Progress. Very good. Thank you so much. Good morning, council president Sheffield and council members. So, first of all, I want to start off, we want to start off by just saying thank you for your continued support. Thank you for your vote of confidence. And we really appreciate it. We appreciate it. And we're grateful. So thank you so much. So we're going to start off and you guys should have a copy of our PowerPoint presentation. But I'm gonna start off with the mission statement as well as the vision statement. The mission statement is to provide a safe environment for the citizens and visitors visitors of Detroit through public education, enforcement of fire codes, and deployment of efficient emergency response resources. Our vision statement is to provide exemplary emergency services to our citizens in a professional and courteous manner. establish strong community engagement and training programs and be the model of a world class fire departments. The Detroit fire department's core values include provide exemplary services services to the citizens and visitors assess and address the health and wellness of Fire Department personnel, promote promote community training and engagement, incorporate advanced technology and equipment, maintain fiscal responsibility and increase revenue streams and implement comprehensive training and development. So next, we're going to ask if they can show the video we have what we call the Detroit Fire Department anthem, it really describes of who we are. When most people think of the Detroit fire department they think of responding to fires or medical cause but there are other divisions that we would like the citizens to know that we're capable of doing. So they can start to video please.
Right we don't have audio. Is someone sharing the screen?
maybe
can we come back to the video? So we're going to start off with the divisions at a fire department. We have seven divisions, community relations, EMS operations, fire operations, fire marshal, fire investigations, communications and training and we're going to go through some of these divisions just to let you know the accomplishments that they've achieved over the last year and what they're going to achieve in the near future. Starting with community relations, we started a save a life initiative about a year and a half ago and what that includes is to stall and smoke and CO detectors in every home in the city of Detroit. hands only CPR, fire safety classes, and our most recent is community AEDs which we just started that in 2023 and 2023. We installed over 2000 smoke detectors and CO detectors. We trained over 61,000 residents in fire safety. We distributed DFD safety guys to residents and those come in English, Arabic, Spanish and Bengali. We secure grant funding for the fire safety smokehouse. Councilmember Tate I know that was a concern of yours when we did secure that grant funding, and it should be currently as in procurement. We trained over 11 108th grade students in hands only CPR so our goal is to train every eighth grader in the city of Detroit hands only CPR. We projected there's about 3200 Coming next year or next fiscal year. Starting in the fall, we're going to set up a plan so we can make sure that we capture all 3200 of those students. And then we initiated a baby car seat inspection installation it it was the first year last year but it went very well. And so we're going to continue to do that. We also and it's not on here but we also hired a social media manager. We want to increase our social media outlook and she's done extremely, extremely well John to talk about the EMS service. I want to thank the council here because for approving the raises for the EMTs and paramedics. It provided a level set and brought them up to the national average. And actually since then, we've had approximately four or five EMTs and paramedics become reinstated in the fire department they left for other fire departments and they came back once those raises were approved. We increased daily and service EMS ambulances by 38%. So back in FY 23 We had approximately 22 VFD ambulances and seven peppers. And thank you again for approving that contract. As you can see in FY 24. We raised the DFT units to 23 and the peppers units raised to 17 And fy 25. We project that will be at a steady a cost of 25 ambulances and peppers will be at a cost of 18 ambulances which will give us 43 ambulances per day, which is a historic high. We've never had that Minneapolis is on the street at one time and we could see the reflection of that through our response times to medical runs. As as you can see we decrease our COLWIN emergency response, a reflex time by 36 seconds. So just to explain reflex time. That's the time that someone calls 911 to the time they see a medical apparatus used to be eight minutes and seven seconds the national average is eight minutes and we were able to come in below that national average. We do anticipate that number even getting lower. And the last few weeks we've been averaging about seven minutes and 15 seconds and auto that doesn't seem like a lot of time when you're in a time of need every second counts. Next page on fire up operations for response metrics. Our average reflex time is five minutes and 38 seconds which is one of the best in the country. Our structure fires decreased by 31% year to date meaning last year at this time, were approximately 125 or 135. Less structure fires from this time last year. So we can definitely see the fire structures decreasing. And since 2016 were 40% We've seen a 40% decrease in structure fires the MFR response time for the fire trucks seven minutes and 20 seconds. So whenever a person calls for colon emergency, they'll have a fire truck as well as the ambulance respond. About 70% of the time the fire truck will get on the scene first and provide initial medical aid. Go on to the next page and the fire marshal division. Some of the community risk reduction key concepts to ensure new and existing buildings are in cold compliance. Thank you President Sheffield for the next box initiative. So we completed 123 Knox box installations on our responding fire companies. And so we'll be ready and prepared to enter any type of commercial building if need be. We completed four Public Safety Service Announcements and these are service announcements just talking about you know how to light a grill or you know how to store propane or things of that nature. So we've had four of them so far and our plan to have is to have one each quarter. We're promoting annual fire prevention awareness to over 5000 residents so a Fire Prevention Month is in October and last year we had over 5000 residents come out and we just shared and talked about how to prevent fires it was very successful. We have one place on one fire company on the east side and one on the west side. This year we're going to concentrate on Southwest and downtime. And they also completed annual inspections for more than 5000 businesses. So if you look at this chart for the schools, we have these critical structures where we make sure that they're inspected 100% each year, and they're listed here and that's all schools, all high rises, all hazardous material sites, all gas stations, all senior and multifamily units, all recreational facilities. All those structures will be inspected 100% of the time each year. And then the other inspections will include small businesses such as barber shops and restaurants. Go on to the next page on training. So we've implemented a three day training for all members meaning they have 24 hours each year, every member would go through our training academy for annual training. We cross trained over 100 EMS personnel. So you know we're into this cross training now. So we had to train the EMTs and paramedics. The firefighter wanted to discipline and so we were able to complete that we're actually sending the last 30 in in May and will be completed with that task. We are professional development classes for our DFT officers. They must pass pass officer one and two before they can become an officer in our department. We've trained over 200 DFT cadets once again thank you for for pass last year's budget so we can go ahead and and recruit and and hire more cadets. We hired roughly 100 last July. We hired another 27 in September, about another ad in January. And we're looking to start a class in FY 25. CPR training for citizens we have that on a weekly basis. They could sign up they can either come to our training facility or we will come out to their location to provide hands only CPR. We have nine EMT classes for existing members. So these are the firefighters that were were attempting to cross over to do dual role so we're offering EMT classes for the firefighters as well. We trained the FD members on opioid awareness. I know that was a huge problem at one time. We've noticed that we've we've used less Narcan. I think right now we're averaging about 25 uses of Narcan a week where we used to average roughly 40. So we're seeing a decrease in that we're also working with community groups to train them so they can respond and provide treatment for those who do not want to transport our apprenticeship program. Councilmember waters I know you that you had asked questions about this. So we're going to revitalize that in the fall. We had we started it and then of course COVID hit and we had to shut it down until it was all clear. So we're gonna start with that back in the fall. gonna do we're gonna reach out to Cody High School, the Detroit Public Safety Academy, and my alma mater, Persian High School. And also we're offering five disciplines specific rescue courses to all our members. So these are the courses and the disciplines that you very rarely see, but they're needed in the city of Detroit is high rise training, elevator rescue, trench rescue, water rescue and confined space rescue. So we're looking for a large proportion of our members to become certified as technicians in those specific areas. Just to talk about our locations and fleet, so we have 34 locations city wide. We have 47 companies that respond every single day which includes 30 fire engines 13 ladder trucks, and six squats. We have a ladder 30 renovations which is coming from ARPA funding. That's one mount Elliot and Davidson with completion date is projected to be sometime late April or early May. And when the hits renovated. We're going to move an ambulance over there and we're currently doing an analysis of one cup with company we're going to shift over there. Also on the ARPA funding we have three annex locations so we're going to add some annexes on engine 55 scorners which is joy road and Southfield and we're going to add one on engine 50 sevens quarter which is on Burt road and and 96 and one at agent 60 which is Hoover and close to eight mile. Those are our busy areas of specialty Issa, I mean the west side over there with the engine 57 and an engine 55 So it definitely helped balance some of the workload from over in that area. Our vehicle fleet consists of 27 engines, and five and reserves so the slash you see the number after the slash is how many we haven't reserved meaning we get a fire truck or piece of apparatus to go down. Then we'll have one to immediately put in service so we won't stop any service. So when he seven engines with five reserves 13 ladder trucks with five reserves 25 ambulances with eight reserves. We have six rescue squads, one hazmat response unit to marine vessels Fireboats one Aircraft Rescue rescue unit that's stored at the City Airport and one tactical pumper, which that's a smaller Fire Truck basically I think get down and and really closed in confined areas. Alright to talk about some of our equip equipment and technology. The camera actually deferred us over to DC home. Okay there we go. Hi, apologize.
