Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / HOSD Deputy Chief Jimmy Barros on a new leadership role and taking the department into the future
Transcript
- 0:15Welcome to the One oahu podcast.
- 0:16I'm your host, Brandi Higa, and this week we're joined by one of the newest members
- 0:21of the mayor's cabinet, but someone not new to the city
- 0:24and the deputy chief for the Honolulu Ocean Safety Department.
- 0:27Jimmy Barros. Jimmy, thanks for making some time for us.
- 0:30Thank you very much for having us.
- 0:32So first, tell me a little bit about you.
- 0:33Where'd you go to school? Where'd you grow up?
- 0:36All that?
- 0:37I was born and raised.
- 0:39Fourth generation.
- 0:40Grew up in Kaimuki, Kunia
- 0:43Wahiawa.
- 0:44Now I live in Kuliouou, and,
- 0:48I'm a ‘93 graduate of Iolani High School
- 0:52and graduated BA and, from the University of Hawaii
- 0:56and the program, the master's program at the University of Hawaii.
- 1:02And so when and where did you discover this passion for ocean safety? Why?
- 1:07Why lifeguarding?
- 1:09That's an interesting one.
- 1:10There was, was a summer and myself and Adam Lerner, who's now the acting
- 1:16chief, we had a wonderful individual who's now retired by the name of Tom Jenny.
- 1:21And they were living at Chuns, and they were lifeguards in town.
- 1:25We just so happened to be there,
- 1:26and Tom threw us in the back of his truck, and he's like, we're going to town.
- 1:30And he was working on a moana.
- 1:31Yeah, they had the tryouts.
- 1:33We took the tryouts and Adam was pick first.
- 1:37So he went in the class before me, and then I went into the next class.
- 1:41So it was kind of.
- 1:43It fit our lifestyle of surfing and being in the ocean and stuff,
- 1:46but it was incredibly spontaneous.
- 1:49Thanks, Tom. Jenny.
- 1:50Yeah. But. Yeah.
- 1:51And so how long have you been
- 1:53with Ocean Safety and what were your roles previously?
- 1:57June of 94 was my.
- 1:59Oh, so that was right on it. Like right out of high school.
- 2:01Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
- 2:02So I was washing dishes at CPK and going to school.
- 2:07Yeah, that's a time. And,
- 2:10then we got in and I went straight to y.
- 2:13And I was in y NE district for for nine years.
- 2:17It was great as I got to be on there some great leaders.
- 2:21Brian.
- 2:21Q Alana was our captain for a while and he ro Mel Poole.
- 2:26We got to watch the the innovation of the skis out there because that's
- 2:30where Terry who he and Melvin and Brian
- 2:33were starting that program back then.
- 2:36It was really cool to watch and to see where it's at now.
- 2:39Did a little bit of time in the country on a North Shore to.
- 2:43And then once I was kind of everywhere,
- 2:46and then 2013,
- 2:50I'd been teaching as a lieutenant in the, the training unit
- 2:53and got the lieutenant spot and then became the training captain.
- 2:58I want to go back to something that you said,
- 2:59kind of like the evolution of the ski. Right?
- 3:01So I think people just assume that the ski has been in lifeguarding
- 3:06for a long time.
- 3:06You know, you saw it on Baywatch and you see it on TV shows, but
- 3:09using a ski for these life saving techniques.
- 3:12And then just operationally, what has gone into your work,
- 3:16you know, when it comes to training, when it comes to acquiring these,
- 3:20you know, I know this is a department that's kind of new, but
- 3:23the funding for it and just evolving that program.
- 3:26Well, at that time it was in the initial phases it wasn't well received.
- 3:32And, you know, credit to Brian and Terry and of in there, they're the innovators.
- 3:38And, they pushed it and they showed proof of concept by saving a lot of lives.
- 3:44And then it started getting adopted and, at that
- 3:47time, I believe, as Ralph Gordo was the administrator and,
- 3:52he found the funding, got it done.
