City Council - Special Meeting

Everyone stand. At this time, we have a moment of silence. [snorts] Thank you. If you will join me in the pledgece to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. And be seated. We will follow the agenda as written uh to this um city council work session special meeting Wednesday like I just did be sure to turn on your mics when you're speaking and when you're not speaking if you would uh also So turn those off so we don't get the back noise from that. Uh we have called uh the meeting to order at this time. Madame clerk, would you please have roll call?

Yes. Mrs. Wilkins Brent here. Mr. Crisp here. Mrs. Ham present. Mr. Hampton here. Mr. Minky present. Mrs. Lesby Mitchell here. Mrs. Tingles here. Mr. Stein here. And next we have on item three on the agenda, approval of minutes January 28, 2026 special meeting. At this time, council, I will entertain a motion. Motion made by Mr. Hampton. Do I have a second? I'll second. Second made by Miss Brandt. Are there further questions and or comments? All those in favor of this motion signify by saying I. I.

Those opposed say nay. Let the record reflect that that motion passed. Item number four is the uh Georgetown Fire Department Station number four presentation. Chief Seth Johnson is here with us this afternoon, excuse me, this evening to present this to us. And at this time, if we all give our attention to him once again, if your microphones, if you will turn them off would be great. And then when you have a question, please turn them on. [snorts] Chief, it's all yours. Thank you, Mayor Council. Appreciate this time with you all this afternoon, this evening. May I approach? We got one more map.

Yes, you may approach the bench. I mean, you may approach.

Thank you, sir. Okay, I brought a pointer here tonight. I don't know if I'll really need it if it's this close um to you. So, we'll if I need it, I'll use it. First of all, I want to appreciate again you all's time this evening, this afternoon. Um, before I get started, I do want to say this is not the first time this has been brought before council. However, it's my first time. Looking back at prior presentations, I did some research and try to want to make this um very as simple as we can make it, right? But obviously give it the the attention that it deserves because it's it's a big decision, right? So, it needs data, it needs thought, it needs input. So, uh, and then with that said, I also want to state thank my staff for helping me over the last month. I've probably been a little out of rate at times, maybe or hard to deal with, but I want the data and sometimes it's hard to get. So, we just have to work together to get it. And, um, as well as planning and zoning, they're usually in that corner. They're not here tonight. However, Miss Whitley Kelner, I believe, she's helped me tremendously with these maps and the maps that are in front of you this evening. So, I do want to give them a shout out. So, with that said, let's dive into it. Uh, so we Yeah, you got the next slide. Thank you. One second. Let me get this out of my way. All right. All right. So, the outline this evening, what we'll talk about a little bit, I want to discuss our current fire protection model, right? What what do things look like right now, uh, station 4 at Lexus Way, what that would look like. I also want to talk a

little bit about the old Oxford corridor. That's where we're seeing a large growth over the last decade or so or more. Uh, relocating station number two. I know that was brought, it was a question that was brought to me, so we wanted to dive into that and provide that data as well. Uh we'll look at the call volume, current call volume, past call volume, uh future projections as well, and then some operational staffing benchmarks, looking at mutual aid limitations, uh ISO. We won't dig too deep into ISO, but I did want to bring it to your attention. And then we'll talk about a little bit of timeline here between the construction of station 4 and how that could pair up with the safer grant and then obviously a summary and any Q&As's. But feel free to stop me at any moment if you'd like if you have a question. Uh, next slide, please. So, our current fire protection model, if you look at station number one, everyone knows where this is just right down the road here. Uh, this former fire, EMS, and police was rebuilt in 2005. We're currently remodeling this station to house all of our admin offices, a code enforcement, the prevention bureau. This will also house engine number one, a backup or reserve engine. It will also house our swift response unit as well downtown. Um, but at the end of the day, we'll have five duty on five on duty personnel each day for a 24-hour shift. Four personnel assigned to one and a battalion chief. And this station is 21 years old. Like I said, it was remodeled in 2005. And we're currently rehabbing some areas of that station as well. [snorts] Next slide, please. Uh, station number two, our oldest station out on Morgan Mill Road, built in 1990, shortly after Toyota arrived. This houses engine two, truck one, and hazmat one. We have two captains and six firefighters per shift at this location. And like I said, it is our oldest station at 36 years old. Station number three, uh, there at

Jacob's Drive, which is formerly Airport Road, opened in 1996. This is the most current, I guess, firehouse that the city of Georgetown has built. Houses engine number three. We also have a big building out back. It houses our brush truck, our trench trailer, a hazmat trailer. We have a special deployment trailer as well. We keep a lot of equipment in that building. Uh, and it's at that station currently. [snorts] This has one engine. Engine number three. Obviously has one captain, three firefighters per shift. And like I mentioned, this is 30 years old. Next slide, please. And then here's a rendering of the proposed fire station that was done about two years ago. As you can see, it's there attached with the EMS facility there at the Lexus Way location. Uh this is designed for present and future growth. It would be a proposed engine location, a future ladder company location if the trend called for that. [snorts] Uh and then what I would propose is one captain, three firefighters per shift at this location. [snorts]

Chief, just request real quick. So you said it's built for growth. How much growth can it uh I think I think we'll dive into that. Okay. In some future slides. Uh next slide please.

So I want to talk a little bit about the NFPA 1710. Uh some of you may have heard this before, maybe not. I don't want to get too deep into the weeds on this, but basically we have standards, right? Every organization has something that they live by, something that they try [clears throat] to live up to. We live up to NFPA. They have there's hundreds and hundreds of standards that we live up to within their that uh organization. Uh 1710 is a form response standard. Okay? And a deployment standard, personnel standard. If you look at your next slide, don't turn the slide just yet, but if you look at your next piece of paper, there should be a full slide there on FPA 1710 that you can probably read better. I want to point your attention down to the bottom left corner. Key performance objectives for fire response. This basically says your objective, your goal is to be on scene within four minutes of a call. Now, that does not include your turnout time, getting ready, getting dressed, right? 5 minutes and 20 seconds includes your turnout time. What this four-minute response says is when you leave the station, when our personnel go in route, that's when the clock ticks. Okay? So remember that when we go into this four-minute response map that we're getting ready to head into, okay? Because this is what I'm basing the data on is areas outside of our four-minute response, okay? The gaps that we currently have. [snorts] Next slide, please. So when you're looking at the need for a fire station, there's really two methods, right, for justifying the need for a new fire station. Number one, your response times, right? 90% of the time, you want to be within four minutes. So, we take a look at that. We dive a little bit deeper into it and say, "Okay, where are we not meeting this objective?" Correct. And then number two is the service delivery and increased call volume. And I'm going to show you both of those as we move forward here.