Second Deputy Commissioner Derek helment. Thank you through the chair. Appreciate everything you guys have done for us in approving our budget last year smartboards to assist with dispatching and functioning, there's actually touchscreen boards that our dispatch can actually look at and they actually have feed from MDOT so it's pretty amazing. Rescue jump bags. We have a critical response golf cart, these will be further I want to say for the special events that that we will be able to get into those areas without having any problems. So fire rescue one. This is our online platform that we actually train every day with that the individuals on our fire department and go online, look at assignments and get training critical training that they need for fire and EMS 48 Community EDS. These are your basic Aedes that we've put out there. 14 drones we brought to the council last year so I appreciate your approval on those 44 chest compressors. So these are our automatic chest compressor devices that actually take the place of a rescuer doing chest compressions. So they're on the ambulance and they actually really help with making sure our firefighters and EMTs stay safe in the back of that ambulance when it's traveling. 60 EKG monitors these are the advanced He gives us the sound actually 12 leads to the hospital and they actually have cellular devices that we can actually send that information to the hospitals right away. And the fire ground accountability system. We have actually groundbreaking accountability. This is the first of the nation that's actually tied with the state. And this is where we're able to track our firefighters and make sure that everybody's state stands safe and it's through our radios.
And through the Chair, I just want to highlight a couple of things here. So the drones I know councilmember Johnson you were really you had inquired about that. So we're actually partnering with B seed and so they'll be able to utilize some of our drones as well, but it's going really well we have 14 And now we're looking to get six more tethered drones down the line through Homeland Security. And I think this would be a great resource to have for the fire department. And the community. Aedes is something we're really excited about as well. So we've already installed about 24 of them, and just going around the city finding out who needs Aedes. And I will tell you back in August, there's there's an app it's called a Pulse Point app which will locate all the AEDs as long as they're registered into the system. Back in August. There were eight registered on that for the entire city of Detroit. As of today, I think we have over 400 registered so it's very important because if a person has a cardiac arrest, now they can go to the Athens and see where the closest AED is. Alright, the next page new initiatives to heart safe community designation so we'll be turning in our submitting our paperwork to try to become a heart safe community. I only know of one other city in the state of Michigan. I think that's Holland that has that designation. But, you know, we're the biggest fire department, the biggest city and we deserve to have that designation. So we we've completed all 13 requirements and we'll be submitting our paperwork in probably within the next two weeks. Our Medical Response ordinance so this is something that's fairly new that we're going to try to create and bring to you guys for your approval, and is basically saying if a private entity has an event, they have to provide the medical coverage they have to submit a plan to say who's going to cover their event, and most of the time it's a private ambulance company and all we're saying is first, inquire through Detroit if we can staff that event first. And if we can't then you could go to a private ambulance companies. And then business self expections. So what we want to do is extend out to small businesses if you've complied in the last three years now you can do your own self inspection. And what that would do of course we would increase the amount of inspections we have completed as well given ownership and that autonomy to business owner. Or if a number four on I'm gonna defer to the CEO
so our MFR is our current engines that respond. These provide the basic life care that we have out there. This is just a beginning initiation like we're you just have first aid response, but we're actually looking to change to do a basic life support engine where they can actually do use the EKG monitors, sign off on patients and increase that level of care for our citizens. So that's an issue that we really want to get into our dispatch nurse line. This is a nurse navigation line to where we're trying to have a low priority calls sent to a nurse that can actually prioritize those calls and actually have a health equity program is what I want to call it to where they actually receive the proper care for their urgency, right. So they can actually call 911 get transferred to a nurse, prioritize at one through five and if they need a transport, we can schedule a transport and then you telehealth we can get them telehealth. They need to go to urgent care, they can go to urgent care. This is all part of something that we've been investigating and trying to look into paramedic training so we want to grant for through ASG to provide paramedic training. So we're gonna send 30 of our firefighters and EMS personnel through a paramedic training to help to increase our training for our individuals. And finally, the ISO score. We have currently from a one to a 10 We're a two. We want to obtain that one one being the best. So we're going to have in November, is we'll come back out and try to rescore us. So we're hoping that you know we can get that one and we're looking very good at that right now. So next time I kick it over to our agency CFO Sean Davis. Inter Mike
Thank you Deputy Commissioner Hillman Lashonda Davis, agency chief financial officer Detroit Fire Department. I'm from new initiative number eight for automating online fire marshal customer service system. The Office of odjfs Fire has worked with the fire marshal division, in conjunction with the lean team devise an automated process to enhance the fire marshal customer service experience by for requesting fire reports inspections and permits and this new product will be on the fire department's website starting at the beginning of April, where we will speed up the response time of receiving fire report if you've had a fire or the permitting process needed. You will be able to pay via online putting your request online as well as get responses via email. I will now turn new initiative nine over to Deputy Commissioner Stokes.
Good morning on robotic.
First I would like to mention the fact that the Detroit Fire Department being that is the largest fire department of state of Michigan. This new initiative with regards to the training hub for the state of Michigan. We feel that we're gaining great ground in regards to making this become a fact. With that being stated considering some of the things that we've put together as far as high level classes that have been offered through the National Fire Academy and other classes through the State Fire Marshal's Office, firefighter Training Division. These courses have increased the visibility of the Detroit Fire Department throughout the state. And it also has increased our ability to do more collaborative interaction with other internal and external stakeholders not only just within his not only within the city of Detroit, but as well as some of the outlying communities around the city of Detroit. And with these interactions in these various jurisdictions that surround our city. These interject these interactions are proven to show some benefits as it pertains to how we are preparing for the the NFL draft and how we're actually interacting with some of our other stakeholders and other organizations. These classes are definitely proving their weight and go and we're getting a lot of interest as far as out to Brighton Fire Department and other fire departments as far as Grand Rapids who are very interested in us hosting these classes. So we're making an effort to really bring home training here in the city of Detroit to where we're considered as the training hub. And then if you look into the next slide, Initiative number 10 that addresses our professional development conference. And I know honorable body door Hall. I know this was something that you were interested in when we talked last year. And as you can see that this actual conference is already on the books to take place July 10 through the 12th. We're also collaborate collaboratively working with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, which is a national organization backed by the National Fire Academy, which is essentially allowing us to to move a lot of these resources here in a city that actually extends out to other fire departments across the state. So we were trying to make an effort to show that our visibility is definitely a footprint here in the state of Michigan. And based on the vision of the executive Fire Commissioner Sims these are some things that we're charged with to make sure that we can move the department forward. Thank you.
All right. And just to add on to the conference, we're projecting that it's gonna be an economic impact, probably $100,000 to the city of Detroit. At this time, I was wondering if the video was willing ready to play. Okay,
we can definitely try it again. In here So Sharon is me. Elisa sharing her screen so just make sure that your your microphone is not muted in order for it to play.