- 3:54They created a program.
- 3:55And for many, many years it was just one ski in in each district.
- 4:00So we had four skis and they were they're doing great work.
- 4:04And then the skis started getting bigger. And,
- 4:09the sleds were evolving,
- 4:11through that proof of concept phase.
- 4:14And on.
- 4:15Now, as we've taken over the administration, we have it in a cycle
- 4:20where we're purchasing X amount of skis every year. And,
- 4:25because it's, it's a part of our what you do,
- 4:29you know, and, the training mechanisms
- 4:33are mainly subject matter experts, right?
- 4:36We, our trainers evolve.
- 4:38And it's the way that Melvin Pool and Brian them set it up
- 4:42where you're doing so much time in the field, you're you got hands on
- 4:48different maintenance kind of audit where you go through everything.
- 4:53And then they have a very rigorous program that they go through
- 4:56that is trained by our subject matter experts in the field right now.
- 5:00It's, Tom Allen and Angela Greco.
- 5:03Can you Greenberg is now the captain, and he's a great operator.
- 5:07So they are have built that program, and it
- 5:10and it changes as the skis get bigger, more powerful.
- 5:14Right.
- 5:15But I think the concept of of the ski program,
- 5:18besides the fact that it
- 5:19saves so many lives and it can go places where other people can go is.
- 5:23So one thing that Brian used to always say that it's just that
- 5:26it's just an extension of the operator.
- 5:28The operator, you know, if they're in front of a cliff
- 5:31and there's a 20ft set between them and the cliff, they have to make that.
- 5:36They have to make a lot of different decisions right away.
- 5:39They have to know what the ski can do if it's going to cavity,
- 5:43if it's fast enough to outrun what it needs to run,
- 5:45if they have a person on the back,
- 5:47they have to be cognizant of that individual and their safety as well.
- 5:51So there's a lot more than that goes into it.
- 5:54And people see and the fact that our operators are effectively able
- 5:59to do what they do daily and, and put themselves in these situations,
- 6:04it's it's a testament to the entire rescue operator program there.
- 6:09There are special group of people.
- 6:10And and it doesn't take away from our line personnel
- 6:14because what they're doing every day is phenomenal.
- 6:16But that program and is of itself an answer to the question
- 6:20is, is very intricate and highly evolved.
- 6:24And it's a lot of people have put a lot of time into that.
- 6:27So I'm happy where it's at and save a lot of lives.
- 6:30You've been in the department for a very long time.
- 6:33What was your reaction to being tapped as the deputy chief?
- 6:37It wasn't in my plan.
- 6:39Was it an immediate yes. No.
- 6:42But you're here. You're sitting in. Front of you.
- 6:44I am, it was not an immediate.
- 6:46Yes, it was,
- 6:49I had worked
- 6:50a long time to be in a place where I was really happy.
- 6:54I was at the time a I was the captain of one all the way.
- 6:57I had a great have.
- 6:59They're still they're a great group of people working there.
- 7:03It's very isolated. It's a small work group.
- 7:05You know, I come from D1, which is a huge district,
- 7:09run by Paul Marino for many, many years.
- 7:12And it was when it was handed to me, it was running well and still is,
- 7:16but I had gotten to all.
- 7:17I had hit all my I had hit all my check boxes
- 7:22and just three minutes from home
- 7:24and I had a great crew.
- 7:27It was that was hard to, to, to leave.
- 7:30But somebody had told me it's, it's bigger than you.
- 7:35And that was kind of the one.
- 7:37And it was somebody that I really look up to.
- 7:39And that was a hard pill to swallow because it made me feel a little bit
- 7:42selfish on no, no, no, no, I don't want that.
- 7:46I don't want that.
- 7:47But being in the role now and seeing what the difference is,
- 7:51we can make and having a, a leadership team, that all came from the field,
- 7:57going through the different tiers, I think it's going to make a difference.