So, our current I'm sorry. So, is there a standard for service delivery

um as far as call volume? Yeah. So what that would be is so for example you could have one of these um you might actually be within your 9% of response but let's say for example station one is noticing a huge increase in call volume over the years and now because they're out they're so busy or maybe they're the backup engine the next nearest engine say station three is out as well it is prohibiting us from meeting that four-minute response maybe in that one district. So that's why you would add there would be a need the justification to add a station in that district. You might not have a gap necessarily, a map gap if that makes sense, right?

But because the increased caller volume in that district, you would want to add another station there. We don't have that currently.

Does that answer your question? Okay. So, going back to the current next slide, please. And you can go one more, please. So, our current four-minute response, which I gave you the larger map, okay, that should be that should read stations G1, G2, and G3 in the top left corner. It'll look just like this, but you just have a smaller version. So, if you look at your map there, what this shows is our current fire protection model. Okay, you have station one in the middle, station three down here. south side and station two over here. And you can see it's shaded obviously different colors and you can see the key in the top left corner there. That is our format response zone based on distance and speed limit. Okay, I know that a lot of people think we go 70 miles an hour from start to finish. That's not reality. Okay. Uh but this is a 4-minute response map. Uh and this is backed up by some calls. I just kind of pulled some calls out of thin air on our niffers reporting and said, "Okay, does this kind of match up?" And for sure we've got five, six, seven minute response times in Pleasant Valley uh on structure fires, right, that I can provide to you if if need be. But anyway, I wanted to double check that to make sure this was accurate. Anything you see shaded here in the gray right on the west side, the north and west side, I'm sorry, the north and the east side, as well as the west side over here, that's everything that's outside of our current format response zone. So, what I consider our gaps. Okay, if you'll look at the screen, you can probably go to keep the same slide, but in your packets, move over to where it says current fourm minute response gaps. This is listed out on that paper what the gaps are on the east side and the

west side. Right? We have gaps in both locations, but you can see where our largest gap is between the two and that's over here on the east side. Uh you're looking at 1300 residential units. You're looking at the old Oxford corridor which includes Pleasant Valley, the Mintwood, the Abbey at Old Oxford, portions of Cherry Blossom Village, and the list goes on and on. uh commer that's all residential commercial side of things you're looking at the entire lanes run business park is outside the format response the new RNL carrier trucking facility um the new Oxford elementary school that's currently being built will be outside of our format response zone as well if you look at the west side again about 1300 residential units that's going to be tipped like in the very very back of Canewood back side of the colony and back part of the Derby estates Those are the areas that are outside our current fourminute response zone. [snorts]

Yeah, absolutely. I can make reference to it. Seth, um, could I ask a quick question, please? Um, Great Crossing High School and and Scott County High School. Are they outside the uh four minutes?

Well, okay, great question. So, a little caveat there. The way these maps are also built is by uh road coverage, right? So, if you look on the map, let me look here. You can see where Scott County High School is. Um I would need to confer there with with Whitley, but you can see how [snorts] Long Lick is is highlighted. It's probably better on that map or I wish I had a magnifying glass for you all. I'm sorry because I can barely see it myself, but it is Sky High School is right here. So you can see it's shaded all the way to the circle there.

Okay. So yes, we can get into Sky High School because there's not like a dedicated road at the school for them to highlight by their their maps the way they generate their maps. They are they are inside. Yes. Yes. Now, but like if you look down here when you have roads like north for Boulevard, all these roads out she way in the back of the derby because they have a name to that street there that's not highlighted. That's outside the pretty much the entrance there. Any other questions while over here? I'm sorry.

Great crossings. Yes. Yes. You can see see it's shaded here all the way out. So that is within our four months. Yes. Are you looking on the right map? Because all three of them say that at the top. G2 G3.

They all say that though. So this is the shad. Yes. Yes.

Yeah. You see how the road shaded there? You really can't see it on this map, but it is shaded right across this. Okay, good. Move on. All right, so you see obviously the gaps we have between the east and west side. Next slide, please. So, we'll move into the format response with a station now at Lexus Way. Okay, you should have another map in front of you that says G1 G2, G3, and proposed G4. That's with Lexus Way station. That's with station 4 at the Lexus Way. As you can see, that entire north northeast side that was outside of our four minutes is now highlighted in blue, which would be within our four-minute response. If you remember the gap slide two slides ago. Next slide, please. This is what that would do to those gaps with station 4 at Lexus Way. Everything

with a red line through it now would would now be within the 4-minute response. We'd go from 1300 residential homes on the east side down to about 470. All of Pleasant Valley would now be within my 4-minute response. The same thing with Mintwood, the same as portions of Cherry Blossom Village. When we get into the Old Oxford corridor discussion here in a second, I'll talk a little bit about the Lexus Way expansion because that would also be a game changer in this area. The Abbey at Old Oxford currently about 90% within the four minutes with this station. With the expansion of Lexus Way, all of it would be would be within four minutes. Um the same thing with the villages that lanes run would be within my four minutes with the Lexus Way expansion. You can see all 50 commercial sites now would be within um look at the west side. Ironically, I wasn't expecting this. Ironically, even with the station 4 at Lexus Way, I can get deeper into Derby Estates now because I can cut straight across Champion Way and get a little further into it. That's going to take your residential units down slightly, right? I'll still have those gaps. However, I'm looking at the greater good here. What what what's the largest area that I can protect, right? And obviously, it's going to be the east side. [snorts]

Next slide, please. Chief, yes. Sorry. The S1, the station up Dela Plane, Scott County. Yes. What is their response time to the area that would be covered under the proposed G4? Okay. And so I have that just in case you all asked. So there's actually two stations you can look at. Station four in the county and station one, which is what you're referring to.

Yes. Yeah, that's

Thank you. Does everybody have So, if you look at the top, we'll we'll address um Council Councilman Hampton's question first. Look at County Station One. That's all in green as you can see on that map there. And that would be their four-minute response. Uh it helps me a little bit coming around uh Cherry Blossom there into the into that curve. However, the residential units that you see that is the gap, they cannot get there within four minutes. If you look at the next map that you have, county station 4 off New Town, [snorts] those are the two nearest county stations in that area. You can see how far they can come over within a 4-minute response as well.