This is a really cool video.
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All right, that will conclude. Alright, so we'll start with questions from my colleagues just want to start off by thanking BD tre Fire Department for all the work that you all do. The men and women of the Troy fire department we appreciate you I partner with you all several times. In fact, on all of our community events, we try to have a representative out there from the fire department, you are always visible and always there providing opportunities for young people to explore the fire trucks and just learn more about fire safety. So thank you to the men and women of the Detroit Fire Department. We truly appreciate you all. So we're going to start with questions from my colleagues everyone will have two questions and we will start with councilmember waters.
Good morning, and certainly thank you so very much for all that you guys do. That's real. I have several questions, but we will email them to you. So what I like to do is just focus on on better health and wellness programs on those areas. And so it's like a three part question. How will the department tailor health and wellness programs to address the specific needs and challenges faced by firefighters such as physical fitness, mental health and occupational stress? What partnerships or collaborations are being pursued with local health care providers? Fitness experts and mental health professionals to enhance the scope and effective effectiveness of these programs? And how will the department measure the impact of health and wellness initiatives on firefighters performance, morale and overall well being? And how will this data inform future program development and resource allocation?
going on through the chair? Very good question. Councilman waters. So we have we have hired a health and wellness manager number one so she keeps all the data in regards to the health and wellness of the fire, firefighters and EMTs and everyone, every member on the on the fire department. We also have a peer support team, which is made up of approximately 30 members and it's made up of all members from every division. And that's one resource that our members can use. We also have Hamsa which which is an external resource in case they don't want to talk to their peer support team. We have chaplains on the on the job as well that can respond to those health and wellness issues. In regards to the health piece we have cardiovascular screening every year. We started that two years ago and each year in August, Henry Ford will come out and do that health screening and and all that's measured Of course it's really it's sensitive information when it comes to health and wellness but all of that is measured by our health and well being manager.
Thank you and let me just say that you got to keep our firefighters well healthy. And so that was the reason for focusing on that because I need to be able to go by the firehouse I haven't cooked for me or something.
Here we will set that up and if I may add to is that each firehouse has exercise equipment. They have a treadmill and every firehouse for members to use as well as our training academy have, you know they have a real robust equipment Center at our training academy. And
I also appreciate the fact that you you seem to be keeping up with the latest technology and so forth. And so think thanks for that as well. All right then, so I'll let that be it ma'am.
Also remember what is what's your favorite food? Oh,
oh man. Just make sure it's got some space in it. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam President. And good morning to all of you. Thank you, Commissioner Sims for the presentation. And to the entire team. We work very closely with the fire department with Lieutenant Terrell on the east side and have had the privilege of going out into community to provide smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. I think we're in the process of doing a CPR training class in the district. And just really do appreciate all of the engagement with the community and the fire department. So thank you all so much for that. And we're looking to make sure that we show our appreciation to the firefighters that are in District Four in nearby because we have one very close to us in district five that we want to make sure we don't leave out because we know that you know the fire ladders the trucks may come from multiple stations to provide assistance to residents in the district. So I one of my questions was about health and wellness programs for firefighters. And I want to delve a little deeper into that because as we all know that one of the greatest impacts for firefighters is what they inhale when they go into a fire into a situation. We look at the age of our properties in the city of Detroit and we know that many of them have asbestos they have LED and a number of other different things. And so I know that there's a cap on how old you can be or as a firefighter, but can you talk a little more about just the health and well being that's provided to firefighters recognizing the the difficulty in the job and how challenging it can be?
Absolutely so um through the chair, we so we we invest in the highest level of protection gear. Let's start there with the fire colts and the fire boots and gloves and hats and and the highest technology to prevent any type of you know, cancer causing carcinogens to get in the bodies of our firefighters. I know there's a cancer presumption bill that has passed where and there are restrictions to it but it's specifically for firefighters. If they were to receive cancer, they will be covered under that bill. And so we're meeting all the time with the union. We have a joint joint it's called a joint health and safety committee, and we meet with them on a regular basis to ensure that our firefighters our EMTs and everyone on the job has the proper equipments they need to prevent any type of like I said carcinogens or effects from going into a fire. Thank
you and for me that's real. It's just thinking about the danger of going into a fire but then just thinking about everything that firefighters may be inhaling and trying to prevent that from having a negative impact on their life I think is most important and it's something that I'm glad you're focused on. And you know, I think a lot of it, though, also is post the job when when firefighters retire and making sure that they have the appropriate health care to just continue to be able to take care of themselves. If something were to arise, and so that's something that's extremely important to me. The other thing I know I mentioned previously, was about the the infrastructure of the fire stations themselves. So can someone just kind of speak to capital improvements, how much we provide on an annual basis, if that's something that you all do, because I do know that a lot of firefighters always have other jobs, other things that they do well, and cooking is one and home improvement is another and so while it's it's appreciated and admirable that they want to do improvements at the fire stations, I think it's important for us to make sure that we are maintaining the infrastructure of the fire houses as needed so that they're not having to take on you know, significant projects. Sure if a faucet is leaking and somebody wants to change a washer wonderful, but all of the serious work is maintained by the city and provided for by the city.
Yes, through the Chair. I'm gonna have DC home and respond to that
question through the chair. Appreciate your question, Councilmember. So we have put in front of the body several times different capital improvement projects. I believe it's about $13 million worth of capital improvement that we've done. And then also with the ARPA funding, an additional 10 million was allocated for the department. To build on annexes and renovate ladder 30. So, we have done an excellent job working with construction and demolition to make sure that our stations are in good working condition. And we're actually looking at doing a five year strategic plan that will improve that even more.
Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you member Johnson member Callaway.
Thank you Madam Chair and good morning everyone. Did you get an opportunity to get the questions that I sent on March the eighth? Do you have answers to them
or to share? Yes, we do. Okay,
so we can start with the first question regarding
their vocabulary. Your microphone went off.
Thank you Madam Chair. There's been reports, not recently, maybe a year ago regarding the number of fire hydrants that we have in the city that aren't working. And I That's my first question. The number of fire hydrants needing maintenance or repair the number of fire hydrants out of service and I'm not going to go through the entire is just one question, but do you have that information for us today regarding the status of the fire hydrants in our city? Yes,
through the chair. So just working collaboratively with DWSD they've done a tremendous job on making sure that our fire hydrants are operable out of roughly 29,600 hydrants, there are only 144 that are inoperable. So it's, I think that's that may be the best in the country, but I think they've done a tremendous job to making sure that once we report a broken hydrant or an inoperable hydrant that they they work expeditiously to repair it. Okay,
thank you. So you're saying they're 29,600 hydrants in the city and now that number, only 144 are not operating. That's
correct. And there's another portion a small portion, I think, like 160, that they're in construction zones. So for example, to Gordie Howe bridge and zones like that. Okay.
