Public Safety Oversight Committee

CITY OF NORMAN, OK PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE Development Center, Room B, 225 N. Webster, Norman, OK 73069 Thursday, August 10, 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 express;on, 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 Committee member Kenny Orr Committee member Lea Greenleaf Committee member Russell Rice ABSENT Committee member Gregory Gilkey Committee member Mike Rainer OTHERS Major Brent Barbour, NPD Major Chad Vincent, NPD Chief Travis King, NFD Russell Anderson, Communication Systems Manager Kim Coffman, Budget Manager Jacob Huckabee, Budget Technician Dannielle Risenhoover, Admin. Tech IV Bill Scanlon, Citizen Chair Price called the meeting to order at approximately 4:00 PM. She welcomed staff and guests to the meeting. PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE - Thursday, August 10, 2023 Page 11 MINUTES 1. Consideration of Approval, Rejection, Amendment and/or Postponement of Minutes from June 8, 2023 Member Rice made a motion to approve the June 8, 2023 Citizen Public Safety Oversight Committee minutes which was duly seconded by Member Greenleaf. The motion passed unanimously. Items submitted for the record: Citizens Public Safety Oversight Committee Minutes from June 8, 2023 REPORTS 2. Consideration of Approval, Rejection, Amendment and/or Postponement of Financial Reports Jacob Huckabee gave the report. "If you look at the revenue side of things, compared to last year in July, year-to-date, we're doing pretty good, still up from last year," Huckabee said. "On the expenditure slde, everything is pretty standard with salaries and benefits." Huckabee highlighted significant supply purchases as being ammunition and fire arms for the Police Department and the new ladder truck and staff vehicle for the Fire Department. Member Greenleaf commented that this is the 4th large ammunition and firearms purchase he has seen in the last year. He questioned where the Police Department is getting their supplies and how much they "are stocking up". Major Brent Barbour replied, "It's not a matter of stocking up, it's a matter of making an order. When we have to order them, they're about 18 to three months to two years out on some of those orders. There's several things that can fall under that (the supply expenditures). Ammunition, of course, is the big bulk of that. Ammunition has sky-rocketed in cost and part of that (expenditure purchase) is annual firearms purchases. There can be a variety of things that pop into that (supply expenditures category). We do not have a big arsenal or spare grouping of weapons." Member Greenleaf said that if Norman Police Department isn't tied to a purchasing contract that he could find the department better rates. Barbour said that he would make the appropriate individual aware of that. Items submitted for the record: Finance and Budget Reports DISCUSSION ITEMS 3. Monthly Updates - Fire Department Fire Chief Travis King gave the report. He confirmed that the order for the mid-mount aerial ladder truck has been placed and the pre-build meeting for this truck will occur after January 1, 2024. King thinks that this ladder truck could possibly arrive in spring of 2025. Nonnan Fire Department has two fire engines currently being built. King expects one of these engines to be close to being "in service" before Thanksgiving of 2023 and to have the pre-build on the second engine completed in October 2023. Norman Fire Department is anticipating four to five candidates in their next fire academy. King is hoping to start this academy in late September 2023. PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE - Thursday, August 10, 2023 Page 12 Member Hurley showed concern for future water shortages in Norman. He asked King if he collaborates with the water treatment plant on pump pressure and the drilling of water wells or if addressing predicted water shortage and supply issues falls just on the water treatment plant. King stated, "As far as water pressures go, we leave that up to them strategically. When you're talking new hydrants, those go up for review and we are a part of that process. Obviously we are big supporters of a solid water system. We haven't experienced any issues up to this point. They'll have lines that bust or lines that have issues and we get notified of that and we'll put it into our call notes and we'll bring our own water for those things. They do a great job communicating with us. At this point, I haven't seen something that says, 'O'my gosh, we're in trouble'. Certainly I trust Chris (Mattingly); he does do an outstanding job and if he's saying we're going to have trouble if we don't get something going, then I believe him. Thankfully that rate increase passed and they'll be able to devote some of those funds to upgrading the systems." 4. Relocation of Fire Station 5 - Committee Discussion Chief King stated, "There will be a public safety study that happens, hopef_ully, late summer or early fall. We will rely on what that firm tells us. We would hope they will work with Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) and get some more definitive answers to where the highway is going to be, how we're going to be impacted, where those overpasses are, all of that stuff, and then we can make a better determination on where station five should be located. As you know, that was passed in public safety sales tax version two back in 2015. · We've been looking at the Clear Bay area. We think that area would be good based on what we face today out there, but that might change now with this study. We're still on the time frame from 2025 to 2028 before the fund itself is able to address that properly." 