- 8:01Couple that with the fact that we're a department now,
- 8:04which is super exciting,
- 8:06a lot of learning, a lot every day, every day is discovery.
- 8:10Whether it's good, whether it's bad, whether it's something that maybe
- 8:14should have been done or something that was done that you need to build upon.
- 8:18It's been an eye opening experience,
- 8:21and sitting on the other chair for so long
- 8:24and throwing stones and being like, oh, we should do this, or we should do that.
- 8:28And now you're like, I get it.
- 8:31It's it's rough, but,
- 8:34it's rewarding and it's a lot of fun at the same time
- 8:38to be able to, start these projects and see them to fruition.
- 8:42And that's the goal of, of our management team, is to not kick
- 8:47the can down the road and check off boxes like there's some of them.
- 8:51You can't.
- 8:52The facilities are going to take
- 8:53a long time and their procurement takes a long, long time.
- 8:57There's processes, but there are a lot of low hanging fruit
- 9:00that we can do to better the safety and abilities of our personnel.
- 9:05We have an amazing staff of men and women that do things
- 9:10that people don't realize that they do every day, and they put themselves
- 9:14in a lot of different dangers, not just the aquatic dangers.
- 9:17There's he's finding a patient in a car,
- 9:20pedestrian
- 9:21accidents, stabbings, drug overdoses.
- 9:24They're doing it all.
- 9:25And I don't think people realize the scope of what they do.
- 9:29And I think the biggest part with what we do is it's immediate.
- 9:34You know, we don't have a we don't have five minutes to
- 9:37en route to decide it's someone else
- 9:41or they see something and it's it's in play already.
- 9:45So these guys have to make these decisions with just shorts
- 9:49or it's one of our females, you know, and they're running.
- 9:53They're running into a lot of stuff blind.
- 9:56And there's a lot to be said for that.
- 9:58And I don't think they get enough credit for for what they do.
- 10:01There's that
- 10:03that oversight, you know, and
- 10:05and that was what made me see us was it's bigger than you
- 10:10leave it better than when you were there.
- 10:12And I like the management team and I and we could make some
- 10:17hopefully we can make a lot of difference, but we'll definitely leave it better
- 10:21than when we're here. Yeah. Telling on that.
- 10:23You know, this kind of continues a conversation
- 10:25that I had with Chief Logger about making this a career,
- 10:30making ocean safety, a career, taking care of the personnel
- 10:33so that you don't have,
- 10:34you know, this mass exodus heading to the fire department or even, you know,
- 10:37EMS and EMR, because you're right, they can pull people out of water.
- 10:40These are the best water men and women on the planet.
- 10:43But now they're EMT certified.
- 10:45They become almost professional negotiators
- 10:47when it comes to preventative actions.
- 10:49Talking to people on the sand,
- 10:51talking to people in the parking lot, medicals in the parking lot.
- 10:53You're arming them with so much.
- 10:55But what can be done now to truly
- 10:59keep them, to truly make this a career and protect them in your workforce?
- 11:02I mean, it's redundant.
- 11:03Yeah. It's money.
- 11:06I mean pay pays got who pays pays got to be there and it's getting there.
- 11:12The biggest issue that we're that we see is
- 11:16when it comes to pay parity is the pay parity
- 11:20doesn't equate across the ocean because it's a higher cost of living here.
- 11:26Everything's expensive housing whatever.
- 11:28And their counterparts in the mainland are making significantly more of them
- 11:33than them.
- 11:34With a lower cost of living. Right.
- 11:36But I think it's coupled in in two factors.
- 11:40And it the initial one is base pay rate.
- 11:44And then the other thing is we need to provide
- 11:48an upward ladder for our personnel.
- 11:51We have to and that is one of chief loggers and myself.
- 11:56It's one of our biggest goals before we leave is to create this upward mobility.
