Meeting & Agendas

Action: Motion to accept minutes made by BC Smith Motion 2nd by Chief Kerwood Motion Carried; Minutes from 10/20/2009 were approved

Approval of accepting Chief Les Stephens, San Marcos FD; and Assistant Chief Ken Crooks, Austin FD Operations, who will be replacing Assistant Chief Matt Orta. In addition, since Assistant Fire Chief Butch Miller resigned from the Pflugerville FD, board requests approval to remove him from the board Action: Motion to accept all of the above made by Chief Hodge Motion 2nd by BC Carlson Motion Carried; All three actions identified above approved.

AC Mallinger: Provided a synopsis of the situation and the general consensus of the Advisory Board support for increasing the education requirements for the various firefighter certification levels. BC Carlson: Discussed options of including NFA certificates as part of the process. Also, will including an Associate degree in Fire science limit those who already have college degrees outside of Fire Protection? DC Hartigan: Favors a type of degree required of the profession. Larry Whitis: Favors increasing the number of hours in the discipline for each of the three levels (Intermediate, Advanced, and Master). Chief Stephens: Favors doubling the existing hours in the discipline for each of the three levels. Action: Motion by BC Carlson to petition the TCFP to increase the hours in the discipline to 12, 24, and 36 respectively for the Intermediate, Advanced, and Master levels. In addition to define the discipline to include four fields of study: Fire Science; Emergency Medical; Public Safety; and Emergency Management. Motion 2nd by Larry Whitis Motion Carried; Board President will determine how to address this to the TCFP.

NFPA 1001 updates Future of on-line testing Present requirement of 13 skills for Basic certification (affects Spring 2010 ACC class) Plan to reduce number of skills from 13 to 6 (affects Fall 2010 ACC class) Training facility will be responsible for quality skill testing State will come out and perform audits Initiative is being considered to increase hours of Basic Certification from 468 to 525.

Degree Graduation: Fall 2009 (5); Spring 2010 projections (12); Summer 2010 projections (5) for a projected total of 22. Goal for the 09-10 academic year is 12. Degree Enrollment in the Major: Fall 2009 - 101 enrolled/84 completed for attrition rate of 17%; Spring 2010 – 103 enrolled/91 current for attrition rate of 12% Academy Enrollment: Spring 2010 – 33 with 2 withdrawals for a total of 31 Possible future considerations of ACC’s Fire Protection Technology Program Facilitate course review of Certificate Degree (Fire Academy): Currently it is listed as 608 hours; however, since it is programmed for 17 weeks, the total hours are closer to 656 hours. Also it was noted that currently 100 hours of the 608 hours are involving subject areas that are not required for the state certification but do involve advance certifications/licenses that are desirable out in the field. With the possibility of the present state requirements for 468 hours increasing to 525 hours, these additional certifications/licenses may need to be prioritized. Incorporate Physical Fitness into the total hours of the program (6 hrs x 7 certifications = 42 hours): Currently the physical fitness program is facilitated after duty hours 2 times per for 12-14 weeks and it encompasses components of both CPAT and Combat Challenge evolutions. Reorganize Pre-Hospital First Responders under a Public Safety platform: Long term plan to bring EMS, Law Enforcement, and Fire Protection under a Public Safety concept in which all three disciplines would be located together in order to integrate training and share resources. Power point slide illustrated how the organizational structure would be identical for all three entities. Continuing Education would be included to include resident and mobile training options. Reclassify full-time job descriptions to meet future needs: Through attrition the three full-time positions of Department Chair; Director of Fire Academy; and Full-Time Faculty Instructor need to be revised to better meet the needs of the program. Status of Department Chair hiring process: AC Mallinger briefed that 5 finalist were selected out of 19 applications. Three agreed to be interviewed. Interview process will be completed by April 23, 2010. Interview panel consists of Dr. Hampton, AC Mallinger, Captain Goodenow, Captain Hill and Lisa Carter. Department Chair Menches is present as a non-voting member to provide technical assistance if needed. Goal is to select someone and be on board June 1, 2010. The state Tuition Exemption status for the ACC AAS degree in Fire Science has been extended to certified Paid-on-Call and Volunteer firefighters who are assigned to a department. ACC and Oak Hill Fire Academy have now entered into an inter-local agreement in which ACC will award up to 15 hours of college credit for those cadets completing the Oak Hill Academy and receiving their state certification. Since 20 percent of our students cannot participate in a full-time Academy program, we will be advising students of this inter-local agreement since the Oak Hill Academy is set-up as a part-time Academy program.

Previous discussions have centered on the possibility of creating supplemental skill courses based on industry needs. This will be part of the reorganization of the ACC Fire Academy program as previously discussed during the Course Review and the Public Safety platform future considerations. Two subject areas have been brought up: Incident Command Officer and Safety Officer. Other discussions centered around possible hands-on type skill training. Whatever is decided, ACC must plan this out with ACC Continuing Education and the existing inter-local agreement it has with the City of Austin. Action: Motion to table this for further discussion made by AC Mallinger Motion 2nd by BC Carlson Motion Carried; Tabled for further discussion at the next meeting in July 13, 2010

It was agreed that we need to find-out from Dr. Hampton the status of the draft agreement with WIU before pursuing other alternatives. AC Mallinger also pointed out that we should also consider the Public Safety program at St. Edwards. Action: Motion by BC Carlson to have Department Chair Menches find out the status on the progress of the existing articulation agreement with WIU and ACC. Once this agreement is approved addition work on the other alternatives previously discussed in the October 20, 2009 meeting to include the option with St. Edwards will be explored. Motion 2nd by AC Mallinger Motion carried UPDATE: Received notification on April 15th from the ACC executive level, that the agreement has been approved in substance and they will be returning it to WIU for some minor corrections in format. Once the corrections are made and returned, ACC will sign it and we will be able to start marketing it for Fall 2010.

Meeting Adjourned 12:15 pm Next Meeting: Scheduled for July 13th @ 10:30-12:00