And I asked that question, because in district two and December of 2022, there was a horrible fire that destroyed three large homes, and there are total loss on Stoeckel one of the main ones was 17 590. And when I went over to that fire station, Oliver Noy that fire hydrant was not working. There was not adequate water supply to those homes, and they probably could have been saved Had there been water, work in fire hydrant in the area, but there was not one in all three of those very, very large homes are destroyed for lack of water. So that's the reason why I asked so there was a fire hydrant over in that area. Are you familiar with that area and that would be at 18 236 liver noi, that fire station because that hydrant is not working through the chair, we'll
look into that hydrant. I know that for the city of Detroit, every hydrant is approximately 300 feet apart. So very seldomly, if ever do we have to now work in fire hydrants in a row so even if one is not working, it just takes minutes to drive to the next
hydraulic line. I'd like to talk to you about what happened there. And you know, that area is blighted now. And that's a very nice neighborhood. But those three homes are no longer there. Okay, my last question is and thank you so much. Please describe the training and this is question number four. Please describe the training provided to the fire department personnel concerning discrimination and the provisions of the Elliott Larsen act. Please describe your your enforcement or your training, which is very important and which could prevent a lot of lawsuits. No discrimination in terms of sex, race, age, height, weight. And what is your training plan? And because when I go into the fire stations, I just pop in. There's nothing posted and you're supposed to have something posted with, you know, prohibiting harassment in the workplace. And I've not seen that. So I'm asking maybe we can work on that together. We can get those signs from the state. They're free, and they're supposed to be posted in the workplace. And the six that I've been in, in my district, they're not posted, so we could work on that. So folks will know the do's and don'ts in the workplace in terms of zero tolerance for discrimination. So what is your plan of action in terms of training your personnel with regard to the Elliott Larsen act?
So through the chair we have, of course with our cadets, we offer training to them for initial discrimination training, and then for a three day three day training that we have every year, they train on discrimination as well as as far as the fire companies. Every fire house has a bulletin board and matter of fact that I'm curious now so we may have to take a visit and make sure that those posters are out there.
And they're free, you know, if I can get you some for you, but anyway, they should be posted. And I maybe I just overlooked because I just go in and come out. You know, just look at I'll always see up, you know, a bulletin board because they could possibly be posted. I don't go through, you know, the station. I just kind of pop in and just speak and just keep going. But I've not seen it. So if we can make that happen, just to be in compliance. And thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you remember Callaway, do you want to go on it? about it. Thank you. Councilmember Calloway, Councilmember Doha?
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning to you all. First, I want to say thank you. Obviously we do a lot of work together to achieve Harris and Lieutenant Stacey Taylor. Those are my guys. They are the boots on the ground, whether it's going to our senior buildings, helping us provide fire safety tips. They come every Valentine's Day I missed this. This year. I was a little bit under the weather but you guys still came through so I appreciate that and our roses to those ladies and they love it. But they also love just the information that you guys give and then also being boots on the ground. We knock doors together to be able to install fire detectors. And that is something I've never seen from certain departments to go and put those boots on the ground and our sole concern was safety for the residents. So I thank you all as the entire department for that. Many of my questions have been answered relative to health and wellness was actually as a huge question back in 2016. When I served in the legislature, I was a co sponsor of the cancer resumption funding that came through as well and I'm glad to see its expansion going beyond just active but those who are already retired who don't have access to health care and so I know you guys have been fighting for that. Interesting to see how we can expand it more. Any way we can be supportive. Let me know. My only question just revolves around I actually haven't too. So I will say this question revolves around very quickly about the fire houses and maintenance. Can we go into a detail a little bit more detail or specificity on what where are we looking at for maintenance of our fire houses? I know we've got some things coming before us relative to building and improving some more fire houses. Can we touch a little bit on that?
Through the Chair, so I'm going to defer that to DC Hillman. However, I would like to say that they have allocated I mean we have allocated funds for repairs at the firehouse with our strategic plan, our five year strategic plan that we'll be submitting soon. It includes new fire stations because we're trying to redeploy our fire resources to ensure the citizens get the best attention as possible. So I'm going to defer the rest of that question so you can easily go through the chair.
Appreciate the question Council number. So we actually worked with like I said earlier construction and development or demolition to make sure that all the facilities are maintained. We have a submission process that we work with them to make sure that there's a quick turnaround. We usually see turnaround within a day, if not two days to make sure that those problems are fixed. Like we just you guys just approved a $5 million contract for us to make sure that that maintenance is being done on a regular basis. And we want to thank you for that.
But I want to thank you again, pushing that issue forward. You know, again, these guys are on the front line every single day. And they spend a lot of time obviously in those fire houses away from their families away from their own homes. And so that's really important. So thank you guys for pushing that forward. Another question I just have is around those members of our disabled community, I will say and transparency, you guys have been very open. You've attended our disability taskforce meetings talking to our disabled residents of what they should do in the event of a fire. What do we look like going forward just a department wide outreach to members of our disabled community and what they can do some of the resources that may be available to them and just overall education relative to fire safety
through the chair. Excellent, very good question. I think that's something that we're gonna have to pay closer attention to. I know right now, we do have smoke detectors for the hearing impaired. So those are things that we're trying to do. Even our fire safety booklets, we're looking to get those in Braille. So but that's something I think we need to pay more attention to.
And I will just follow back up, you know, even having an opportunity to spend a lot of time with Chief here is there's like resources and tools where you are say you're in the bed and you are hearing impaired and that fire detector vibrates and goes off and lets you know, but I'd be interested in seeing how we can move that forward get more resources, even as we try to distribute those type of resources to members of our disabled community. And so with that, Madam President, I like to make a motion to put the fire department's budget into executive session specifically looking at funds to allocate for our disabled residents and leaves resources for our disabled residents.
Alright, any objections? Hearing none, that action will be taken. And
again, thank you all for everything you do and look to continue working with you in the future. Thank you, Madam President.
Excuse me through the Chair. Thank you for supporting the cancer presumption pills. Well, thank you. All
right. Thank you so much. Member Santiago Ramiro. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, everyone. Good to see you all. Also grateful for the work that you do and the continued partnership that we have together. As a chair of PHS. I work very closely with the department to make sure that you have what you need to be able to do your work your very important work. The questions that I had were already asked. Frankly, I am really excited to hear about the five year strategic plan. DC Hillman Can you share a little bit about how this came to be? And what we can expect? You mentioned that there would be some evaluation of our stations. And but what else can we expect from this five year strategic plan?
Thank you through the Chair. Thank you council member. We appreciate the partnership that you have given us and all the support that you've given us. So with a five year strategic plan, we're actually looking to reach out to all our different stakeholders, and that it would include all the council members to sit down, walk through the process actually get feedback from each one of your members, the members to help develop it. We have a draft plan in place right now that we're looking forward to sharing with you. Within that plan. It's going to look at different services that we provide. The station locations that we provide, and things like nurse navigation that we're looking at different things along that lines to actually get out to the community and improve our services and be in better touch with the community.
Through the Chair, thank you, DC. I am looking forward to working together with you all on set plan. You mentioned North navigation that was going to be a question that I had. I know that this is something that we discussed when we went to Portland last year about other resources that we can bring to the city to really help us respond to to the calls that you're receiving. I think the only other question that I will ask is if you can remind me again, there was discussion at formal session regarding ambulances and the fees our residents incur. There was a mention of a fund or an a policy that we could potentially look at to support residents that may not be able to afford those payments. Could you share, again, what that is and what that could look like here in the city.
And through the chair. We're looking at developing that hardship policy. This would then look at residents that they can pay for that service. We could actually look at their financial income and actually have a tear program and it are in such a level that they can't pay that actually waive that fee. So right now that is with law right now. And we're looking to move that forward for you guys to have in front of you here shortly. Wonderful.
Thank you so much. I know how hard you all are working and I'm really grateful for your work. So happy to continue to support you all. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
All right. Thank you, Councilmember potentate.
