City Council Committee Agendas

Mount Vernon Fire Department Public Safety Meeting August 5, 2015 Minutes Approval of the Minutes Commissioner Lindquist moved to adopt the minutes as written; the motion was seconded by Commissioner Quam. Minutes were approved. 4th of July Recap  Fire department placed signs round the city – increasing the signage by 6 Spanish only signs, radio & go Skagit advertisements.  The fire department saw an increase to the Fire Marshal’s hours by 105 hours and he worked a modified schedule. The 4th of July was handled like any other major incident – an incident plan was established. Six fireworks related incidents on the 4th.  Police fireworks season is extended slightly – through June 6th.  The call volume for this period time is consistently around 15%-17% fireworks related; and the officers reported the season was quite up to the 4th.  Work in conjunction with the fire department – focus on areas that have been issues in the past.  Focused on the apartment manager groups, block watch captains and areas of concern from the year before.  Police Department increased staffing by 88 extra hours – this is down from last year’s staffing hours.  Is there a comparison between Burlington and Mount Vernon? o The subjective feeling is that there were fireworks being shot off constantly. Chief Dodd to get information from Burlington and Anacortes.  No citations were issued. Compliance up to the 4th was improved over past years.  River Festival went well – need to look at a potential different design to get people out of the river fest. Officer’s estimated twice the number of people from years past – great effect of the finished river walk.  Councilmember Fiedler – Would like the council to consider marketing a campaign for illegal fireworks to deter people from bringing the illegal fireworks into the city – double the fines for illegal fireworks.  Mayor Bourdreau would like to go to the legislator to allow citations to be made easier – allow the fire Marshal to issue tickets. The Council would like to move forward with the partial commission for Fire Marshall Riggs. Interlocal Agreement between the County EMS Commission and City of Mount Vernon  The agreement has been in the process for some time, but the 2013 ESCI report moved this forward. The agreement would be funding $35 for work already being done.  Council member Ragan is concerned regarding the City having a financial impact on Central Valley.  Mayor Boudreau - We need to keep things in line with what is being discussed. This document is strictly regarding funding or solidifying the services that we are currently doing. Request from the County Commissions  The County invited the cities to a work group to look at the model would look like for the best delivery model for Ambulance service. We need to answer what Fire Based looks like and look at the feasibility of service.  County intends to hire a facilitator to lead the process. Who should be there? A public safety representative, financial representative, legal counsel. Open, transparent meetings.  Is this going to pre-empt the BLS integration? No. The plan is to continue the pilot program in Sedro Woolley – then at the end of the 90 period look at the next steps.  Looking at starting end of September, early October. The idea is to meet at least every other week – at least weekly. Mayor Bourdreau l would like to consider having Councilmember Fiedler or Councilmember Hulst to sit on the meeting.  Councilmember Fiedler – what’s the rush? There isn’t a rush? There isn’t a rush, but we need to move forward as this isn’t going to be a quick process. Councilmember Fiedler thinks the County and Central Valley need to figure out their model first.  Councilmember Hulst – no rush, but knowing that the process is coming, giving it the time to work through the process. The County needs to plan for the future.  Councilmember Ragan would like some additional information on what the work group membership would look like.  Councilmember Hulst – the work group will Meeting adjourned 7:04