- 12:02You look at any other first responder department,
- 12:04look at fire, for example, you could be an investigator,
- 12:08you can be a helicopter pilot, you can be an engineer, you can run a ladder.
- 12:12I mean, the list goes on.
- 12:13And kudos to them for having that.
- 12:16That and same with same with PD.
- 12:18You can be an investigator.
- 12:20You can be a detective, you can be in cruise,
- 12:23you can be a sergeant, you can be a major, you can be a dispatcher.
- 12:26You can.
- 12:27So we need to create that.
- 12:29That's that's how we're going to keep people
- 12:31because it's it's going to give them more ownership in our department.
- 12:35The ownership of the department can't just be at our level.
- 12:38We have to allow them projects.
- 12:40We have to allow them to, you know, we have a comms captain who's working
- 12:44tirelessly, tirelessly with the dispatch on newer radios and,
- 12:50better efficacy and, our training unit,
- 12:53Kenji Grunberg, does an amazing job at trying to expand
- 12:57the level of training and how they're training
- 12:59and where they're training and all that stuff.
- 13:01So we need to open more doors like that.
- 13:04I think rescues a big portion.
- 13:07Comm should be their own layer on the training.
- 13:10It should be. It's on there.
- 13:11Definitely rescue.
- 13:13And we need to get away from the premiums and make them levels.
- 13:17Levels within the system.
- 13:20And I think we can do it.
- 13:21I know we can do it.
- 13:23It's going to take some time.
- 13:25It it's not a process.
- 13:27You just put something on someone's desk and it goes through.
- 13:31But it hasn't been changed
- 13:32for what are we looking at 108 years, 113 years, whatever it's been.
- 13:36Yeah. Since the creation of this.
- 13:38So, yeah, since the creation of of the department itself, it hasn't changed.
- 13:43So it's it's far past the time to change it.
- 13:48And I think I think we're there, I think I think we have a good administration.
- 13:52We have a, supportive administration.
- 13:56We have the tangible data of what our guys are doing.
- 13:59We have EMTs out there.
- 14:01A lot of you, 57, I believe is right now what we're looking at.
- 14:04So if we can grow that base,
- 14:06give them more ownership, that's I think that's going to be key.
- 14:10You can have a want a happier workforce, better pay parity.
- 14:14And they're going to feel more involved in the department.
- 14:18And they can help us make decisions that need to be made to grow.
- 14:22Yeah. They're they're the ones out there.
- 14:24They're the ones that are seeing it, touching it, feeling it.
- 14:28So the best ideas come from the least expected places.
- 14:33And we see that time and time again.
- 14:35Look at Brian Kalina and Terry Melvin,
- 14:38that whole story about the jet ski with Brian getting held down
- 14:41and he came up in a ski, saved them, and he's like, hey, I got an idea.
- 14:45Let's. And the word is now.
- 14:47So those those great ideas
- 14:50and those saving changes come from the,
- 14:54the the weirdest, most unexpected places.
- 14:58And I think our people have those I
- 15:01there's not really a venue for them to to push that forward.
- 15:04So we want to provide that.
- 15:06And that's the biggest goal.
- 15:08And I think that's going to
- 15:09that's going to keep our people here as the pay goes up with it.
- 15:11Yeah, yeah.
- 15:13And kudos to you, like you said, for taking on this responsibility.
- 15:15But when you list all these things that need to be done,
- 15:18I mean, your kuleana to your, your personnel, you know, I'm
- 15:22sure this is probably your first time creating and balancing a budget.
- 15:25You know, we talk about procurement, a common phrase in the city, right?
- 15:28Deferred maintenance.
- 15:29I'm sure you have a lot of facilities
- 15:30that have been plagued by deferred maintenance.
- 15:33But for you,
- 15:34what has been the toughest part of taking on this new leadership role?
- 15:38Alphabetical or kind of,
- 15:42discovery.
- 15:43And that was taught to us by,
- 15:46fire one
- 15:48chief Hall and, Chief Yoshida and Chief Smaller.
