Latest / Providence Voice / The Mayor & The Manager - Expanding Public Safety - #023

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The Mayor & The Manager - Expanding Public Safety - #023 · Providence Voice

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, Lake Wales.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Mayor and the Manager.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: This is episode number 21.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: The Mayor and the Manager is a podcast that has been created by Providence Voice, which is the media ministry of High Point Church.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we created it so that you, the citizens of Lake Wales, could get to know the people who you pay and elect to lead you and who you can so that you can be aware of things that are happening in the city.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: And today, I actually have a full house, three guests in the podcast room with me today.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Our chief of police, uh police, chief uh Chris Velasquez.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, uh Chief.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and Chief Shad uh Smith.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: I was about to call you Williams, our fire department chief.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then I, as usual, am joined by our city manager, James Slayton.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh fellas, thanks for joining me here this morning for the podcast.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having us.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the reason that um I asked y'all to join me today is that uh when James and I got together again after a long summer break a couple of weeks ago, we were catching up on uh what was happening.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: This place never stops, it's always busy.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: And uh as we were kind of walking back through the things that had taken place uh in the summertime, uh we began to mention a lot of the expansion of um our fire and our police departments, especially the facility.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought it'd be good for us to spend some time um uh talking about that.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And each project is unique.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one is an addition.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: One of the projects is an addition, one is a renovation, and one is a new build here in the city of Lake Wales, but each one of them serves the same purpose, which is public safety.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: So let's um let's jump in this way.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna begin with our city manager, uh James.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: If I remember correctly, it was two years ago this month that we first came before the city commission to talk about purchasing the old El Elder Law building on uh Tillman Avenue.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we've been working on these for a while.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um so from your perspective, um, talk about each one of these.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um when did you begin to think about when do you have to begin to think about these different projects?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, do they just pop up or is this a result of long-term planning or that sort of thing?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh well, most of it starts with some some long-range planning.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then but we also will seize opportunities, right?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: So so when they when they when they pop up.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, for for the police department, I'll tell you, this is actually uh something that the chief identified years ago, quite honestly, and it just wasn't um, you know, previously we you know, just you gotta be more specific when you say the chief.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, oh I'm sorry, you're exactly right.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: So uh the police chief.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: So regarding it the the annex, so that's something that you know he had recognized uh some time ago that really needed to be addressed.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the department's been growing for for years, and they've been in that same building for good gosh, Chris, what, since the nineties or something like that?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so you you gotta imagine over a 30-year period that the department looks a lot different than it did 30 years ago.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so the city um over the years just really had not been in the financial position, quite honestly, to be able to uh build a new building.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um and you'll you'll hear, you know, if we get into any numbers, kind of the costs associated with building a public safety facility.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um so the the chief had identified that the police chief some time ago.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so when this opportunity uh presented itself um to purchase property in a in an existing building directly across the street, um, you know, uh the chief got the call, Chris got the call, and he called me, and I think we all um jumped on it and wrapped it up pretty quickly.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's amazing that again I went back just as I was preparing for this, that that was two years ago, the first time that it was brought before the commission.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: So that gives you an idea of how long it takes for one of these projects to happen.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it took us uh, you know, several months working through, you know, all the um, you know, architectural and and civil engineering aspects and then bidding and then plans and then construction.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, as you know, for government, we move pretty fast around here, but it's still it's you know, it's two years um but before you know we're into construction, um, which we're well into now.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that is specifically related to the annex on Tillman for the police department.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about the um the addition to the fire department out on Chalet Suzanne Road.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then also we're getting a new South Department over on Nestegg Road.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about those.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: What about the timeline on those and and um how long that's taken?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember where the groundbreaking was.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like it was October year before last that we did the groundbreaking out on Chalet Suzanne.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds about right.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: How did those come about and what was the impetus behind those?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um and you know, you guys jump in, but you guys just jump in here, but um, I think you know the impetus behind the Northfire Station expansion was quite honestly, the these guys needed more room, more room for apparatus, more room for personnel.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: That station was built um how long ago?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: 2014.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: 2014.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Out on Chalet.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: Out on Chalet.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, not not being critical um uh of of anyone, but it was a uh, you know, it was built for um the time.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: It was built for 2014.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um and uh for uh a lot of reasons, including, you know, cost control, the building was was it just accommodated what we had then and where we were.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: There was no growth happening.