City Council Committee Agendas

Mount Vernon Fire Department Public Safety Meeting September 7, 2016 Minutes Approval of the Minutes Commissioner Fiedler made a motion to accept the minutes as submitted. Motion was seconded by Commission Molenaar. Motion passed. FIRE  Chief Brice’s Department Overview o The term “Fire Department” is outdated term. Today’s department is an All Risk Department. Today’s department is much more than just fighting fire. Today the Fire Department includes firefighting, Emergency Medical (EMT & Paramedic), automobile accidents, Hazmat Incidents, Search and Rescue, and Community Paramedicine. o What does your Fire Department? Fire Suppressions, Training, Inspections and Public Education, Disaster Preparedness, and Community Outreach. o What does a Firefighter do all day? Daily Routine Checks, Administrative Tasks, Inspections or Training, Meals, run emergency calls throughout the day. o Current Look – Looking at the trends of calls over the last few years, there is a steady increase in the 9-1-1- calls over all categories. o Response Times: Fire Response times are working to minimize the potential of “flash over”. In EMS response times we are talking about time to minimize the potential of “death to tissue”. Response times are calculated in the 90 th percentile. The response times are from the contact of the call at the station to the time they respond at the scene. o Fire Prevention and Education – Numbers are increasing based on the change in strategy on how to educate the public – one example is attending large events such as the Skagit County Fair.  EMS Update o Committees meeting to discuss governess and operations models. Currently looking at the EMS District.  Upcoming Year o Set department priorities and create a strategic plan. o Mentoring and developing personnel. o Collaborating with neighboring agencies. o Find efficiencies.  Questions???  o WSRB (Dale) – Training was a large deduction from the WSRB – is out training inline? Training is a record keeping item and we can definitely improve it. Waterlines are a bigger concern than training. o WSRB (Molenaar) Does sharing resources hurt or help our rating? o Tegris (Dale) – Tegris was not discussed with Council and citizens are receiving a $25 charge with every inspection. Dale would like a comprehensive understanding of the program and how we got to where we are at. Chief Brice will bring a presentation on Tegris to the next Public Safety meeting. o Deployment Model (Fiedler) would like to see a continuation and discussions on the items identified in the Deployment Model Study. FINANCE  In 2005 the sewer connection fee was not charged to South Mount Vernon residents involved in the annexation. The waiving of this fee has been extended five times for 24 month periods.  Alicia to bring forward statistics on how many residents this would effect.  Alicia to write an ordinance for a permanent exception for the sewer connection fee for this set of residence. CED  Upcoming contracts for Economic Development o Subarea plan for Alf Christiansen – selected Makers and working with ECO NW out of Seattle.  Proposed contract will be available at the end of September. $10,000 of work to be completed in 2016; $75,000 to be completed in 2017 – total projection $85,000 o Public Private Consultant – Collins Woerman out of Seattle  $10,000 of work to be completed in 2016; $65,000 in 2017; not to exceed $65,000 in 2017. This could be a long term contract with the City. Specifically for the waterfront project. We will receive:  Market Assessment  Listening Sessions  Planning meeting with the Planning Commission  Propose three catalyst projects in combination with City funding and private funding. These projects will fit into the current Master Plan.  Feasibility study of the highest catalyst project  Development strategy for project.   Library brings concerns for Commissioner Regan. He would like to see the focus placed on increasing sales taxes and property value. The Library doesn’t bring in revenues.  Commissioner Fielder sees Fire Station 1 and the Library as part of the bigger discussion.  Used car lots in Private Property o Ken Lee is working with the property owner on Seneca to resolve the issue. o The area identified on LaVenture is actually working on the cars and is working with Ken to develop a plan. o Commissioner Regan doesn’t recall an ordinance on how many cars you can have in your backyard. Meeting was adjourned at 7:05 pm