hopefully offsetting some

of the deficiencies that we have with

the vacancies uh at 28 at this point. So

uh there is optimism down the line as

well as our recruiting efforts which

continue throughout the year. So it's

one of the things that we're continuing

to work on when we see those numbers and

we're wondering hey what are they doing

about the the vast amount of vacancies.

Also in 26 we have the parking

enforcement uh position which we cannot

inter there were no bids internally for

that position through other city

employees. So we're still doing ongoing

uh interviews for that position to fill.

Uh that's one of the things that we're

working on in 2026. and then the

optimism of 10 new uh officers going

into the police academy in January of

2026 based upon our hiring process. So

those are some of the things that we're

looking at uh moving forward on how

we're going to work with that. Uh there

was a question asked about internal

candidates bidding for police offic

you have to go through the

certification. So if we do have someone

that uh applies uh not internally as a

as a city employee, they would have to

go through the same process as everybody

else. So there is no option of internal

officers coming into the station or into

the uh bureau. Um I I'd like to say that

over the last couple of hiring cycles,

uh we were able to bring in a lot of

city and city residents. Uh we have a

couple of officers that are on board

that are city residents. Uh certainly

recruiting isn't just our job, it's

everybody's job. So, if it's uh

individuals that we can help spread the

word on filling our vacancies, uh if you

all were, you know, knew someone that

was eligible and qualified to meet the

standards, we'd be more than happy to

get them into the program. Uh our next

testing phase is February of 2026.

To date, we have 62 applicants that are

uh signed up to take that test in

February. uh we hope that we uh get a

good number of those officers or

individuals passing uh that uh process

and then moving on to the next phase. Uh

and again, I already talked about the

lateral transition that we're hoping to

get in place uh once we have that

agreement established uh for officers to

move over to the Harrisburg Bureau of

Police from other police departments.

Kind of like what a lot of people do

with our officers when they leave us and

go elsewhere. Um, just to put this out

there, it's not as if we are not getting

people to apply. Uh, so far in the past

two years, we've had 566 potential

applicants. Um, getting people to the

test is is not the so much of the

problem as it is them successfully going

through the process. So, one of the

things we looked at, and I just wanted

to put this out there for you, is over

that time period since 2023, we had 566

people apply. We had only 16 offers made

out of that 566 and to date today we

only have 11 people still working with

us today. Now a couple of people did not

make it through the academy training. Uh

one we trained and left to go to another

department and then others did not

complete or um achieve the required

psychological uh classifications needed

to be a police officer. So, um getting

people to the test, uh we've adopted

some different uh ways to kind of help

people improve their status along the

way. Uh providing uh tests. We we did uh

practice tests on the PT and physical

part of it so that people are aware what

to look for. Uh we've also adapted uh

help and study sessions for people to

take those written tests. So, as a

department and as a bureau, we've been

looking at ways to try to keep people uh

engaged in that process because it's not

an easy process for people to do. So, we

also make want to make sure that we give

them the best tools to move forward if

they're really interested in joining our

ranks.

Uh moving on to some of the numbers, uh

there we talked about the clothing

allowance and the college credits. Um,

both of these categories were a decrease

for us moving from 2025 to 2026. As you

can see, uh, due to the decline in

staffing levels allowed us to decrease

the number that is listed in the budget

for 2026. Um, I'm not going to talk

about any salary uh, statuses at this

point because uh, the union is in

contract negotiations with the city. uh

they have an expiring contract that ends

at the end of 20 at the end of this

month 2025 December 2025. Uh they're

still in negotiations on that part. Uh

we suspected that that would go into the

new year. So as a carryover, our numbers

are just going to be flat from 2025 as a

carryover. Uh because we don't know what

those changes will be moving forward.

Our communication line, nothing has

changed from 2025 to 2026. Our

advertising, printing services, and

postages all remain the same.

Our medical and psychological exam

category, our K9 medical insurance was

increased by $500 based upon increasing

annual costs for the K9 insurance. So

that line item in 2025 was $44,275.

there was an increase of $500 moving

that up to $44,775.

Our police services uh tuition and

training, we had to add a line item for

our co-responders for training. Uh

that's to support that program uh

working alongside with our officers. Uh

we want them to attend training and

continual education so that they can

stay current with the new trends uh in

that program. It's one of the successful

programs that we've had initiation with

the co-responder working alongside with

the officer. So, we needed to continue

their training so that they could uh uh

benefit as well. We decreased our

American Heart Association CPR category

that went from $6,000 in 2025 to $1 left

in as a placeholder. What we ended up

doing this year was we partnered up with

the American Heart Association versus

the Red Cross. uh they ended up training

our officers to become instructors in

CPR and first aid training. Uh the

turnabout for that was we now will help

them in training classes within the

community. So they gave us the the

training and knowledge to become

certified trainers and now we go out and

help them training classes for citizens

in the community. um they didn't charge

us for anything for that and that's why

we left a placeholder in the budget for

$1. Uh based upon that agreement moving

forward in the future.

Uh overall this line item budget went

from

$189,335

in 2025

to an in decrease to 187,836.

So that overall that was a decrease of

$1,500.

our contracted services category uh

which was we pay half salaries for the

co-responders that line item in 2025 was

135,000 and there was an increase in

that to 140,400 that's proposed due to

the annual increase for them. Uh the

approved amount in 2025 for this

category was 180,000 proposed amount is

200 and 2026 is 185,400.

So that's an overall increase of $5,400.

In our conference category, we removed

$5,000 for K9 conferences. Uh they no

longer attend that conference, so we

were able to remove that, decreasing

that category by $5,000. In our

membership category, the Dolph County

Chiefs of Police Association increased

from $60 to $150

in 2026. And then our grant professional

association membership was added of $235

and proposed in the 2026 budget. We

removed the narcotics association and

east coast gang investigator association

as we saw no additional value in

maintaining that membership. So that was

a um reduction of $200 in savings. So

overall, that line item went from 4,325

in 2025 to $4,450

in 2026, a mild increase of $125.

Our contracted services with the Humane

Society went up $4,000. So in 2025, uh

it was $100,000 even. It went up to

$104,000 in 2026. and that's due to

contractual increases uh with the Humane

Society. Uh we removed $1,200 for

co-responder monthly parking on City

Island. We came up with a different way

to work with that. Uh so we removed the

$1,200 in that category. Overall, the

category of miscellaneous contracted

services, as you can see, went from

228,150.

Uh the proposed amount went to 230,950

which was an of $2,800.

We had no change in our prison care

which maintains at a $1,400 passover.

Moving on to the utilities,

uh we started a project where we were

replacing the water uh drinking

fountains in the building. Uh that cost

we initiated was 11,000. uh we went a

different route with that for an annual

subscription cost to going with

replacing the actual units that was able

to provide us the ability to reduce that

category down to $5,500 because all we

need to do now is maintain the

maintenance and the filter of the the

water fountain system. So there was a

reduction in that category as well.

the increase in additions when it comes

to our maintenance and repairs. And this

is uh one of the categories I think I'm

going to take a little time on because

this is where you'll see most of the uh

most of the increase on and and going

over that. So, in our vehicle equipment

category, we uh decreased the K9 truck

upgrades uh from 5,000 to $3,000 in

2026. Uh we had an increase in costs for

KNC radio repair. Our warranty is out

for some of those things and we went

from $3,000 to $4,500 in 2026. Uh again,

and those are necessary increases for us

to do upgrades to the radio systems

because technology continues to improve.

We last purchased those radios back uh I

want to say six years ago. So, it's

about time for us to have upgrades with

those those systems.

our motorcycle service and inspection

line went up from $3,000 to $8,000. This

is due to our manufacturer warranty

expiring on those vehicles. Um the

fortunate part about the motorcycles is

that we field those uh six complement of

motorcycles out on the street now

regularly and BMC is not equipped to

work on those motorcycles. So we can't

put them under the fleet maintenance

costs. They have to go out to a

certified Harley-Davidson dealer to be

worked on. Uh so we have to incorporate

the cost for sending those out to be

fixed as well as the diagnostic cost of

$2,500 which again once there's a

problem with uh one of the motorcycles

BMC is not equipped to deal with that.

They don't have the equipment. So we

have to incorporate a cost for

diagnosing uh problems to those

vehicles. We removed the arson

investigator truck and bedcap drawer

system of $7,500.

Uh this vehicle was purchased and funded

with the help of VMC in 2025. We used

funds for that in 2025, so we no longer

needed that line item in 2026.

Overall, the vehicle equipment uh line

item uh was proposed $26,100

in 2025. Uh the new proposal in 2026 is

$28,600,

an increase of $2,500.

Uh we had maintenance service costs

increase. Uh and those are some of the

things that we utilize every day. the

increase for the United Public Safety

Maintenance and Letter Printing Services

that went up from 2000 or 20,000 $16 to

$22,677

in 2026.

Our crime watch and annual maintenance

service contract went up from 9,000 to

10,932.

again annual contract increases as well

as our increase in Kodi our RMS system

as well as our NYERS submission software

that went up from 8,602 in 2025 to

$8,964

in 2026. We reallocated money uh in the

the amount of $2,500 which is what we

would contribute to the neighborhood

dispute settlement program. Uh that's

the police department's contribution to

that program. uh it is solely funded on

uh contributions made to keep that

going. We utilize that service as well.