- 15:53They've been instrumental in guiding us
- 15:56through the rough patches
- 15:59and not saying this is what you do.
- 16:02They're saying this is what we did.
- 16:03The biggest word they use is discovery
- 16:06and discovering
- 16:08what issues need to be addressed immediately.
- 16:13Short term and long term.
- 16:16Being able to quantify that, it's been extremely difficult for me
- 16:20because to me, everything is is like, oh, we got to get a new roof up on this.
- 16:25Of these skis need to be skinned.
- 16:28These skis need to go in for service.
- 16:29This truck has been here since 2003, whatever it may be.
- 16:32Yeah, it they all are important.
- 16:35And it's, triaging those
- 16:38and getting them in line with procurement.
- 16:43Everything else
- 16:44that's been the the hardest, hardest thing for me.
- 16:48But we've had some small wins with, you know, we've
- 16:51we've modeled a life cycle, a life cycle management
- 16:55program off of it, HFD and HPD, and it's amazing.
- 17:00So it's working good.
- 17:01So now we're going to start moving our our apparatus and our trailers
- 17:05and our skis on a life cycle program, which I'm excited about.
- 17:10I think we'll be able to keep that side of our budget, for better or for worse.
- 17:14Flatline.
- 17:16So we're not spiking
- 17:18and we can use you can use
- 17:21that operating and equipment budget like better.
- 17:25Yeah.
- 17:25So I'm excited about that.
- 17:26But yeah that's been the order. Yeah.
- 17:30Triaged that's been it's still the it's difficult every day.
- 17:33Yeah.
- 17:34And then you got to pull yourself back and we have a great.
- 17:36So Jonah she's like she's like the den mom or she's like whoa, whoa whoa.
- 17:42And then she'll pull us back in or I'd be like, okay, okay, okay.
- 17:45And we'll we'll itemize it.
- 17:47And it's hard because the hardest part of that is you don't want
- 17:50any of your personnel to feel as if they're not, they're
- 17:54there any less than any other place because they're not.
- 17:57And, the management side of whether it's the budget,
- 18:01whether it's your assets, whatever it may be,
- 18:05there has to be a semblance of order.
- 18:07And we're and we're and we're getting there quickly.
- 18:10And, but it's still going to take some time and it's, and it's
- 18:14hard to see the guys in the field like, oh what what is, you know.
- 18:17Yeah.
- 18:18We're
- 18:19especially when you're someone that heard I was someone that heard it all the time.
- 18:23Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.
- 18:25And then now it's like I'm like yeah don't worry, we'll get to it.
- 18:28And I'm like, oh man.
- 18:30Like it's hard, it's hard to say it.
- 18:32And I think we can mitigate a lot and we have already.
- 18:36So we'll, we'll get it there.
- 18:38It'll be a cycle or two, but we'll get it there.
- 18:41And I'm, I'm, I'm excited to get it there, you know.
- 18:44So it's gonna be a rough road.
- 18:45It's gonna have some bumps in it. Yeah.
- 18:47But but we'll get there and we'll get there.
- 18:50The, the best possible way we can.
- 18:52That's the toughest part.
- 18:54But Jimmy, you know, on the other hand,
- 18:56has there been something that surprised you in a good way,
- 18:59something maybe you weren't expecting but has made you pleasantly surprised?
- 19:05To support from the other departments?
- 19:08You know, I can't speak to any other administration.
- 19:13But we've had multiple layers
- 19:15of help from other deputies and directors.
- 19:19Whether it's guidance,
- 19:20whether it's been help moving equipment from one place to another,
- 19:25whether it's disposal of equipment, we've had a lot of support.
- 19:29And I think it's the honeymoon phase right there.
- 19:31Like, we got you, we got you.
- 19:33We know, we know this is rough. We've got you guys.
- 19:35And at some point you're gonna be like, but but they've been awesome.
