Measure P Committee Meeting

Measure P Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes May 23, 2017 The Measure P Oversight Committee Meeting was called to order by Fire Chief Tim Marrison at the hour of 5:30 p.m. at Los Banos Fire Station No. 1, 333 7th Street, Los Banos, CA. Committee Members and staff present: Mark Bodley; Gerry Giesel; Tom Neeb; Eric Popish; Richard Stewart; Tim Marrison, Fire Chief; Ray Reyna, Police Commander; Mason Hurley, Assistant Fire Chief; Kim Tomas, Staff Accountant; Sonya Williams, Finance Director; and Mary Lou Gilardi, Administrative Assistant. Chief Marrison welcomed everyone and started the meeting off by stating that we had promised the Committee that we would have meetings at a minimum of every two quarters unless there was a need to meet sooner. He asked newest committee member Richard Stewart to introduce himself. Agenda Item I Chief Marrison introduced Kim Tomas, Staff Accountant for the City to review each of the Quarterly Reports with the Committee. Kim Tomas reviewed each of the Quarterly Reports beginning with FY 16-17 2nd Quarter. She explained that revenues are at 34% which reflects that the state lags in the payment of sales tax so that is why it might look a little low. The Miscellaneous Revenues in the Fire is for the reimbursement for Strike Team assignments for the Strike Team personnel that are paid out of Measure P. She explained that expenditures for both Police and Fire is at 44% which is slightly under the 50% mark where they should be. She reviewed staffing expenditures and explained that Police is lower than expected while Fire is right on target. In regard to the supplies & services line item, Police is at 76% (higher than the 50% mark) due to our IT expenditure cost that are costed out at the beginning of the year. Capital Outlay for Police is at 40% - not at 0% like the report indicates (apologized for typo). All costs are associated with network server that is being replaced. $15,000 in the line item for Capital Outlay is for the MDCs for the Code Enforcement and Admin vehicles. Fire Capital costs are minimal for the quarter - they are related to the fueling station costs and their portion of the upgrade for the new network server. She reviewed the Cash and Fund balances explaining in detail. Chief Marrison explained about the $175,000 that was set aside out of Measure P to pour the concrete for the future Training Tower behind Station 1, the light standards and some infrastructure that was going to toward the fueling facility. Marrison stated that he would address this matter in Agenda Item II why that money won't be spent; however, a small portion of that money has been spent. Kim Tomas reviewed the 3rd Quarter Report - Revenues are at 59 to 60% which are for payments collected through March 2017. Miscellaneous Revenues for Fire increased from the strike team reimbursements that we received for personnel out on strike team assignments. Expenditures are under for both Police and Fire. Fire has expended approximately $21,000 for fueling station project while Police have only expended about $11,000 for the Network Server replacement project. Tomas explained that Fund Balance won't change until the First Quarter Report for the next fiscal year. Committee Member Giesel inquired why the staffing for Police is only at 60% if we are fully staffed. Commander Reyna and Finance Director Williams explained that when people are out on medical leaves, etc., sometimes they don't collect a full paycheck. Committee Member Giesel also asked if Finance could list the months covered under the Quarterly Reports, i.e., Third Quarter (January, February, March). Kim Tomas indicated that it would be done. It was moved by Eric Popish, seconded by Gerry Giesel to approve the 2016/17 2nd & 3rd Quarter Measure P Reports as submitted by staff. Motion carried unanimously. Agenda Item II Chief Marrison explained that $175,000 was allocated out of Measure P for the future Training Tower Project which included pouring concrete, infrastructure for power and water to the site where the future training tower was going to be located behind Station No. 1. A piece of property that was once funded by the City and the RDA at Ward Rd. & Gilbert Gonzalez Dr., came up with the possibility of obtaining the 8 acre parcel for the future training site and Station No. 3 location. Finance Director Williams is in negotiations with the DLA and the State Dept. of Finance to determine if that property truly is ours, and if it is, we want it for our future training facility and Station No. 3 and the property up on Ward Road for a future Public Works yard. Marrison explained that the location of this parcel is ideal for the Fire Department. It would eliminate our dead spots on the east and south ends of town. If we are able to secure that facility, it would be a perfect location for Station No. 3 and a future training facility. We don't want to build a training tower in haste and then regret it later due to the restrictions of the size of the lot to build it on. So we stopped the process of the Training Tower behind Station 1 until we can find out whether or not we can get the 8 acre parcel on Ward Rd. and Gilbert Gonzalez. We've talked with Finance about funding the concrete behind Station 1 for the Fueling Facility and a small training area out of impact fee money. We can use Impact Fees to put the concrete in, put the lights