Uh getting into the bigger parts of this

category, our Axon tasers. Uh we last

purchased those 5 years ago. Uh that

contract has gone up from 48,000

in 2025 to $73,699

in 2026. Um, we are at the end of the

5-year purchase of the Taser 7s. The new

purchasing uh item is the Taser 10s.

That's where we see the increased cost.

We went into a 5-year agreement for the

Taser 10s. Uh, the Taser 10s come with a

virtual training program as well as VR

goggles to help offset uh some of the

training that goes along with that. And

that cost increase of course adds in

that new technology that we'll be

utilizing with the Taser 10s. So that's

one of the things that uh increase we

are going to be entering into the first

year of a 5-year contract agreement with

Taser. Uh and that's where you see the

increased cost with that. On the flip

side, we decreased the Cody Pathfinder

transition fee from $29,000 to $1. We

left that in as a placeholder because uh

the transition is not complete. However,

we do know that it will be something

that will be um re-engaged in most

likely 2027. Uh we were told that we

would not complete that project in 2026.

So, we know we're not going to utilize

those funds. So, we want to keep a

placeholder in there for 2027.

We added uh a placeholder in the in that

line item for plate logic, LPRs, and

Overwatch cameras. Uh this initial

purchase was $515,000.

Uh what we ended up doing was paying for

this out of a grant. Uh this grant

covered the uh installation, the

equipment, the operation, the

maintenance for these cameras for 5

years. So the placeholders being put

into the into the contract so that in

the year 2031

uh when this does come back up, we can

make sure that we have uh knowledge that

we're going to have to come up with cost

for that. And at that point, we can

decide what we're doing with those

cameras. uh moving forward whether we

renegotiate or we go with a different

company but uh those LPR cameras are are

paid for for the next 5 years

uh we added $130,000

130 $435,000

for the LVT mobile camera towers. Uh we

purchased four of those cameras. We have

them around the city. Uh those cameras

have uh seemed to um work their weight

uh in our purchases. uh they've been a

big part of our technology movement for

reduction of crime analysis as well as

uh helping reduce crime in certain

hotspot areas of the city. Uh we made

the initial purchase through the LLES

grant in 2025.

Uh however, the bureau will have to

incur the costs of maintenance and um

software in 2026. So that's where the

130 comes in for that. We increased uh

we increased the line item for the

Cellbrite annual maintenance which is

38,200

that increased to 57,316.

We also had that under a grant. It's no

longer covered under a grant. So we have

to incorporate those costs in 2026.

So overall in summary uh since this is

one of the bigger ones that you see a

large increase in category. Uh, in 2025,

this line item was $278,1585

$59.30.

In 2026, that line item increase is

going to be $432,689.30.

And again, the biggest reasons for that

is the Axon, the mobile camera towers,

the Celbrite that we now have to take

over, and some of the annual contract

increases. So, that's where you're going

to see that big increase overall. That's

$154,000.

$154,500

roughly from 2025 to 2026.

I know you said questions at the end,

but I'll pause here because that's uh

might be an area where we might have a

question. If not, I'll keep it moving.

>> If anyone has any questions, feel free

to just state them.

All right, keeping it moving. Uh there's

a picture uh there on the slide of the

camera towers as you see they're uh in

the neighborhood. Hopefully um you've

had an opportunity to view those. Again,

as I point out, they are uh they've

worked well for our usages. Uh we've

been able to put together uh a lot of

investigations based on some of the

footage that we recovered from those

cameras in the neighborhood, and we've

gotten a lot of feedback when we put

them up in the neighborhoods. Uh we just

recently implemented those uh in the

areas of uh Fifth and Woodbine Street,

18th and Regina Street. Uh we have one

in the Second Street corridor, and we

have one on City Island. So um when we

put them in the neighborhoods, uh just

recently with the one at Fifth and

Woodbine, uh a lot of res residents came

out of their house and they were

thankful for those cameras going up in

those areas. So that's something to be

noted.

Talking about our supplies and our

software, um we decreased the COD RMS

licensing purchasing from $15,000 2025

to $7,000 in 2026. Uh we added a line

item for our drone sense software, which

is $3,500. And basically what the

software does, uh we have two drones

that we are are outfitting through the

bureau. Uh the software will allow us to

share what the drone operator sees and

it could be shared with a command post

or other individuals. Um, it's one of

the things that I think moving forward

will benefit us while we utilize the

drones. So, that line item budget in

2025 went from 19,626

to uh proposed amount of $15,125.

That was an overall decrease of $4,500.

We removed the IIA Pro annual

maintenance plan of $3,300 because we no

longer use that software. We increased

the leads of online from $4,995

in 2025 to $5,500

2026. We had an increase in our 1033

annual program from $700 to $800 in

2026. And then our digital signage board

annual subscription went up from $181 to

$400 in 2026. Overall, that line item

category was at $33,557

in 2025. and the reduction of that line

item down to $31,081,

a de decrease of $2,500.

Personal safety category, we added

$3,500 for spare drone batteries. Um,

our drones, when we put them up in the

air, they usually have a run time of

about 20 minutes. Um, without the spare

batteries, we'd have to bring them down,

halt operations, and then kind of wait

for those batteries to recharge. with

the spare batteries, we can bring the

drone down, uh change out batteries, and

put the drone back up so we can continue

on with what we're doing. So, uh $3,500

would be for those batteries to be

purchased. Uh and that would greatly

help out, uh when we utilize the drones.

Uh if you notice, we utilize the drones

at the latest events, our our Capona

event, uh our holiday parade. Uh it

provides us with the opportunity to have

a bird's eye view of what we're doing uh

and what we're seeing in as an overview.

So, it's it's been a great benefit for

the bureau. Uh we also added $2,000 in

that category for K9 training aids. We

just added a new K9 to our our bureau.

Uh that K9 is now out being trained with

its new handler. Uh so we needed uh to

add funds in there for the K9 training.

Uh we added $1,500 to start be to start

to replace our Bureau Ballistic Shields.

Um, those shields only last for a

certain period of time and then over the

lifetime we need to start replacing

them. Uh, $1,500 added to that category

will help us replace those shields over

the next coming years. Uh, we look to do

that by replacing one shield uh, as we

go on in the next couple of years. That

line item in that budget in 2025 was

$115,590.

The amount being proposed is $122,590,

which is a $7,000 increase. Our wearing

and apparel went up $2,000. We have new

members that'll be joining the honor

guard unit, and those honor guard

uniforms are custommade. Uh so

accounting for that increase of the new

members, that line item went up from

$124,000 to $126,000

26.

um our fleet manager, the computer

tablets that we got for the car

computers that we have to replace when

we get new vehicles, that's going up

from $16,000 to $23,000.

Increasing that technology because uh

once we get new vehicles, we put in the

new technology that covers the vehicle

cost as we move forward. We added $2,500

for new motorcycle supplies in 2025. Uh

one of the things to note, we've now

fielded those motorcycles even more. Uh

the motorcycles become a great outreach

within the community. Uh a lot of people

don't know that we we field motorcycles.

Uh uh as a member of that unit, every

time I would ride, people would be

surprised that we had those motorcycles

and they would uh engage in dialogue

over those motorcycles. So we look at it

as a community engagement tool. When

officers are on that, it provides them a

closer uh ability to to meet and talk

with people. And again, whether it's

curiosity about the motorcycles or just

being able to engage people in the

community, it's a better a fit than what

we've been doing with officers inside

the vehicles.

Uh we've had no change in the office,

our medical labs, or our traffic control

devices. So overall, that category, uh

we saw an increase of $9,500.

our minor capital outlay. Uh looking at

this category, we removed $15,000 for a

transition for the internal affairs unit

from the public safety building to the

MLK building. Uh we're no longer going

that route and we added $21,000 to

replace bureau batteries. Uh the radio

batteries that the officers carry on

them. Again, I talked about that last

purchase of those batteries and the

equipment was probably about five years

ago. They are due to be replaced as we

go through. Overall, that category was

an increase of $6,100.

Um the capital expenditure which is the

line item where we removed $80,000 from

the uh top line item that was to remodel

the old booking room as well as we

removed $100,000 from our line item uh

which was to do repairs downstairs uh as

well as the first floor in our old

street crimes office.

Excuse me. Totally it was 95 Go back.

Totally it was $95,000 that we removed

from that category and we moved it into

the facilities budget since they will be

responsible for doing those repairs and

remodeling throughout the building. Uh

along with that, when you're looking at

the capital vehicle and equipment line

item there, uh there was an increase

there from $36,000 to $331,000.

And I'll kind of go into that in detail

on the next slide.

So, uh, the breakdown of the vehicle,

uh, that we are looking to purchase, uh,

with our annual cost there, we're

looking to purchase three vehicles of

$72,000 each. Uh, replace a K9 vehicle

at $75,000 each. That's a total of 20

291,000.

Uh, vice vehicle replacement and street

crimes vehicle replacement are the

additions in why this line item goes up.

Uh the county at one point was providing

the vice unit with vehicles. They no

longer able to do that, do their own

financial constraints. So we were have

to incur the cost in order to replace

those vehicles. Uh we're looking to do

that over a period of time by replacing

one vehicle uh a year until, you know,

we have safe equipment for those

officers to utilize. Same thing with the

street crimes. Uh we used to get that

through other means. Uh we're putting

money aside so that we can replace those

vehicles. They're not police vehicles.