5. Monthly Updates - Emergency Communications Operations Center (ECOC) Project Major Brent Barbour gave the update. Barbour stated that most of the Emergency Communications Operations Center walls are framed out and in the next two to three months there will be a full functioning building. He said, "Everything is coming along fine. I can't say enough about the people making it happen." Barbour encouraged the Committee to go out and view the construction and Chair Price encouraged it as well. "You really should go," Price said. "I was very impressed because you can go to a site and it's just trashed and it gives you a pretty good clue as to the quality of the work going on. This place is spotless. There's not trash anywhere, it's very well organized, the people on site were very happy to talk to us and explain anything we needed to know, and all of the work that I could see was just meticulously done; so, it was really exciting to see. Not only is it finally happening, but it's being done well." 6. Explore Funding for ECOC Equipment and Vehicle Storage Facility - Committee Discussion Major Barbour gave the presentation. He stated that in the 2017 construction plan for the ECOC, the plan included a vehicle storage building. This facility was removed during a value engineering process in 2019 and returned during the final design when funding for the full scope of the project was provided in 2020. The vehicle storage facility is fully designed and was included as an alternative option in the construction guaranteed maximum price (GMP) bidding process completed earlier this year. Due to significant construction price increases in 2022, this alternate was not able to be funded with currently available resources. Barbour stated that the proposed approximately 3,300 square foot facility will allow for the safe and secured storage of the City of Norman Emergency Services Command Post, Emergency PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE - Thursday, August 10, 2023 Page 13 Management trailers and mass care equipment, and City outdoor warning system parts and materials. Total assessment of these items today is approximately $932,000. No alternative facility is currently available. These City resources, which are maintained by both the Nonnan Fire and Police Departments, are relied upon for use, by the city as a whole, to provide services and resources to Norman residents in critical times of need. Member Greenleaf asked Kim Coffman, "Do you think we have the funds available if the Committee sent a letter (to Council) to help with that (funding the Vehicle Storage Facility)?" Coffman replied, "It would always help. The Council always appreciates your input and expertise in the subject. It's not going to make money appear, but it will always help." The current, estimated cost to build this facility is $875,000. If funded in September 2023, the expected completion date of the facility would by July 2024. Russell Anderson, Communications Systems Manager added that the equipment housed in this facility touches all facets of emergency services, "This is a multi-disciplined mobile command post so we roll out to police and fire scenes and then the trailers are Fire Department and Red Cross trailers." Member Greenleaf motioned that the Public Safety Oversight Committee send a letter to Norman City Council to request $875,000 in funding for the vehicle and equipment storage facility to be built during construction of the new ECOC. This motion was duly seconded by Member Gallagher. The motion passed with a vote of 6 to 1 with Member Rice opposing. 7. Establish Topics for the September 10, 2023 Meeting MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS Major Vincent stated that they have 170 commissioned officers. Some of these officers are still in training. The department intends to be fully staffed with 180 officers by January 2024 with the start of a new academy. These cadets should be fully deployable in late fall. School Resource Officers finished a very active summer and are prepared for another school year. General police activity has involved a lot of detective work and fatality collisions. "Every unit from the Police Department is certainly operating at full speed," stated Vincent. Vincent is helping lead the Public Safety Resource Study that is responsible for selecting a firm that will evaluate the City and put together a long-term, strategic plan that "provides a roadmap to where we want to go as a city". "It's a pretty cool public safety concept and I expect good things to come out of that," states Vincent. "I expect, once we get them moving, it's probably a six to nine month process. We hope mid 24 we would have that study back and that's really going to help us identify things we need to do moving forward." October 2, 2023 is Norman's National Night out. Police officers will be staged at Sooner Mall with community outreach activities. Member Greenleaf asked Major Vincent what was going on regarding Cleveland County Sherriff Deputies partnering with Norman Police Department's School Resource Officers (SRO's) in Norman Public Schools. Vincent replied, ''There is a desire across