City Council Committee Agendas

CITY OF MOUNT VERNON PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES July 6, 2022 6:00 p.m. (Police Court Campus) Attendees Council Members Mary Hudson, Mark Hulst, Melissa Beaton, Richard Brocksmith, Iris Carias and Juan Morales, Gary Molenaar Staff: Mayor Jill Boudreau, Peter Donovan, Doug Volesky, Bryan Brice, Chris Cammock, Bryan Harris, Mike Moore, David Shackleton, Kevin Rogerson, Christine Love Johnson Invited Speakers: Helen Rasmussen, David Trageser, Cynthia Weed Activities Councilmember Morales requested a correction to the minutes from the June 1, 2022 Public Safety Committee meeting as Councilmember Carias was not listed as an attendee. Councilmember Hudson moved to approve the minutes from the June 1, 2022, Public Safety Meeting with corrections, motion seconded by Councilmember Beaton. Minutes adopted with corrections. Fire Station Bond – Doug Volesky Cynthia Weed from K&L Gates (City’s Bond Council) presented a brief overview of the bond process to Council. • The ordinance is a “delegation or parameters ordinance” which authorizes staff to proceed with the purchase of the bond. It is the only item needed to issue a bond. • The ordinance will authorize the specific projects and the bond itself. It will be sold in two series: taxable and non-taxable, not to exceed $12.5 million. • The ordinance does not allow the city to sell more bonds than necessary to fund the project specified. • 90% of the ordinance is a boiler-plate template that is required by the Federal and Securities laws. The most meaningful paragraph is in section10, the pledge and promise to repay the bonds with interest. • New to the bonds process (since 2009) is section 13, a requirement to post financial information on a securities website (EMMA) on an annual basis.  • The ordinance is scheduled to go before Council on July 13th, and will go in effect five days later. The actual sale of the bonds will occur at the offices of D.A. Davidson. Next Steps, July 13th the bond ordinance will come before council and on September 13th the bond will close. City Attorney Rogerson confirmed that the process does not require any special public hearings or publications. Cynthia Weed confirmed that it is not required, but the city can choose to do so. Apparatus Update – Bryan Brice Chief Brice updated Council on the replacement purchase of the ladder truck. The total purchase price of the new ladder is $1.5 million, and the payment options outlined by the vendor were: • Payment in full upfront. Under this option the vendor would provide a discount of approximately $42K for payment in full. • Recommended payment structure is 20% upfront, 40% at the mid-point, and the full balance upon receipt. This recommendation from staff will be brought forward to Council on July 13th. Funding for the new ladder truck will come from the ERR fund, which has also been used to pay some of the upfront costs to the Fire Station remodels. Councilmember Brocksmith wants to consider the more economically savvy way to service the citizens, and a $42K discount may be that method. Councilmember Hulst is concerned that the buying power leverage is lost if the city would pay upfront for the ladder. It was confirmed that no discount is available if payment is not received in full upon ordering. Skagit 911 Interlocal / Sales Tax Initiative – Bryan Brice 911 Director, Helen Rasmussen, presented to council information on the pending Skagit 911 interlocal agreement and sales tax initiative. The Skagit 911 center is the starting point of the 911 system in Skagit County for Police, Fire and EMS. The center is funded by user agency fees, taxes on telephone lines (landlines) and 1/10 of 1% sales tax. The last increase in the 1/10 or 1% tax was in 2009, and the population of Skagit County has grown 26%. Cyber Security issues, much needed updates to equipment and space for additional staff are on the forefront of the 911 center needs. Currently there is no backup center, and the 911 Center is a single point of failure in the system. In the event of a disaster, staff and phones can be sent to Island County, but the delay will be substantial. The current 911 CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system is owned by the Sherriff’s office (SPILLMAN) and does not work well for Fire and EMS. Moving forward, the 911 Center, with the support of all interested parties, would like to move ownership to the 911 center. The 911 Center is looking to update the interlocal agreement prior to asking the Board of Directors for a funding increase. The interlocal agreement is in need of some work, and not all cities are onboard (Burlington is currently against the tax increase), but over the last few years a good depth of understanding and joint partnership has been developed between the 911 Center and the Cities and Fire Districts. There are two technical advisory groups which hold monthly meetings, and all items go before the technical groups prior to the Board of Directors, making sure there is buy-in along the way. The 911 Center cannot move forward with the sales tax initiative without 100% agreement from all stakeholders. July 4th Update – Joint Police & Fire The Fire Department extended their educational reach this year with a joint Police/Fire PSA. This was a quiet July 4th, partially due to the recent rain. The Fire Department ran 21 calls, 17 EMS related. There were three small fires started by Fireworks; two trash-can fires and one brush fire. The Police Department responded to 93 incidents on the 4th, 44 of which were related to fireworks. This is a decrease of 28% over 2021. Additional staff was added for the 4th, but due to extenuating circumstances (three weapons offenses), staff was pulled to cover high priority calls during that time. Only one ticket was issued leading up to the 4th and two custodial arrests were made on the 4th. Good of the Order • Chief Cammock reported that an agreement was reached with ESO and he will bring it to council next week. • Lt. Moore provided a presentation on a joint vehicle for Police and Fire. The City has a healthy fund balance and Councilmember Hulst would like to look at using fund balance for this one-time purchase in the coming weeks. Action Items for upcoming meetings • Nothing moving forward. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 7:12 pm. The next meeting is scheduled for August 3rd at 6:00 pm