City Council
Regular MeetingDeKalb, IL · May 13, 2019
Minutes
MINUTES
CITY OF DEKALB
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING
MAY 13, 2019
The City Council of DeKalb, Illinois held a Committee of the Whole meeting on May 13,
2019, in the City Council Chambers of the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 South Fourth
Street, DeKalb, Illinois.
A. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
Mayor Smith called the meeting to order at 5:01 p.m.
City Clerk Lynn Fazekas called the roll, and the following members of the City Council
were present: Alderman Bill Finucane, Alderman Pat Fagan, Alderman Kate Noreiko,
Alderman Michael Verbic, Alderman Tony Faivre, and Mayor Jerry Smith.
Absent: Alderman Joyce Stupegia and Alderman David Jacobson.
Staff present included: City Manager Bill Nicklas, Assistant City Manager Ray Munch,
Fire Chief Jeff McMaster, Police Chief Gene Lowery, and Deputy Clerk Ruth Scott.
B. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
MOTION
Alderman Noreiko moved to approve the agenda. Alderman Faivre seconded.
VOTE
Motion carried 6-0-2 on roll call vote. Aye: Finucane, Fagan, Noreiko, Verbic, Faivre,
Smith. Nay: none. Absent: Stupegia, Jacobson.
C. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
There was none.
D. CONSIDERATIONS
1. Proclamation: National Emergency Medical Services Week.
Mayor Smith read the proclamation and presented it to firefighters who were
present.
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May 13, 2019
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2. DeKalb Fire Department 2018 Annual Report.
Fire Chief McMaster presented highlights of the annual report. He emphasized
changes made to procedure, protocol, and organization, including:
• More care that is individualized in nature.
• Personnel administering more medications.
• The hospital has specialized teams to meet the ambulance.
• Goals for rehabilitation reflect a change in philosophy to help people return to
their original state of health.
Council discussed statistics with Chief McMaster, types of services, costs, and
details about the nature and scope of mutual aid. The City is currently in
negotiations with NIU for contracted emergency services, Chief McMaster said.
He listed other services offered by the Department, such as disaster planning,
CPR training and other public education, commercial property inspections and
other measures to prevent injury.
Mayor Smith asked about status of an emergency operations center (EOC).
Chief McMaster responded that the City needs to make concrete decisions
about it. He said EOCs can be brick and mortar, or virtual, using software.
E. ADJOURNMENT
MOTION
Alderman Verbic moved to adjourn the meeting at 5:45 p.m. Alderman Fagan seconded.
VOTE
Motion was approved on majority voice vote. Mayor Smith declared the meeting
adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
_____________________________________
LYNN A. FAZEKAS, City Clerk
Approved by City Council: May 28, 2019.
Agenda
DEKALB CITY COUNCIL AGENDA
MAY 13, 2019
DeKalb Municipal Building
City Council Chambers
Second Floor
200 S. Fourth Street
DeKalb, Illinois 60115
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
5:00 P.M.
A. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
B. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
C. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
D. CONSIDERATIONS
1. Proclamation: National Emergency Medical Services Week.
City Manager Summary: The Mayor will introduce the attached Proclamation, which
celebrates the dedication and training of the Fire Department’s personnel.
2. DeKalb Fire Department 2018 Annual Report.
City Manager Summary: Fire Chief Jeff McMaster will present the Fire Department’s
2018 annual report. Within its pages is a full breakdown of emergency and non-
emergency services provided to the community, along with logistical responsibilities
that keep the department compliant with laws and standards; and improvements and
upgrades to increase operational efficiency, raise safety margins during emergency
response, and enhance customer service. Some of these achievements are
highlighted below.
Revision of Standard Operating Guidelines (SOGs)
Since the last annual report, the Fire department has updated its Standard Operating
Guidelines. These guidelines give fire personnel an operational baseline to handle
emergent and non-emergent matters. The previous guidelines were almost twenty
years old and were nearly 800 pages. It is important to have directives that are up
to date, incorporate modern methodology, accepted practices, and new industry
standards. This substantial revision accomplished the following:
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May 13, 2019
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• Standardized the Incident Commander’s role at an emergency incident.
• Implemented a Cancer Risk Reduction plan for Fire personnel.
• Standardized incident priorities at various emergency incidents such as structure
fires, motor vehicle accidents, hazardous conditions, and high-rise fires.
