Public Safety Oversight Committee

CITY OF NORMAN, OK PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE Development Center, Room B, 225 N. Webster, Norman, OK 73069 Thursday, July 13, 2023 at 4:00 PM MINUTES It is the policy of the City of Norman that no person or groups of persons shall on the grounds of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, place of birth, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, familial status, marital status, including marriage to a person of the same sex, disability, retaliation, or genetic information, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise subjected to discrimination in employment activities or in all programs, services, or activities administered by the City, its recipients, sub-recipients, and contractors. In the event of any comments, complaints, modifications, accommodations, alternative formats, and auxiliary aids and services regarding accessibility or inclusion, please contact the ADA Technician at 405-366-5424, Relay Service: 711. To better serve you, five (5) business days' advance notice is preferred. ROLL CALL PRESENT Chairman Linda Price Committee member Kyle Hurley Committee member Mark Emerson Committee member Ann Gallagher ABSENT Committee member Gregory Gilkey Committee member Kenny Orr Committee member Lea Greenleaf Committee member Mike Rainer Committee member Russell Rice OTHERS Major Brent Barbour, NPD Captain Gary Hopcus, NPD Russell Anderson, Communication Systems Manager Kim Coffman, Budget Manager Dannielle Risenhoover, Admin. Tech IV Bill Scanlon, Citizen MINUTES 1. Consideration of approval, rejection, amendment and/or postponement of minutes from June 8, 2023 Consideration of approval, rejection, or amendment of the June 8, 2023 minutes was postponed due to the lack of a quorum. PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE - Thursday, July 13, 2023 Page |1 REPORTS 2. Consideration of approval, rejection, amendment and/or postponement of Finance Reports Kim Coffman gave the report. We were about 1% below the total revenue budget at the end of June and that’s because sales tax was about 3% below the budget target. Coffman stated, “I think that’s because we were a little too optimistic when we did our projections for this year. We had extra revenue from investments, but it just didn’t completely fill that gap. Expenditure wise, for the whole fund, we’re about 36% below the total budget because of capital projects. We have a large budget for the Emergency Communications Operations Center (ECOC) that hasn’t been spent.” About $1,000,000 for the fire apparatus has not been spent as well. DISCUSSION ITEMS 3. Monthly Updates - Fire Department Chair Linda Price relayed the Fire Department update on behalf of Chief Travis King. Council approved the purchase of a mid-mount aerial ladder. This apparatus is in the process of being ordered. It is believed that this purchase of the mid-mount aerial ladder will fulfill the apparatus replacement program. The Fire Department is hoping to start a small academy later this year. Qualified candidates from the last hiring process will be approached for hire and King hopes to have recruits on shift by the end of the year. Member Hurley suggested that it be on everyone’s radar that the Fire Department’s budget request for new documentation software was denied. Hurley states, “I would love to see this group support the Fire Department in pursuing that (the purchase of adequate documentation software). 4. Relocation of Fire Station 5 - Committee Discussion No discussion. 5. Monthly Updates - Police and Dispatch Captain Gary Hopcus gave the update. The Norman Police Department (NPD) is down 28 fully commissioned officers. Sixteen cadets are in training. An August police academy will include two cadets and Hopcus is hoping that the January 2024 academy will produce 12-15 officers. Chair Price asked about the recent Oklahoma State Legislative move that provides schools with School Resource Officer (SRO) funding. Major Brent Barbour confirmed that schools are receiving SRO funding, “but it will not pay for an SRO program.” It is expected that each school district will receive approximately $5,000 to $6,000. Barbour stated that these funds “will probably help the really, really small districts – rural areas, more than it will your urban areas”. Norman Public Schools currently pays approximately $700,000/year for their portion of the total SRO costs. “A brand new officer costs (City of Norman) about $118,000 - $120,000 by the time we get them on board, train them, pay their benefits and insurance,” Barbour said. Several NPD events were discussed. The Junior Police Academy concluded on June 16, 2023. Captain Hopcus stated, “It was a successful event. A pretty large group of kids went through this. The officers did a really good job keeping the kids involved and teaching them life skills.” Safety Town concluded on June 30 and the Police Athletic League should conclude on July 21. PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE - Thursday, July 13, 2023 Page |2 Upcoming events that NPD is preparing for include: ● Opening day for Norman Public Schools on August 17 - SRO’s will be in place several days prior to August 17 to provide security. ● Public Safety Softball Game on September 10 - This is a charity event will take place at Reaves Park and will benefit the Mary Abbott House. The Mary Abbott House provides resources to abused children. ● University of Oklahoma football season ● National Night Out on October 2 – Norman Police officers will host their National Night Out events in the SE parking lot at Sooner Mall. Multiple vendors and emergency vehicles will be on site. Major Hopcus reported three fatality accidents within the last month. Hopcus stated that speed was a major factor in the fatality accidents. Distractions while driving and unrestrained occupants have also contributed to these fatalities. Another major incident reported was a suspicious package call. Major Barbour stated, “The equipment that was purchased last fall was a significant game changer on this thing. The ability to have robots and tools and have them work the first time, is truly remarkable and made what could have been a really bad situation into a really safe thing for everybody. Great assets and equipment paid off.” Major Hopcus also pointed out how NPD drone equipment has helped find missing children who were on the verge of getting injured. Russell Anderson gave the Dispatch update. To provide greater interoperability during mutual aid responses, City of Norman Dispatch received approval to merge City of Moore onto their emergency radio system. A contract for this merger has been sent to City of Moore for review and approval. Three Communications Officer I employees have been promoted to Communication Officer III’s. These promotions have led to a decrease in overtime pay. The mobile command post is down due to a planned technology refresh. Anderson stated that he will be meeting with the University of Oklahoma (OU) about “bringing them onto our CAD system”. Anderson states, “If they (OU) take a fire call or medical call on campus, they don’t have to transfer it to us; they can actually enter the call into our CAD and we can dispatch it. Where that really benefits us is on football game days. On game days I send two dispatchers down to their command post – one supervisor and one dispatcher and we handle all of the fire and EMS dispatching for the stadium.” Anderson is hopeful that this transition will take place by January 1, 2024. Communications Supervisor Andrea Lewis has been moved to a technology and recruiting roll. Anderson stated that 911 fees for cell phone and voice over IP phones have doubled. “That’s enough to get us 12 to 15 dispatchers. We’re going to try to leverage that revenue source,” Anderson said. 6. Monthly Updates - Emergency Communications Operations Center (ECOC) Project PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE - Thursday, July 13, 2023 Page |3 Major Brent Barbour gave the report. Eighteen police vehicles were purchased utilizing seizure funds. This helped allow for the replacement of more fleet vehicles using the General Fund. There are six Bomb Squad teams in the state. It costs approximately $10,000/year to certify a new Bomb Technician. Receiving Bomb Technician training is a highly technical process that involves several approvals through the federal government. Barbour expects that the City will have a new Bomb Technician trained every year, for the next five years. Funding has been approved for 15 in-car cameras. These cameras will likely be placed in Norman Police Department fleet vehicles because those are the most used. Funding has been approved for a TruNarc Analyzer. This device is a portable mystery powder analyzer that helps officers identify these elements at the scene. Barbour stated, “Rather than waiting on the Bomb Squad, the hazardous devices folks, and the National Guard to come in and tell you what it is, you can put a small sample of it on the device immediately, and it will tell you, on the street, what it is.” The Emergency Communications Operations Center (ECOC) foundation will be poured as of July 14 and the building walls are expected to be constructed by August. The five stall, equipment and vehicle storage facility, scheduled and designed as part of the ECOC, is still unfunded. This facility has been designed to house the Command Post which currently sits outside, and is more expensive than the specked $805,000 storage facility. Barbour stated that contractors have been very clear that it will be cheaper to build the storage facility while they are already on site, building the ECOC. Barbour stated, “I ask that you all would consider that. I know that you making those types of suggestions to the Manager helps him a lot in his effort towards the council and some of those discussions.” Chair Price requested that exploring funding for the equipment and vehicle storage facility be added to the next meeting agenda. 7. Establish Topics for the August 10, 2023 Meeting Chair Price requested that exploring funding for the equipment and vehicle storage facility be added to the next meeting agenda. The discussion of relocating Fire Station 5 will be added to the next meeting agenda as there was not a quorum for the July 13, 2023 meeting. MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS There was not a quorum for the July 13, 2023 meeting. No votes were taken. ADJOURNMENT PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE - Thursday, July 13, 2023 Page |4