- 19:40They've been incredibly supportive.
- 19:43Especially the first responder fire has been kind of our go to,
- 19:48hvad has been great.
- 19:49Parks has been amazing.
- 19:52And the guys don't always see that.
- 19:55They're like, oh, there's, you know, there's bathrooms down
- 19:58or the showers down or, or whatever it is.
- 20:02And I understand the frustration because I was there, I get it.
- 20:06But seeing how people are making moves behind the scene with their own issues
- 20:11that these departments have to deal with and making time to address our issues,
- 20:16that's been surprising,
- 20:18because when you're not seeing what the moves that are being made
- 20:22and the help that's been given, you're just waiting for the result to happen.
- 20:27It seems like nothing's being done.
- 20:29But now I can see.
- 20:30And I'm really I'm we're really appreciative,
- 20:33for all the help that we've gotten and the support
- 20:37from the from the guys, that's been another surprise.
- 20:41You know, everybody's like, hey, we need.
- 20:42And you're like, I'm like, okay.
- 20:45You know, so they're excited.
- 20:48We're excited.
- 20:49I'm sure there's some people that aren't excited, but
- 20:52I think the entire
- 20:53department is in alignment with
- 20:57this is the department
- 21:00coming out of USDA and becoming a department.
- 21:03It's gonna move us forward in ways we didn't know we could.
- 21:07Yeah, so it's gonna be a slow road, but I think
- 21:10by the end of this term we'll have some really some really good wins.
- 21:13Can you talk.
- 21:14About some of your priorities as you've taken on this new role?
- 21:17Facilities,
- 21:19facilities and inventory management?
- 21:21I think, I think there's a lot of there's a lot of focus on facilities.
- 21:25We're in a lot of older facilities.
- 21:27We're squatting in a lot of facilities, especially DPR facilities.
- 21:31Again, they've been gracious in helping us with that.
- 21:34And that's just been forever.
- 21:36I say mid term would be working towards
- 21:40that upward mobility that we were talking about.
- 21:44That's definitely on a short term.
- 21:46And then when I say mid term you know this term right.
- 21:49Hopefully we can take a swing and then short
- 21:51term all the low hanging fruit the inventory management we can.
- 21:55That's kind of stuff we can do quickly.
- 21:58Getting our inventory squared away with with BFS and nice and clear
- 22:03and starting to project out the different programs
- 22:06that director logger
- 22:07and this administration is, is key on the junior Guard program.
- 22:12Chief logger is, doing a public safety campaign program, public messaging.
- 22:17We're really excited to do that.
- 22:19Junior guards.
- 22:20This year we're hosting the state, so we got some stress on that that we.
- 22:25Needed home turf.
- 22:27Apparently we kind of blew everybody out of the water.
- 22:29We kind of do.
- 22:29We we we crush.
- 22:31But, you know, the the other, I believe, Chief
- 22:35Logger said this a few times and I can see it weighing on him.
- 22:39Maui and Coyote did states last two years.
- 22:43They set the bar high.
- 22:45They set the bar real.
- 22:47So the onus is the you know, the ball's in our court
- 22:50now to really come through and be a lot of kids.
- 22:54Me a lot of fun looking at possibly live streaming it
- 22:57so the kids can, you know, their families can see it.
- 23:01And so yeah, it's that that's going to be the, the short term priorities.
- 23:06And then there's a day to day,
- 23:08is making sure our staff have what they need, that they're safe
- 23:12addressing issues as best as we can,
- 23:15as quickly as we can, and allow them to do the great job that they're doing.
- 23:19That's that's the daily every day priority.
- 23:22So what does that mean?
- 23:24Like right now, you know, because I talked to Kurt about this and there was,
- 23:28I don't know if it's changed since then, but, you know,
- 23:30a lot of towers were still like pen and paper for reports, and
- 23:33technology was kind of something that needed to be implemented.
- 23:37Yeah. Watchtower.
