Akron's Mayor on the Climate Fund, Fire Department and Upcoming City Festival

Certainly, he takes time to join us, gets us on his calendar Thursdays, and that's the mayor of our city, Shamus Malik, here on WAKR, Mayor of Akron. And Shamus, a couple things I wanted to put that and really has a lot to do with quality of life. And first of all, this Youth Climate Action Fund. I know you've led the charge on this. This sounds really exciting for now and generations to come. Maybe talk a little bit about putting this together. Yeah, good morning, Ryan. Good morning, everybody. So this is through a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, and they've done this in a number of cities around the country, and actually, I think, around the world, where they provide funds, and so we make small grants. to youth, groups of youth who are working with a nonprofit, whether that's a school organization or, you know, another nonprofit, just around small ideas around, you know, increasing environmental benefits in our neighborhoods, right? So that can be... something, you know, as simple as an area where there isn't very much lighting, putting in some solar power lighting, right? Or it could be, you know, trying to put in, you know, more trees or greenery in the Western area, right? But again, it's less about climate change directly and more about what small things can we do directly in our neighborhoods driven by youth, right? Like, let's give our youth some empowerment and say, here's, you know, a $5,000 check. And please, you know, work with, you know, an adult and trusted organization so that we know that, you know, there's some check on it. But here, you know, kind of really brainstorm and think about what this could be used for. And so. You know, it could be setting up a composting program at your school lunchroom. It could be a million different things. So we're really excited to see where this goes. And again, this is not funded with city tax fare dollars. This is funded through a grant from Bloomberg philanthropy. So, you know, I know sometimes folks are like, is this really what you're prioritizing? And it's like, look, you know, it's important that we are able to, I mean, Young people particularly are really passionate about these issues. And so helping them see a way of making an impact, particularly on this issue of protecting our environment, is important, especially when, you know, unfortunately some days they're going to school and they can't see a couple blocks in front of them because of the air and the smoke that we saw the last few weeks. You know, mayor so often, and you and I alike, love our athletics and all that other stuff. But I like to see these funds coming in to the region to better the education on climate, which, as I mentioned, for this generation and the generations to come. So I'm pretty excited to see how this will go. And I love getting into that arena other than athletics of these dollars being used for youth education.

Yeah, so, you know, if, I don't know how many youth are listening at 7.10 a.m., but, you know, for any parents, any young people in your life who really care about environmentalism, you know, just Google Akron Youth Climate Action Fund. The grant application is open for another few weeks. And again, you can work with a student organization at a high school. You can work with a nonprofit organization and the community. You can email us and we can try to partner you with somebody, but I'm definitely excited for them. Okay. The other thing that I wanted to talk about as far as a little bit of an education into the world of city, we had this wonderful thing. A couple of weeks ago with the firefighters from really all sorts of different areas around the country, around the state, converging into Akron for some competition, which was part of it, but it was awareness for firefighters, what they do. brought some great notoriety to the Akron area. That was a lot of fun. You can comment on that, but my bottom line is, with the awareness with firefighters, where are we in the department? I thought I might bring that up to you as far as numbers, gear, houses, and everything. Maybe give us a little look at the firefighters in the Akron area and certainly the department. Absolutely. So, you know, we are... We are really proud of how the firefighter challenge went. You know, this was a big undertaking. And, you know, a lot of our fire officers and folks from around the county and around the region volunteered and helped out and helped organize that. And a number of our fire officers competed and did an amazing job and put up some records. And so we'll be seeing them kind of progress in this. And so we're excited, you know, if there are future opportunities with that. But it was really cool to be on Main Street and really be showcasing the work that they do, right? Because it is, you know, this huge athletic feat. But it also is this cool reflection of the fact that, like, all this training, all this effort they do is all to make sure that they're as prepared as possible when. you know, some of the most difficult moments happened. And, yeah, when we talk about our Akron Fire Department directly, you know, the summers are difficult. You know, it's always a challenge when it comes to, you know, the staffing that we have. And, you know, we mentioned, you know, two years ago, you know, there were federal funds that expired. And so... You know, we have, you know, we are slightly down in terms of budgeted strength than we were, you know, two or three years ago kind of during the height of the post-COVID.