the city to figure out a solution to: 'How do we get an officer in every school?' I love the concept. Everybody's heart is about the kids and how we can best protect the kids; so, the question from there is how do we do that? I think, from the school perspective, they are looking for other alternatives. The schools are very supportive of the (Norman) police department, they love the (SRO) program, they love the PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE - Thursday, August 10, 2023 Page 14 product, they just want more of it. I think they ended up in discussions with the Sherriff's Department and I think they are working through some type of agreement to where the Sherriff's Department will provide Sherriff's Deputies at every elementary school. As I understand it now, I think they are going to start 8ish (deputies) on day one that are going to start at 4 schools and then roam throughout the rest. Our SRO team met with the schools yesterday to figure out how this works. As of now, we believe, if this plan comes to fruition , that they will really act as a security measure only. As far as the investigations, and the response, and the calls, it will still be the Norman Police Department, but they {Sherriff's Deputies) will be the ones there at the front door to stop any violence. As of now, they won't function like our SRO program." Per Major Brent Barbour, "The budget request this year for the additional four SRO positions was $812,000." This request for Fiscal Year 24 funding was denied. Major Vincent, when asked by Chalr Price if there was anything they could do as a committee said, "I would love those four (SRO) spots. We voted on them as a community and as I step aside as a parent and as a tax payer ~ we voted for that. I would love to get those filled. I recognize that they're not cheap but we have officers ready. We can certainly make an impact. How we do that.. .we've been asking, but a budget's a budget." Chair Price commented, ''I am concerned about the image that will be presented if the Sheriffs go in and they are just security. That is such a different image, it's such a different task, it's so different it worries me that it's going to taint the program we have, which has been really good. I'm really concerned about that." Vincent said, "I do believe their (Cleveland County Sheriff's Office) hearts are in the right spot, certainly from the Sherriff on down. The execution when it comes down to that first day of school and somebody in the school, how that plays out, we're really interested in seeing how that plays out because it's a different approach." Chair Price asked that Vincent keep the Committee informed as to what goes on. Russell Anderson stated that dispatch is down three employees. The next hiring date will be around December 1, 2023. Anderson stated that the radio connection between the City of Norman and the State of Oklahoma should be active in the next couple of weeks. Anderson is giving a presentation at the Cleveland County Commissioner's meeting. His goal is to bring Cleveland County onto the City of Norman's radio system. Due to a privatized radio system, the City of Norman cannot communicate with Cedar Country Fire, Slaughterville Fire, or Noble Fire. The City of Little Axe is on the City of Norman's radio system so these two cities can communicate with each other. Dispatch is working on an amendment to their Computer Aided Design (CAD) contract, so they can bring the University of Oklahoma (OU) onto the City's CAD system. This will improve communication ability and help cut down Norman emergency response times to OU. The Mobile Command Post is still undergoing an upgrade. The 911 fees on cell phone bills have doubled. Anderson believes that the City will receive $40,000 - $60,000 per month from these charges. Member Greenleaf asked, "If we didn't have major funding for items, how long would it take us to build up some reserve?" Coffman replied, "The final debt service payment is in fiscal year (FY) 27. Until we pay those bonds off, we're not really going to be building up much of a fund balance. In the budget book fund summary for PSST there is a five year forecast of how the fund is going to look. There are reserves in there that are roughly the same amount of the debt service; that doesn't start to increase until FY 28." The PSST debt service payment is paid bi- annually. The debt service payment for FY 24 is budgeted at $2.38 million. The debt service payment for FY25 is budged at $2.384 million. The debt service payment for FY 26 is $2.392 PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE· Thursday, August 10, 2023 Page IS million and the debt service payment for FY 27 is $2.398 million. Coffman stated, 'We roughly estimate a 2% increase for sales tax each year. I don't know what's going to happen, but we've been able to rely on that the last few years. The last five years, things have gotten a little crazy. That's what we project, but we're not sure if we'll realize that. For FY 23 we projected about $12.4 million in Sales Tax for the PSST Fund and then another $1.8 million in Use Tax. In the current fiscal year we're projecting $12.675 million in Sales Tax and $1.85 million in Use Tax." ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at approximately 5:10 PM. Linda Price, Chair Citizens Public Safety Oversight Committee PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE- Thursday, August 10, 2023 Page j6