Thank you, Madam President. And thank you for being here, Commissioner and your team. Really appreciate the work that you've done and continue to do I remember I often talked about this my one of my first budget hearings. It was the fire department came to us looking for something other than axis an axe to chop through the roof. That's how challenging things were at that time. And now to see where we are now talking drones and being able to utilize them providing you with the technology and the tools that you need to not necessarily be a bull in a china shop to be able to be you know, do what you do with finesse save lives and also, of course property as well because that means something to the folks that you come in contact with. So, again, thank you for your leadership. Thank you and your team as well. And I see Miss Davis has joined you we've worked together in the past. You've got a tremendous asset on your team. But I'm sure I don't have to tell you that but looking at the department and looking over the documentation and just the thought of the fire department. It's a male dominated profession and of course we don't just throw anybody in there just to fill a quota check a box, but what is the Detroit fire department and I may have missed it because I was a bit tardy coming in and my apologies, I may have missed it. What is the fire department doing to increase? Oh, let me just ask the question. First, what are the what is the percentage of women who are a member of the Detroit fire department and what's being done to potentially increase that? And then the same question for Detroiters and what's being done to increase that that number? Okay,
very good question. So our department is made about I think it's roughly 8% represent female and so we you know, working with human resources and a recruiter, we aggressively try to attract women to the fire service. I think now, since we see that fires are decreasing and medical runs are increasing. Hopefully, that'll be an attraction to a lot of females out there. One thing I want to say is that to become a firefighter or to be certified as a firefighter, you have to take what's called a C Pat. And it's a physical agility test. And so for years that they had people had to go outside the community to take that C Pat. So we brought the CPAP back to Detroit. And what does that mean? That means that it's a it's over near our training academy and we can, it will allow Detroit residents to even come in practice sometimes, versus having to drive you know, 40 or 50 miles out to take this test. So that's going to be a way to I think we'll be able to track not only more women but more Detroiters and I will say for every hiring we've had, we've exhausted the list of Detroiters what
does that number look like though percentage wise for Detroiters? I heard the women I think you said 8%
Women's 8%. So the number we have is is not how many applied that were Detroit is but how many are Detroiters? Now, and I want to say that number. I can't remember I think is like 30% right now, but we are aggressively trying to hire more Detroiters and like I said, we go out to the schools I know that's that's part of it going out to the schools going out to the neighborhoods passing out literature to make sure that Detroiters get the jobs as well as our apprenticeship program. So that'd be a pathway straight into the fire department from Detroit Public School.
I love to talk to you more about it. You know, how do we really uplift fire fighters as heroes as they are? As we talk about folks who go into danger and other folks, like myself, we run out and run away and we pass it to you. I'll take care of it. I think we've got to highlight, you know, the work that you do and the importance of it, as well as Now we talked about the benefits of being a Detroit firefighter within the city of Detroit with the financial improvements, if you will, over time that we've assisted with. So again, love to touch more on that and work with you. The other question I have is regarding another question that my colleague asked about the ambulance. I know you mentioned earlier, Commissioner that we have pretty much the highest the greatest number of EMS units that we've had in quite some time. And I know that we still received a contract recently for standby EMS units. Will we get to a point where we don't necessarily meet that contract as we move forward and understand again in the past. I've been here for a minute, and I've seen those numbers constantly increasing. I'm glad to see that we're at a point where we are today but I also want to see how we can eliminate, you know contracts outside contracts that we could use those hours to go towards something else. So talk to us a bit about why even as we are at the highest that we've seen in quite some time in terms of EMS units, why is there need for this standby contract and when do you see us possibly not needing that contract and being able to utilize just the units that we have internally? Sure,
through the chair. So we did a cost analysis and to provide what the contract costs us is equivalent to about 17 or 18 Full paid firefighter EMTs. If we were to take those 18, full paid firefighter EMTs they could not provide they can only provide a fraction of coverage that the peppers are providing. And so it's more of a cost analysis. It's factored in the cost and a cost savings actually so we can reach those 43 ambulances without basically, you know, blowing out our budget. If we were to staff 18 ambulances with members, it would probably cost us somewhere. I think we projected about 10 million more dollars and as because now we would have to buy more ambulances. We got rolling fuel, we got rolling
and training. So with these with these 18 peppers, they already provide their own fuel their own ambulances. So it's more of a cost benefit to the fire department as well as the city of Detroit. So are you saying are you saying that that number has gone down for in terms of the the contracted use request? Because I don't know if that number has decreased if our number is increasing internally, shifting the peppers, peppers? Yes, they should be going down at least the the, the number of units or the timeframe. I mean, just to see how is that being adjusted if our numbers are going up? You know, why is that number over on this side staying the same and potentially even increasing? I know costs are going up period just across the board but how are we adjusting based on our now increase internal capacity? Regehr. Very good question. So we're still doing an analysis. So this contract came into play last April. So we're coming up on a year of the contract and we're constantly looking at if we need to increase our ambulances and decrease theirs we're rolling in the costs were rolling in response times they were all learning and utilization rate. So another thing that was positive about the peppers is that the utilization rate of our men and women on the fire department decreased before then that utilization rate was somewhere around 70%. Now it's between 40 and 50%, which is the national average. Look forward to additional questions on that. But again, thank you for the work that you all do. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Judy. Chair, did you want to respond to your detour through the chair I councilmember Tate I appreciate the question about the Detroiters and women in our department. So one thing I also wanted to add is we've with the merge role, we've been able to flip what we had in EMS because EMS was so you had to come into the department with a license, which left out a lot of Detroiters. So now that we have the merge role, we're training all the Detroiters and women that are coming into the department you could receive their medical license and their firefighter wanting to license or certification excuse me, so that has increased our capabilities of hiring those individuals. Thank you so much. Again, be on the lookout for the questions but thank you for the work. Thank you President Pro Tem Tate and most of my questions have been asked as well too. I did just want to also state the need for continued investment in the fire houses in general. I did have the opportunity myself to tour one maybe about eight months ago and the one that I went to was in need of a little tender loving care. So I'm not sure whether my questions that I did submit is that if we can get a list of all of the firehouses in the capital assessments, the needs for it, and then where we are in the timeline for completion, just wrapping to have a bigger kind of overall snapshot of where we are because we do get contracts kind of piecemeal, but to see a bigger overview picture of the capital knees for each one of the firehouses as long as as well with the timeline for completion. So one of the questions I will ask is regarding the knock box, so you mentioned that there's 123 installations to date. Do you know how many more are forthcoming and then the training aspect because I did visit a senior building recently. They do have a knock box install it, but I was informed that some emergency took place and there was some damage done to the building get that whoever came was not trained and did not even know how to utilize or that there was a knock box there. So if you could just kind of talk a little bit more about how many are forthcoming the training for the department and how to utilize them. And just kind of a more of a update on the knockbacks process. Great question. Chair. I appreciate the question. So as far as the next box, we're on a continuous program to install and get it out to the community. As far as to training. We've actually implemented training through our fire rescue on our online training. So those situations won't happen again. So all of our members are required to do that. This is where they actually log in every day. And they actually are required to watch that video. Watch what to do. Sign off that they understand take a quiz at the end of it, make sure that they actually acknowledge the process of using the next box keys. So we have implemented that just recently with the implementation of the KNOX box on the vehicles. So all of our vehicles are now have the boxes on them with the keys. So you should see a vast improvement on that aspect. Okay. And do you know it hasn't been utilized since at to date on are you keeping data like if it's actually being utilized the keys in situations just trying to kind of gather data? I can look into that and let you know, but I know for a fact that they do use them they've used them in the past so now that they're even more prevalent, I'm sure they'll be using them like no packaging, do you know how many are forthcoming as far as installation? I do not I'll get you that number though. Okay, and Madam Chair. So, we will we are keeping that on that because every time they open that next box it will it will identify who actually launched in the code for that next month. Okay. All right. Thank you. And I just I will say on behalf of the seniors in a lot of these buildings, they are very excited and pleased to have that as a part of just safety because there's a lot of incidents that take place and they need emergency access. And so thank you all for installing those my last question is just one page. B 24 dashboard, there was a reduction in the field operations from 14 million to 6 million. Just wanted to understand what that reduction indicates. On page B 24, dash nine EMS Field Operations goes from 14 million to roughly 6 million to chair 1424 dash four B 24 dash nine nine sorry about the B 24 dash nine EMS Field Operations there was a decrease from 14 million to 6 million so through the chair, there's been the transition of staffing from the EMS division to the firefighter Operations Division based on him transitioning to the merge role. So we've shifted those dollars in those positions from EMS to fire operations. Okay, and then just last year, I have to ask regarding I know you guys were out at a situation that took place in district five a very unfortunate suicide situation and EMS was once on site the entire time has there been any talks about any additional equipment? For situations like that in your department? I know DPD was exploring alternative equipment, but just wanted to know has there been any discussion regarding that with this madam chair? So great question. So we actually have installed in our as one of our resources, we have rescue bags, and what these rescue bags are they're inflatable bags, and we have for various sizes with the largest size that can support someone jumping from the 20th floor. So we do have those in our as a resource. Now we just have to train our members on those rescue bags. All right. Thank you. All right. That will conclude our questions for this morning. If there's no additional questions Yes, member Callaway. Yes, madam chair I'd like to put into the Executive Session. The capital needs for engine 59 in engine 53 engine 30 engine 51 engine 44 and engine 40. Expression expecially engine 51 On Labor annoy. It's in horrible condition. And in great need of some upgrades over there. It's really bad. Even the furniture. I wouldn't want to sit on it. It's really bad over there. So those are the engines in district to I'm going to put the entire capital needs for these engines and all the other engines that may be in need of capital improvements into the executive session. Thank you Madam Chair. That will be great if we can just add all of them city wide as we are still awaiting for the information that I did request that will be helpful for I don't see. So that's perfect. Hearing no objections, we will add that to our executive session. Thank you remember cowboy. All right. Thank you so much for the department to the department for the work that you all do, and that will conclude our budget hearing. So thank you all for being here.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you
all right, colleagues, we will proceed. They are here. Okay. You will proceed to our next budget hearing and that is the City Airport.
