Public Safety Committee (Building & Codes, Fire, Police)

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES October 21, 2020 - 4:00 p.m. Via Google Meets CALL TO ORDER: A meeting of the City of Clarksville Public Safety Committee was called to order by Chairman Jeff Henley on Wednesday, October 21, 2020, at 4:00 p.m. This meeting was conducted via Google Meets. ATTENDANCE: The following members responded to roll call and were connected to the meeting. It was noted there was a quorum. Councilman Jeff Henley, Chairman; Councilman Ron Erb, Councilman Travis Holleman; Councilman Vondell Richmond; Councilwoman Wanda Smith Others Participating: Chief of Staff James Halford, Building & Codes Interim Director David Smith, Fire & Rescue Chief Freddie Montgomery, Chief of Police David Crockarell, Internal Auditor Stephanie Fox, Kathy Gray APPROVAL OF ELECTRONIC MEETING: In order to comply with the technical aspects of the Governor’s Executive Order regarding holding open meetings in a forum other than in the open and in public, the Public Safety Committee determines that meeting electronically is necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Councilman Richmond made a motion to approve the electronic meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Smith. The vote for the motion to conduct this meeting by electronic means was approved unanimously by the Committee. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the July 15, 2020 meeting and the August 24, 2020 special called meeting were approved by the committee after a motion was made by Councilwoman Smith and seconded by Councilwoman Erb. BUILDING & CODES DEPARTMENT REPORT: ~David Smith gave a brief overview of the department report and stated that he would answer any questions. Among his comments, he stated that multi-family totals dropped, but that the numbers for the month were good, and said that they added no employees. ~Councilwoman Smith asked the status of an abandoned car she had inquired about. Mr. Smith said that the car was left abandoned on CMCSS property and that they went through steps to have it removed. He will check on the status and report to her tomorrow morning. FIRE & RESCUE DEPARTMEN REPORT: ~Chief Montgomery gave a review of the monthly reports and asked for questions. He thanked the Committee for their vote of confidence regarding the budget. He reported that Inspector Ricky Cumberland will be retiring on Dec. 3rd, and said that fourteen new fire fighters will be sworn in next Monday. Councilwoman Smith asked if they will be under the new system and he confirmed that they will. He said that they cast a bigger net and got a lot of good candidates and tested close to 400 applicants. He stated that they will break ground soon on a new maintenance building. Councilwoman Smith asked the location and he said it will be by Station 1. ~Chairman Henley asked the protocol for installing smoke alarms for the public. Chief Montgomery said that they keep them in stock and citizens just need to put in a request. They had a program with APSU students and the Red Cross but had to postpone it due to Covid-19. He hopes to start that program again soon, but they are still installing them for all who ask. Councilman Holleman asked the longevity of smoke alarms and Chief Montgomery said ten years. Councilwoman Smith said it is a great program and may save lives. ~Chairman Henley asked about the large number of burn permit calls. Chief Montgomery said they receive lots of nuisance calls in different areas. Councilwoman Smith stated that she lives in an area close to a factory where smoke and pollution is a normal occurrence. He said they are evaluating current codes to see if they need to make any adjustments to help relieve some nuisance calls and reports. POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT: ~Chief Crockarell presented the monthly report and asked for questions. ~He stated that CPD had a spike in positive results for Covid-19 at one of our locations and felt it best to close all precinct lobbies a couple of week ago to protect citizens. We had 11, and most have recovered so we are on track to reopen precincts next Monday. Employees are wearing masks 100 percent. ~He has received questions about possible violence during election week. There is no definite reason to think will be problems, but he will put out additional officers and have a command presence that week. The Sheriff’s Office will have Resource Officers at polls, and we will have additional patrolling for visibility. We are also in contact with Nashville. Early voting is going well. ~The new District 3 Precinct is well underway. Concrete will begin being poured tomorrow and hopefully steel beams will go up, which will speed up the process. He thanked David Smith and the Building & Codes employees for their help. He hopes for a May 2021 target date for the grand opening. ~Councilwoman Smith thanked Chief Crockarell for keeping calm between officers and citizens. While riding her bicycle yesterday with a friend on Poston Street, a car was speeding at around 80 mph and the driver blew the horn for them to get out of way. She stopped an officer and asked why he didn't stop the speeder. He said that the Chief had directed Officers not to chase speeders as it could be dangerous. He told her that he got the license number and put out an alert to stop the speeder, and that he also saw him run a stop sign. If it doesn't meet our pursuit policy, we let drivers go. If it is not a violent offender, the risk is not worth the reward. ~Councilman Holleman asked for clarification on a law regarding motorcycles being allowed to run a red light and asked if this just applies in the County. Chief Crockarell said there is a law to that effect if a bike does not have enough weight to trigger the light. He can't quote the law, but will look it up and email it to him. CITY COUNCIL ACTION REQUIRED 1. Ordinance 40-2020-21: An Ordinance amending the Official Code of the City of Clarksville, Title 4 (Building, Utility, and Housing Codes) relative to adoption of updated codes of the International Code Council. ~David Smith stated that the update to the 2018 Code will also include some housekeeping items. We could have adopted the 2015 Code, but this one is more up to date and puts us on the same level as the County and State. Councilwoman Smith asked for an example of something in the old Code that is invalid and he said it is not so much invalid, but the update to 2018 contains new materials and a few housekeeping items. A motion to adopt the updated 2018 Code was made by Councilwoman Smith, seconded by Councilman Holleman, and approved by all. It will now go before the Finance Committee and the City Council. ADJOURNMENT A motion to adjourn was made by Councilwoman Smith, seconded by Councilman Erb, and approved by all at 4:36 p.m. Submitted by: Kathy Gray Clarksville Police Department ADOPTED: November 18, 2020