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: Not much has changed out north since 2014.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: No, yeah, nothing's changed out there since 2014.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, it's ideally located um, you know, I think in terms of response times to the north end of the city.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um so we had the location right.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um that those guys just needed a little more room for personnel and for their emergency apparatus.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's a pretty cost-effective way um to expand that that building.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then the um, you know, the the new South Fire Station um that's gonna be on Hunt Brothers Road, that really came out of our uh one of our long several discussions.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so we have long-range planning meetings, uh typically quarterly.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so for these kinds of reasons, for these types of reasons, so we can identify what the needs are and address them rather than do it retroactively.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: So that that location, again, was picked because strategically from a response standpoint, um, it's it's a good location.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: These guys want to be within a five-mile range of any calls that they're really going to.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's important from a safety standpoint.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: They can get there quickly, helps with our ISO ratings, which can lower homeowners' um uh insurance premiums, right?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: So when they get that low ISO score.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: And so rather than um, you know, w waiting for all the land to be purchased and then realizing, oh, we need to build a fire station, and then just trying to fit it in wherever we can.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: It was a matter of, hey, let's buy the land before it's all, before it's all sold, and let's get planning for a fire station to address the growth down there before we actually need it.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: So it was really um, you know, it was a discussion, um, came out of it's long-range planning, and you know, we we have a pretty good idea of where all of our fire stations are going to go for the next probably 40 years, though we may not need them or build them now, but we have an idea of for where that may be.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, then that goes back to what we've talked about often is that Lake Wales has done a pretty good job of long-range planning, the land use planning that you were already engaged in when I came on the city commission five years ago.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, these uh proactive steps that are taken.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just this past week we annexed and rezoned land for uh industrial use, even though there's no plans to develop simply because you want to take control of that.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, like you said, let's not try to jam it in the middle of a development that's going on.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: We're trying to think in advance about the needs of the community um intelligently on those things.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, because we know at some point, you know, we're we're all going to pass the torch to the to the folks coming behind us.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: And so we need to leave them all in a better position to be able to respond to in emergencies, right?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then address the public needs.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: So we're doing that now, thinking, you know, down the road.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, even with the design on the new fire station, um, number one, we kind of future-proofed it.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: There's room to scale there.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: So if they need to add staff and apparatus later, we're not coming back and retroactively trying to expand buildings like we did on the chalet.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so that, so this new station um has become really, I think, our model for all future stations.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: So we've played for we've paid for all the architectural work on the front end.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh any future fire stations, we'll just pull those same plans off the book or off the shelves and um and and build essentially the same one.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: So before we, I mean I'm gonna get the chiefs involved here pretty quickly, but before we move into that part of it and get your guys' insight on it, how, what's the cost?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: People, you know, we invest quite a bit and we should into uh the the number one thing that uh affects quality of life is the safety of the citizens.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: So um tell me what the cost is and how has the city been financing these uh projects?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so let me start off with the the good news story, or one of the good news stories.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: So the um we estimate the construction for Fire Station 2 um to be somewhere in the six and a half million dollar range.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um but we got a grant.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: So we got a state grant that's gonna pay for three million of that.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: So once again, we've been pretty responsible in leveraging our dollars against grants to get some of these.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: So that brings us, we're getting close to that$40 million grant mark.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: I i if you if you look at all the uh look at our grant sources, I I we've got to be there, if not over the$40 million mark, quite honestly.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, I I think we're in the low to mid-30s just on our redevelopment work.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: So when you add all sources up, we've got to be over$40 million just over the last week.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry I interrupt you, but you can't let that stuff go.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: No, you can't let it go.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: It it's a big deal.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so yeah, so we we're thinking that uh construction for that South Fire Station is gonna be somewhere around six and a half million.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um and we've got uh costs involved.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: Let me let me tell you, so first of all, fire trucks are expensive.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: They take a long time to get here.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, so uh and I don't remember the exact numbers, but I think that pumper for that station was probably somewhere around a million dollars.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just under for this particular one.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: We were at about nine thirty.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, not nine thirty.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: So so look, we're we're already well, eight million.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: If you include the land purchase, right, a few hundred thousand dollars, that that that fire station, we're somewhere around eight million dollar mark to build that thing and and equip it, right?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: Rough numbers.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then the uh the North Fire Station expansion was probably I think it was around maybe eight hundred thousand.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then it was it wasn't that bad.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then in that realm of that, yeah.