- 23:38Yeah. I saw was coming through.
- 23:40So we're we've just completed a proof of concept beta test at Honolua Bay,
- 23:46where we're using the iPads on the watch tower system,
- 23:49the data collection they're doing everything they're doing.
- 23:51They're getting their schedules on it.
- 23:53They're doing their leave slips on it, they're doing their supply requests on it,
- 23:58and they're doing their daily
- 23:59log sheets and their medical intervention documentation.
- 24:02Digitally.
- 24:03Digitally or digitally was awesome.
- 24:05That's a data that's a data collection that we've been missing a lot.
- 24:10Yeah. And it's a huge collection.
- 24:13So we'll be able to monitor the hours on the ski,
- 24:17the amount of preventions that they're doing as they're on the road,
- 24:20and they're doing their patrols because they do a really good job of that.
- 24:23And then roll out the third phase, which will be island wide.
- 24:28So it'll be a total of 43 towers that will be hitting.
- 24:32So logistically we're going to have some we work on our towers you know.
- 24:35So yeah.
- 24:36But I think I think we've got a great plan in.
- 24:39And then the training mechanism of that I think is going to be the hardest part.
- 24:42It was well received by our guys at home Bay.
- 24:45They love it.
- 24:46The operators and lieutenants will go next and we'll let that run till summer.
- 24:52And beginning of next fiscal year, we'll do a complete roll out.
- 24:55And I'd be really exciting.
- 24:57And then we hope to incorporate that into some type of public access.
- 25:01Yeah,
- 25:01I don't know how that's going to work yet, but we'll have to go through
- 25:04the progressions
- 25:05on on the data collection and, you know, make sure that the information that is,
- 25:10you know, some information really needs to be kept confined,
- 25:14but to have a public access location where somebody could get the daily stats
- 25:19or the monthly starts at their fingertips, that's kind of the direction.
- 25:22But that's been hard, you know, because we're a very historic
- 25:25and culturally based division department.
- 25:28Right, right. That's our entire.
- 25:31We're you're training an entire workforce
- 25:32to use some new technology that they haven't before. Yeah.
- 25:35You know, on top of like I said, you know, they're EMT certified.
- 25:38They negotiate.
- 25:39They they're they're learning all these other skills
- 25:40and then now you're telling them to do this,
- 25:42but then what is it going to take?
- 25:43Like you said, I know logistically this has some moving parts to it too.
- 25:46But when I'm at the beach, I don't always think, okay, like,
- 25:48you know, is my Wi-Fi strong everywhere along this coastline?
- 25:51Or, you know, what do you need to make sure
- 25:53that Watchtower is implemented effectively?
- 25:56We're going to be using FirstNet. The. Okay.
- 25:58Yeah.
- 25:58On on on that.
- 25:59So each tablet will have the the card in it.
- 26:03So they'll, they'll be their own.
- 26:06There'll be their own set.
- 26:07So they won't need Wi-Fi or anything else.
- 26:10It's the only way around it. Yeah.
- 26:12We are going to during the, the third phase, I think the only real concerns
- 26:17are going to be places like Yokohama, you know, coming around,
- 26:22hollow,
- 26:24like those where it's really spotty with, but I'm hoping that we're going
- 26:29to be able to work through a lot of that in this next phase with the operators.
- 26:33The operators are going to be driving around.
- 26:36They'll be able to identify where all these issues are,
- 26:39where they're losing connections and stuff.
- 26:40But we do have a back end system where they can actually do all of their data
- 26:46entry and everything on offline, and then when it hits, it will.
- 26:50Upload. Yeah. So that's awesome.
- 26:52All right.
- 26:52Well, Jimmy, as much as this podcast is supposed to be about policy
- 26:57and leadership, it's also kind of a way to get to know you on a personal level.
- 27:01So I have some would you rather questions.