Homestead. Yes. They're a little farther out. I don't think they can get They're a lot farther out. Yeah. I I honestly I don't know. I didn't run that station. I did not. But I I can get that for you very easily. I'd be surprised, but yeah, that's pretty that's pretty far out. Yeah, I I ran these numbers or or these maps because of the gap on that side of town knowing those were the two closest fire stations in the county that could potentially help us. But the map's speed from

U. Did you did you run the the um [clears throat] the clo the gaps closed with the county station as opposed if if you if you if the station went on the the west side. Um you follow what I'm saying? The gaps closed on the west side. Well, if if Yeah. If you look at the county station covering the gaps here. Yes. Did you run that analysis with the east vers east side versus west side what it would do there from county station one? Yes. I did not. I can look at the map and tell you it would it would eat into the commercial properties a little bit. It looks like none of the residential

on the on county station one and county station 4. It would eat into some residential Rocky. Looks like Rocky Creek Reserve maybe Elhorn Green. They they basically can get to Connector Road [snorts] coming down 460, but they wouldn't get any of the gap that we currently have. No. Station four. No. station one they would get some commercial gaps but not the far east side. No. No. Okay. All right. Thank you.

No sir. But just Google maps. So how reliable is that from homestead to best crossing high school? Yeah. Yeah. But the one thing remember two separate department. Sure. two separate, two separate governments. You really can't you really can't count on their numbers. You can't count on them [snorts] just just being fully transparent on everything. They're just backup. Yeah, they're just a backup.

But but Greg, I think you're making a great point, especially for future consideration because if if you look at this one Yes, sir. This is with the station 4. County, we talking about county station 4. County Station 4. Yes, sir. And and then you add in city station 4. Yes. The when you further connect Lexus Way on out to its full potential uh for, you know, connecting out to 922 uh out in the future. that really shows a lot of potential

uh service and coverage and and forethought in being able to strategically do some things. So, thank you, Chief. Okay, next slide, please. [clears throat]

So, let's get into the I guess the old Oxford corridor conversation. We've kind of already touched base a little bit on this. Uh this is a map here uh of your single family residential units yet to be built. Again, these are the areas outside the format response. Pleasant Valley 96, Mintwood 206, the Avy at Old Oxford 110. I just wanted to show you a little bit of this here. Again, we kind of already discussed this from through some questions that that you all already had. Next slide, please. [snorts] This is just the same map with multifamily residential units yet to be built. The Abbey at Old Oxford. I know there's a a large uh town home, apartment complex, subdivision type thing going in on the corner there at the Abby at Old Oxford. Again, outside the form response. So, with these additions, that's just more people. It's just it's just more risk. And next slide, please. And this is the map that I was talking about earlier about the Lexus Way expansion. If you'll see, like I said, it be a gamecher and I I can't speak on the grant writing of things. However, I would I would think it would be helpful for the for the grant to to be able to say in the grant, you know, we have a fire station here that would obviously help them to get over to these areas. I think that would be beneficial as well. I I I have been told there's some potential residential expansion there north of 460 and east of old Oxford. That's that big red area with the lines through it. As you can see the arrow, the red arrow that's coming over Lexus Way across Champion, I'm sorry, across Cherry Blossom and Oxford, not old Oxford. That expansion I could get, you could see how easily I could get across town and then go north or south. So that that would that would be a game changer. Like I said, next slide, please.

Okay, your next slide, the map in front of you that you'll need should be G1, G2, I'm sorry, G1, G3 and G2 at Lexus Way. This is moving, right? Not building a new station. This would be simply moving a station. It would be moving station two to Lexus Way. Should be G1, G3, and G2 of Lexus Way. You

have g2. [snorts] Well, that's not good. G13 G4. Okay, that's G1, G3, G4. That'd be I'm sorry. That's the same thing. It's just two different I'm sorry. Yeah, that'd be it.

I thought I was I double check those a thousand times.

So, what that does again, I'm sorry. What that does is move station two to Lexus Way. Again, does not add a new station. We're just taking we're relocating station two to see if it would help. That creates gaps. About what almost,200 residential homes. Those would all be in the Rocky Creek, Rocky Creek Reserve, Elhorn Green, Villages at Lanes Run, Sutton Place, Overlook Apartments. Those now would be outside the four-minute response. And it's like you can see on the map now, you've now shifted uh a little bit to the to the east. I guess it' be like southeast uh and create more gaps. I don't think we want to do that. I think the goal here is to close the gaps, not create more. [laughter]

There you go. Next slide, please. So let's dive into the data, right? The first, like I said in the beginning, there were there were two justifications, right, for a fire station, a new fire station. One is talking about the fourm minutee response times. The second one is your increased call volume, you know, your service delivery, right? Historically, and this is departmentwide, you can see here 1996, that was the last time we built a fire station. That's why I picked that number. We had about 1,200 runs a year, about 15,000 people. Uh that's again that's when station 3 was put into operation. Fast forward to to today, you're looking at about 4,000 calls a year. Estimated population 41,000. Since we added a station in 1996, our our run volume has increased 240%. [snorts] If you look at future population and some run volume estimates, 2030 with about 45,000 people, you're looking at about 4,300 runs. uh add five more years if we continue the trend roughly 48,000 people about 4,700 runs a year. So if we continue this trend obviously we're just going to keep growing. The more we expand obviously the more runs we're going to have the more people we you know we need to protect.

Yeah. So Chief, are those broken down at all in terms of the types of runs and the location? Not in this presentation, but I can get you that. Yeah. This is this is total runs. Yeah. Yeah. Because again I I it's a valid point. Sure. you know, obviously, but also, you know, you do have different types of things that you respond to. Yes. And where you respond, you know, where the location is of that would be part of that, of course. As well. So, the uh Okay. Thank you.

I if if you want some specific on that, I'm more than happy to get that for you. Maybe not necessary, but just the sheer fact that numbers just don't tell that complete story is is the point. Gotcha. So, without looking at Yes, sir. Next slide, please. [clears throat]

So, I wanted to dive into district two, right? Not just the overall of the department because this is the area that we're focused on, right, for these gaps. Uh 2008, you're looking about 500 calls a year. Fast forward what about 17 years you're looking at over,200 runs a year now up 45% in the last 10 years in that district alone just in district two which is current station two all that side that we're talking about where the gaps are these are the numbers a lot of traffic uh residential right a lot of residential obviously huge huge ton of residential and then I went into a little deeper next slide please Because I honestly I was a little curious myself on this one. Where did we stack up as far as station? Station one, station two, station three correlates to district one, two, and three, right? How how do we look overall? Next slide, please. I'm sorry, you can previous slide. You all in your packet should have this. Okay. So if you look at the district number one, district number two, district number three, these are all calls from year 2022 to year 2025. I just kind of wanted to see again where we were at each station. Uh on average downtown here, we are outside of a 4-minute response time about 25% of the time. Um, I looked into that because I've noticed our turnout time was a little longer than the other two stations and it dawned on me. Well, we're upstairs. We're upstairs at station one. The time it takes to get out of bed wherever they are upstairs and get downstairs and dressed adds to that time. That's going to change here when we fix uh when we do phase two at station one. And we'll be bringing the members downstairs. So, we'll be able to respond quickly. No, I'm talking about our turn. I was looking at our turnout time, the minute

and 20 seconds because it's it's an overall I I noticed that our turnout time was larger. This does not apply. Yes, you're right. It does not apply to the four minutes, but I just noticed our turnout time. Uh station two, well, let's come back to station two or district two. District three on average about 23% of the time. And then district two, the area that we're talking about here, it it all kind of adds up. we're 30% of the time outside that four-minute response. So, um, you know, I was trying to find my own holes to be quite honest and it's it's hard to find.