The morning
and whenever you're ready to proceed, the floor is yours. Just make sure your microphone is on by pressing the bottom of the microphone
Good morning. Jason watt airport director James George agency CFO George Gray McCollum airport. And I believe I need to ask him from the budget is going to be online. Okay. I believe he should be something. All right. I guess we start is the airport is here, obviously for our budget hearing. And what we have is a budget that's fairly similar to the budget we had last year with very few modifications. The overall strategy of the airport department is to obviously we want to rebuild the airport, update it and bring it into FAA compliance with all FAA regulations. To that end, we've been working on numerous projects to include land acquisition projects. We've also been talking to different entities like DPS, for example about moving Bo Davis aerospace High School back to the airport, those negotiations are ongoing but bearing significant fruit. In addition to that, we have done numerous projects on I guess safety related issues at the airport as it pertains to overall overall development when I say that, we've done a lot of planning and designing at the airport. So a lot of the things that that I could discuss with you are not structural things that you'd be able to go out and physically see or touch, but definitely a tremendous amount of planning has taken place since last time I've been here and all those things are moving at breakneck speed keeping me and my staff very, very busy. So on that I guess if there's any specific questions I guess we could jump into those and and then I'll answer anything that you get.
All right, that was the shortest presentation. right to it.
Not much has changed. No
problem. We appreciate you Mr. White for the work that you do. Can you maybe provide an update on the if at all the 2024 draft and April impacts the airport as far as a revenue perspective? I know I was hearing that private flights etc. I mean, Detroit, we just know is going to be proceeding so much. So many people here and I heard the airport could possibly benefit in some way can you speak to that and your conversations with the NFL Draft?
Absolutely. So right now, the region this is important the region when I say the region, I mean we'll run Metro and our airport are anticipated to receive somewhere around 290 aircraft for the event and we anticipate to take the lion's share of that somewhere around 120. We anticipate for the first day of the draft. What we're doing is closing off sections of the airport that will be able to be utilized as parking spaces. And we've done this before we did this with when we had the oh, what does that call the Super Bowl. We had the super bowl here we had similar numbers, so we're familiar with it, and we're gonna be ready to go. When we talk about revenues. There'll be standard revenues but just be a huge day for the airport meaning that we'll be refueling aircraft receiving aircraft. There'll be tons of parking that's taken place. We don't have any necessary projections around that just yet, just because we'll see once once it happens, there's been rumors that that maybe we might not receive that much but that nonetheless the FAA as well as the state of Michigan are looking at how much this may potentially impact the region. So, we do anticipate 120 aircraft
can you speak on the status of the land acquisition 17 occupied and 53 vacant properties required to increase the safety zone
Yes, it can be one second here. I have some of it off the top of my head but I want to give you the latest. So right now we have 26 properties that we've completely closed on. We have four that are in negotiations and those are vacant parcels, the four that we're in negotiations on. We have six that are signed, but not close means they've accepted the offers that we've sent to them and we're in the process of closing on them now. And then we have four that have title issues. What happened with at least one of the folks that were in this area is that they unfortunately passed away during this process when I see this process in the last year. And that has caused some title issue. And then in addition to that there was another homeowner that we just couldn't figure out who owned the home. There's two two distinct claims on the property. So we're working through that. So we're going to have to clear those up through probate. But nonetheless, moving forward and then we are going to be condemning on 36 parcels of property. And those are those are not necessarily how to have structures on them or people living in them. Most of them are vacant lots, I think all but one of them are vacant lots. And what we ran into was that obviously individuals thought that our appraisals were low and this is all standard. So what we decided to do was condemn on those properties and then hopefully we can reach some type of resolution before we get to court. But nonetheless, we want to try to finalize this project so we can progress forward. All
right, thank you. We did have a few other questions that we put in memo form it will submit to you all in writing as well. And questions from colleagues and we will start with you Council President Pro Tem.
Thank you Madam President. No real questions. Just appreciate the work that you all do. Get here and give praise to the directors and the teams but I do that because I'm sure you know here very often I know how it feels to be on the other side of a non compliment. So it's good to hear folks recognize the work that you do really appreciate it. Just kind of building on the question just one. That council president asked about the mini tag. Is there any additional contracts that we believe may be coming before us to approve another phase? Another step because I know we recently approved? Some of them in the past? Yes,
I believe that we have three that are outstanding. I believe the rest of them have been approved, at least to go through even the condemnation process. So I believe we have three more that may come before you and those are related to the probate items as well as the one I think there's one that has not not closed yet that we need to bring back to you. Okay. All right.
Have no additional questions about President. Thank you.
All right. Thank you. Remember Dr. Hall.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning to you all. I appreciate all the work that you do as well and just director just your vision, obviously, obviously for the airport. We talked about how Coleman a young International Airport was, you know, just a great resource for the city of Detroit needed some tender loving care and we're starting to see those things evolve. Even again is highlighted now and TV shows that we see depicting some of the old commercial airlines or traffic so that say that used to come through there but just very optimistic about what we're seeing there new hangars, obviously helicopters. Now. We talk about the NFL Draft. How do we talk about the overall vision now I know we will not never get back to the commercial airport. It used to be but just not for special events. But what is the idea of it possibly being somewhat of a long term, having more commercial traffic and commercial business?
