ORDER-2016-78 : Appropriation from account 6500-319000 (Ambulance, Retained Earning) in the amount of $105,772.00; to various accounts as set forth within

Transcript (~6 min @ 4:07)

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▶ 4:05 Scott M. Forbes: First up, we have President Kahn.

▶ 4:09 Speaker 2: Since the Chief is discussing both motions in his presentation, I'd move for concurrent action on 216.79 and 216.78. Second the motion for concurrent action.

▶ 4:19 Scott M. Forbes: President Kahn has filed a motion for concurrent action on orders number 2016.79 and 2016.78. Seconded by Alderman Mortimer. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right. These orders are now conjoined. President Kahn, you have the floor.

▶ 4:33 Speaker 2: Chief, we understand what turnout gear is, but can you explain what it is for people who are watching at home who might not?

▶ 4:39 Speaker 1: The structural firefighting gear that protects the firefighters from bio-hazards, moisture from heat. It's the fire coat and pants and helmet that the traditional firemen would wear.

▶ 4:54 Speaker 2: And the replacement that we're doing now is not part of the funding of a collectively bargained item, is it? Actually, I'll withdraw that question. It appears to me from what you're saying that this is a management decision to replace the gear. It's not something that you're replacing as part of a collective bargaining agreement mandate. Correct.

▶ 5:19 Speaker 2: And in looking at this order, part of the funding source here is coming from retained earnings. And what I like to call retained earnings is free cash. And so this is the ambulance free cash. Correct. That's what's coming from. Yes. And in the private sector, what they would call free cash would be profit. So this is the profit that's being earned on the ambulance operation that we're running at this time. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

▶ 5:51 Scott M. Forbes: Thank you, President Kahn. Next, we have Alderman Zwirko.

▶ 5:54 Michael P. Zwirko: Before I ask a couple questions, I just wanted to give credit to the fire department. Recently, there was a fire in Saugus that they assisted. There was also a May Day call during that fire, i was just glad to see that everyone came home safe as well as the recent fire on clifford street so appreciate the hard work of the firefighters there uh so chief i um i was looking at one of the orders and one of them was um mentions the transfer of twenty thousand two hundred dollars i did have an opportunity to speak to art flavin and uh the city treasurer and he had stated that that money is actually money that we've over budgeted for when we floated some bonds in the past fiscal year and when we're due on payment on those in may the interest is actually going to be less so this is savings earned i just wanted to highlight to those that are watching that's actually due to the fact that we have a very strong bond rating here in the city and it's actually a testament to the work that the board did prior to my coming as well as the administration so i just want to bring that out the fact that we have a very good bond rating is directly responsible for savings there and helping to fund the costs of this equipment so kudos so I had a question I was just curious with this gear and these extractors were there any grants that were available at all did we apply

▶ 7:08 Speaker 1: for any grants to try to get there were last year I put in for a washer extractor and some gear racks but we did not get the grant okay and I do

▶ 7:17 Michael P. Zwirko: understand that the extractor I mean essentially it's a washing and drying machine on steroids and it's specific to wash your tractor is a specialized unit

▶ 7:25 Speaker 1: that you can adjust the speeds and water temperature and tune it to the specs of

▶ 7:36 Michael P. Zwirko: the manufacturer and when you say that the gear gets soiled I also understand that the soiling can actually be particles that could be potentially carcinogenic correct so it's necessary to clean these pieces of gear properly so that the men and women of the fire department aren't you know that's

▶ 7:53 Speaker 1: susceptible to most protected recent studies have shown that the the household washing machines that departments are using are not satisfactory and don't get all the contaminants out so there's been a push with many departments to to try to enhance the cleaning and then I just

▶ 8:10 Michael P. Zwirko: have another final question I guess on the install of these anyway what are we looking at is it the company that we're purchasing from the vendor that actually does the install i would imagine it's probably somewhat um a laborious project yeah they they do the installation as well they do okay and then again you said that the life uh you're trying to

▶ 8:30 Speaker 1: do a rotation of five years per set right the the gear has a 10-year life expectancy or 10-year use life so after that we can no longer use it so we used to be able to use it and then we'd take it to the fire academy and use and be able to but they won't even uh allow us to do that anymore

▶ 8:51 Peter D. Mortimer: really okay thank you that's all the questions i had motion to recommend for passage mr chairman

▶ 8:54 Scott M. Forbes: thank you almonds worker we have a motion to recommend for passage made by alderman mortimer on the conjoined orders on the conjoined orders second is seconded by alderman Tramontozzi continuing with discussion is there any other voting members that have any questions for the

▶ 9:08 Gail Infurna: chief almond ferner thank you i just had a quick question um could you tell us um is there a warranty on these on this machine three years three years thank you thank you almanferna

▶ 9:21 Monica C. Medeiros: thank you i'm not a voting member of this committee i just wanted to take a minute and thank the chief for a lot of detail that was put together with this order and information and i appreciate it makes it easy to understand and thank you for the information tonight and all

▶ 9:36 Scott M. Forbes: you guys do thank you okay so we do have a motion to recommend it's been duly seconded for recommend for passage of the conjoined orders all those in favor aye any opposed chief order passes and will be recommended for the full board at our next meeting obviously you know that you don't have to be in attendance for that vote thank you very much for your attendance tonight our last order

▶ 9:55 Scott M. Forbes: of the evening is order number 2016-81 it is the reappointment of susan e crasco 200 park terrace drive stone of mass as the assistant city clerk for a one-year term said term ending on the first monday in february 2017. motion to recommend for passage mr chairman we got a motion to recommend