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: So somewhere in that ballpark, and then I think the the uh for the police annex, you know, we we've got about a$2.7 million construction contract, and I think we probably paid, what,$800,000 or so in that ballpark, three and a half million.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: So uh this stuff's expensive.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh this stuff's expensive.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: We were able to use some ARPA money for some of these acquisitions too.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: So we were able to use some federal money to to buy some of this land to offset to offset our costs.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: So then we get a bank loan, and then we have to pledge revenue streams to pay for that bank loan.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the the largest portion of that debt service is going to be paid for out of the the fire assessment um that that the that the city has.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: So the fire assessment will pay a big portion of that debt service, and then any remaining will of course come out of ad form tax revenue or other, you know, other revenue streams within the city's general fund.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: So we've we've completed the work on the north or yeah, on the north expansion.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh where are we at right now on both the annex, the police annex on Tillman, and then uh where are we at on construction on the new fire station on the south side?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so the um the uh police annex is well underway.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um that they're about 50 percent.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: They're at about 50 percent uh on the construction.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think substantial completion is scheduled for uh the by the end of the year, so so December.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: So we think they're gonna be in that building and up and running in July.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's very exciting.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: It is, it is.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: Even more so when when I started looking back at at some of the history, um back in 1928, the police, fire, and city administration all joined together in the old city hall.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, isn't that crazy?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: And and you were a rookie then, weren't you?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was I was I was just starting out.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, you know what?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: When I moved here to go to school, it was all still in that old.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_03: I turned my application in uh to become a police officer at the old police department at City Hall.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: And uh what was interesting was when I was hired on, I started at the new building.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um they had just moved over back in uh 93.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: They they separated and and built that new building.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: I was actually dedicated in in 1993.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: So a lot of change, a lot of growth.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, just we've really done a tremendous amount of of work throughout the city.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, prior to the 28, um, I don't have a whole lot of specific details, but I can tell you that what all of the the agencies had, what fire police and city administration had, was nothing compared to even the 1928 uh model.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_03: So it it's just it was really, really nice.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: And again, in 1993, that building that we moved into uh was was state of the art.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_03: It was you know, nothing like it.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_03: Every it was just extremely impressive.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_03: It still is today.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: We still have people come through and ask us how old the building is, and when we tell them, they they just can't believe it.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: And that's because we maintain it, we take really, really good care of it if it needs to be upgraded, enhanced.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: We've done that over the years and and just really take care of the of the public's money.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: That's really what it boils down to is treating it like it's our own house.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: But everybody, I'm sure, is getting pretty excited about making the shift over to the Annex.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_03: We're we're really excited.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, it's it's so it was so important.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: And it when it happened, uh when when that building became available, uh, I made the phone call to the city manager and it was automatic.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: We we started working on it.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: He started working on that right away, um, 100% behind public safety.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's such a great location for that, too.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's so um, I mean, you know, it wasn't good the way it happened, but wow, I mean, you couldn't have asked for a better location.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: I can I can tell you for years over over the years, over my history, I would, I had always looked at that building and said that would make a perfect secondary department.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: It it even looked like our building.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: And um I honestly I I dreaded the thought of having to acquire land and start from the ground up.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, they say those are that that building a house, um, getting married, losing loved ones, those are all some of the most stressful times in your life.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: Well, when you're building um a facility like that, I would imagine it would be right there in that that that same category of stress.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but when it when it was available, we jumped on it and and it just it worked out.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_03: And a lot of it has to do with our the growth that we've had, the expansion that we've had throughout our agency over the years.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: Again, in 1993, it was perfect.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um there were it was built you know with the future in mind, but it had it had limitations, and we had to to look at where could we expand.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: We've got we have more officers now, we have more civilian staff, much, much more equipment.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: And again, I go back to that maintenance.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: We have to take care of that equipment and all of those assets and resources that we have.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: So now having that new building, we're gonna have that ability to be able to just to breathe a little bit because when we we have large gatherings or or or uh trainings at the police department, it's it's kind of bumper to bumper.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there's not very many large.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: There really isn't.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: And and again in 1993, it was just perfectly fine.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: So December is the time, looks like the timeline for the annex.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: What about the uh the new fire department?
