City Council Committee Agendas

PUBLIC SAFETY MEETING MARCH 2, 2016 PRESENT  Mayor Jill Boudreau  Council Members o Mary Hudson o Mark Hulst o Joe Lindquist o Gary Molenaar o Ken Quam o Dale Ragan  Chief of Police Jerry Dodd  Fire Chief Roy Hari  City Attorney Kevin Rogerson The Public Safety Committee Meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM by Council Member Mark Hulst. Public Safety Meeting Minutes from the former meeting were approved. CHIEF CRIMINAL DEPUTY TOM MOLITAR - SKAGIT COUNTY INTERLOCAL DRUG ENFORCEMENT UNIT (SCIDEU)  SCIDEU Mission Statement targets mid to upper level drug trafficking organizations and assists local communities as well  SCIDEU governed by Executive Board  Mount Vernon is hub for drug trafficking on I-5 corridor  Heroin is everywhere  MVPD officer assigned to SCIDEU is “great” officer JERRY DODD – CHIEF OF POLICE  Years ago, SCIDEU was funded by Department of Justice o Over time, funding has been less and less o Soon will receive no federal funding DOG KENNEL UPDATE  Special thanks to Dean Gilbert who is the lead on this project  Weather has caused delays  Need to add doors to prevent kennels from getting wet when raining PERSONNEL UPDATE  Provided information/statistics o Average age of officers is 35  Very young Department o Average years of service is o Staffing levels – 45 commissioned officers  No change in number of officers in 11 years  A lot of community changes PUBLIC SAFETY MEETING MARCH 2, 2016 PAGE 1 OF 4   More calls for service  Increased population  Gang activity  Neighborhood issues o Hiring timelines for last 11 employees  13.98 months from oral board to solo status  Two commissioned officers left/are leaving MVPD  Officer Brandon Young to be promoted to Sergeant  Sergeant Mikel Moore promoted to Lieutenant mid-year  Officer Tyler Clark graduating from BLEA next Wednesday  Officer John Flaherty to graduate from BLEA 06/21/16  Officer Ed Gless to graduate from BLEA 06/09/16  Additional candidate has been given conditional offer of employment and will be hired in May  Will continue hiring, promotion, and selection process  Currently down five officers o Three vacancies o Two out on disability  Working with homeless MAYOR JILL BOUDREAU  Mayor Boudreau, Chief Dodd, and others visited Everett to specifically learn about their Law Enforcement Embedded Social Worker Project (LEESW)  Discussed this “dynamic model,” “revolutionary project”  Homelessness in Mount Vernon has increased dramatically o Currently, police officers are attempting to do social service work with homeless  Also researching Bellingham model, which does not have law enforcement piece  County is willing to advocate for position through .01 health funding  Will bring ideas before City Council when fully prepared o Will have more programs available  Police officers combine with licensed social worker o Nothing less than Masters in social work for this position 2015 PRELIMINARY SERVICE NUMBERS  Provided 2015 crime numbers/statistics  Provided calls for service information  MVPD has 48 outstanding volunteers o Provided 4,417 hours of service in 2015  Defined neighborhood successes o Addressed 82 neighborhood issues  52 were resolved  22 were reduced in frequency  8 are on-going  Discussed use of force o Policy updated regularly PUBLIC SAFETY MEETING MARCH 2, 2016 PAGE 2 OF 4  o Three tier process o Comprehensive analysis of outcome o Constitution standard o MVPD reviews and tracks all incidents where force is used o Provided various statics regarding use of force in 2015  Provided “road map” on MVPD moving forward including upcoming challenges SOUTH 27TH STREET UPDATE  Provided handouts to Mayor and Council Members  Discussed strategies  Used Citywide approach - Problem Elimination Team  Great success and everyone’s work is appreciated MISCELLANEOUS  New radar trailer  Awarded Traffic Safety Grant  22nd Citizens Academy  14th Preparatory Academy  Provided information on S. 25th Street Block Watch Captain’s Concerns o Department/City continues to address concerns o Mayor Boudreau discussed City property/park issue  Change fund increase request ROY HARI - FIRE CHIEF  Supports homeless plans  Burlington Fire Interlocal Agreement discussion o Automatic Aid Agreement o Increase response ability for Burlington and Mount Vernon o Will bring before Council next week  KEVIN ROGERSON – CITY ATTORNEY o Provided Mayor and Council with documents regarding fireworks, drought, restrictions, emergency ban, RCWs, House Bills, etc. o Proposed RCW that heavily regulates fireworks discharge o State law allows local jurisdictions to adopt further restrictions o Emergency ban on fireworks due to drought  City Attorney Rogerson to research language for emergency ban under specific conditions. MAYOR BOUDREAU wanted Council to be aware of the following  AWC update going on in legislature o Budget negotiations for nine days o Eliminated funding to MRSC o Eliminated fire insurance premium tax shared with City of Mount Vernon  $35,000 hit to City of Mount Vernon o Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA) used to be fully paid by State PUBLIC SAFETY MEETING MARCH 2, 2016 PAGE 3 OF 4   Want to eliminate any funding  Significant hit to City budget  $12,000 per officer o Looking to merge LEOFF 1 Retirement system with Teachers retirement system  Cities have funded LEOFF 1 system; why merge? o AWC has written a letter submitted to legislatures o Mayor Boudreau considering writing letter to our legislators and asked Council Members to consider doing same o Housing authority putting in application for funding of 75 unit housing project  Have asked City if they’d be interested in signing on as supportive  Council is supportive Meeting adjourned at 8:33 PM. 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