up, along with the fueling facility canopy so that Police and Fire can fuel out of the rain when it is storming. Chief Marrison repeatedly stated that it wouldn't be the right thing to do if we would have spent the money from Measure P knowing that the training tower may not be built at this 2 location. Hopefully we'll know something in the next year about this property on Ward Road & Gilbert Gonzalez. Giesel inquired about the location of the fueling facility. Chief Marrison advised that it is already located here at Station 1, and it is working nicely for Police and Fire to fuel up in a secure location. Lighting and a canopy will still need to be completed for the fueling facility. Giesel asked if we were sharing with County. Chief Marrison explained the only time we would fuel others vehicles was in the event of a major disaster since it was funded with Homeland Security money. It is in the proposed budget for this next fiscal year to finish the concrete, put up the lights and canopy, and relocate the fuel tanks. Hopefully in the next 6-8 months, if the Council approves the budget, we can get that moving forward. Agenda Item III Chief Marrison gave a brief overview of this project before turning it over to Asst. Chief Hurley, who has been in charge of this project. The original Ordinance of Measure P allowed us to set aside $100,000 between both departments for the replacement of Mobile Data Computers for police and fire vehicles. The Police Department did this a few years ago and now it is our turn. Asst. Chief Hurley indicated that the staff report that was included in their packets stated what we were doing and asking for. Staff received a call from Committee Member Giesel regarding the quote that was included in the packet. The quote did not clearly indicate what was taxable and what wasn't. After crunching numbers and speaking with the representative, we came up with the new number which increased by about $16 to $70,449.77. In 2008 we purchased our original MDCs. With Police updating to their new reporting program, we are replacing in order to keep us connected and working correctly with the Police Department. We will be ordering the Panasonic Toughbook. We also want to purchase 4 video solutions for our two front line engines along with the two command vehicles (Chief Marrison & Asst. Chief Hurley's vehicles). We're hoping to use for training and/or protection. Police currently use the same videos for their vehicles, and we are hoping to use in our front line engines along with our command vehicles. We are asking for permission to move forward with this project. Chief Marrison stated that this $75,000 is in our Measure P Budget, but we can't take it to Council without the Measure P Oversight Committee's approval. Giesel inquired about licensing and upkeep. 3 Marrison stated that we currently spend about $6,000 per year to maintain all licensing. He also indicated that we use a solution that we own - 800 megahertz to get data to and from our vehicles. Police need more band width in order to send pictures and use the internet for their MDCs. If this is something Fire may need in the future, then we will come back before you to get your approval. Committee Member Neeb asked how soon this project would be started. Asst. Chief Hurley stated that once it is approved by Council, the vendor is ready to move forward. We will probably begin this project at the beginning of the fiscal year. Giesel inquired about training for the new MDCs. Hurley indicated that it shouldn't be too much. There will need to be training in using PD's new reporting system. We will be updating our mapping, etc., with Remote Access. Popish asked if there was a reason Fire was only requesting 4 of the video solutions for the front line engines and command vehicles. Asst. Chief Hurley stated that it's something new. Our two front line engines will get the best use out of it. This is to try it and see if it’s beneficial for us. Chief Marrison mentioned that our department has always been conservative. In 2008, we purchased 12 MDCs for vehicles plus a laptop in the training room. We discovered a lot of those MDCs didn't run for a week due to lack of using every vehicle. We are launching 4 vehicles, and we're going to see whether or not this is something that can be used in all vehicles. Commander Reyna explained in detail how Police Department use their video cameras in the vehicles. It was moved by Gerry Giesel, seconded by Mark Bodley to approve the purchase and installation of 6 new Mobile Data Computers, one (1) new Panasonic Training Computer and the implementation of four (4) MDC/video solutions with Measure P Funds in the amount of $70,449.77. Motion carried unanimously. Agenda Item IV Committee Member Reports: Committee Member Giesel thought it was a good idea to have the meetings every 2 quarters and include the dates on the Quarterly Reports. Committee Member Stewart said he is still learning. Chief Marrison offered Kim Tomas' assistance anytime he had questions regarding the Quarterly Reports. 