Thank you, sir. Through the Chair. So what we're looking at right now is a great general aviation airport that will support this region, not just a small aircraft but larger aircraft as it pertains to business aviation. We want to become the premier business aviation airport for this region. I think everybody who owns a business in Detroit should be at our airport obviously, unless they live close to open Pontiac maybe but when we look at I don't want to say competition area but other airports in the area. We're uniquely situated as we sit six miles from this great hustle and bustle the urban environment, the city of Detroit, which is definitely helping us spearhead just the continued vision. In addition to that some of the exciting things that we're looking at. I am currently in discussions with the Ford train with the train station, Michigan central to discuss low level air traffic management systems, things of that nature. doing testing at the airport for beyond line of sight aircraft operations as it pertains to drone aircraft or E the total electric vertical takeoff landing aircraft. We are recognized at on the state level as one of the leaders in that space right now. And that's going to provide a lot of opportunity. I believe in the future for the airport as Evie tool becomes a significant way to travel. And when I say that, you know we talked about urban mobility and air taxis, things of that nature. I see us really spearheading that and being on the forefront of that as as these these different technologies available to everybody. So we are definitely doing some pretty innovative things have a good time in the space learning a lot as we go. I don't have any major announcements as to any particular one company or anything coming to the space other than we are talking to all kinds of people about all kinds of exciting innovative things that we're doing in the aviation space right now. And there's a lot of interest in our airport.
And I'm glad to hear that, you know, when we talk about surrounding airports, you know, like the Lansing airport, per se I know you don't want to say is competition is good to be able to have our resource though for folks who fly in they don't have to go to Romulus and then travel down 94 to do business here in Detroit and having the ability to get in and out of here I think will be a huge thing and then bring revenue obviously to our city as well. So I'll continue to push on that and work with you. I know you are very adamant about it, and um, you know, appreciate those conversations. My next question just is about civil Civil Air Patrol. Obviously that is something that is aimed at our high schoolers here to get our youth participating in aviation, which I think is a great thing, particularly when we talk about an urban center like the city of Detroit, and we have a lot of African American students or minority students. And traditionally we don't see a lot of that going into the field of aviation. Can you just touch on a little bit more about that how that Civil Air Patrol is connecting our students and kind of fostering an environment to move them forward into the field of aviation? Absolutely.
I'll expand expand even further than that. So the Civil Air Patrol is one program that we offer at the airport and it's been hugely successful. We're helping youth with learning maybe some skills that they don't necessarily get home. In addition, to that, really learning about aviation and how to become a leader, and these children are recognized as some of the best in the Civil Air Patrol program nationally. So we've had tremendous success with that program. In addition to that, I I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about what the Tuskegee Airmen are doing. They just received a $500,000 grant recently, I believe, last year from the FAA to expand their programming. And they've been doing Dr. Brian Smith and his team had been doing phenomenal things in that space. In fact, Dr. Brian Smith has become the chair of the Michigan aeronautics commission. And while he has to remain unbiased in the way he handles himself on that level, I can tell you that having him as a tenant at the airport is definitely something that I cherished in our ability to talk and watching all the exciting things going around his rocketry program is a flight training program and his introduction to airframe and powerplant program, which means that why you can't become a mechanic through the Tuskegee Airmen what you can do is learn some some really good skills that may prepare you for a career field in that space. But he's just had tremendous success. In addition to that. Friends of Detroit City Airport, Beverly Kendall Walker and her team have done phenomenal phenomenal things with the youth and when I say youth, I'm talking about children as young as eight years old, exposing them to all kinds of programs. She she also leads Women in Aviation girls and aviation. So she, she her programs are just gangbusters too. So we're really I think, doing some very exciting things in that space to the point where we're being recognized by by some university institutions. Again, while I'm not ready to make an announcement about anything, I can tell you that Wayne State has taken a very big interest in what we're doing at the airport and trying to maybe create or tailor a program that may be be able to do something exciting at the airport, so well thank
you and I think I was right on QFC members of our silver retro as well as Tuskegee Airmen walk right and so, but again, I just want to thank you as well as your team for what you do. And just having that type of vision to move forward. I think it's very important that we utilize all the resources that we have and obviously, the culminate Yemenis for airport is one of the huge or biggest resources that we have in the city of Detroit. And so I appreciate the conversations and willingness to again, try to push that forward thinking. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you member Doha member Callaway,
thank you Madam Chair and good morning everyone. I don't know if I heard your answer to what when we can expect for the high school to move back to the airport. They had a wonderful program there at one time Davis and it's kind of sad when that disconnect happen. So when do you anticipating when do you anticipate that connection happening again with the high school
I am very excited to announce that we are in lease negotiations with DPS right now. We anticipate them to take over the school between the January and April 2025 timeframe. I should say the the it's the now we call it the main terminal facility that is going to be refurbished and turned into the new vo Davis aerospace high school and they are working on on securing all funding for the for it but they are very confident that that's going to happen and they anticipate for classes to be starting sometime in the 2026 timeframe. I think it's January 2026 Possibly slips to two August 2026. But nonetheless, they're going to stay they would like to start working we're going to try to to allow them to start work heading towards the end of the summer.
Yeah. One of my neighbors daughters and thank you. That's exciting. She's now a pilot with delta. And she was a graduate of Renaissance but took courses when Davis was there, so I'm excited about that. My next question is, please describe and you shouldn't have the questions because we sent them to new state, March the 12th. So hopefully you have an answer to this one. But please describe any outreach by the airport department to Detroit based distribution centers like Amazon and target which is currently in district two, but will be in District Three effective January 2026. But while it is in district two, I would love to know what are your your goals in terms of building out and having air cargo to those huge huge distribution centers? Amazon and target right there eight mile and Woodward Yes
ma'am. So I just to let you know I did respond, but I might not remember exactly how I answered the question because it's been a little bit I think you asked on Friday, but I will give you the answer. The answer is is that we have not. We have not reached out to target or Amazon when I say that I can't speak for the DGC or work for the jobs and economy team but the airport department has not formally reached out to those entities. But I would welcome those entities if they have any ideas around how to streamline their distribution in an innovative way. I would love I would welcome and entertain I would love to entertain that that would be something very exciting. It means a the administration would to we want to be leaders in this space. And if given the opportunity I know that we can do it and just just waiting for them to call us or for all I know different organizations in the city of trade have already reached out to them and these discussions are already taken place. Okay, let's
see if we can make the connection because that's an excellent opportunity for the City Airport. And as I indicated earlier, they are in district two right now but it will be in District Three Not that it matters which district it is but I would like to advocate for that to happen, because that's a serious opportunity for the city and for the city's airport. So I look forward to talking to you about my ideas and suggestions, some suggestions I had that I'd like to share with you and I believe we can probably have a coordinated effort to get something get the ball rolling at least in that in that direction.
Yes, ma'am. And I welcome you to the airport. I know I do that every time I come here but if you can, if you would please come I will. I will show you a good time and show you everything we got going on at the airport and we would love to have those conversations. Thank
you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, sir.
Thank you member Callaway member Johnson.
Thank you Madam President. And good morning. Great to see you. Thank you so much for the continued work that you're doing overseeing the common a young international airport I have questions about the physical space, noting that it's just across the street from District Four in District Three. Can you talk about the any installation of industrial buffers to minimize the environmental impact on the surrounding neighborhoods?