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: So that's uh that's out to bid right now.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we had our pre-bid meeting yesterday, and then sealed bids are due this 9th of September.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna have a fun groundbreaking.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: So it sounds like uh so we've got construction documents, it's out to bid.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: Those are typically 30-day bids.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um it'll take another few weeks for you know contracts.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then uh yeah, it'll be we'll be breaking ground on that by the end of the year.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was gonna say, because Colliers were up, he said he feels pretty strong and we'll be well underway by November.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: So Chief Smith, uh yeah, I um so the chief Alasque was just sharing that at one point everybody was in the same building.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody was in the old what's now the JD Alexander building.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: When did the fire department move down to the building that's out in front of City Hall now?
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: So they completed construction um in that building in 2001.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we like I myself as well as him.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: I started out in that building.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in fact, myself and a few others are the last of the of the lot that came from the original fire department at the old city hall building.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um we completed that.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: So our building's 25 years old as of this year as well.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: And we've we've kind of run into the same thing over the years, you know.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: We you know, the that building was built and mine to be self-sufficient.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that that if we had any type of situation, you know, the EOC is right there in our department.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: So if we have any situations such as we had an 04, you know, we would be able to house all the personnel right there in the building.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we have electricity, we have all the amenities that we would need in order to still perform our duties and not have to be able, and the great part is is to be able to shelter others as well, because during that time period, there was times where we had close to 200 people living in our station for a little while.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh really?
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it was it it got it got very interesting there over that first seven, eight-day period.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to me about why during the the hurricanes that before hurricanes, yeah.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, all right.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say uh that during that time period, that was such an anomalous, you know, thing to happen to anybody in this area that everybody kind of did the same thing.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, all right, let's just everybody regroup and can I tell a story?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh oh geez.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: And only the only the people that lived through this would under would would would they'll remember the morning that these guys were running calls.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: I was there uh how long we've all been working together, and uh these guys were just I don't know what happened, the calls just would not stop.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they were running all night long, all night long three.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: 312 calls in three days.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: 312 calls.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I remember the morning that uh they everyone had to leave.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: They had just finished cooking their breakfast.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: And some of the after working all night, you know, running all these calls, and some of the guests, I'm not gonna say whom, though those of us that were there know whom uh showed up bright and fresh, you know, in the morning, um, and they weren't fireperson at all, and and had a good night's sleep and ate all these guys breakfast.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my you know, that happened more than once because you know that that particular scenario, but then I do recall um we had someone come in and they were baking, actually.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh they were baking cookies and all these different stuff, and and I remember uh seeing that small island there in the kitchen just loaded down with all these treats.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the second I walked in there, a call dropped.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so me and actually Brian Draper, when he was still working with us, we we ran the call and we came back.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: There was nothing left.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, where'd it all go?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, it's all gone.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: So here's the real reason we have a North Fire Station.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's so they don't want people eating their cookies and their left because that's what they focus on.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, anybody that was in Lake Wales in 2004 remembers that.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: That was crazy.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't I had no idea that you housed 200 people in that fire station.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it and the numbers varied, but we had so many different outside agencies that came in to assist with all of the terrible things that had happened during that time period, and unfortunately didn't have anywhere to put them.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there was no power in the city.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: So the the little motels we did have around here were kind of out, you know, and so you know, city administration were like, hey, go stay at the fire department, they got plenty of room.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so we actually we actually took shifts sleeping in the beds.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you know, the whoever was ta technically on duty that day would get to sleep in a bed, and the rest of us, well, then when all the wives and kids started moving in, they all moved into the dorm areas, and then of course the fire we were sleeping in offices and the gym and everything else.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, or if you could find a spot really to lay a pallet down at one point or another.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, crazy.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: But that was an interesting time.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: So 2001 is when the new building, the the what was then the new fire station.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: It was completed, yes.