4 Kim Tomas agreed that if anyone had questions, they can contact her at any time. Committee Member Popish stated that at the last meeting we asked Police Department where they were with their new facilities. Chief Marrison indicated that we would be talking about that in the Staff Member Reports. Chief advised Mary Lou that the Staff Member Reports should probably come before Committee Member Reports (Round Table Discussion) on the next agenda. Committee Member Bodley had no report. Committee Member Neeb asked how long it had been since the Police Department was fully staffed. Commander Reyna indicated that we are fully staffed currently, but there are always people who might be off on leave, whether it is for work injuries, personal injuries, maternity leave, etc. There are no open positions. We have one individual graduating from the Academy tomorrow, and then he will be on board with us. Agenda Item V Chief Marrison advised the committee that the Fire Department closed out the year with about 3,000 calls; most of those calls were EMS related. Structure fires have not increased - 18 to 20 structure fires a year. Currently, there are calls that we provide to the community that we may have to look at not doing in the future. We are working diligently to see how we are going to build Station 3 and then staff it some day. This year there is no staffing being added to our budget. We recently added a bunch of our employees from Measure A & K back to the General Fund. We’ve had a rapid increase in call volume but with the same manpower we've had since Measure P was implemented. We'll address all of the events, inspections, etc., that we are doing. We don't want to reduce the level of service that we provide to this community because that's why the community supports us. There are a lot of good things in the budget this year - we were able to increase some apparatus funding so that we can make some significant repairs to apparatus. We had a vehicle gone for 5 months - $17,000 repair bill on that. Everything that we are discussing is pending Council approval of the proposed budget: There is money being set aside for future apparatus purchases like the Ladder Truck (1991). There is $100,000 that will be set aside toward the purchase of that; some improvements in facilities maintenance; addressed some personnel issues; set aside money for the purchase of new turnout gear (garment life - 10 years) that has expired. Our budget is improving in a lot of areas - just not staffing this year. We are geared up for fire season. We've had a significant fire up on the hill just south of I-5 that we sent an Engine, Water Tender and Asst. Chief Hurley; there has been a 10,000 acre grass fire in Coalinga this past weekend. We will participate with our OES Engine because that's our obligation. We cannot send the local government Engine due to staffing issues. 5 We had a significant fire on Santa Cruz Way where there was some occupants trapped (a small child and a 59 year old female). Police Officers arrived on scene and implemented a rescue. We are going to be recognizing those Police Officers at the June 21st Council Meeting for going above and beyond. That outcome would have been very different without those officers rushing in to save the occupants. The teamwork between Police and Fire has been great. Committee Member Bodley asked who the Firefighters of the Year were for the Department. Chief Marrison advised them that Lupe Castillo was the Career Firefighter of the Year and Jose Garcia was the Volunteer Firefighter of the Year. Chief gave a brief background of both gentlemen's time with the Department. Chief Marrison also went on to say that our History book should be ready very soon. Commander Reyna advised that the Police Department is very busy. There has been a lot of domestic violence in the community. They also have been busy with impaired drivers, and today they recovered firearms related to a drug raid incident. The Police Department is in the process of purchasing 4 more computers for Code Enforcement and Command vehicles. Commander Reyna gave a detailed explanation about the new RIMS program that is going live tomorrow. There has been extensive training for the last two weeks. All staffing is out of Measure P and back in the General Fund. All staff is very excited about the new police facility because it is finally in reach. Finance has been pushing for it and it is really appreciated. Committee Member Giesel inquired whether Police Department is still looking to build by the Courthouse. Committee Member Stewart inquired about having a jail facility or using Merced County’s facility. Commander Reyna indicated that the new Police Department would be built by the new Courthouse. He also answered a question regarding the jail facility and/or holding facility, and whether or not we would be using the County’s jail. He also mentioned that in the 17-18 proposed budget, they have included additional body cameras and upgrades. Sonya advised that the City is in negotiations to purchase the property for the Police Department. The City must conduct a feasibility study and combine everything and see what we need. It is the City’s intention to pay for the new facility with Measure P and Impact Fees. Finance has also started fleet replacement funds for both departments. Chief Marrison stated that we do have a budget workshop on Tuesday, May 30 th and hopefully approve budget on June 21st. He also stated that the new Police Department will house the new EOC for the City. 6 Asst. Chief Hurley thanked the committee for allowing us to move forward with the purchase of the MDCs. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:38 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Tim Marrison Fire Chief Measure P Min170523.doc 7