Usually they are uh used vehicles,

normal normally used. Uh we outfit them

with lights uh as undercover vehicles,

but those are things that we would have

to purchase on the side. So there's

where you can see the increased cost. I

know it was something that was brought

up in one of the questionnaires that you

guys uh had put out. So we just address

that. Uh along with the vehicle cost on

the vehicles, uh we talked about how uh

the purchasing of new vehicles as we

move forward. uh we've recently gone to

hybrid vehicles uh technology. We we we

think that there's a little bit of

increased cost in the onset, but over

the long haul, we'll see a difference in

overall city costs when we're talking

about the efficiency of the vehicles as

well as the gas and and uh upkeep costs

for the vehicles. Hopefully, they will

last longer in in city environments uh

because we don't have long highways that

we operate on and the the hybrid vehicle

should be fitting for what we do on a

normal basis.

Uh, pausing there. Any questions on

those items when it comes to dollars and

cents?

>> Yes, Captain. What is the K9 in

training's name?

>> Uh, the K new K9 officer is Officer

Schneider and the K9's name is Bailey.

Moving on to the grants updates. So, uh,

a lot of questions that you had

submitted forward in reference to what

what our grants are and and again, we

did submit responses to the questions

that we asked. I'm just going to go

through these briefly. Uh, our gun

violence, I'm sorry, our violence

intervention prevention, our our VIP

grant, uh, which originally was $500,000

awarded to us. That was originally

awarded in 2022. Uh, that was extended

through June of 2026. It covers our

project manager salaries, our support

and outreach and coordination, our

credible messenger training, as well as

our gang scope software, and our GVI

consultant fee. Uh so far these are all

been reimbursement grants that we've uh

received. The city has received back

$388,000

from reimbursements through that grant

through PCCD. Our Dolphin County uh

violence intervention and prevention

grant uh that originally was funded from

April of 2024 to March of 2027. However,

it was not fully approved until November

of 2024. Uh the product modification has

been submitted. Uh we are hoping that we

get an extension for that grant until

March of 2028. Uh this is a pass through

grant. We are the recipients of it

through PCCD. These are ARPA funds that

are being utilized, but we are not the

direct recipient of the ARPA funds.

Overall, this was $476,000

that was awarded through us through this

grant. It covers police overtime for

enforcement and community engagement. It

works on stipens for the credible

messengers uh and additional cred

credible messenger training as well as

and offsets our gang scope software and

our GBI consultation fees.

Our LLES grant, our law enforcement

support grant, originally this grant was

1,218,519

that was awarded back in 2023 2024. We

have since gotten extension for that

through June of 2026. It covers

retention bonuses for the officers, our

evidence custodial salary, as well as

technology for our wellness committee,

our wellness uh initiatives that we're

doing with the city. It also was the

money that we used to allocate and

purchase those four mobile towers. So

far, the city has been reimbursed

$725,000

uh I'm sorry, $725,500

has been reimbursed out of that uh

grant. uh the gun violence investigation

and prosecution grant. This was

initially awarded a1,262,51

grant. Uh this is where we got the money

to get the LPR cameras and our overwatch

cameras uh which we have installed

throughout the city. Uh we also utilize

funds there for the Cellbrite and which

supporting our computer program and our

training. Uh it was used to initiate the

saturation details as well as the porch

light and doorbell campaign and

initiative uh through the uh CSAs. Um

funding for this funding this from

through this was also ARPA funds. Again

we are not a direct recipient. We

received those funds through PCCD. Um so

I know that was a question that was

asked about what we have with ARPA funds

and there's your answer to that. Uh the

last one is our JAG grant. Our Edward

Burns Memorial Justice Assistance Grant.

Uh Dolphie County received this grant,

but uh again, Harrisburg is not a direct

recipient. We receive funds through the

county. Uh it covers partial salary

through our victim witness uh

contributions as well as our Nyber Crime

Watch and Power Time and Planet annual

fees. Um, we went back in the 2023 grant

year and we were able to recover funds

through a product modification where

we're able to then purchase a new

polygraph machine for unspent funds in

the year of 2023. So, we're always

looking to utilize those funds um as we

move forward and utilize all of the

funds uh for our needs in the bureau.

>> Captain,

>> yes. uh with the GVIP.

Um

it's on here, but you just didn't

mention it. Uh the reimbursement that

the city has gotten for 531,000.

>> That is correct.

>> All right. Just wanted to put that on

there.

>> Yep. Thank you.

You kept me to a half an hour. I'm

trying to roll.

>> Uh some of the operational highlights.

Uh again the grants we talked about uh

we were able to perform two officer

wellness trainings uh held for our

committee members and our officers. We

were also able to hold those for other

area officers in the in the surrounding

areas. Our four mobile camera towers

which we installed in the city which

I've already talked about. Uh with our

GVIP we've conducted 43 saturation

details to date. Uh we've installed 133

Ring doorbell cameras. uh and we uh

installed 276 light fixtures as of uh

November 25th of 2025. We still have 124

light fixtures remaining. Uh we have

appointments set up and we'll continue

on with that process till we're through.

Uh the anticipated the anticipated

completion of that process uh hopefully

will be in the first quarter of 2026

where we've spent all the the money in

reference to that.

Uh our B mountain bike unit, we have 10

fully equipped police mountain bikes

purchased and or donated. Uh that

started in 2024 through 2025 through in

gear cycling. Again, the mountain bike

and the officers that are on that

provide uh an increased visibility in

the community. It allows the citizens to

be able to get closer to the officers as

they roll through the community. Uh it's

one of those things that uh makes them

accessible. It provides a greater

outreach for officers within the

community. And it's been an addition

that we've learned uh is beneficial

during uh parades, uh festivals, uh

engagements in the community. Uh it's

one of the things that uh moving forward

is is where we're trying to get those

officers out there a lot. Our warrant

service unit is one of the things that

we also added and it was uh the ability

to get officers together, train them

together. Uh warrant services is one of

the things that we do on a regular

basis. Uh we've realized that over time

it was more beneficial to get officers

trained and on the same page with the

proper equipment so that we can

effectively uh serve those warrants not

only for the officers involved but also

the people that we're going after uh to

minimize the risk of any issues during

those occasions because we've seen how

uh all over the nation there have been

incidents where maybe people who are not

on the same page working together. uh

we've implemented that where the warrant

unit works together uh trains together

and utilizes the proper equipment for

safety not only for us as well as the

individual.

Uh the GVI team and again Captain

Winer's here he can talk about this more

if you have any questions but uh they

initiated the custom notifications uh

increased from two to three times per

week. Uh postcards were developed with

key resources and contact information.

Uh violence prevention curriculum was

developed for the schools and prison

populations. Uh they developed the hands

all hands-in panel discussion with

leadership and service providers in the

community stakeholders. And then the

addition of the credible messengers was

also added to this uh the CSA program.

They've increased their in community

engagement through community barbecues

and then assisting with multiple local

organizations and neighborhood community

events as well as city sponsored events.

Our technology that we're proud moving

forward with is our our license plate

readers and our overwatch cameras as

well as our drones. Uh those are actual

pictures of the equipment that we're

using as well as our live technology

cameras. Uh, one of the things that

we're we're we're proud to implement

with those cameras is the effectiveness

and how quickly uh you get your bang for

our buck. Uh, recently the the the I

guess conversation was what are we

utilizing those uh license plate readers

and Overwatch cameras and are we

extending our reach and how we utilize

those? Uh certainly what we're utilizing

them for is the adaptation of uh

criminal investigation techniques and

tools that we use to solve crimes. Uh

just this past week alone, uh those

cameras came in handy where we responded

to an incident where there was a

shooting uh at a local uh market. Uh the

cameras that were in that area were able

to capture a suspect individual uh going

into the market and uh you know

suspected of shooting. Uh the LPR

cameras were able to uh find the license

plate on the vehicle. Uh officers were

able to quickly ascertain the

information for that vehicle, get into

the area where we suspected the vehicle

would go back to. Uh while the officers

were in that area, they located the

vehicle. They were able to talk to the

occupant of the vehicle. They were able

to get information on where the suspect

had gone after the shooting and then

they were able to surround that house

and get that individual to surrender. Um

that went on in a matter of two hours.

If we did not have that technology and

the individuals how how that worked out,

that could have taken us a lot longer.

So, as you can see, the effectiveness as

we move forward with technology is

crucial in how we do our job moving

forward.

Um, talking about those goals for 2025,

I swear it's almost over. Uh, we talked

about uh how we are looking to protect

the the city of Harrisburg. We serve as

the city of Harrisburg and we also

maximize the bureau workforce potential,

modernize bureau operations. Um, again,

we responded to a lot of the questions

in writing. You guys have that. But this

is the one category that I'll go over in

reference to our our goals and what

we've been doing. Uh, we look at the

metrics on how we uh obtain success on

these goals by looking at how we're

doing in these specific categories. Uh,

the bureau has will maintain a homicide

clearance rate above the national

average and that's something that we

strive to do. We also strive to reduce

gun violence through partnerships and

community engagements and we adopt

nationally recognized crime reduction

strategies. Success will be measured

through clearance rates and the

reduction of shootings. Uh according to

the recent national data, the US

clearance rate for homicides is at 52%.