At this point, you don't anticipate any industrial buffers and when I say that, we did have a plan to create a some green space between the airport and its neighbors and I'm open to all those discussions. At the time. We were evaluating this there was a plan. I believe it was Glee where that was going to do a huge job replacement of one of their main trunk lines, water distribution lines into the Conner creek water treatment facility. I don't know where that project stands, but we were going to do is piggyback on that project and then be able to create green space during that time. The discussions have kind of fallen off just just a hair in that. I don't know what their plans are. So I don't want to spend millions of dollars or hundreds of 1000s of dollars and then have them dig it up. So that's kind of where we are we're looking at the utilities around the airport. And I think once I get a really solid handle on utilities around the airport, even into the mini take area, which we're still working on, I will be able to come up with a with a strategy on that that green buffer space that you're talking about that that would provide some some area in between us and our neighbors. But there is a plant we have mountains to plant we there is a discussion about it. So we haven't just skipped over it. It's just when is the appropriate time to allocate funds to it. We're just not quite there just yet because we were still learning how all the I'll give you an example. Right now we're working on some stormwater issues, obviously because we're taking some green space that used to be homes and we're planning on taking that and turning it into maybe hard hard spaces with parking lots or aircraft parking areas. And so we're going to have to mitigate some of those stormwater issues. And when we do that, the question is where do we put that? And originally, we had discussed the possibility of putting in water containment in areas like ponds for example. But that's proven itself to be a little bit difficult with city trade regulations as as as a marry to federal regulations. So we're working through that right now. So I just can't answer that question, but it is a topic of discussion for us. 100% So
I appreciate your response. I believe the Great Lakes Water Authority is working closer at the Conner Harper intersection with the project that you're referring to but I would love to bring in member Benson and I to have those conversations with the Great Lakes Water Authority and with you so that we figure out how we move forward just making sure that we're not creating a greater or a negative impact on the environment for the residents in the surrounding community. And then that was my second question was about green stormwater infrastructure, larger small scale plans and there is some city owned land across the street so that we're perhaps we can do a I'll say a sister some something that is capturing water because the the more you develop, the more concrete the more runway space that you have, the more impervious it is and you know, it would be nice to have something that is capturing rainwater. And so maybe we can have that conversation offline as well, about the land across the street that used to be De LaSalle to utilize that. Because we're always concerned about the amount of storm water that runs into the system when we have inclement weather in particular. So we'd love to have that conversation with you offline as well.
Absolutely. I welcome it and I will admit for the first time I absolutely need your help on this because there's a lot of regulations and we want to make sure we get it right. Okay.
Excellent, excellent. And I'm going to continue to hold out hope that in the future, you will have some passenger flights that go in and out of becoming a young International Airport. Thank you. Thank you Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Mr. Johnson. President potentate, you already went I'm sorry.
No waters. Member waters.
Okay, thank you, Madam President. I'll be quick. Most of the questions that angst I certainly want to say I'm so grateful for what you're doing with in negotiations for Davis aerospace for sure. Um, so tell me about businesses that are located there. How many would you say that we have there between
organizations and businesses that kind of lump them in commercial opportunities. We have about
10 businesses they operate out of the airport right now. And many of them are looking that the aviation related ones direct AB the ones who have aircraft at the airport are looking at building new spaces. I am in negotiations I believe with with all those entities. On for large hangar bays. A lot of our tenants are at larger aircraft and given the fact that we are going to have to we're forced to tear down the building at the corner counter and Gratiot because sits in a runway object free. I believe that was another question I think someone had submitted to me. We're going to be forced to tear that building down and in that all those tenants will be displaced. So they were forced to build hangars, and they are excited about the opportunity to build hangars out there. Finally, I can tell you that we are looking to maybe change our business model a little bit, at least at this point. To long term leases. I believe I've spoken to are these everyone should have at least heard that we are looking at I just prep council for this one where we have the app flight contract which should be coming across your desk I believe here in the next week or so. Which is for new hangar facility and it's going to be a 30 year lease which is something that's not conventional to the city of Detroit, but necessary at this point for the overall development of the airport. And during that time. Would that that's kind of the model that we're shifting towards which is similar with with industry standards, the industry standards that we do a per acre foot fee, and then they pay us as per square foot fee and then build a facility on the property and then they amortize it over a period of time.
Okay. All right. So has since last year, has there been an increase in say in foot traffic? And so how do you how do you track that?
Yes, ma'am. So, I mean, beyond just seeing it, I can tell you my flight is has done tremendous. I mean, our numbers are have skyrocketed since they've been at the airport and they have a great operation. I believe some of the council members have had a chance to experience what they do, but it's it's tremendous. A lot of Detroiters might not be able to have had the opportunity to see the city that way and it's a great opportunity for people and it can be romantic at times the city from from a pie is a beautiful place. And it's a pretty fun experience. So my flight has just just done tremendous and they're looking at building out a new facility to Hangar bays along with a base building and their base building is going to be a have a little nod to entertainment there too. So it'll be pretty interesting concept that they've come up with and I'm really happy when we get ready to obviously you have worked to prove that but we're in the negotiations on and I've seen some of the renders. It's pretty exciting stuff.
Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Mr. Waters members, Santiago Ramiro.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning. Good morning. I to have my questions asked I really wanted to get a little bit more into the work that you do with the young folks I was able to visit the airport last year with my team, we had a really great time. We were there all day, hearing about what the projects to come. The support that we're going to need they're gonna need from us. So I feel pretty well versed and prepared on how to continue to support you. I think the only question that I'll have and I don't think we've talked about this yet, as the continued is the city as the airport continues to expand, you know, grow into it grow its operations. How are we also creating opportunities for Detroiters to work for the for the for the City Airport.
So, through the chair, that's that's actually a great question. I believe our biggest opportunity for success is going to be with the bo Davis aerospace coming back to the airport. That being said, aviation is a unique field in that not just it's very difficult to go from just the normal life to going into a specialized field like aviation. Whenever we can, obviously we try to hire the traders on the maintenance side. And that's not a knock i I wish I could hire Detroiters for senior level roles. It's just there's just not many of us unfortunately in this space. And so we're really focused on trying to help through our programming children. find opportunities at the airport we have F flight is dedicated to trying to hire Detroiters we're headed we're 100% I am always looking for Detroiters to to hire. We currently have a vacancy at the airport now. If there's a Detroit is interested in becoming part of our team on the maintenance side, we have a great position that's open. We I just I just think that and I will say this we also have one to two Bo Davis aerospace grads on the team now. So one older one younger, and she also was a Western Michigan University grad. And we're slowly integrating her into the operations side of the house but anytime I can, I will and while we have a very small team, it's pretty dynamic. But there also are opportunities working for any any one of the organizations at the airport to include my flight at flight us. And then if they if they just want to just come in and become aware of aviation there's also opportunities with any one of the programs I mentioned earlier to come in and just just learn about the aviation industry and then maybe through different organizations and relationships that I have, I can find them a position maybe at Metro airport, or at another airport here in the area that might be a little bit larger that could that is looking to hire people
through the Chair. Thank you. That's wonderful. Do you mentioned the programs for young folks would you happen to know about how many people per year young people per year are engaged in your programming?
You know what ma'am? I am unfortunately not prepared to answer that question. But I know the numbers are high. I mean, they're in the hundreds. So So through all the programming that we do, I know the numbers in the hundreds I can get that for you. That's something that we're currently trying to get our hands around so that we can maximize what we do there. And we were able to hire somebody that's going to assist with assist us with that moving forward. So she's become a great part of my team and you will hear more about that. We will get that under control.
There The Chair Thank you. What we'll do is we'll follow up with the memo for questions and we'll ask specifically, what programs are coming out of the airports? How many folks are going to the programs, I think that's a huge benefit. And it's an asset that can be quantified and that we can see so we'll ask those follow up so that we in the public knows what it is that you do. I remember when we were there they were students from Crystal ray cast tech and there was a young gentleman who must have been in his early 20s Already trains able to to I believe able to fly a plane CFI Yes, ma'am. He was a CFI so it's really really impressive and inspiring and for me, it just shows that there are opportunities for young people to go into a really good fields for their future. So we'll follow up with
that. And there will be more there will be more. I promise that.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
All right. Thank you, Council Member. All right, that will conclude all of our questions from my colleagues, anything additional from the airport.
I just would as always I appreciate every single person at on this council. You've been very, very good to the department to myself, and I appreciate you and your support and moving forward. Thank you.
Thank you. We appreciate you as well. Thank you so much for the work that you all do. And that is it. We will conclude our budget hearing. Thank you so much for being here.
Next budget hearing will be at 2pm today. And so colleagues if there's nothing else to come before us, we will stand in recess until 2pm