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so talk to me about um we did the North station in 2014.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what were we talked about this when you were with me the last time, but we've added some dorm space and what else there?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, we added dorm space, uh, two um bathrooms, which you know, they have showering facilities as there uh as well.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And also we expanded the dayroom space.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: And for for those at home.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Listening, dayroom safes would be, you know, sort of like a family room at a residence.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and really by expanding that day room space, it also expanded the dining room space too.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we were able to put um a larger, more conference style uh table in there, which is great because now when they have training and things like that, they're able to utilize kind of double utilize that space.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's been uh very useful.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: But just like station one, you know, when they built station two, they built it with the idea for it to be self-sufficient, has its own generator, has its own fuel source, you know, the ability, and of course, the the facility itself is is was constructed to uh you know go through hurricanes, high winds, any of those kind of scenarios.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that because there was a time when we started out with our station, our station two was a trailer.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: So when the bad storm came by, we had to abandon the trailer and get back to station one.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: I remember that too.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was over on the other side of 27.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so but and the same with with the upcoming station, station three, you know, we're doing the same thing with that, same scenario every time, you know.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: We need for that space to be self-sufficient so that, you know, if that side of the city, you know, they can concentrate on that, you know, whatever whatever actual location they're in, without having to be back and forth for resources all the time.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm gonna let you both jump on this question.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, anytime you get a new facility, um what there's all it's always exciting.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me um how, first of all, for both of them, how will you utilize the annex?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: How will you utilize the news stations?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: And what parts of it are you guys really talking about?
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, what's really exciting?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: How's it gonna enhance what we do here in public safety?
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: So for the police department, we're gonna be moving our a lot of our support staff over to that, to that location, which again, it's ideal because it's right across the street.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: We're not gonna have to get in the car and drive, you know, to to physically uh you know have face-to-face with those people.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna move our our investigations division, okay.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, detectives, our special investigations folks, crime suppression people, um, our our canine traffic, those, those folks, and and all of their assets, all their equipment.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, again, I'm I'm very, very adamant about taking care of what we have.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um just grew up, I I grew up that way.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, take care of it like it's your own.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_03: And our you know, our motorcycles, our ATVs, um, the electronic equipment, that the you know, trailered equipment to be able to have a uh a facility that we can maintain and and store that in and keep it out of the weather um and and prolong the life of it is is really exciting to me.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: So we're gonna have um two things that really, really excite me is having that one, that that garage area.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be uh climate-controlled, uh large area.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_03: So we've expanded the footprint about 2,000 square feet on that building.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_03: And we're gonna be able to store that equipment in there and have it ready at any time, uh, any time that that the need arises to jump in, grab the equipment, and go and get out and serve the public.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um that that's what it's for.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: We have to have that, and it has to be ready to go at all times.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: And and the faster we can get it out in the field, then the the better uh response we're gonna be able to have.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_03: The other thing that really excites me is the uh the training aspect of it.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna have a training room, a large training room, and we train constantly.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_03: Now, although we use virtual and online training as much as we can, one because of the cost and two, just because the amount, the volume of training we can push out uh to keep our people at as the tip of the sword.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, there are times that we have to have everybody there or large groups in the building.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_03: And again, what we have right now that was built in 1993, it just won't hold those that many people.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_03: It just becomes very difficult.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: So to have that training center, it's gonna be state-of-the-art audio video.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we'll be able to expand it as we move forward with um some virtual training, maybe some simulators.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_03: We're we're gonna be able to really just have the very, very best.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: And and that's exciting to me.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's to some people they they don't really realize it, but when you don't have the room and you can't even hold that number of people, it it's very, very difficult to try to manage.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it when you said that it I had to smile because uh if you don't do the work, you won't be excited about the same things.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm saying, what will a police officer walk into that building and go, wow, and just have trouble sleeping over?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 26:36