Right. So, you know, looking at the data there. So, is there categories of why you didn't hit the four minutes, you know, traffic? Yes, there could be. You know, all those kinds of things. I ran some numbers was not including this because I thought, okay, maybe it's time of day is what uh prevented us from being in that location with under four minutes. What I was looking at was only structure fires. And ironically, and I can provide this, I just didn't put put it in here. Yeah. I think I ran times from like um 6:00 a.m. to 6P and then 6P to 6A and it was it was pretty equal.

It really was. So, because we do have the Toyota 500, right, at about 3:00 in the afternoon, going out that side of town, traffic is a nightmare, right? If you're going out in Old Oxford, just the narrow lane, right? We have to slow down. We got a 72,000lb truck that has to drive out there with four four or five people in it. They got to take it slow, right? So, yes, that does add to that factor for sure. Um, you mentioned um structure fires. Do you know, you didn't break these down in types of calls. Yes. Do you have a sense for what how what percentage of calls are structure fires? Uh yes. Well, about 14%. Okay. [snorts]

About 86% I believe are medical in nature.

Uh next slide please. I wanted to include this. These are operational staffing benchmarks. You know, a lot of times we kind of look around and say, "Okay, how are other communities our size performing?" Right? I think it's a fair question to ask and to see where how we stack up. So I said, "Okay, let's take the top 10 cities, but we really can't compare ourselves to Lexington and Louisville as far as population goes, right?" So then we went down the list from three down to 10. Bowling Green, Owensboro, Coington. You see the list there. This is ranked by population. And you can see where Georgetown lands right right in the middle. Okay, about 40,000 people. It's probably, you could probably argue that we might even be ahead of Coington now in population. I'm not quite sure, but uh that that's not the point. The point here on this slide is to show you the 40,000 people. U we have three stations. Compared to others our size, they have four. Right? If you're looking at Richmond, Elizabeth Town, Florence, Nicholsville, but less population. I thought one of the biggest telltale signs here if you're looking across the board on the top 10 cities or I guess the the the top 10 cities excluding Lexington Louisville is the ratio of station per their population. And right now Georgetown has one fire station per 13,340 people. The average out of these cities is one fire station per 9,652 people. with an additional fire station, we could reduce that number down to one station per 10, five people. Um, I also wanted to look at this and say, okay, do they have a county fire department? And as you can see in that column, some have volunteer, some have a mix, which is a career and a volunteer. And then that last uh column, the FBMS,

that's a firebased EMS. Uh the only one here on this list, I'm sorry, the only one that stacks up to us, if you look at Covington, where the numbers don't really match up with five stations, uh and Covington runs three on an apparatus is because of that firebased EMS, their buggies, the ambulances that we call them. They they're also firefighters, obviously. They have gear inside. They also respond to those fires, right? So, they're counting that personnel, which we don't have. You know, we're not a firebased EMS. So anyway, I I thought this was helpful to look at if you wanted to know how we stacked up across other communities our size, you know, in in our area. Seth, I got one question. Chief, I'm sorry. I got one question for you.

Uh, in regards to firebased EMS, do you see it happening here? Oh, Todd, [laughter] I'll open the can of worms. I I listen with all with all respect, I'm not the policy maker. Don't get Don't get me wrong, I think they do a great job. They do a great job. like that that would be I think a larger discussion between obviously city council the the county right it's interlocal now um I think you know that

that I'll have to kind of steer away from as a policy you know I'm the chief the fire chief we work well with them we do great work with them we train with them uh there are times when we get on scene a lot of times before them and that's why we respond to medical calls because the way that we're positioned throughout the city uh so we have to train together Um well and I know that that you know a lot of the a lot of municipalities are heading in that direction. I just you know and nothing against them. They do great work. Absolutely. You know I I I too worked with them for many many years. you know, I just didn't know if if your thoughts do you see this happening or is it you know,

I I don't see the I mean, right now if you're asking me like I don't see there being necessarily the need. Okay. Right. That's just my my opinion. Yeah. Uh like you said, they they do well. We work well with them together. I don't I don't see like a deficiency, I guess. Okay. All right. Thank you, sir. Oh, Chief, you have an aster, you have an asterisk down below. New fire station open 2026 for Elizabeth Town. Yes. In Florence. So, that will give them five. Correct. Is that correct? Yes, exactly. Yes, sir. Okay. Yes, sir. Was that correct? You talked to town, I believe.

Yeah. Um, quick question just to understand when they do have a county fire department, do they have an interlocal agreement or do they serve different areas? I did not um I'm sure I did not ask the actual question like how how do they help or how they how they might not help. Um, I would imagine they still have like a automatic aid agreement. It might not necessarily be an interlocal, but it be like an automata automatic aid and mutual aid agreement because all departments around us, I mean, you know, we all help one another if it comes down to it. Yeah, that's that's what I'm Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

So, Tammy, I just happened to sit next to uh the person that does personnel for the Bowling Green Fire Department um the other day. Oh, yeah. And so, we had a nice conversation and they now have career plus volunteer. Oh, in the in the county. In the county. Okay, good. In Morgan County and you know, they've got a number of small communities. I used to live down there, so I'm familiar with them. Yeah. If you look and see, they have 40 square miles to cover. Right. Right. It's it's a big area. It's a big area. It's all of Warren County.

