Central Vermont Public Safety Authority

CENTRAL VERMONT PUBLIC SAFETY AUTHORITY MINUTES OF BOARD MEETING APRIL 13, 2017 Directors Present: Mike Smith, Donna Bate, Doug Hoyt, Kim Cheney, Sam Dworkin Others: Bob Sager, Treasurer, Attorney Kathy Fechter, Dave Rubacava, Jim Ward, Paco Aumand, Executive Director. Meeting began at 6:35PM at offices of Chamber of Commerce, Berlin Vt. The agenda was approved. Samuel Dworkin, of Montpelier, was welcomed as the newly elected at large Board member. The following officers were duly elected or appointed: Tom Golonka, Chair person (Elected) Mike Smith Vice Chair person (Elected) Kim Cheney Secretary (Appointed by Board) Bob Sager Treasuer (Appointed by Board) Minutes of February 2, 2017 were approved by vote of the Board Bate noted the web site was out of date. Aumand agreed and would seek improvements by Tupper-Giles Francis Aumand III , Executive Director, submitted a written report dated April 13, 2017 detailing the activities for the period March 16, 2017 to April 13, 2017 , reference to which is made for details. Mr. Aumand’s oral presentation emphasized meeting including dispatchers of both Bare and Montpelier to discuss operational issue, and governance. A future 4 hour workshop is planned for dispatchers without managers present to discuss combined management issues. A neutral person will give a report on the substance of the discussion and concerns Aumand noted, that in general the existing dispatchers do not favor a consolidate of the two cities services, All 9 participants cited their resistance to change as the major issue. Aumand’s meeting with Chiefs Faco and Bombardier concluded that both Chiefs are committed to improving services and will work together for that goal. Specifics regarding the Authority assuming operational control were not forthcoming. Aumand noted that Mayor Luzon told him that he, Luzon, supports regionalization but the Authority needs a third municipality to become a member for his continuing support. Aumand raised the possibility of including Capitol West , actually Capital Fire Mutual Aid as the municipality parent for Capitol West, as the third municipality solely for dispatching. He noted Chief Facos favored at least a partnership between the city the Authority and Capitol West. Discussion by the Board followed with consensus that Paco would determine if there is any interest by Capitol West in such an arrangement. Aumand stated he needed the Board to develop a plan for approaching each City Council to cede operational responsibility to the Authority to manage dispatch services for FY 19. He noted that existing Vermont dispatching protocol was that dispatchers were “call takers” only, they would identify a need and advise the service providers of it which then determined the resources to deploy. For example, if there were a serious accident or fire with life threating issues in say East Montpelier, the dispatcher would notify the East Montpelier volunteer department which would then go to the scene and request the dispatcher to notify needed resources. This model is in contrast to action dispatching in which the dispatchers obtain complete information about incident, determine the need for services, and immediately deploy the appropriate resources. In short, exercise judgment. Under this model a more efficient response is possible. Such a change requires training and commitment by both users and providers. Board discussion ensued The executive committee is to meet, other board members are invited, and draw up a list of possible strategic opportunities and actions that would foster City Council ceding of dispatch operations without setting priorities. Ideas would be “veted” and priorities discussed at the next board meeting. The Board voted to meet the first and third Thursday of each month beginning on May 4th. Certification of Police officers was discussed, with apparent consensus that the Authority had other fiscal priorities. Meeting adjourned at 8:08 PM .