Between 52 and 58% is the clearance

rate. Uh Harrisburg city's homicide rate

has been down as compared to this time

last year. Unfortunately, 11 homicides

still is way too many, but that is less

than what we had in 2024.

Our clearance rate for homicides with

the uh work by the officers in the

criminal investigation division, uh

their clearance rate is at 83%. Well

above the national average. Uh and that

again contributes to the dedication of

those officers that work in that

division uh attempting to provide

justice and some sort of closure for

victims especially in those homicide

situations.

The bureau will look to increase our

transparency through enhanced reporting

and public information strengthening our

community outreach and ensure our

policies and trainings align with

fairness, transparency and impartiality.

The benchmarks for that will be looked

at how well we are out in the community.

how well our participation is, our

digital engagement as well as our policy

review benchmarks. Uh annually we are

looked at through our accreditation

standards and we are reviewed by our

policies and how they compare with other

police departments across the nation. So

uh we look at that as a benchmark to

make sure that we are hitting the mark

when it comes to our policies and as

moving forward. Uh sadly as I've already

talked about the one area which I think

we have failed and and unfortunately

failed miserably is our recruitment and

retention. uh this is uh goes into our

bureau. We would look to invest more

into our retention st standards, our our

competitive recruitment, uh work on our

salaries, our operational efficiency. Uh

one of the key measures here to uh

include is our retention and our hiring

rates uh our employee satisfaction and

our staffing assessments. uh in 2025

based upon our numbers or the vacancies,

we haven't met this mark and I I think

that's pretty clear. Uh the 38 vacancies

that we're going to go into 2026 with

shows that we still have room to grow

and how to retain officers and of course

we hope that uh negotiations between the

union and the city are effective so that

we are able to retain more officers

moving forward. The modernization of

operations of the bureau will fully

transform away from our metro system

which I think it will come up here and

solely jump on board for that. Uh we

want to get rid of the metro system and

upgrade our technology such as our body

warn cameras, our network infrastructure

and modernize our recordeping and

digital digital conversion and implement

implementation of our Pathfinder

recordkeeping system. The milestones

that we look at there will be gauging

where we stand at a one, a three, and a

fiveyear basis. Uh we've adopted the use

of drones and license plate readers and

mobile surveillance towers where though

they will help us in the um

modernization of technology moving

forward.

So overall uh with all the talking that

I did uh in the end our police budget

which was proposed in 2025 was in the

amount of 20 million479,540.

Our increase to the budget proposed in

2026 is 20,731,0007590.

So, that's only an increase of $252,000

roughly or 1.2% of our budget from 2025.

Uh, that's a modest increase.

At this point, I will answer any

questions that you may have at this time

about the budget or anything that I

address at this point.

>> Thank you very much.

>> I'm going to start to my far left with

our public safety chair, uh, Councilman

Jones. Any questions or comments? Uh

thank you, Vice President Green, Captain

Commissioner. Um thorough presentation.

Um and the the main thing I think you

covered a lot of the questions that were

asked. My colleagues may have additional

ones um due to the you know verbal

presentation you gave along with it. Um

my only thing is um I think you guys did

a wonderful job at reducing costs where

you could um to save the city money

considering um and for the public so

they understand that when it comes to

our budgets um mainly uh police and fire

actually cover take up half of that

budget. So um for you guys to reduce it

to this amount and I know some of it is

also due to uh the CBA that isn't

complete. And uh my only question for

you is um do you do we expect any uh

large

um increases because once you guys get

into uh your negotiations, I know you

can't speak about it, but do you project

anything higher than what we're seeing

here

far as increases in spending?

>> Uh the one thing about the uh personnel

category is we are underfunded in that

category for what we're budgeted and

what we may see moving forward. Uh we do

hope to increase those numbers by the

officers that we look to hire uh in the

beginning of 2026, but uh I can't speak

on what the negotiation process and

what's being offered from the city and

the FOP. Uh we hope it maintains

competitiveness uh because it is one of

the areas that we have we've heard we've

had difficulty with. So that's one of

the things we're optimistic on that uh

we'll have a a solution to that

hopefully in the the early on 2026. All

right, that's good because I again I

know um we may have some different

numbers. Again, you guys had a slight

increase in this and I guess that's due

to the vehicles or whatnot that you uh

look to purchase. Uh my only other

question is as I was looking um through

some of the training and some of the

costs. Um so this is just a question for

myself. Um is how do how do you guys

handle uh health and wellness? Is there

a program or is there training for that?

Um, you know, I know I see it a wellness

committee, but does that entail some

things to make sure far as the morale of

the police officers, um, you know, is up

to par?

>> Yes. Actually, uh, what we had done was

we ended up, uh, investing in what is

called a peer-to-peer program. Uh, we

have officers who went through the

program and they are actually, uh,

peer-to-peer counselors. uh when we have

major incidents where uh it may be

something that we need to gauge the

wellness of our officers going through

those situations. Uh we just recently

had one uh last week uh where those

officers are trained to speak with those

individuals that went on those calls and

gauge whether or not they're in the

right mind frame moving forward. Uh

along with that peer-to-peer program, we

also have our chaplain program which

works well with the officers. they ride

along with those officers and kind of

talk to them on a personal basis looking

at how they're doing on a day-to-day

basis. Uh so as we move forward uh we've

invested in wellness programs in regards

to our uh health and fitness and

preaching wellness for that for the

officers to kind of do something else

other than uh policing when on their off

time. Uh we've invested in programs for

them to uh understand fi financial

situations to help them work through

financial situations on their own and

again deal with problems outside of of

policing. Uh a lot of times uh the

problems aren't so much within the walls

here but maybe problems at home because

we have family support systems that also

need our help as well. So yes, we've

invested in that through those programs

and we have officers and outside

agencies that uh work alongside them.

>> Good. Last but not least, um, with the

cameras, the mobile cameras that you

guys have using, I heard you mention one

at City Island. Is there an increase in

incidents over there? I'm just wondering

why it's at City Island.

>> So, in 2425,

we had a lot of incidents where our

vehicles were being broken into on the

island.

>> Police vehicles.

>> Police vehicles, our personal vehicles,

uh, city-owned vehicles. Um, we had a

lot of issues with the car rallies that

would go on on the island where we would

get a lot of complaints. The uh

souped-up tuner cars would go out there

and they they do donuts and destroy

property out there. Um, I I confidently

can say that since we implemented those

cameras and those cameras were the first

ones we put, we have not had any

incidents on that island at all. It also

provides a safety element for the people

who go to the island. Uh whether it's

for the senator games or for events that

are being held out there, the city

islanders and they're walking back to

their vehicle. Uh it's not secluded. Uh

most times the area is well lit, but

those cameras offered an added level of

protection for people that are going to

their vehicles. But since we put those

cameras out there, we have not had one

car show incident out there, and we have

not had one of our vehicles broken into

since then.

>> All right. Yeah, that's good. But it's

just only reason why I asked it because

um that was something I wasn't aware of.

I mean we talking about putting these

cameras in hot spots and I didn't know

city was a was a hot spot especially for

breaking into the vehicles. I think

that's throughout the city but that's

good to know and um good for the

residents to hear that as well. Um I

have no further questions. Get back to

uh Vice President Green.

>> Thank you very much Councilman Jones.

Councilman Rodriguez. Any questions or

comments?

>> Thank you Madam Vice President. Uh,

Commissioner, Captain, it's great to see

you and the team as always. Um, when we

talk about digital conversion, would

that include the footage from the

digital drones as well as the body cams,

like actually getting that into a cloud

or a larger hard drive base?

>> Yes, we went to a cloud-based system for

those. Uh, so there was an increased

cost in moving to that. We no longer are

depending on that to be stored on a

server. Uh, so we went to a cloud-based

storage system for those.

>> Okay. Thank you for that. And then you

had mentioned the increase in the uh

humane society contract. Was that due to

instances on their end or was that uh

like lack of animal control team or what

was that? What was that increase due to?

>> Our costs for the uh humane society go

up annually. Uh and it is because of the

amount of dogs and cats that go out

there that are city owned. uh the ones

that we bring out through our animal

control officers. Uh you know the costs

you know the fees go up and certainly uh

the fees are dependent upon whether we

bring dogs out there, cats out there,

rabbits out there. Uh the fees vary

predominantly we take a lot of dogs out

there. So those fees are higher and we

usually get to the end of the year where

we uh

>> might get cut off because we're already

at that max point. We still have two or

three more months left in the the fiscal

year. So, um, we increased the cost in

there because we know we were close to

that that

>> with that increase cap. Um, did they

change the amount of like I know they

put a cap on like our pit bull um

turnovers. Did they increase that limit

at all or they just increased the limit

still capped it off?

>> We've increased the limit. Uh, to this

point we have not been turned away with

that cap number. Okay. They've still

been uh working with us in reference to

what we bring out there. So, no, they

they've not turned us away.

>> That's great news. And then the mountain

bike unit, that's amazing. I know you

said primarily we use it for parades,

um, larger events. Uh, let's just say

our compliment, you being optimistic,

our compliment raises. Is that something

we feel like we could use more often,

more frequently?