Absolutely. Absolutely. But one of the unique things that they did, to your point, Tammy, is the county and Bowling Green have an agreement, a onemile agreement um from the city. So there's a a more definitive um mutual response in that kind of buffer area because of potential growth and future growth and and those kinds of things to be able to have the four-minute response and those kinds of things. So

okay, next slide. Next slide, please. This kind of gets into the conversation. I I include this only because it's always been a topic of conversation. I started here in 2006 and I remember on day one, right, talking about mutual aid, automatic a because I was learning learning what it meant really. Um, you know, the role of mutual aid is support obviously, right? It's not primary coverage. Um, we work very well together. You know, Chief Ward is my former captain, right? When I first got on, he he taught me the ropes. Um, however, at the end of the day, you know, I'm I'm here to provide coverage and provide uh the the information, right, for the city of Georgetown, right? My my territory is this jurisdiction, right, of the city of Georgetown. Um, so, you know, there's days I don't know what county fire department, how they're staffed, right? I don't know what their apparatus is like. Um, you know, at the end of the day, I think mutual aid is a safety net, right? We have to use it. Automatic aid, we have automatic aid agreements in place already. Uh, we will use those. Chief Ward and I already we're having conversations already on expanding some of these automatic aid agreements. So um but again I think at the end of the day it's it it mutual aid is a safety net right it's not our primary focus or should not in my opinion be our primary focus to provide fire protection to the city citizens. So can you expand a little bit more on kind of the automatic

sure agreements that we have especially when we think about it from the south y you know south of the bypass as well as north because I know you know we had agreements at Toyota uh up there on the north end as well. Yes. So it it it's kind of simple really um on structure fires any structure fire in in the county or the city. So, if there's a fire in the city, the county will send us uh one one unit, one engine, right, to help out. We do the same for the county. If they have a fire in the county, right? I'm not going to send all my units. And now the city's left without anything. We send them help until things get under control, then we'll be the first ones that clear out the county, just like they would be the first ones to clear out the city to get back to their house. Right. Right.

If it calls for, if let's say it's a bigger fire and we might ask, hey, can you send two? Right. The second alarm. We need more engines. uh they they will send additional help just like we would send additional help, right? It it it happened last year about this time in Sadieville. Uh to the point where we actually had to call Lexington to come and help us, right? That was a mutual aid. Anything mutual aid is if you pick up the phone and call for help. If it's not an automatic aid agreement that's already in place, you pick up the phone and call them, that's considered a mutual aid agreement. Okay. Um on the south side again since I've since I've been here we have always responded this city has always responded south of the bypass especially down to the trailer park where there's a population there because engine 3 can get there in minutes right the nearest county engine is county station 4 which is New Town

all the way over to say L road takes them several minutes right the right thing to do if somebody's having a heart attack down there at L road they don't care if it's a county fire or a city are right. The right thing to do is go and help, right? So that's why we have those agreements in place. Understanding though at the end of the day, we're not going to send everything we have right to the county unless it obviously called for it, right? If that was the need, we'd figure it out. Uh but there's a balance there for sure. [snorts] And this [clears throat] is also based upon availability. So if you have an instance where you you handling a big fire in in the city,

you may not be able to send them anybody because you're dealing with that correct and they may not be able to send anybody. So it is very important that we have protection for our people here first and then when we need aid we can aid. Yeah. There's a exactly right. We don't simultaneous like availability. We we just don't know what that's going to do. Right. And if we tax everything that we have, all our resources go to one location, I don't feel like I'm doing a good service to the to the city of Georgetown.

Yeah. So, when you're talking about mutual aid, um there's no monetary um compensation if the city ends up as we probably do, especially if we make all of the initial runs to to some of the places and we have more people on the truck and we there's is there a financial imbalance that the city incurs versus the county even with mutual aid agreements or is that just a crazy question? That's not No, it's not a crazy question at all. I don't have the answer for you. It's not a crazy question. Um because you'd have to look at okay, how many times are we making a call to the county? Right.

Right. And how many times are they coming to us to really look at the imbalance? Um I can tell you that we make on average about 300 calls a year to the county. Um I I'd have to tell I'd have to go back and look at the data to find out how many times they come to us, right? No, that that's a great question though. If we have four people on the engine, that's fuel. It's a lot of things. That's a lot of things. Correct. Right. So, you know, you would you might have probably double the calls that they're coming in to the city for. That's maybe a fair That's probably a fair estimate. I know we do about 4,000 calls a year now and they do about 2,000. So, yes, we I just think it would be nice to have those numbers.

Okay. and a cost estimate of that, the numbers of the comparison of how many times we respond to the county versus how many times they come to us and and how it might impact Sure. uh our [snorts] financial output. Yeah. Because on the other end, like on the north end, they're going to respond a lot more on the north end. So, let's say like on the north end, for example, if you're going um Cincinnati Pike, that'd be a good example, right? They have County Station One right there, right? They're going to go north. Uh if there's a fire, let's say in Satieville, um Malard Point, we're going to send Engine One

will go to help. Yes. Now, a medical call? No. Because they've got a county station there, right? There's no reason to. Right. But I mean, it's gas. It's It's a lot of things. Yeah. Yes, ma'am. But but on the north end, you do have to remember though that the number of times that there's a fire in the county is probably less than the city. Onethird or one quarter of the times that there's a fire in the city when the county comes to the city. Yeah, that's why I think it would be interesting just to see the the shakeup of it. And you got to look at population, too. You look at more populated area here, the city of Georgetown, and you're going to have more to deal with than you going to have there. So I mean if that's something to keep in mind.

Yeah. If it cost if they have an extra we have an extra person on the truck and we're going a hundred times and they have of one fewer on the truck and they're coming 300 times. Sure. Right. Then it's going to come out opposite. Yeah. The staffing, right? The staffing is going to be different depending on the day. I mean it changes every single day between their staffing and our staffing. Yeah. Uh, but I can probably try to get you a a good estimate like an average.

We looked at this as probably about the time that you were hired on. We looked at this once before and it was at that time it was costing the city more than it was. We were aiding we were aiding this the county more than the county was aiding us and the difference was at that time we always had we were trying to keep the four on the truck and they did not at that time. So it was costing the city more then. But like you said, how many years you been here? was 21 years ago. So, it would be interesting. I agree. Would be interesting to see that uh what the difference is these days. Okay. For sure. I'll work on that. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Any other questions on this particular Yes. The north end as far as Oh,

the explanation like you did on the south end. Okay. Well, it's on the north. Well, I guess the south end is a good example because we have a city fire station that's closest to the county line on the south end. the north end, we're going to go help them on fires, right? Not any medical calls unless, you know, if it's a code, let's say it's a code 500, which is a life or death situation, right? Again, the example there is they don't care who's coming, right? They don't care what's on your chest, right?

Um if we know [clears throat] that, let's say county station one is on another call. Um state, you know, if it's on the north end somewhere, that'd be um their next unit could be engine five over here. I may be coming around Homestead area. Um we their battalion chief would call our battalion chief and say, "Hey, we got two units tied up. You're going to be the engine one's going to be the closest. Can you send engine one?" Right. We're going to send But like in our gap area on the north end. Yes. So are we getting support from the county? We would get support from them. Right. That's where I'm going. I'm sorry. Yes, we get support from them on a fire for sure. 100%.