• Identified and established how to handle minor-to-major building code issues
including condemnation procedures.
• Updated practices to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPPA) to protect confidential patient information.
• Standardized a Fire personnel discipline process to clarify the handling personnel
issues.
• Fortified the Fire Department’s Active Shooter response criteria (Rescue Task
Force) to enter a hostile environment with law enforcement to begin rapid triage,
treatment, and transport of victims to increase survivability.
Requests for Service
In 2018, the Fire Department reached a historic benchmark for emergency
response. We answered the call for 6,082 requests for service. This represents an
increase of 509 calls (9.13%) over 2017. The upward trend has been consistent for
a number of years. Generally, the Fire Department received requests for service in
the following areas:
• EMS – 4,648 requests were up from 4,139 requests in 2017. This a 12.3% increase
in EMS calls (see page 10).
• Fire and non-Fire requests were the same at 1,434 requests as in 2017 and 2016
(see page 10).
• Total request for service equates to an average of 16.66 requests per day (see
page 6).
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May 13, 2019
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The City of DeKalb is divided into three (3) fire districts to serve the residents and
visitors of DeKalb, Northern Illinois University, and the DeKalb Fire Protection
District (see page 19).
• Fire
District 1 serves the North & Northeast sides of DeKalb, the Downtown,
Sycamore Road Shopping District, sections of NIU, and the DeKalb-Taylor
Municipal Airport.
• Fire District 2 serves the south side of DeKalb and I-88.
• Fire District 3 serves most of NIU and the Annie Glidden North Corridor.
The majority of requests for service occur in Fire District 3 (see page 20).
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May 13, 2019
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Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
The Fire Department provides immediate pre-hospital care to the sick and injured,
responding with a fleet of six (6) Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances and three
(3) ALS Fire Engines for first response in the event of a delay in ambulance
response.
We are a member of the Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital EMS System.
DeKalb’s Fire administration attends and participates in regional and local EMS-
specific agency meetings and assists with the creation and implementation of EMS
policies and procedures.
EMS accounts for 76% of our requests for service (page 6). The Fire Department
provides community health education and training and brings EMS expertise to
every emergency call within the department’s jurisdiction. Emergency Medical
Technicians maintain the integrity of the health care continuum, starting in the pre-
hospital setting, as well as responses to fires, mass casualty incidents, CBRNE
(chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives) & WMD (weapons of
mass destruction) events, and natural weather disasters (page 16).
Through the direction, cooperation, and training of Northwestern Medicine-
Kishwaukee Hospital, new Standing Medical Orders (SMOs), new medications and
medicinal therapy, expanded medical procedures, and technology upgrades in the
form of new computer tablets were instituted to provide DeKalb residents with
improved service to handle any medical emergency.
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Fire Prevention and Public Education
Reducing public risk and empowering the community to prevent emergencies is the
foundation of the DeKalb Fire Department. In 2018, our members participated in the
following activities:
• Commercial building fire inspections.
• Preplan inspections in buildings that are new, remodeled or have not been
inspected for a period of years to acquaint firefighters with potential hazards.
• Taught Community Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) classes.
• Provided safety lessons to driver’s education classes at DeKalb High School.
• Presented numerous fire and life-safety lessons to people of all ages.
• Spearheaded a cooperative initiative to work with property owners to install fire
sprinkler systems in all University Greek Houses as mandated by the Illinois Greek
Housing Fire Safety Act.
• Emergency planning activities that included coordinating emergency response for
large-scale events in the City and worked with staff to update DeKalb-Taylor
Municipal Airport’s Emergency Operations Plan.
• Regular health and safety messages to the public through social media.
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The Fire Prevention Bureau is responsible for the enforcement of the 2015
International Fire Code and the City of DeKalb Municipal Codes. These codes
prescribe regulations consistent with nationally recognized good practices for the
safeguarding of life, property, and environment from the risks of fire, explosion, and
other hazardous conditions, which may prove hazardous to life and property in the
use or occupancy of buildings or premises. The Fire Prevention Officer works within
the Building & Code Compliance Division of the Community Development
Department.
Fire Chief Jeff McMaster will present the Fire Department’s annual report for 2018
and will be on hand to answer any Council questions.
E. ADJOURNMENT
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May 13, 2019
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FULL AGENDA PACKET