>> If our compliment was where we would,

uh, perceive that would be a standalone

unit and they would be out in the

community just doing that engagement on

their bikes.

>> That would be amazing.

>> That would be something that we are

striving to go for. But again, we need

to increase those numbers in order to do

that because we need to cover the basic

services.

>> Absolutely. And then you had mentioned

uh CPR training that you guys are now

trained the trainers. Um does that

include AED as well?

>> That does include AED.

>> Awesome. Awesome. Um that was all the

questions I've had. Uh thank you, Madam

Vice President. Thank you, gentlemen.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you, Council Member Rodriguez.

Councilwoman Ross, any questions?

>> The same questions as Councilman Jones

and Rodriguez did. So, my questions have

been asked and answered. Thank you.

>> Thank you, President Hill. Any

questions?

>> Yes, thank you. Many of my questions

related to the bureau's diversity

compliment

um and the overall compliment of

officers were answered and then the

vacancies. But I did have a few other

questions. Um the first one is around

city residents. You mentioned that there

was an increase um in the number of

personnel who are city residents. So, I

was wondering how many uh people within

the bureau are city residents.

>> So, over the past two hiring cycles, we

hired two individuals that were city uh

residents, born and raised in the city.

They're now uh on the job with us. So,

um that in in comparison to previous

years, we had none or very little make

it through the process completely, but

we now have two uh that we have working

for us. And and again, uh we implore

more to to join those ranks as well. as

long as we can uh work on getting them

through those qualification marks and

help them through the process like we

definitely uh would like to increase

that complement of city residents that

now work back and give back to the

community.

>> Thank you. Um my next question is

related to the VIP grant.

Um the VIP grant.

>> Yes.

>> Um I'm curious. So, city council and the

Harrisburg school district school board

hosted or co-hosted a town hall meeting

on Monday. Um, and a resident actually

mentioned that this particular grant um

I guess the deadline for next year's

funding is the end of this month. So, I

was curious to know I know that this one

was extended through June of 2026.

Is the bureau looking to

um make a new application for the next

cycle of funding or

>> We have we submitted a modification

request back in October. We're just

waiting to hear back from PCCD in

reference.

>> Okay. And then my last question

was around the cameras.

Um,

is there an officer or an individual in

the bureau that is constantly

monitoring these mobile cameras or how

does that work on on your end?

>> So, one of the good things is that the

officers have the ability to look at

these cameras on cell phones as well.

Um, usually what we're doing right now

currently is there's most likely a

supervisor who's monitoring the cameras.

There are triggers on some of these

cameras that allow us to know if it's

something that we need to look at the

camera, especially in reference to the

city island cameras. Uh, usually after a

certain point, anything moves on the

island, we get a trigger alert. So, as

we get that alert, we pull up the

cameras, we see what activity is out

there, and we can quickly send officers

out there to respond. the ones in the

neighborhood. We have officers, the

district officers pulling those cameras

up on their phones, uh noting that if

there's increased activity, uh they can

either make announcements over the the

camera speaker or they can just go into

the area. Uh that way they go into the

area not blind, but they go into the

area aware of what the target that

they're looking for as well as kind of

utilizing some other techniques by

getting other individuals. Uh fifth and

woodbine is one where I think we'll

we'll see that come into play more. Um

that one location was placed there

because of the abandoned apartments that

are there and the buildings. So having

officers being able to see that before

they come into the area knows where

they're targeting and where they're

looking. So um they're able to view

those on their phones or tablets or on

the uh in the computers if they need to.

>> Okay, one final question. Um with the

use of the all of the new technology um

how are you evaluating the

effectiveness?

Uh certainly the example that I gave

with that technology on on the the car

cameras uh it is an it's decreasing our

amount of time that we're putting into

other means to solve crimes. Um the

example I gave you about the uh store

and the shooting um that was wrapped up

in a matter of two hours. If we did not

have that uh surveillance camera footage

or the technology to track that vehicle

and know where was it was going or

looking at that could have taken days

before we would have gotten a suspect

without cooperation from anybody else.

So, we're gauging on how well we're

doing our job based upon that technology

moving forward.

>> Thank you. I don't have any other

questions.

>> Thank you very much, uh, President Hill.

Councilwoman Davis.

Thank you, Vice President Green.

>> Good evening, officers. Thank you for

being here and thank you for your

service.

>> Thank you.

>> Um you obviously are

under uh difficult restraints with um 38

vacancies and you obviously have to

cover for those. Um my one question was

answered in terms of how do you

effectively gauge the crimes that are

being solved against the all the new

technology and you did answer that. Um

my other question I may have missed your

uh explanation for this. What criteria

do you use for

buying the new SUVs? Um you're currently

investing in three new SUVs.

So the vehicles, unfortunately, our

vehicles run 24/7. There there is no

downtime for our cars. Uh they go

through a period where one officer gets

out after their shift and a new officer

gets in that vehicle and continues to

drive around. Uh we gauge uh certainly a

mileage period as well as a wear and

tear period on those vehicles. We don't

replace all the vehicles all at once. We

replace them gradually over time uh

utilizing uh which vehicles are in worse

shape at the in that fiscal year. So, uh

we look to see which vehicles may have

been involved in too many accidents, uh

too many repair costs for a vehicle at

some point. Uh we look at that point to

then replace that vehicle and deadline

it and bring in a new vehicle to

replace.

>> Okay.

Is the city getting any money back from

the vehicles that are being replaced? I

mean, are you selling them? Are you

donating them? What are what's being

done with those vehicles? If they are

vehicles that are in working condition,

usually uh our VMC is auctioning off

those vehicles. They go into an auction

pool. Uh and I believe you can add to

that in reference to what funds are

where they come back to.

>> Yeah, some some are auctioned if we own

them outright, but the city also has an

enterprise um lease program that

replaces the vehicles every so many

years. We've entered into maybe I maybe

it's been seven years now. And so we we

have the option to purchase at that

point or or to you know have a lease on

a new vehicle and fleet management and

the business office manages that year

year over year. So if we own them they

have to go for auction. If we don't own

them they go through the lease process.

>> Okay. Thank you. Um let's see here. And

then

one other question. The CSAs have they

not been decreased this year? I mean the

amount of CSAs that we're utilizing

>> the number of compliment CSAs

>> uh the CSAs.

>> Yes.

>> Yes.

>> Are are you asking if the number

decreased how many we had in the start

of 2025 2026? Yes.

>> Uh I believe that complement has

remained the same.

>> Okay. Uh yes we have a full complement

of CSAs uh moving forward into 2026. I

know there may be some addition or

subtractions of that with people moving

on. Uh but we are always striving for a

full complement in CSA program.

>> Okay.

Let's see. And then I do have one more

question. The Humane Society, the fees

go up every year. Now, does that include

I know that the you're catching dogs,

dogs off the street. How about cats or

roosters?

Yes, we the humane society if they are

equipped to taking that animal and it is

an animal that uh is from the city. Yes,

they will charge us for the storage and

and fees for utilizing that or housing

that animal.

>> The reason why I asked is because I have

had several residents contact me and ask

me to have somebody look into the

roosters. The roosters get up. I mean,

they're up at 3:00 or 4 in the morning

and

>> uh

for some reason

they're not being addressed.

>> Okay.

>> And I don't know.

>> I can certainly get that information

from you afterwards. I can give it to

our animal control officer and they can

look into that situation.

>> I appreciate that.

>> No problem.

>> Thank you. That's it for me, Vice

President Green.

>> Vice President Green.

>> Yes. Um, just for clarification, um,

when we're dealing with, uh, animal

control and and and, uh, humane society,

I know you mentioned it, just to clarify

for, uh, our residents, we do cover, um,

we have it covered to a certain amount

of these animals and then those

increasing things. So, can you explain

that a little better?

>> Right. So, uh, for the most part, if

it's an owned animal, those costs go

back to the individual. We don't take or

we don't pay for people to surrender

their animals if it's an owned animal.

Our costs are incurred by animals that

we come across that are not owned that

we're finding on the street, whether

they're strays or animals that we find

in abandoned properties uh or again ones

that we catch in traps or that are a

danger to the neighborhood. If we cannot

find an owner for those, those are the

animals that we incur costs for when we

take them to humane society. Otherwise,

those animals that are owned by

individuals that no longer want to take

care of those animals, those costs go

back to that individual.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you very much. Um, and speaking of

the rooster, we had a runaway rooster on

our street,

so it is a real thing in the city. Uh,

but I know there are a lot of residents

that do own chickens and roosters, and I

don't think that's illegal,

>> right? They're also they're allowed to

have them. agree with Councilwoman

>> Davis about the roosters. I had one

right in the back of my house. So, it is

a thing.

>> Just so she doesn't feel crazy.

>> It is a thing, but it is permanent. I do

believe as long as they are kept a

certain way that it is permanent. So,

they can be crocod

all morning long. Um, and animal control

can't come and like seize the animal

unless they're they're not being

>> there isn't a seizure, but there is a

conversation to be had. Uh, you know, we

can go out there and politely discuss

some of the issues and then, you know,

see where we can come to a mutual

agreement. The the good thing about that

is that's unfortunately what

Neighborhood Dispute Settlement, the

program that we give $2,500 to annually

every year, that's their jobs. They

usually work on these issues with

neighbors that are not really criminal

in nature but allow neighbors to come

together, get on a equal playing field

for discussions and then try to come out

with a resolution at the end.