Yeah. Yeah. They, you know, we've had in my time, I don't know how many fires at Toyota. Um, and yes, there that that's just that's the automatic aid agreement. They're going to send us a unit to help out. They would be the first ones to leave though to get back in there. Sure. Absolutely. For sure. Yeah. But like the business park and Oxford and Yes. that area. Yeah. Yeah. Any fire in the city. Structure fire. Yeah. Any fire structure fire, I'm sorry. [clears throat] Yeah. Not a dumpster fire. Any structure fire in the city. Any house fire, commercial building fire. Yes. They would send a unit. Yes, sir. Because again, part of part of this conversation is we want to make sure that folks understand they are being served. Sure. And we're providing as many resources as possible and we're trying to address the the issues. Yeah.

Okay. Next slide, please. Okay. Let's dive a little bit into this ISO. Like again, I didn't want to get too into the weeds [clears throat] here. Next slide, please. What is ISO? ISO is an independent company, right, that serves insurance companies, right? They come out and do like a field survey and pretty much judge us on how we provide fire protection, how well do we provide fire protection. Um, it's based there using the four key areas of the fire suppression rating schedule, emergency communications, fire departments, uh, the the deployment, the covering personnel capabilities, things like that. There's a water supply component as well as a community risk reduction component. This all totals 100 point scale and 2024 we hit a 87.25. We are basically 2.75 points away from being a class one. There's only like four or five in the state, maybe six in the state of Kentucky. Okay. Like I said, we have standards that we try to live up to every single day. This is one [clears throat] of those standards that we are trying to get to as that class one. um in 2000 uh next slide please. Anything over a 90 get you to a class one and we'll talk about that. So we myself and assistant chief uh of ops Johnson we called ISO and said hey can we have a phone call? Can we have a Zoom meeting to help explain to us what really what does this mean? How can we get to that class one right? Is it achievable? Um absolutely it's achievable. So, the areas where we were told to focus most on are water points, and that has to do with some fire hydrant testing, which myself and Chase have already been in conversations like that seems like a pretty easy fix. [clears throat] Uh the fire department points. We will Next slide, please. That's the biggest area there I think that we can make up the gap. However, we're actually doing quite well. If you look at the left side here, engine companies, we

score a six out of six. Basically, it's saying you have the engines um that that you need, right, with the area that you're uh trying to cover or that you currently cover. Okay? Not outside the format. It's just what you can what you can do. Uh reserve pumpers were, you know, a half a point out of a half a point, right? We score pump capacity, ladder service, reserve ladders. We're 100 out of 100 basically on all those categories. Where we can make the most improvement is the deployment analysis. And that deployment analysis is your gap coverage. They use the same NFPA standard that I talked about earlier outside that four minutes. That's where we can cover the largest gap. I don't know if you can see it on your slide because the numbers didn't print out real well. Basically, on the deployment analysis, we are a 5.35 out of 10 personnel. That would change because by adding a new station, we have to add personnel. That would help cover that gap as well. Right now, we're a 12.34 out of 15. the training. Uh, this is it's not funny, but it's kind of ironic. 6.47 out of nine. The biggest thing here was the documentation. We were we were doing the work. We were doing the training. We were actually documenting the training. We were just documenting in a wrong category. That was the first problem. Number two, we didn't have at the time of this study, we didn't have in place the threetory training towers that we now and a dedicated training center for our people. We now have that. So, I feel confident. I'm not going to tell you that we're going to get to a classroom. Okay? Not to put my neck out that far on the line. However, if we can cover these gaps and close these gaps in these areas, I feel comfortable, confident, cautiously confident that we could we could do better than the 2.75 points that we would need to get to a class one.

Do we know what the county's ISO is? So, they're they're in a different C. It's a 2 Y, I believe, because they're in a different category. They're in a rural category. Yeah, they're considered a a county, right? A rural area. So they're different scaling. It's different everything. It's it's different everything. Different. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. So what does ISO do for Georgetown? Uh 2016, I believe it was. Georgetown went from a class three to a class 2. Remember the last study we had was in 24. They come about every 5 years or so. I think they might have been a little delayed in 24 because they were backed up from from COVID, I believe. Mhm.

Um, but from class 3 to a class two back then uh from former chiefs that I talked to before tonight's presentation to make sure this was accurate. The uh average homeowner saved roughly between five or I'm sorry, $50 to $200 a year on their homeowners insurance because basically when I comes in, they give you a good classification. The insurance companies, right, they see that more risk probably the higher the premium. Less risk, lower the premium. Again, I'm not an insurance policy guy, so I can't tell you that homeowners insurance are going to the premiums going to drop if we get to a class one, but you would think it makes sense that that it would. Um, it's beneficial obviously for industry as well. It tells investors, right, the community is safe. We're protecting that area. Um, the best that we can, the goal for any fire department is to be a class one, and that's our goal as well. Uh, and we did ask, look, you know, if we don't keep up with response times and staffing, you know, can you go back? Absolutely. They come in here in 29, they could potentially, or now, I don't think we would drop seven points, right? Because we have to be below an 80 to go back to a class three, but it's it's possible that you couldn't obviously go back in class as well if you don't keep up with the times. And uh chief uh

you talk about the insurance savings and that's really not in that's really in the insurance company that's making that change. It's not it's not you know it's not just what you're doing or what you're not doing. The insurance company makes the way say okay if they think it's a risk or they feel like it's safe or a good investment on their part. Correct. They're the ones will decide if your insurance rates go down. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. I wish it was me. Yeah, I do too. So, yeah. So, mayor, I did dig in to understand what these changes really do. Uh, by all means, we want to get to Sure.

increase based on insurance.

Okay. Right. The U but when you get class two to class one from a residential it not a huge it it it it's exponential in from an insurance perspective right so okay in terms of the good for business not as great for business great for business which we want businesses to be able to uh take advantage of that as well because they're help they help pay for it [snorts] so

uh next slide please okay we're getting towards the So, the design, construction, and personnel and safer grant, how how this kind of pairs up. So, the RFQ went out for station 4 in January. I believe it ends February the 10th, I believe, is the deadline on that. We'll sit down, we'll select a qualified engineering firm at that point. We're told about four months after that is when they could have a design plan back to us. Um, and again, these are probably very I don't want to say aggressive aggressive timelines, but um, this is what I think we would want to shoot for. July advertise for construction bids could then go out uh, in August, as soon as August, we could award a construction contract possibly. Uh, and in September, as early as September, we could be breaking ground for a station 4. If we did this timeline, stayed on that timeline, you're looking about a 12 to 18 month of what we're told to build a new fire station. I think out there, obviously, I think some of the time would be cut down a little bit because we already have a lot of utilities in place. Like there's a lot of things already done on that site. Uh that should help speed things up, but I think you're looking at around the first quarter of 2028 to when the fire station would be ready for service. How does that compare to personnel and safer grant? So, the safer grant could open any day. Yes, sir.