  unknown: Right.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: And they won't sleep while they're working.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: We'll make sure that that's the one difference on between between fireplace.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna I'm gonna hold it and just land the plate on that one.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_03: We don't, but just to have the the space, the ability, um uh they'll have a full kitchen in there.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I don't know uh how much they'll necessarily cook, but there are times and and like uh Chief Smith said, hurricanes when we have a large event like that, you have to be prepared to sustain, to be self-sustained for a number of days.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: And and we've done that previously, and it's very difficult when you have no ability to actually cook.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_03: You're relying on on cold goods and and people that you know, people bringing food into you.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: So it's gonna be nice to be able to provide for our folks.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: What about you, Chief uh Smith?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: What what do you think the firefighters walk into these new stations and what do they really get excited about or what excites you?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean, with this model that we kind of came up with um for this upcoming fire station, it's it's seemingly really close to kind of how we did station one, and that, you know, it's gonna have the um a larger amount of dorms, i.e.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: it's gonna have at least eight, it's gonna have multiple restrooms.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the biggest thing, and and I hate to kind of steal his answer, but it's the same.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have a really large training um space in this particular department or station as well.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the new audio visual that IT is rolling out with these TVs and things like that makes having trainings in these rooms so much easier and and so much more useful.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think too, with this particular one, we've we're gonna have kind of um a separation so that there is gonna be a small public area.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: So when the public um does need to come visit the station, they'll be they'll have a small staging area, as uh with the other um stations, you know, it's kind of been like when you walk in, you're just like you're in the middle of it.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: So um so they we do have that.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: And as far as it goes, the the size of the lot is is gonna be very beneficial in that um not only for training purposes, but also uh when we test toes, that gives us another space to be able to um utilize and you and you do that as well as in there's times sometimes throughout the day, uh shift we'll have to land helicopters.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if we do have an incident that's close enough to the station, we can utilize that space for landing helicopters as well.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: That that's a huge benefit as a hood for us.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I heard you say um that right now you have to land those over by the hospital.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, not every time.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it depends on where the where the incident is inside the city.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like for instance, we utilize the mall parking lot a lot when we have things up this way.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we utilize several different spaces inside the main portions of the city.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um we have several um open pastures that we utilize.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, over the years, the the the pilots changing and the and the different companies changing, you know, they have they have different rules.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes, you know, we'll we'll pick a spot and like I don't want to land there.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm but I'm gonna land over here.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, so we'll move everything over to there.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's just kind of the nature of the game as far as that part goes.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: But but having a specific static space, that's a that's a huge benefit.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's huge.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna make a big difference.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the kind of thing that the normal citizen just doesn't think about.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: But here we are, and and these are exciting developments.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now, as you two were talking, as our two chiefs were talking, I keep hearing training coming up.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things that I um am really proud of as I've gotten into this job is the cutting edge work that's done in both of our public safety departments.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: I I was just um even this morning, it came up that we just had a police officer finish FBI training this last year.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the number of our fire uh uh fighters who are uh trained as paramedics as well.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: These are unusual things for a city our size.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: But but let's let's wrap up our episode by talking more about how these um these new facilities help us to continue to increase the excellence of the people that serve our city.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: So what it really boils down to is being able to provide the very, very best service to the community.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we have to be uh fully trained, we have to be, we we constantly have to look for new and innovative ways to to sharpen the the tip of the sword.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um our folks do it every single day.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um we again we use the the online training.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: We do personal uh you know one-on-one training where we have folks coming in and we also uh outsource a lot of our training, but it's having the very, very best qualified and capable people um employed for our department, the very best uh in the country.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'd put my people up against anybody throughout the country.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: And we also know our limitations when we don't, when we're not able to handle something, we know that that we can stop and we can make a phone call, we have those relationships, but being able to handle anything that might come our way is so crucial.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: The public expects that.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_03: They don't want it to see us uh when when we're in that golden hour of need.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: They don't want to see us having to to to fumble and and struggle.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_03: So having the people that are ready to to respond and capable with equipment that's that's state of the art and and and leading edge to to be able to provide that service is just 100% it it's it's our top priority.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_03: Same thing for the fire department, right?