>> Thank you. I hate to see you chasing the

roosters,

but my understanding uh was that the

chickens are legal, but the roosters are

illegal in the city.

I can offer no legal opinion on that

matter.

I can I can look it up for you.

>> It's It's not um they they are legal.

Again, um this is something that I mean,

I'm glad you brought it up, but I didn't

believe this when somebody was

complaining about this with the chickens

and roosters, but it it's it's in the

codes.

>> 4:00 in the morning.

>> I mean, that's what they do.

Thank you very much, Councilwoman

Daniels. Any questions or comments?

>> No questions. Thank you.

>> Thank you very much. Uh I don't really

have many questions for you guys. That

was a very thorough presentation. Uh I

thank you all for being here tonight and

for all that you do for our city. Uh I

have one I'll call it suggestion. Um, I

think that the police department should

get one or two kiosks to be put in their

lobby, uh, so that residents can pay for

things such as police reports, parking

tickets, or different things. Uh,

because if someone has to get a copy of

a police report, it cost them $15. They

have to leave out of the building, walk

around to the treasur's office when it's

open, and then come back to the police

department to provide the receipt in

order to get a copy of it. So, it's just

inconvenient. So, just a way of trying

to make things more convenient for our

residents. um because the police

department is is open um longer hours

than our treasury office and so by

having that kiosk it just makes things a

little more convenient and kind of puts

things in your control a little more

too. So that's the only comment that I

have. So thank you all.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you ma'am.

Moving

forward will be our Bureau of Fire.

I will.

Good evening, gentlemen. if you wouldn't

mind introducing yourself uh and giving

us your presentation and overview, then

we'll open it up for questions. Um I

know it's usually a compet competition

between police and fire. So we'll start

the clock now and see how fast you got.

>> Thank you, Vice President Green. Uh

Chief Brian Ederline and uh today we

have with us where' they go uh senior

deputy chief Mike Souder uh deputy chief

of administration Glenn Satazan and the

deputy chief of training Floyd Weise. uh

they they are our uh management staff uh

along with uh currently one

administrative assistant in the office

um that tries to keep us together uh and

on the same page. So with no further

ado, we'll uh go through I put together

a short brief PowerPoint presentation

for us and I believe that you know the

majority and there weren't many

questions but I I certainly did want to

uh make emphasis on the significant

increase to our budget this year. Uh and

that is due to uh and and thanks to

finance um that was able to get this in

just after the state budget passed. So,

our appropriation for capital fire

protection was increased this year from

$5 million to $7 million. And uh I'll

discuss that as we get to the back to

the sheet. Look at what our department

overview is. Um as we said uh and

continue to say our businesses uh our

business hours are dictated by the needs

of the citizens, which is 24 hours a

day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Yes, on Christmas and New Year's as

well.

uh and our our core values and we'll go

to the next slide that we uh instill in

all of our members as they come on uh

really comes from uh and and Chief

Satazan put this together Lieutenant

Dvau who was killed in the line of duty

uh using his name uh duty empathy vision

ownership and excellence and if we can

instill that in our members um then the

product on the other side for the

residents whether they're uh interacting

with us while our firemen at the grocery

store while their building next door to

them is falling down or their house is

on fire. If we instill those uh those

those values in them, that outcome for

that resident is going to be uh

extremely successful. Uh and and we

pride ourselves uh in that success uh

that our members provide to the citizens

day in and day out.

Uh moving on, we had uh only had one

retirement this year, um firefighter

David Gilkkey, uh who gave 21 years of

service to the city. We did have uh two

firefighter resignations in 2025, and

both of those uh members left for other

firefighting jobs. So, uh, I think it's

important to note, um, while we are very

attractive, uh, to work for,

uh, and and very attractive, uh, from a

fire standpoint, we are starting to see

some of our members leave for, uh,

better pay and benefits, uh, elsewhere.

So, it is slowly starting to trickle

into the fire department. And something

that I'm hopeful uh as our union goes

into a negotiation with the city next

year that we're able to uh identify some

of those problem areas and rectify those

so that we're not coming down uh with

significant vacancies. As we know uh

when I first took over as fire chief in

October of 2013, our compliment was only

60 people. Um and we were spending about

$ three and a half million dollars a

year on overtime um because of the

contractual minimums that we have to

maintain at the street level um to

maintain both the safety of the

firefighters and our residents. So uh we

want to make sure going into 2026 um

that we're prepared for those

negotiations.

We do know um and I should also say we

do know we were given uh just two days

ago a letter of retirement effective uh

January 15th of 2026 and we did receive

a letter of retirement that is for May

of 2026 as well. So uh we do we already

have teed up uh the civil service

examination was administered. We're

going through that process and our goal

is to hire for those that have left and

the additional uh positions that we have

uh asking for funding for uh in 2026

that they would be hired in February. Uh

so we will have a seamless transition uh

as we go through the year and we don't

start incurring those significant

overtime costs.

Our total complement uh as it stands of

uh yesterday was 98. Our 2026 proposed

budget complement is 106 and we

currently have those three vacancies

that were mentioned uh on the previous

slide.

There is one question about our response

time. Uh and I do apologize. We just

switched uh as council's aware with the

contract uh to first due. So we're just

starting to get warm and fuzzy with uh

how that system is working. So, uh, we

don't have good statistics yet, um,

collectively for the entirety of the

year, but our average response time, uh,

and that's dispatch to scene is 4

minutes and 26 seconds, uh, which is

kind of there right in in the, uh,

middle. And so, we're we're analyzing

it. We continue to analyze, uh, that

number, and we're hopeful that with this

the implementation of this software, um,

it's going to give us some even more

granular data, uh, that we'll be able to

look at. Uh and just uh as a point of

clarification, the uh the national

standard through NFPA uh 1510 is uh 5

minutes or less. So we're meeting that

national standard on average uh with a 4

minute and 26 second response time uh

from the time that that call is given to

us uh until we arrive on scene. Uh these

numbers are skewed a little bit because

it also includes some that would not be

considered emergent calls. Uh, and

that's what we have to kind of massage

our uh, software to be able to to weed

out a little bit better for us.

Moving on to some grant funding. Uh, we

did apply and were awarded $15,000 uh,

from the state fire commissioner's

office uh, last year. We used that to

repair repair some major damage that was

uh, uh, incurred on ladder 2 during a

fire uh, in the Midtown back in February

or March of 2025.

Uh we are still working with CDBG. There

was a half a million dollars. Um we

still have some projects not completed,

upgrades to the diesel exhaust system,

the replacement of the bay doors. Uh and

there's also ice rescue equipment. Uh

and I was just in uh CDBG today. Uh and

we're going to work on figuring out how

we get those projects uh to fruition to

a purchase order. Uh we did apply for

the assistance to firefighters grant for

firefighter physicals and cancer

screening. And because of the government

shutdown, they're um they are way behind

and there's been no announcements on

those as of today. Uh we did apply uh as

we do every year for that Pennsylvania

State Fire Commissioners grant which is

uh the maximum ask is $20,000. So

obviously we ask 20,000. It typically

gets awarded at around $15,000

based upon uh the formula. They divide

the money throughout the Commonwealth.

We want to use that $20,000 towards our

station one bedroom and bathroom remodel

that we'll talk about here shortly.

For the most part, um if you look at the

line items in our budget, uh the

majority of them remain flat or went

down. Uh if you look at the big line

items in the budget, um that we look at

year-over-year, there was very little

increase. However, uh due to the

increased funding from the Commonwealth

and one of the things uh as we talked

through with the local delegation as

well as u senators and representatives

on both sides of the aisle, uh the

concern was that uh if we give the city

more money, what are you going to do

with it? And so my uh my promise to them

with the taxpayer dollars was that we

were going to ensure that that money was

programmed into the fire bureau budget

in a way that they could see it. Uh so

this uh when we look at how we got to

these numbers in 2025 we budgeted for $5

million for capital fire protection.

We've been budgeting that since 2015,

2014. Uh, and prior to that, it was only

$598,000.

And that's when we saw that first

increase that was um supplemented with

our Act 47 and our receiverhip status.

That's that's when we got that first

kick to 5 million. We hadn't seen an

increase uh in that money since that

2014 2015 time frame. We have though

over the past uh six years asked for an

increase. Uh and that that increase uh

has never made it through the budget

process. Uh we did have support of the

local delegation but once it got into

committee uh it was uh typically removed

from the budget. So this year uh we

asked for uh $1.7 million based on the

rate of inflation. And so I laid out a a

spreadsheet for uh the appropriations

committee in the House and the Senate

and uh our local delegation wrote

letters of support and the number they

came up with was 2 million. Um so it's a

little bit more um than the rate of

inflation which was a great thing. Uh

the good news to that is that because of

the delay in the state budget process um

we did not realize that additional $2

million in revenue in 2025 yet. Now I

did submit the invoice last week. uh it

is at the Treasury office um to be

processed. So we expect payment shortly

um to help balance out the 2025 budget

of that five million that we were

anticipating. So we're using the $2

million additional dollars that was not

programmed this year and rolling that as

a uh in the 2026 budget. And then we're

also um anticipating as we do with

budgeting the additional $7 million uh

for the capital fire protection in 2026

which would cover 2026 2027 uh that we

submit in July. So that additional $2

million is where we come up with the $4

million in additional appropriation to

the fire bureau. So how did we break

that down? Uh and a couple of things at

the high level that we wanted to look at

was how do we invest it in our

personnel? how do we invest it in

education and how do we invest it in

capital expenditures uh that we haven't

been able to afford. So the breakdown

for that is the uh all of the bargaining

unit members in 2026

uh get a 4% contractual increase which

is two approximately $298,400.