Quick question before we get to people. Yes. So, on construction, you know, based on what's out there right now, uh I know they relocated that utility line and I'm just wondering if anybody's been out there, does that need to be relocated again uh when a footprint would be put in because it looks awful close. And I'm really disappointed that if that is going to have to happen because that was part of the plan all along. So I don't have to go from there why we would need to do that. Have to go back and look because if that was the plan all along and it wasn't done I feel like [clears throat] that could be a significant issue in getting that done and getting it done quickly. Okay.

But just something to sure to maybe take a look at real quick. Yes. Yeah. Chief, are there one or two construction companies that tend to do a lot of uh bu build fire stations around here? Reach out to I'm sure there are a handful. The one that worked we worked with previously on the preliminary design fee the rendering that you saw and the the folks that built the MS station, right? Brand Sarah Carroll that designed it. I'm sorry, designed it. Yes, Brent Sarah Carroll designed the firm. So that that's the one that I know of, but we'll see who all puts in for the RFQ and look at all their qualifications and then, you know, select a qualified uh company at that point. Okay.

Um I have a financial question. How much money perhaps have we spent at the current EMS uh location? How much I can't remember what was allocated or what a little outside the scope of the special meeting. Okay. I'll I'll ask that later. Thank you. Um, we good. Yeah.

Okay. So, moving on to the the safer grant side of things. Like I said, this is going to open. I'm getting emails in when that it's going to open this month in February. It's going to be a little different this year. The safer grant, the uh AFG grant that we usually apply for, and the fire protection and safety grant. These are all FEMA grants, FEMA funded grants. They're all actually they usually are like one after another. They're all going to become available in the month of February is what I'm told. However, the good thing about that, there's pros and cons. One of the pros is there's going to be an extended uh deadline, right, uh to have your grant completed. So, we're looking at six to eight weeks possibly in order to write the safer grant. I've been involved with the safer grant in the past. It is a very in-depth grant. So, we would need that time, I believe, to in order to present, you know, the best application that we can. So, that's that's a pro. Um, if we're looking at a March or so deadline, um March, April deadline, we would not be notified whether or not we would get the award until October anyway. So, I feel like it's probably in our best interest to go ahead and apply because it's going to be October, November before we even know if if we are awarded the grant. Okay. Um, we accept the grant with your permission. Then we'd have about 180 days to hire. That's how the past grants have worked. You have 180 days after you accept the award to go through the employment, the hiring process, advertising, interviews, you know, tests, all that stuff. That puts us into 2027. That puts us into around March hiring nine firefighters. Um, puts us at a recruit class of about April. July recruit class would come to an end or so. Then July through September, I'm sorry, July through the end of the year of 27, if I have to send people to EMT school, right? That could be from one month up to three months, right, on their EMT school. Uh they could still be doing some of their drivers training. There's

still things that they have to do even when they come out of recruit class. The 10 recruits we're working on right now. They'll they'll know that next week. Um, but that would allow us the opportunity to have all these people trained, ready to go. If we can have a station opened up around the first quarter of 28, we would have nine firefighters, I'm sorry, 12 ready to go the day it opened instead of maybe it opens. Now we've got six more months, right? You'd have a a station open, but it's not in use. I think that's probably the best use of our money, our resources is to have these people trained, ready to go the day this opens. So I just wanted to show that comparison. Uh on the safer grant, is there a minimum maximum that you can receive?

Um so I can only speak of prior grants. In the past there's been times where it's been funded 100% for three years. Um sometimes it's stairstepped a little bit. Last year's grant was 75 I'm sorry actually. Yeah, I think it was last year. 75 75 and 35. So the first two years it was 75% fully funded. The third year was 35% fully or funded. Then the fourth year it would be all on the city. Can you repeat that again? I'm sorry. 70 75 75 and 35. I can get you the day it opens. I'll read through obviously the notice and I'll have all that in there. Has it always been that way? No sir. It changes. It changes year. So Okay.

It could change this year. So we could be looking at getting less in safer grant than in the past. Yeah. He could be looking at getting less or even more for sure. Yeah. Thank you. Does it does it usually would it cover nine positions though?

It so you you write the grant for what you need and the way the grant works is they put you into high uh high funding categories. You have to meet these categories to even be considered for funding. If you're not going to meet the NFPA standards, if you're not putting forward personnel to a truck or dropping your format response times, you're not even going to be in the high C. You might as well not even do it to be quite honest. That's my experience with the safer grant because there's only so much money to give. So, they're going to group you in these categories for these departments that are meeting these standards. Have Have you ever had a or know of a time when all nine I mean when that many would be awarded to one company? Yeah. Yeah. 2007.

Just just curious. No, no, it's a good question. 2007 we Georgetown received a safer grant for nine individuals. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. I mean, it could be I think Lexington's received one for over 20. Yeah. It just really depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Are you adding a station? So, you have to add more manpower or maybe you're having retention issues, right? Recruitment issues, things like that. But we can't automatically assume. I'm sorry. We can't assume we're going to get Yeah. We have We have to go in this looking like we're not gonna get anything. Yes.

We have to have a funding mechanism in place to say if this doesn't happen, we got to be able to fund that. If we're make going to make the leap to go have this designed, constructed, and built, we better have think about having equipment there for a fire truck and and also staffing to go with that. So, that's the way I think we need to look at it. And this is all this is all great to have, but let's look at it the way that hey, let's look reality in the face that this let's look at this way that we may have to go from zero and everything's on our own. Yes. And then if we get the rest of stuff, that's that's great. Yes. Thank you.

I have a question, too. This is it might be out of the scope of this meeting, but what's missing for me is the um like how much does it cost to build the fire station to buy the equipment? What is to pay for the firefighters? That's the All this is great. Sure. But what does it cost? Because we're getting ready to go into our budget um planning. I could I could provide you the numbers, some rough estimates from, you know, a fire truck we just bought. Um, the numbers that we received, I think in 20 three,

I think we I think we received some estimates on the cost of a fire station. I think it was around three, was it 3 million? Four million, four million at that time for the fire station. Yes. And obviously costs have gone up and that's why I didn't put any of these numbers in here without having that information first. But I think a fire truck, you know, let's just say a million bucks between the time you you know, you buy the truck and and equip it. Maybe a little more because it's could be a little little longer. Um personnel.

Well, this is maybe something again I'm not trying to cut everybody's legs. If you can get all that information and bring it back to us, that'll probably be, you know, that way we have accurate information that we can actually share to everybody still not speculating and getting all that done. Okay, that would help. Yes, ma'am. That would help. [clears throat]

Okay, and next slide, please. Just a little summary here. The last time we had a new fire station was in 1996. Since then, our run volume has increased 240%. Uh, NFPA outlines the 4-minute response standard. That's our objective. That's what we're trying to achieve here. We want to close those gaps. [clears throat] In district two, we have a response time greater than four minutes 30% of the time. Uh, a station on Lexus Way will close an estimated 90% of that 4-minute gap in district number two. I believe it's perfectly positioned for future growth in the north, northeast, and northwest of city limits. And again, currently we have a class 2 ISO rating and our goal is to become that class one. Again, I thank you for your time. I thank you for your for your interest and uh I'm available anytime you need and I can stay here as long as you want to answer as many questions you have.