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, absolutely.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, with the the construction of this new station, that puts us in such a better location because of the expansion of the city kind of to the southeast.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that that particular location was not just picked because the land happened to be cheap there.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: That area that was picked because you know, we've got several new neighborhoods that are popping up.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, nobody wants to talk about this, but the you know, the traffic has increased on on 60 and 27 these days.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, anytime we're responding to calls, we try to use those those major corridors.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: They they they're the the better of the options when responding.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, you start backing folks up at 16 11th Street, that makes it more difficult to get to the other side.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right with this location, we'll be able to come in and basically bypass 60 altogether and be able to get to these locations.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we may even be close to the same in actual distance, but it'll be faster just because of how we'll be able to reroute ourselves to that.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and just like I was speaking about earlier, and uh, Chris, I mean, our our guys do such a phenomenal job with their training.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: All of our lieutenants um basically sit down and they write out the the training schedules.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we utilize vector solutions for our online, but then um our lieutenants come up with our own training regiment, you know, based on NFPA guidelines, and we do that three days, the first three days of the week is is full-on outside training.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes they have to do it late at night, so it's not quite so hot, and sometimes they have to do early in the morning.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then now we've recently branched out and we're doing facility training at Ridge from time to time, um, uh hopefully on a quarterly basis, so that we things that we can't execute in the backyard at one of the stations, we can execute there, you know, whenever we need to utilize a tower or a burn room or something like that.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: We can do that, use that space as well.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: So all of these facilities um make us better able to respond quickly to what our citizens need, as well as to continue to to increase the excellence of uh of what we provide, which I already felt like was pretty good.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: And again, all of this is a result of um intentional long-term planning that we've done here.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna I'm gonna let you, you've been, I made you be quiet for a while, James.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: But that let's let's finish up with that.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: Just um again, when we first recorded this, uh, the early episodes here, the mayor and the manager, uh, one of the things we say is that we're trying to maximize all of the benefits of growth and minimize the impacts.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: And the way you do that is through planning.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: I heard you say early in this episode, we know where we're going to be putting fire departments for the next 40 years.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Is that is that an exaggeration or why would you say that?
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's easy.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I mean, quite honestly, so um we we have an idea of you know where the location should be.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: We I mean, we don't have parcels picked out, but we know where they need to go within that five mile radius.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so what we can do is kind of watch the growth.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so we kind of have really a heat map, right?
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: So we know where it's going to occur.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't happen overnight, but when we when we see um, you know, maybe some of those new houses or neighborhoods actually starting to come come online, we can start a preparation and land acquisition and design and and building of these new facilities so that when they actually need it, right?
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, none of it's perfect, but time it such as by the time they actually need it, we're ready to go and not responding, you know, because we just talked about some of these projects are a couple of already a couple of years in the making.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_02: We don't want to have to wait a couple of years to get started.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we try to get ahead of it.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_02: And at the end of the day, um it it's it's about most of the time, if anybody has to engage either one of these departments, chances are if it's not the worst day of their life, it's getting really close to it.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so when that happens, you want the best people with the best training to be there as quickly as absolutely possible because you know every minute is an eternity.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: And you can have somebody there in two or three minutes to help you or your wife or your family member, your friend, whatever the situation is, you want them there.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody wants to wait 10, 15 minutes.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's a big commitment.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're doing a good job.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, fellas, thank you for coming in.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: Chiefs, thank you for coming in and spending the time.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: Folks out there in Lake Wales, again, we produce this podcast so that you can be aware.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: Your questions are always welcome.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, both of our um, our both our police chief and our fire chief are always willing to interact with you and answer questions as well as our city manager.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: Again, fellas, thank you for coming in.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, sir.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all have a good day.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: You too.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Mayor and the Manager.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: The goal of this podcast is to keep you up to date on all that is happening in the great city of Lake Wales.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: To that end, we would love to take questions from you and take the time to answer them.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: So if you have any questions, just click on submit a question in the description above this podcast.