money from the federal government. But we have tried to keep staffing as high as we can. And the other thing is we are doing, we were just starting the staffing study to really look at, we haven't really looked at our structure since. since we brought in all of the EMS transports. And so, you know, that's going to be really important is to say, okay, what does the future of this department need to look like for the next 10, 20 years? And so in the meantime, like we've worked all summer to really manage the overtime and, you know, provide overtime, you know, as appropriate. You know, we talked earlier in the year about, you know, the overtime budget has grown, you know, pretty dramatically over the last few years, even as the staffing had gone up. And so we've been managing that, but also recognizing we need to make sure the resources to respond to calls. And so, you know, we've worked through that, and I, you know, have a huge thanks to our team. We've been working on starting a process to allow lateral hires, which will be very important, and starting to look at the next class, academy class that we have. Beyond that, you know, we've unfortunately had some situations where we've had to see. the bravery of our firefighters. And, you know, the most immediate one was the scrapyard there on North Islandton that caught fire. And, you know, it was, it's tough in those situations to see, you know, a huge part of the city kind of covered in smoke, but it also... You see, you know, how, you know, these officers, you know, leap into this and really work as assertively as possible to put out these fires in really challenging situations, right, like a burning scrapyard, where you're not exactly sure what's there and what's in it. And so, yeah, they do an amazing job, and we, you know, we try to make sure that. that we have, you know, the resources, the staffing, all of those things to make sure they're able to do that work. But again, like I said, you know, we really do need to be looking at, okay, what are, you know, what should the right model be going forward? Because, you know, often we talk about it in the fire department, right, but like 90% of the calls are EMS calls. And unfortunately, we're not staffed. to really address that in the right way, right? And so making sure we have the right number of paramedics is really critical to making sure that, you know, we're able to respond adequately. Mayor, you talk with mayors from around the country. When we talk about firefighters and officers and you mentioned challenges and numbers and everything.

What is it like around the country? Is there a dip in firefighters? What's the trend you're seeing nationally from other mayors? No, I think, you know, recruitment is something that everyone's working at, and we're seeing results. So we've had some very large classes, you know, and we, I think we had, we had hundreds of people take the test, I want to say. 700 people for this, you know, and so, you know, we're, we are able to get out there and we are seeing the demand for the role, but also we're seeing different banks. I think, you know, we are seeing that, you know, there are big wage pressures, right? And so, you know, I know, you and I have talked a lot about the fact that, you know, we entered into contracts last year, you know. which are, you know, really the largest wage increases in memory after negotiation with both police and fire. And that is warranted, right? But, you know, I think we're seeing trends like that across the country. And then the other thing is, frankly, and I can say this, I think, as a millennial. You know, I think that we're seeing a trend where... You know, people are taking less overtime, and they want more of that work-life balance. And so it's not just about, like, how many, what's the maximum possible hours you could work? It's about that work-life balance. And to try to recognize that, you know, even if we're putting overtime out there, it may not necessarily get filled. And so we can't necessarily rely on that to run a department. And that's true, that's true for police and for fire. Yeah, Akron Mayor Shamas Malik with us this morning. Good stuff there on certainly the department with the Akron Fire Department. Mayor, the other thing I had on my list, I know a lot of people making plans for the Labor Day weekend. We have another Akron City Festival coming up that weekend. Absolutely. So I really want to talk about this, and so I'm pulling up the press release to make sure I get all of the dates right. But it is a two-day event, and so we are... Just one second here. So September 5th, there's going to be a showcase of different things. There's going to be fashion and music and all kinds of things. And then on the 6th, there's going to be the parade. And so we've done this the last four of the last... the last five years. And so, you know, no, sorry, the last four years. And so this is really the opportunity for us to really celebrate our youth and our community as we're going back to school and to really, you know, give them the opportunity to have the parade, but also kind of like a festival afterwards along Main Street. So hope that folks can come out and...

So, again, Saturday, the fifth is that showcase with music, dance, fashion that's going to be at the library from 12 to 4. And then Sunday, the Sunday before Labor Day, is the parade, and that is, I believe that starts at 10, and 10 to 4 p.m., and that'll be along Main Street. Being a lot of fun. Akron City Festival. So circle that on your Labor Day weekend schedule. Mayor, that's what I had on my list. Anything else you wanted to convey to the listeners this morning while you're here? No, just, you know, when I mentioned the Akron City Fest, this is a big thing that Danico Buckley Knight from our city, he's our youth opportunity strategies, it's a big thing that he's kind of his brainchild. So he's really shepherds this now in its fourth year. And a lot of people from police, fire, service, all across the board, help make it happen. And so it's big things to them. And similarly, you know, a lot of people put in. a lot of work for national night out, and we just had that last week. But it was really great to go around, and particularly a big shout out to Councilman Sharon Conner in Goodyear Heights. They have a block party every year, and it's really phenomenal. So it's just, it's great to be with community for us to all be connected. And, you know, it feels like we need those spaces and those, those, that time more than ever. in this world that we're living in. But, you know, I also just want to recognize it's like for things like that. It takes a lot of planning, a lot of organization, and so a huge shout out to the volunteers. All right, Mayor. Thank you for making time with us again on this Thursday morning. Love our conversations. We'll do it again next week. Thanks, Ray. Thanks, everybody. For more interviews on 93.5-1590 WAKR, tune in to the Ray Horner Morning Show Monday through Fridays between 6 and 9 o'clock and listen for more interviews at wakr.net and our WAKR app.