Public Safety (Subcommittee of the City Council)

Public Safety Committee Meeting American Ambulance June 10, 2009 Minutes Committee Members Present Alderman Mark Bettencourt Alderman Jonathan Jacaruso Alderman William Nash Administration and Staff Present Alan H. Bergren, City Manager Louis Fusaro, Police Chief Timothy Menard, Police Captain Gene Arters, Director OEM Volunteer/Central Fire Departments and Others Chief Frank Blanchard, Yantic Vol. Fire Department Chief Tim Jencks, Taftville Vol. Fire Department Shane Depuis, Taftville Vol. Fire Department Dan Auger, Taftville Fire Patrick Daley, E. Great Plains Fire Department Tom Ladd, Lieutenant Taftville Fire Department Eric Benoit, Taftville Fire Department Bob Jackson, Dispatch Jerry Roberts, Dispatch Roland Frechette, Norwich Emergency Management I. Call to Order – Quorum Alderman Mark Bettencourt called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. It was determined a quorum was present. II. Approval of Minutes Alderman Jon Jacaruso makes a motion to approve the May 13, 2009 Public Safety Meeting Minutes with one amendment. Motion was seconded by Alderman William Nash. All in favor, the motion passed unanimously. III. Correspondence a) Alderman Mark Bettencourt submits copies of Dispatch Proposals. Public Safety Committee Meeting June 10, 2009 Page 2 IV. Citizen Comment Roland Frechette spoke about the dangers of young kids riding scooters. They are accidents waiting to happen. Alderman Mark Bettencourt says Corporate Counsel is looking into ordinances in neighboring towns to see how their policies are working and if there is a solution that can work in Norwich. V. New Business a) Dispatch Issues. It is stated that there is no report from Norwich Public Utilities as of yet. A discussion about the proposals from Groton and QV. Alderman Jon Jacaruso reminds all that these are just proposals. Alderman William Nash has even looked into how England handles their dispatch issues. Chief Daly mentions that those systems are Federal. Also, it could be costly to outsource. Alderman Mark Bettencourt says that control is also an issue. Chief Daly says that as call volume increases the cost to outsource will also go up. Alderman Jon Jacaruso asks about a business plan showing potential for income as this could promote voters to say yes to a referendum for a future polices or public safety building. Chief Fusaro believes this will be a lot of work for a maybe. Alderman Jon Jacaruso asks if a new building can be wired for the hardware so it is ready in case we want to expand to a regional center which makes more sense for us to be operating. Police Captain Menard mentions a recovery grant for 5 positions. It is a 2 year grant and is still open – there’s no answer yet. It would answer manpower issues and let fire calls be isolated. The big issue – their PD is that as big, there’s limited room. b) Hunters Avenue Fire Discussion Alderman Mark Bettencourt wants the problem with this building brought to light. The building was old and very close to neighboring buildings. The walls of the building acted like chimneys bringing the fire throughout the entire structure. Also, a lot of the water was being put on the neighboring buildings to keep them from burning too. The 2 tower trucks really pumped a lot of water and it was very impressive. All the companies worked very well together to bring this fire under control. It was necessary to bring reserve apparatus into service since the other ladders in the area were all on standby or back up duty at the site. VI. Old Business a) Standardization of Reporting Practices, update. Alderman Mark Bettencourt says that he talked to Leon about MIS issues and that although the companies are all working with a similar database the field-sets are Public Safety Committee Meeting June 10, 2009 Page 3  different so the data can’t be merged. With the new system, once completed, this should be alleviated. b) Dive Team Update, Chief Jencks The dive team has completed the final stages of training. The truck refit should be completed and the team operational by July 1st. The Taftville firefighters have put in many hours of training. We are working on operational issues, like when the team would be dispatched. c) Ladder 2 replacement. Chief Scandariato is not present. This item will be carried to the next month. Alderman Mark Bettencourt says that Ladder 2 needs money to be put into it to remain operational. The issue is should we be pouring money into a 40 year old unit? The funding of a replacement is still an issue of course. VII. Other. a) Alderman Jon Jacaruso asks the group if Riverfest went well. The answer is yes, except the traffic situation is a little difficult. Alderman Jon Jacaruso asks if maybe they should reduce the adjoining road to 1 lane instead of 3 and maybe snow fencing to keep pedestrians from crossing away from the intersection. That will be looked into for future large events. VIII. Adjournment Alderman Jon Jacaruso motions to adjourn at 7:43 p.m. Alderman Mark Bettencourt seconds the motion and it passes unanimously. Meeting adjourned.