Public Safety Committee

Public Safety Committee Meeting Agenda Tuesday, July 16, 2024 at 2:00 PM Council Chambers Page 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL 3. ADOPTION OF AGENDA 4. PUBLIC COMMENT 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Minutes from April 23, 2024 2-3 Public Safety Committee - 23 Apr 2024 - Minutes 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Election of Chair and Vice Chair b. Downtown Parking Hour Restrictions 4 Memo: Downtown Parking Hours c. Golf Carts 5 Memo: Golf Carts d. Glock Firearms 6 Memo: Glock Firearms e. Axon – Taser Opportunity 7 Memo: Axon – Taser Opportunity f. County Emergency Response Team 8 Memo: County Emergency Response Team 7. COMMUNICATION AND MISCELLANEOUS 8. ADJOURNMENT  Public Safety Committee Meeting Minutes 2:00 PM - Tuesday, April 23, 2024 Council Chambers The Public Safety Committee of the City of New Richmond was called to order on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at 2:00 PM, in the Council Chambers, with the following members present: PRESENT: Ron Volkert, Thomas Weinmeyer, Shawn Demulling, Greg Gartner ABSENT: Bill O'Connell OTHERS Craig Yehlik, Noah Wiedenfeld, Sarah Reese, Bailey Mitchell PRESENT: CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA Greg Gartner made a motion to adopt the agenda. Shawn Demulling seconded the motion. Carried unanimously. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Shawn Demulling made a motion to approve the minutes from the February 20, 2024 meeting. Greg Gartner seconded the motion. Carried unanimously. NEW BUSINESS OUTSIDE EMPLOYMENT POLICY Sarah Reese and Noah Wiedenfeld presented a policy for the New Richmond Fire Department regarding outside employment. It was discussed that staff employed by City of New Richmond's Fire Department, must receive approval from the City Administrator and Fire Chief before accepting an additional job that in any way could interfere with the ability to do his/her job, or creates a conflict of interest. Ultimately, this would be more precise on what is and is not allowed. Greg Gartner made a motion to approve the policy. Ron Volkert seconded the motion. 3-1 (opposed: Shawn Demulling). Public Safety Committee Meeting April 23, 2024 FLOCK CAMERA SYSTEM Chief Yehlik presented more information regarding Flock Safety, what it would look like in the City of New Richmond, and the cost. New Richmond Police Department's Investigative Team, Chief and Deputy Chief met with a Flock representative and discussed initial installation cost, annual fee, different types of Flock Cameras, and what locations would best serve the City of New Richmond. Its abundance of benefits were also discussed. The Public Safety Committee is extremely supportive of the Flock Safety System and what it will contribute to the city. The Committee is eager to move forward expeditiously to see the benefits Flock Safety can bring to local Law Enforcement and New Richmond as a whole. ON STREET COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE PARKING (NRMC 82-96) Discussion of making changes to City Ordinance 82-96, On Street Commercial Motor Vehicle Parking, was brought to the committee. It was requested to expand the parameters of such ordinance to increase the vehicle weight from 16,000 pounds to 20,000 pounds, increase the height limit from 8 feet to 13 feet and 6 inches, and increase the allowed parking time from 2 hours to 10 hours. The committee agreed that with the Park & Ride just north of town, possible excessive noise, weather, and other factors, it would be best to keep the ordinance as is. No change was made. POLICY UPDATES Chief Yehlik and the committee reviewed Lexipol's recommended policy changes for New Richmond Police Department Policy manual. Policy 300-Use of Force, 308-Vehicle Pursuits, 323-Report Preparation, 338-Native American Grave Protection, 701-Personal Communication Devices, and 900- Custodial Searches (Chief, Deputy Chief, or Sergeant approval) were all approved for recommended changes/updates. Chief Yehlik is going further look into 1025-Wellness Program, and present it to the committee when finished. Greg Gartner made a motion to approve Policy Updates. Ron Volkert seconded the motion. Carried unanimously. COMMUNICATION AND MISCELLANEOUS Chief Yehlik shared that K9 Koda and Officer Behnke will be graduating from K9 school in May. Also, Ryan Hvinden graduating from the Police Academy in May and will begin the training with New Richmond PD's Field Training Officers. Two additional patrol positions have been filled as well. Soon the Department will have 22 Sworn Officers. ADJOURNMENT Thomas Weinmeyer made a motion to adjourn at 3:33 pm. Shawn Demulling seconded the motion. Carried unanimously. Public Safety Committee Meeting April 23, 2024  MEMO Prepared for: Public Safety Committee Staff Contact: Noah Wiedenfeld Meeting: Public Safety Committee - 16 Jul 2024 Subject: Downtown Parking Hour Restrictions BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Currently, there is no on-street parking along Knowles Avenue in the downtown between the hours of 2-6 a.m. There is also no parking in the public parking lots by the Civic Center or behind Wild Badger during those hours. It appears the existing parking hour restrictions have been in place since at least 2007. On-premise establishments can operate until 2:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. A request was recently made by the downtown business group to adjust the no parking hours in the downtown from 2-6 a.m. to instead be 3-6 a.m. so as not to interfere with business hours and to ensure that customers and employees would not be subject to a parking citation if their vehicle is in the parking lot or on Knowles Avenue at closing time. This item has not yet been discussed by the Public Works Committee, but in discussing this idea briefly with Public Works staff, there