We are proposing to finally fund three

unfunded firefighter trainee positions

in the fire bureau and they've been on

the books as unfunded positions. I

believe it's three years now that we put

those in. Uh we propose to fund those uh

at a total of about $173,394.

Uh those those uh trainees would start

in February. So there's a little bit of

savings there u from the uh first

month's salary.

We also are proposing an additional uh

administrative assistant to the fire

chief uh to assist uh with our records

and bookkeeping and scheduling and

answering the phones and everything

else. We currently only have one

administrative assistant uh for the

entirety of the fire bureau office, the

four fire chiefs, the fire inspector uh

and light duty. So we'd like to increase

that. That will give us some u some

latitude then. So whenever, ju just to

give you a real big overview, when our

administrative assistant is off, one of

the four fire chiefs has to answer the

phone. We have to take care of all the

scheduling. We have to take care of the

payroll stuff. Uh so this will give us

some depth uh in our abilities to do

that u that clerical uh type work, but

it will also be able to expand our

abilities for reporting. Uh much as the

law bureau has seen, our uh requests for

uh right to know has increased

dramatically. Um I get frustrated every

time I see one of those come down uh

because it takes a lot of work to go in

there, go through our different uh

reporting systems uh and uh you know to

get those out to the public which they

deserve. Um but it it takes time away

from what that administrative assistant

could be doing otherwise.

Uh so that is uh our breakdown of uh

addition to the personnel uh as as we

look at it. So how are we going to

invest in training and the the health

and wellness of our firemen? Uh so the

first line item uh and this was a

question uh that that one member had

asked the uh 42106 is our med

psychological uh evaluations. That that

line item uh was originally budgeted

$13,825.

that was to hire those six new fire or

three new firefighters at the time that

was going to pay for their medicals and

their psychological evaluations prior to

coming on the job. Uh what we're

proposing is uh and we had we had some

grant money about three years ago that

was a regional project um that we had

won for health and safety. We want to

offer and extend uh voluntary NFPA

physicals and cancer screenings up to

$140,000 to all members of our

bargaining unit. So we just uh there was

there was about 20 of us that went

through a throat cancer screening uh

about two months ago. Uh we saw again

about 20 uh participated in that. So

with that with that number, um we're

hopeful that we can encourage some more

because we know that that cancer and

health issues, particularly hearts, uh

I'm I'm a a living example of that, uh

heart issues, uh are plaguing

firefighters. And that's when we look at

firefighter fatality statistics across

the country, the number one killer is

heart attacks. Um followed then closely

by vehicle accidents and then cancers uh

post retirement.

Excuse me. So, we want to invest in our

firefighters and ensure that uh we're

keeping them healthy while they're here

and we're keeping them healthy until we

get them to retirement. Uh and that's

the uh so that's the additional 140,000

that will be in uh concert with uh more

than likely UPMC. They've been a great

partner uh in the past for our physicals

and we hope to continue uh working with

UPMC.

Uh we're also proposing a $20,000

increase in our training budget and

that's to allow uh our firefighters to

go to some more voluntary training uh

that we can pay for them to attend um

you know whatever that may be. We just

had several firefighters come back from

a high-rise conference uh in New York

City being taught by uh retired uh New

York City firefighters dealing with

fires and highrises. Uh so we pay for

those. Contractually we have to pay for

those uh training sessions. They don't

get paid to be there, but we pay for the

hotel, the the travel expense, and then

also the uh you know, any registration

fees that are there. Uh so this will

give more opportunity for our

firefighters to go beyond our 11.1

square miles and bring some information

back to us. and that's been very

successful uh over the last many years

of sending our firefighters out and uh

and then them bringing back uh and and

looking and seeing how we can implement

uh different ideas here in Harrisburg.

And uh one of the uh one of the things

that I'm I'm excited about uh is under

the contracted services is a $60,000

addition for the devel curriculum

development for uh firefighting steam

related curriculum that will be able to

deliver um in the schools um whether

it's Harrisburg school district or the

private schools in conjunction with also

looking at the arts uh at the fire

museum and and trying to get young folks

wanting to come into uh jobs both not

only in fire but in police and also

emergency medical services. We have a

great working relationship uh with UPMC

community life team EMS uh who has hired

many uh city residents now through their

uh academy program to be an EMT and we

hope to expand that and use an esteemed

curriculum uh the development of that

hopefully we can uh energize some other

youth in the city that wants to become

uh emergency responders. Interestingly

enough, uh while we were uh having a

short dinner right before this, I had a

text message from uh somebody that would

like to get their young 16-year-old

involved in how they can get uh more

involved with uh emergency services,

particularly here in Harrisburg. That

that's exciting uh that that we see that

and I think this will complement what

the police department's doing so that we

are trying to which we have failed at uh

as well as the police trying to bring

our own residents to protect our

residents uh and and I think that builds

a lot better community uh for us. Uh

moving on uh to building improvements

and capital projects. As you know, we've

been cashstrapped for one or two years

uh and uh our buildings were built in

1980. We've been investing a ton of

money over uh the last 10 years uh back

into those buildings to make them

livable, habitable, and uh quite frankly

safe for our firefighters. Uh so we are

proposing uh increasing we had $175,000

uh originally in the budget and we are

proposing 1.475 475 million to

accomplish uh quite a few projects uh in

our capital projects that have been

outlined for many years uh in our

capital projects. Uh so that includes

the station one bunk room uh bathroom

and the captain's office, station 2's

bunk room, bathroom and uh uh battalion

chief's office. Generator replacements

at fire station one and two. Fire

station 8 exterior roof replacements.

some electric switchge gear replacement

that was recommended in the uh capital

uh projects list for the city that was

conducted by an outside entity and a

concrete ramp replacement at either

station one or two whichever is deemed

uh in the most deplorable condition.

Excuse me. Uh we have to to complement

that the 1.475 475 million. Council

remembers just last week you approved

the SGS architects

uh proposal for uh station 2 bedroom and

bathroom. We're going to now that this

money has come to fruition, we're going

to ask for an addendum to that contract

to add the battalion chief's office uh

at station two to that as well as uh

station one. Um so that contract will be

increased uh to be able to do both of

these projects at one time which will

give us an economy of scale um to be

able to uh get one contractor to do

both. Uh and we'll be able to do it in a

way that it's going to last more than 5

years. Uh and that's that's what we're

pretty excited about. Additionally, um

to fund that, uh because we don't

believe that that's going to be quite

enough for the the variety of projects

that we have here that are significant

needs, uh we did apply and just

presented yesterday to the Dolphin

County Game Advisory Board and we are

asking for an additional $250,000

from uh Dolphin County to assist with

the station one project. Uh council will

recall we were awarded $58,000 from uh

the state fire commissioner's office for

to assist with the uh station 2 project.

Uh and then additionally uh in our grant

proposal for this year to the state fire

commissioner, we should be receiving

about $15,000 again to offset that cost

uh at station 2. So we're going to

cobble that all together. It's a I don't

want to call it a shell game, but you

we're bringing all these funds together

to try and accomplish a whole lot. And

then on top of that, um we're working uh

very closely with the Harrisburg

Volunteer Fireman's Relief Association,

which has been a uh extremely valuable

resource uh for us. Uh we have about 20

active volunteer firefighters in varying

capacities throughout the city. Uh and

we're able to use their funding uh to do

some projects. Uh what we anticipate

entering into a me memorandum of

understanding

uh will be to also put fire sprinklers

in all three fire stations uh in 2026.

Uh we're going to look at station 8 as

kind of a standalone and then we will

look at uh station one and two to be

installed in conjunction with the

bedroom and bathroom and office projects

uh as they go through. that way um we

don't have contractors coming in and

undoing what a contractor had just uh

put in. So I think it'll be a nice

seamless uh transition. It pushes it

down the road a little bit further for

us um than what we had forecasted the

sprinkler project was going to be, but I

think overall uh it's going to be

beneficial uh for the the outcome of the

total project. Uh moving on um we uh we

are uh adding 1.3 million for new

apparatus uh to replace ladder 2 which

we purchased back in 2015 and wagon 4 uh

which was purchased back in 2018. Uh

this money uh much like I talked about

with fireman's relief for the fire

sprinklers, this money will actually be

doubled. Um, so by the city spending the

1.3 million, we will get an additional

1.3 million from fireman's relief so

that we're able to afford these rigs.

The 1.3 million, just for clarification,

would not even buy one rig uh if the

city was buying it itself. Uh so that

1.3 million will be combined with the

money from Harrisburg Volunteer

Fireman's Relief as well as a draw down

uh of $500,000 from the uh from the fire

bureau's special operations fund which

is council remember last year 2025 was

the first year we made any contribution

to that fund for an apparatus

replacement program. So we will draw

down the needed funds from that uh in

this year's budget to balance whatever

we need to uh make those two purchases.

