By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Five months into his new job as fire chief for St. Tammany Fire District #1 and Chris Kaufmann has good news for residents near the North Shore Square mall.
“We hope to break ground in 2014 on a fire station on Airport Road that will finally serve that entire region, including all the commercial in that area,” Kaufmann said.
But the price for homeowners across the entire district is that the millage rate for the district will likely take its biggest jump up in many years.
Under the direction of former Fire Chief Larry Hess and the Board of Commissioners, Fire District #1 gained a reputation for doing all they could to keep the annual millage renewal well under the 35-mills approved by voters.
But Kaufmann said the district cannot keep doing that or they will sacrifice much needed capital improvements, which have been on hold for the years the millage remained low.
Kaufmann said he plans to recommend the board approve a millage hike from the current 29.7 rate to 33.5. Voters have approved as much as 35 mills for Fire District #1.
“We can’t keep rolling the millage back and be successful,” Kaufmann said. “That was good for a number of years, but it kept us from moving forward with capital projects the district really needed.”
The new fire station will be built on Airport Road in a location Kaufmann declined to reveal at this time, since a contract for the property is being negotiated.
He explained there are several thousand homes on Airport Road, as well as the large commercial developments at North Shore Square and the surrounding area near Interstate 12.
“It currently takes 15 minutes or more for our closest station to respond to a call on Airport Road,” he said. “Our normal response time average is 8 to 10 minutes for most other areas of the district. But Airport Road is not close to any station, so our response time is 7 minutes longer or more than average.”
Kaufmann has served 25 years in Fire District #1 and moved to second in command under Hess for several years before the Board of Commissioners selected him as the new chief in February. He said he began his stint as the new leader of the district by meeting with all employees to hear their input about where the department was, and what they wanted in the future.
“The first thing I did was to take a step back, meet with all 151 employees, and ask for their feedback. We asked them to tell us what they think we do well, and what we can improve on,” Kaufmann said.
Kaufmann, along with Deputy Chief Dave Kuhn, surveyed the members and found two key points were consistently brought to light.
“They wanted to be more informed about decisions being made for the department, and they wanted more opportunity for training,” Kuhn said.
Kaufmann makes it clear that their number one priority is serving the community to the best of their ability.
“We are public servants first and every one of our employees has a piece of ownership in this department and how the public perceives us,” he explained. “So we are sharing as much information as possible with the men and women here since they are our ambassadors in the community.”
One new program Kaufmann has focused on in recent months is a public education campaign that has provided several public demonstrations of what the firefighters do. There have been vehicle accident demonstrations, haz-mat displays, vehicle burning demonstrations and more. Kaufmann said he plans to bring back a Fire Department Citizens Academy, which will begin in September and give local citizens a chance to learn all about the district over a three week period. It will end with a live burn that the citizens will be witness to.
“We know we have been good stewards with the money entrusted to us in the past, but especially now that we will ask for a higher millage, we want the public to see what we do,” Kaufmann said.
Kuhn pointed out that the majority of funding for District #1 is property taxes and the department receives no sales tax revenue.
“We are reliant on the millage, but you have to remember that the Slidell area is growing and we have to keep adding more coverage area with the funding we already have,” he noted. “We were recently told there are three more hotels being built and we will need equipment to handle that.
“Simply having higher hotels means we will probably have to spend close to $1 million for a ladder truck to reach higher, as opposed to a fire truck that might have cost $450,000,” Kuhn added.
The district recently held its mandatory budget public hearing at Koop Drive in Mandeville, something that was forced on them after a new state law was passed.
“The new law says that all elected boards must hold their public hearing in Mandeville at the Parish Council offices,” Kaufmann said. “It made no sense since all of our service area is on the east side. But we followed the law and there was only one Slidell person who showed up.”
If the Board of Commissioners supports Kaufmann’s request for the higher millage, it will fund an $18.4 million budget for fiscal year 2015, up from the $16.7 million budget in 2014. But Kaufmann said the district actually needs the entire 35 mills, something they are stopping short of asking for.
“Do we need the full 35? Yes, we definitely do if we want to be successful and stay on top of the capital improvements we need,” he said.
The chief said they use software models to evaluate where the greatest need for a new station would be, as well as reviewing past call records.
“The Airport Road region has always been an area we have looked at, knowing we needed a station closer to there,” he said. “Based on the data, a station there will allow us to give the citizens the best protection possible—something they deserve.”
The current closest stations to that area are on Thompson Road and the new station in the Johnny Smith Business Park, off Hwy. 11.
Kaufmann started with District #1 as a firefighter in February, 1989 and is now enjoying his opportunity to lead the department.
“I’ve been very blessed to serve with these great men and women in this department,” he said. “I’m honestly excited to come to work every day and I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve done so far, and what we plan to do in the future.”
The final vote on the millage will occur on July 30 at the Koop Drive Parish Council office.