Well, I don't think we can stay too long. We got you know there No, I'm just kidding. Um [laughter] we got a ball game tonight, right?

But uh again, Chief, thank you so much for this presentation. You know, it's there's a lot of of questions to be answered, but the thing I think you did was that you provide us a real life as to what what's trying to do now, what your goal is for uh going forth for this city. uh the protection of this city being first and be able to provide um coverage for the gaps that we have for those that uh that falls outside of the 4minute response time and just making sure that we are are are moving in the direction where we're, you know, changing from a class two to a class one. To me, that's growth. That's that's trying to make your uh agency one of the the best uh there are in the state. So, I appreciate that very much what you're doing and and [snorts] looking ahead because if you don't do that, then you know this is one thing we have to do is be able to uh respond to our people uh in times where on their worst days.

Yes, sir. That we need to make sure that we somebody's coming. Yes, sir. And and they're coming as as as uh quick as they can. Best we can and as safe as they can. Thank you again. the surf make a comment there. Um I remember I don't know I think it was I don't know two three years ago uh watching the videos of what a structure looks like at one minute two minute 3 minutes and four minutes and it was visually so impactful on me that I actually

internalized what a [clears throat] what an important thing a four-minute response time actually is to save lives and to save property and um might be a good thing to show again. Do do you know what I'm talking about? Yes, ma'am. Yeah, I can get that. I can actually probably just send a link on YouTube. Yeah, I think we show He showed it. I believe you showed it up close in person. Huh? [laughter] I've been there up close in person. They just they burn a lot quicker these days. Mayor, if I can real quick. Okay. Question. Yeah.

Okay. comment and a question. I wasn't trying to put you on the spot earlier. No, you're fine. We're firebased, but I know that that's a trend that's coming and and a lot. I just didn't know if you know I've had zero talks about it with anybody. Yeah. Yeah. And and nothing to take away is as far as your training goes with the new facility. Um how often and I know you you all do a great job. How often are you going back and and revisiting the training methods and the training standards and and updating those? Monthly. Okay. Monthly. Yeah. Because I know that's important.

Absolutely. U because they come out with new standards all the time, right? The state does as well. We have to live up to that or we'll lose that incentive training and there's constant changes. Um with the addition of the battalion chief of training a couple years ago, that's allowed [clears throat] us to really stay on top of that. And no, it's it's constant. And I saw you guys out running this morning. You said I was there. Yeah, I was uh I was going to turn around, come back, but I was on my way to work. We've had a long day. Yeah, we started at about 6:50 this morning running. Okay. Uh Mr. Minky, you had questions in Mr. Crisp.

Ju just a quick comment. Chief, thank you and your team for putting together the data and making it visual and being able to tell the story to help understand. I think having these kinds of workshops to be able to have this kind of conversation is what we need to be able to move these things forward and I just appreciate all that you did for that. My team as well, Mr. Chris. Yeah. Um I'd like to brag on you guys. I had a recent personal experience involving the fire department. Well, no, I didn't hear about this.

Oh, yeah. Um Council Member Minky got to hear about it yesterday. I'll keep it real brief, but it's uh pretty interesting. Last Wednesday, I slipped and fell at my house. Hurt my back pretty good. Uh over the days following, it got a little bit worse, and by the weekend, I was really having some trouble. Sunday morning came, I decided the night before I was going to sleep on the couch in order to maybe help get myself off the couch. It would be a little bit easier. foolishly. I thought that my back locked up and at about 5 or 5:30 in the morning, I couldn't get off the couch. My wife couldn't pick me up off the couch. So, I tell my wife, "I need the phone. I'm going to have to call 911. I know I'm going to uh get out the probably the fire department and EMS."

And my wife helps me out quite a bit. And she starts straightening the house a little bit, [laughter] putting the dog away and the pillow. And I said, "You're going to have to open unlock that door because their response times are amazing. You're going to be here any minute." So, she puts the dog away, unlocks the door. Your team comes, EMS is there. Uh they're able to get me up virtually painfree,

get me to uh load me into the hospital. I was able to kit around with everybody. By then, I was feeling a little bit better, but still needed to go to the hospital and made it there great and safe and sound. And your uh firefighters, EMS, they did a wonderful job with everything. So, I really appreciate it and appreciate I'll let them know all that. Thank you. You're welcome. And I showed Council Member Minky the pictures that my wife took of the ordeal. I won't be showing them. They will not be on the Georgetown Insider or anything like that, but uh it was a it was an ordeal to see. Yeah. Yeah, it was a sight to see. Thank you very much. Thank you. Question. Yes.

Just just a just a comment. Um I can't top that story by no means, but I would like to see the pictures, what they look like. But anyway, um sitting here talking about your 21 years and watching where the fire department has been

to where the fire department is and where the fire department is going, it's really pretty amazing. And you all do so much that you're able to like there's like there's not a need for another fire department. You all do such a fantastic job of getting things done and getting around the city and taking care of us. So just an appreciation to you and all the people that have come before you that has made the fire Georgetown Fire Department something that we're really really proud very proud of. So um I'm interested to see how the the next station goes and where we go with that. And just to to Tammy's comment earlier, if we hadn't had the safer grant back in 20 years ago, we would not be where we are today for the fire department. So, it's a great thing. So, let's hope we can get it again.

Thank you. Okay. All right. That being said, let's move on as far the agenda is written. Item number five, I uh uh chief um administr chief administrative officer is going to be up. That's Devon. She's not a firefighter, but she's going to come up and talk about the update for the procurement of the design uh firm. Thank you.

Yeah. So, not not a ton to update here, and chief mentioned kind of the the main point, which is qualifications are due to be opened on Tuesday the 10th. So that's just next week. So um we'll anticipate reviewing those, have a scoring committee like we always do and and bring a a contract to the council for consideration depending how how long that contract review period is. Uh either second meeting in February 1st and March. So want to give us enough time. Some of those uh architect design contracts are a little bit complicated. So we want to give time to to work through that and make sure we negotiate the fee. But um that's that's to come. So hopefully we get a lot of good qualifications.

Thank you. All right. Uh, council, uh, unless there's any more of the questions pertaining to this topic on that, I think they've answered all those. Uh, if there's no questions from this from the council here, uh, everybody got all the answers they need and and chief and you all your staff. Thank you again. And if there's no other questions to be brought before this council, this meeting is adjourned.