were concerns expressed about the impact this change would have as it relates to snow removal. Currently, a typical snow removal operation in the downtown begins at midnight. Snow is removed off curbs and sidewalks into windrows on Knowles Avenue and the surrounding side streets. The snow blower and trucks then begin hauling snow away at 2 a.m. Traffic volumes pick up downtown beginning around 4 a.m. so staff prefer to get as much snow hauled away as possible between the hours of 2-4 a.m. There is a concern that allowing vehicles to park on Knowles Avenue and the public parking lots until 3 a.m. will make it more challenging to remove snow before traffic begins to increase, and that in order to accelerate efforts in a more condensed timeframe, the City may need to contract out for more trucks to haul snow. If the Public Safety Committee and Public Works Committee are supportive of this change, staff would propose revisions to the local ordinances for City Council consideration. Signage would also need to be updated to reflect the new hours.  MEMO Prepared for: Public Safety Committee Staff Contact: Craig Yehlik Meeting: Public Safety Committee - 17 May 2024 Subject: Golf Carts BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The City of New Richmond created a golf cart ordinance. Members of the Public Safety Committee have asked to have this back on the agenda to review and potentially make changes. RECOMMENDATION: Have a discussion to see if there should be consideration to change ordinance 82 Art IX.  MEMO Prepared for: Public Safety Committee Staff Contact: Craig Yehlik Meeting: Public Safety Committee - 17 May 2024 Subject: Glock Firearms BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The New Richmond Police Department transitioned to Glock 17, Gen 5 firearms approximately 6 years ago. The Glock 17 is phasing out and the new model is a Glock 47 that is equipped with a cut out for the (MRDS Mini red dot sight). With the added positons we do not have any spare firearms at the Police Department. Staff would like to order some spare handguns for the police department. With the phase out and the likelihood of transitioning to the Glock 47 when the other firearms reach end of life it would make sense to order the Glock 47’s now. Any firearms purchased utilizing or general firearms budget. No additional funding would be required. RECOMMENDATION: Authorizing staff to order the Glock 47 now for replacement and spare firearms as needed with the intention of switching to that platform when the current Gen 5’s reach end of life in 3 to 5 years.  MEMO Prepared for: Public Safety Committee Staff Contact: Craig Yehlik Meeting: Public Safety Committee - 16 Jul 2024 Subject: Axon – Taser Opportunity BACKGROUND INFORMATION: New Richmond Police Department has been utilizing Axon Taser products for many years. Like any electric device that is carried in the elements 24/7, spark tested at the beginning of each shift and is exposed to various weather, there is a life expectancy of about 5 years on these products. The New Richmond Police Department carried the X-26 for many years, we then upgraded to the X2 which is no longer supported by Axon. They have introduced the X7 in the meantime and many agencies that have the X7 are already upgrading to the newest product, the X10. NRPD had received a quote for $60,174.40 from Axon to upgrade our Five X2 Tasers to eight X10 to meet our growing staff. In June we received a promotional opportunity to save the city money if we were to order the X10’s this year, take deliver in October of 2024 and only make a small payment out of this year operational budget of $4,462.20. We would then have to pay over the remaining 4 years $12,828.25 per year, which would save us $4,396.80 over the original quote. Unfortunately the time frame to take advantage of the promotion has past but in meeting with our new Taser Rep she agreed to hold it open to discuss this opportunity with the Public Safety Committee and full council if agreed to explore the option. RECOMMENDATION: Have the PD explore if the 2024 budget can absorb the initial down payment and then add the other payments to the less lethal line item budget for the life of the contract. If Feasible and Finance agrees it makes sense then bring to full council in August.  MEMO Prepared for: Public Safety Committee Staff Contact: Craig Yehlik Meeting: Public Safety Committee - 16 Jul 2024 Subject: County Emergency Response Team BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The sheriff’s Department has maintained an Emergency Response Team for St. Croix County. The Sheriff’s Department is considering and researching the idea of having municipal officers join the ERU team in some capacities. For instance New Richmond Police Department was asked to participate approximately 5 years ago to have a representative on the negotiations team. Officer Mike Crubaugh has been in that capacity for many years. Due to staffing issues and increased opportunities such as MRAP operators, drone pilots, k-9 handlers and other specialized positions the SO is having difficulty in having enough personnel for large or extended call outs. They are wondering if municipalities would consider allowing some staff members begin training with the ERU in specialized positions. There would be some costs to the municipality for specialized equipment. RECOMMENDATION: Exploring this opportunity may help with recruitment for our agency. We have had employees leave our agency as there is more opportunity for specialized training and tactical response at the County level. Giving some of our staff the opportunity may benefit the community and internal knowledge and gain specific training in tactical response. Any mutual aid agreement would come back to Public Safety and to legal for review. Currently they are looking if municipalities would even support this concept.