- 27:03Are you ready? Okay. So
- 27:06Jerry, would you
- 27:06rather be pinched by a crab or stung by a jellyfish?
- 27:10And why stung by a jellyfish?
- 27:13Because I know what that feels like and I know how to deal with it. Nerve!
- 27:16A fish fry crab.
- 27:19So I'd rather be somebody. Jellyfish.
- 27:20That's like.
- 27:21Yeah, that's how big the crab is, too.
- 27:24Well, plus, if you've been stung by a jellyfish
- 27:26before this, you know you're not allergic or.
- 27:27Yeah, I've been stung
- 27:29and I lost count how many times I've been stung by a jellyfish.
- 27:32All right.
- 27:32Would you rather be able to breathe underwater or swim extremely fast.
- 27:37Breathe underwater. Or the tactical like?
- 27:40Will that help you with rescues?
- 27:41Or is it'll help me with everything.
- 27:44Help me with diving in to help me with, getting caught inside.
- 27:48It will help with.
- 27:48You know what I mean?
- 27:49It's a lot of our a lot of our rescues.
- 27:52Are you know, impact songs, rip currents.
- 27:55You're not swimming against a reaper, and you're just going with it.
- 27:57So I could train myself to to swim faster than I already can.
- 28:02But I ain't changing myself to to breathe.
- 28:05I yeah, I that's something I can never do.
- 28:09So I'll definitely take the the breathe underwater.
- 28:14All right.
- 28:14Would you rather discover a sunken treasure
- 28:18or a new species of fish?
- 28:20Something treasure Island, of course. My house.
- 28:24No, I don't know.
- 28:26How much is the treasure?
- 28:28Yeah. Something treasure all day. All right.
- 28:30And would you rather get to work every day
- 28:34riding a tandem bike with Kurt, or walking with fins on your feet?
- 28:38Walking with fins?
- 28:40Oh, you don't want to ride a bicycle built for two with.
- 28:42Because it's been.
- 28:43It's been my day with him.
- 28:45I don't want to go to work with him. Do.
- 28:48And he pedals faster to me because he's like, oh, no one's a bike rider, guys.
- 28:51He rides those those fixes. Or does. It?
- 28:53Yeah.
- 28:54So I wouldn't be able to keep up with his skinny self.
- 28:58Well Jerry, thank you so much for your time.
- 29:00Is there anything that we missed?
- 29:01No, I mean circle back circle
- 29:04back in a year I would be really,
- 29:07I'm excited to see what what the end of,
- 29:12this calendar year will look like.
- 29:15I think I think we're going to be able to do some good stuff.
- 29:18We're not going to be able to do
- 29:18everything that we want to by any, by any stretch of the imagination.
- 29:23But I think we'll be I think we'll be on a good road and a good path.
- 29:26A lot of the stuff that we're doing, we won't see come to fruition.
- 29:31We won't see these large, intricate facilities built,
- 29:35but we can set the groundwork so everybody after us
- 29:39can continue on and make it better for the kids that are coming in now.
- 29:44That's, that's, that's what we want to do.
- 29:46We look five years six years.
- 29:48That's not a lot of time.
- 29:49It goes fast and the older you get the faster it goes.
- 29:52That's our job.
- 29:53Our job is to make sure that we're leaving it better than we came to it with.
- 29:58Yeah I'd like to see the progressions every year
- 30:00and we should and we should be held to those progressions every year.
- 30:03We should be able to show efficacy.
- 30:05So come back next year and we'll see.
- 30:08Well, Deputy Chief, thanks so much for your time.
- 30:11Thank you.
- 30:11And it's about that time of year again.
- 30:13Next week we'll sit down with the city's budget
- 30:15director, Andy Cohen, who is you break down this year's proposed budget.
- 30:18What's being prioritized?
- 30:19Maybe we can push some ocean safety and where we could see cuts.
- 30:23That's next week right here on the one or a whole podcast.
- 30:25Mahalo for listening. And until next time, Aloha.