Uh we are looking uh and and for for

those u you know interested in in where

we're buying apparatus, we are actually

looking at a Pennsylvania based

manufacturer for one of the rigs. Uh the

other rig there are no manufacturers in

Pennsylvania. said a ladder truck will

be coming from out of state, but we're

looking to bring uh that engine company,

the wagon uh into uh Pennsylvania here

for uh building. So, it'll it will

maintain uh the vi viability of that

apparatus manufacturer here in

Pennsylvania. Uh and then the last uh

amount is $300,000

and this is again a transfer to the uh

apparatus replacement fund. that is

lives in the fire bureau special revenue

fund. Uh to uh and that's going to help

us again going down the road um to bank

a couple hundred thousand every year so

that we're not looking and draining the

general fund of a million dollars every

time we need to buy a fire truck. We're

doing that gradually. It's kind of like

a lease to own, but we're paying

ourselves to do it. Uh if you look at it

from that aspect. So out of that total

uh additional appropriation from the

state of $4 million, 3.965 of that uh is

going right uh into identified projects

for the fire bureau. And in full

disclosure, I will be sharing uh this

with um our local delegation as well as

uh those elected officials on the

appropriations committee, both the House

and Senate. I I actually talked with

some of them today in person uh and they

are absolutely um ecstatic um that we

have a document that shows um how we are

spending uh the taxpayer dollars that

are coming from the commonwealth which

is often questioned.

Uh with that I believe oh uh so our

goals uh yeah you can go on Jared I'm

sorry. Uh so our departmental highlights

and goals for 2026 uh are to continue

with our current staffing and response

model to continue that effective

response, continue to invest in

apparatus and equipment that best serves

our citizens, refresh our five-year plan

to help forecast future growth and

opportunities, enhance our training

programs and opportunities for all of

our members. Provide medical screenings

for all members. Invest in our capital

projects and continue community

engagement through our smoke alarm

installation program. carbon monoxide

alarm installations, street fairs, block

parties. Uh, one of our favorites and is

the backdrop for this particular slide,

National Night Out, which uh the the

police department has done an amazing

job with. Uh, station tours, which uh we

just I believe you saw nearly every

student from Lincoln School uh at

station 2 over the last three weeks. And

then uh any additional fire prevention

activities uh that we are able to be

involved in. And then the final slide is

uh what our performance metrics are and

uh again the NFPA 1710 uh staffing

response model. So that's looking at uh

both staffing and then that response

time uh to the incidents and we will be

having our ISO survey uh most likely in

2027 uh which looks at our staffing our

training complement our travel distance

and number of engine and truck

companies, the number of fire hydrants

and more importantly the inspection of

those fire hydrants uh by Capitol Region

Water, the tools and equipment and then

the testing of our pumps, aerials, hose

and ladders. All of which um with the

exception of the uh aerial devices are

done in-house. So our firefighters

actually conduct all these testings of

the pumps on an annual basis. Every foot

of hose that we have uh is tested

annually as well as every ladder that we

have uh on both our engine companies and

truck companies. Uh which is a

significant undertaking that if we were

to contract that out u is probably in

excess of $100,000 worth of work. So,

uh, they they do a great job. That helps

us again with that ISO rating, uh, which

at the end of the day gives lower

insurance rates to the, uh, citizens of

the city.

And with that, I will answer any

additional questions that you may have.

>> Thank you, gentlemen, very much. Uh, I

don't have any questions to begin with.

I will start to my far left again with

Councilman Jones.

>> Thank you, President Green. Um, what is

your name? Chief.

Now, thank you guys again. Um um always

you you come with a thorough um um

presentation. Um you and I obviously had

a conversation. So um you did explain

about uh the relief funds that you guys

got that that'll be matching funds for

buying the trucks which are very

expensive. Uh so thank goodness for

those uh matchings. Uh other thing that

I'll just ask you just the same

questions that I asked the police far as

um staffing I mean far as your staff

some of the numbers that aren't

reflected here of course again fire and

police have a large portion of our

budget so I look at the overtime numbers

um look at the you know uh firefighter

morale um and again I'll ask start with

the health and wellness are we doing

anything I know you have a bunch of

training things are we looking to make

sure um again that the firefighters

because you guys see a lot, police

officers see a lot. I've learned a lot

being able to come and spend some time

at uh some of your stations out there.

Um did a couple shifts with the guys and

got to learn a little bit more about

what they do and what they're faced with

every time they go out. And I think it's

very important that um even the city

itself, all of the employees here, all

of the administration, everybody, I

think health and wellness is something

uh huge. And to your point, when um you

send your guys out to the training, um

me and a few of my colleagues had an

opportunity to go out to Salt Lake City

uh last week uh to the National League

of Cities. Uh President Hill and I sat

into one of the first uh meetings. It

was uh public safety and this was a a

huge topic um to make sure that and

that's why I I continue to ask this

question. So, um, do you have any plans

or do you have a program with some of

the funding that's here made available

to look into the health and wellness

area?

>> So, yeah, I'll address it on several

fronts. Um, so because the city is

self-insured, um, we do have and are

mandated by our insurance carrier, uh,

excess insurance carrier to have a

safety committee. So, we have what's

called our joint training and safety

committee, uh, JTSB, J joint training

and safety board. Um, and actually we

meet tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock. Uh

so we look at all aspects of uh training

and safety uh at that uh at that and

that's comprised of both labor and

management uh as well as members at

large from the fire bureau and uh we

meet every other month and uh I think

some of the big things that have come

out of that we are uh rewriting some

SOGS uh we are looking at uh

better looking at uh near miss

incidents. So when we have a fire where

somebody gets hurt or we have a fire

where somebody nearly gets hurt, we are

looking at them more in depth to try and

learn uh and then educate uh why this

happened, how this happened. Uh and and

that has been fairly successful over the

years. I think we're getting better at

that. Uh the the use of technology back

in the day um you know it was just a

written report with no pictures to it.

Right now we're able to put together you

can literally do 3D stuff inside of a

building if you want to. So it it's

getting a lot more detailed and then we

you know more importantly we learn from

that. Uh and I think as we continue to

build this uh and and that's what uh

Chief Wise is is one of his in his

wheelhouse as deputy chief of training

is working on these afteraction reports

and then also even on the minor fires

where where nobody may have got uh

injured looking at those what went right

what went wrong. Um in the big world we

three ups three downs. Uh and that that

also helps us to build and understand

better where we can provide the $140,000

for the physicals and cancer screening

is going to be significant boost for us.

I think that's our baseline and uh we

were hopeful Dolphin County uh fire

chief's association working with Dolphin

County was trying to bring in a u kind

of a we have a peer support group as

well that that uh many of our members

went to. I think there's about 10 of

them that went through to peer support

um that has proven to be invaluable um

because of the things that we see um you

know the stuff that our guys see on a

daily basis you can't unsee and

Councilman Jones is well aware of this

as is Councilman Rodriguez from the the

calls that you guys have been on uh the

stuff that uh our emergency responders

because I don't want to forget about

them police fire and EMS uh and and EMS

uh in this city see some horrific things

daily. Uh and that stuff builds up

inside of you. And uh we do see a

significant

uh uh we do see significant number of

unfortunately EMS police and

firefighters committing suicide. We look

at the numbers of firefighters that

commit suicide annually. It's more than

those killed in a line of duty. Um so we

want to make sure that we're providing

for that. Uh unfortunately, I don't

believe that the funding is going to

come through from the county uh to fund

that. So, we may look at taking a slice

of this funding um to look and bring

that in-house uh and just make it a fire

bureau centric u and and that's

something we have to wait and see on

over the next couple months whether the

county is able to fund that or not. But

uh it it is so important and you know it

uh it is that important that the uh

governor just signed a bill that uh PTSD

is now a work-related injury for fire,

police, and EMS. Uh which it never was

before. It was considered u part of your

job. Um which it is, make no mistake

about it. However, we never looked at

the psychological impact. Absolutely.

And and we unfortunately uh one of our

retirees did commit suicide after he

left here. Um so when you look at that

that that hits home and um you know

there's there's been multiple EMS uh uh

members in central Pennsylvania have

committed suicide u as well as police

officers. So it's something we need to

invest in. If we're if we're saying

we're truly invested in our people which

is our greatest asset then we also need

to address those issues that may not be

so fun to talk about.

>> Okay. Um, another thing, uh, this is

again just my observation being at some

of the stations. Um, um, I did tell them

that I would ask these questions as far

as, uh, staffing in the capacity of

where we're at, um, in in in the, uh,

burrow and those, uh,

man, mutual aid. I got it this time.

Mutual aid services, right? Got to keep

thinking about that. Um, and how they're

um, actually turning out for you guys. I

know it's a it's a huge help for for for

us. Um and I couldn't say this on record

that your response time is excellent. I

actually witnessed it. I couldn't

believe it when you showing those

numbers. I didn't think you were telling

a lie or anything, but just watching it

and then being able to experience the

the response time of how quick you guys

were on the scene, even with that mutual

aid response. Um, you know, there's some

concern in that, you know, where where

you have some fire stations that don't

have paid uh fire uh, you know, u

firefighters or whatnot. And we do. Um,