Columbia Capital Improvement Sales Tax interview: Katherine Rodriguez, Columbia Fire Department

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The following is a full interview ABC 17 News reporter Gabrielle Teiner had with Columbia Fire Department spokeswoman Katherine Rodriguez.

Gabrielle Teiner: OK, so I'm going to have you state your name, spell it, and tell me a little bit about yourself.

Katherine Rodriguez: Sure. My name is Kathryn Rodriguez. Spelled k a r t h e r i n e  r o d r i g u e z and I'm the public information specialist of the Columbia Fire Department, I've been here for about five months. 

Teiner: Great. So if the Capital Improvement Sales Tax is approved, what will that go towards for the department? 

Rodriguez: The CIST (Capital Improvement Sales Tax) will go towards maintaining our apparatus fleet, as well as opening a new station. 

Teiner: Great and that new station is Fire Station 10 correct?

Rodriguez: That's correct, yes we are looking forward to opening up Fire Station 10 as soon as possible. 

Teiner: Great, Could you give me a bit of details about the fire station? 

Rodriguez: Yeah. Fire Station 10 will be located on East Broadway and El Chaparral Avenue. We are really excited to get that operational so that we can continue to serve that area of our community.

Teiner: Fabulous. So, and you said the money will also go to buying new apparatuses?

Rodriguez: Yes. We are going to be replacing a lot of our, fleets. You know, most fleets have about a ten-year lifespan or most apparatus have about a ten-year lifespan, so it's important for us to keep maintaining them and replacing them as needed so that we can continue to provide quality emergency care. 

Teiner: So we're approaching that 10-year mark for the apparatuses.

Rodriguez: Yeah, for some of them, yeah, definitely. We want to make sure that we are on top of it, make sure that they are up to date and meet our standards for providing excellent care. 

Teiner: Great. So how will this help the department serve the community? 

Rodriguez: Well, first of all, you know, when we have great apparatus, that and a new station, we're able to drastically reduce our response times, which is great for the community because that, you know, increases the outcome or the likely positive outcome for emergencies. You know, we can maximize property...you know we can maximize saving property. We can make sure that, you know, we're there helping prevent injuries.And, you know, seconds matter in times like that. So it's really important that the community knows that we want to be there when we're needed most. 

Teiner: Great. And you can already mentioned this before, but I am going to ask you again why now? 

Rodriguez: Well, yeah with the rapid growth of Columbia, you know, we, we have to keep up. it's really important that we are there for when our community needs us. And so we are committed to, growing with the community, you know, the CIST has about a 10 year lifespan and so having it be extended, it just proves that, you know, we want to be up to date and we want to be relevant and we want to be reliable as our community continues to grow.

Teiner: So what why is Fire Station 10 projected to cost about $5 million? What more is needs to be done? 

Rodriguez: Yeah so we are constructing an entirely new building, you know, so right now, we are working on the fire marshal's division office, and that's going, yet that is being made out of, an already existing building but Fire Station 10 itself will be a brand new state of the art facility with, lots of, you know, high-end technology. We want to make sure that it is, you know, environmentally sustainable. We want to make sure that it, you know, functions proper-, properly. We won't compromise on safety, for our members and for our community. 

Teiner: Is there anything specific about the apparatuses that need to be replaced or they generally, just in general-

Rodriguez: Yeah, you know, it's some apparatus, you know, depending on how, like what area they run, but they are more used than others. You know, we, you know, mileage obviously goes up, you know, and just normal wear and tear of apparatus. There's a ton of equipment that also goes on these apparatus. and each apparatus is very different. You know, we have fire engines, we have ladders, we have quints, which are a hybrid of, engines and ladders. And then we have our squads, which are primarily used just for equipment for, like, for very, you know, dangerous rescues so we want to make sure we have a very diverse fleet that we so we can go to any emergency, no matter how diverse or how out there we want to be prepared for everything.

Teiner: Great. So during the chief hiring process, was the sales tax a topic that you guys touched upon?

Rodriguez: I wasn’t a part of the, chief hiring process. I don't know if I can speak to that um 

Teiner: OK.

Rodriguez: So I would ask Sydney (Olsen), she might be able to tell you more from the CMO’s (City Managers Office) perspective. 

Teiner: OK, great. So how could this hinder the department if the sales tax does not go through? 

Rodriguez: Yeah, the sales tax is, you know, been instrumental in helping us fund, um, our, our operations so, you know, if this were not to, pass, we had to take a hard look at our budget and figure out to make sure that we, you know, how are we going to still be there for our community. I think the CIST has been absolutely instrumental for us um and we, you know, we hope that we can continue to use these funds in a way that will better serve our community. 

Teiner: Great. Do you have anything else you'd like to say about this? 

Rodriguez: Yeah, I-,I’ll say that the Columbia Fire Department's number one priority will always be public safety. Um, we are going to be we are committed to that no matter what. Um, and we are really excited to, you know, see these new apparatus come in and have the opening of station ten so that we can better serve our community.