Public Safety (Subcommittee of the City Council)

Public Safety Committee Meeting Yantic Volunteer Fire Department August 12, 2009 Minutes Committee Members Present Alderman Mark Bettencourt Alderman William Nash Committee Members Not Present Alderman Jonathan Jacaruso Other Council Members Present Alderman Peter Nystrom Administration and Staff Present Alan H. Bergren, City Manager Timothy Menard, Police Captain Gene Arters, Emergency Management Director Ken Scandariato, Fire Chief Volunteer/Central Fire Departments and Others Chief Frank Blanchard, Yantic Vol. Fire Department Chief Patrick Daley, East Great Plains Fire Department Chief Tim Jencks, Taftville Vol. Fire Department Assistant Chief Tom Jencks, Taftville Fire Department Daniel Auger, Taftville Fire Department Eric Benoit, Taftville Fire Department Roland Frechette, Norwich Emergency Management Scott Merchant, Norwich Fire Fighter Aaron Westervelt, Laurel Hill Fire Department Damian Rickard, American Ambulance Roland Lambert, Occum Fire Department Jennie Lavoie, Taftville Fire Department Barry Ellison, Norwich Dept of Public Works John Bilda, General Manager, Norwich Public Utilities Jerry Strange, Laurel Hill Fire Department Roger Snell, East Great Plains Fire Department Joe Winski, East Great Plains Fire Department Joe Crowley, Norwich Fire Department Rob Ladd, Yantic Fire Department Jim Crosby, Yantic Fire Department Paul O’Connell, Yantic Fire Eng Co 1 Joseph Hebert, Norwich Fire Department Bill Eyberse, Yantic Fire Department Lauren T Casady, Norwich Fire Department Gregory Despathy, Norwich Fire Department Timothy Teper, Norwich Fire Department Paul Schroder, Norwich Fire Department Sean Bennett, Yantic Fire Department Brian Cubanski, Yantic Fire Department Public Safety Committee Meeting August 12, 2009 Page 2 I. Call to Order – Quorum Alderman Mark Bettencourt called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. It was determined a quorum was present. II. Approval of Minutes Alderman Mark Bettencourt motions to approve the June 10, 2009 Public Safety Meeting Minutes amending Capt. Menard’s title on page 2. Motion was seconded by Alderman William Nash. All in favor, the motion passed unanimously. III. Correspondence No correspondence. IV. Citizen Comment No Citizen Comment. V. New Business a) Plain Hill Base Station: 33.66 repairs. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks what the status is. Chief Frank Blanchard talks about the Plain Hill Amp Failure. Chief Scandariato is waiting for an estimate for repairs Chief Scandariato says money will be an issue. The PM contract has not been funded. It is not in the budget as of yet. It needs to be funded by September. Chief Frank Blanchard agrees that this needs to be funded. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if $11,000 will cover everything. Chief Scandariato will send a information on cost. City Manager Alan Bergren will follow up on this. b) “Working Fire Tone” / activation or rollout date. Captain Menard says the system is ready to roll. They are working on when they can test the system – working out scheduling. The Chief’s are working on it, but the system is ready. Public Safety Committee Meeting August 12, 2009 Page 3 VI. Old Business a) Ladder 2 Replacement. Alderman Mark Bettencourt notes that funding is going to be an issue. He asks if this is going out to bid yet. Chief Scandariato says they are still developing a spec for the bid process. They have a truck committee working on what it will cost. The old ladder truck has to come out of service. There are too many structural issues with it. He brings up that in October 2008 the committee agreed this needed to be moved on. He states that the truck is no longer safe for our firefighters. Heavy use is causing expected breakdown for a 40 year old truck. It’s not safe. Period. This vehicle poses a significant danger to the firefighters and the community Alderman Mark Bettencourt wants to remind all of the cost of give and take. The cost of taking from one department means that the effectiveness of another suffers. Scott Merchant – witnessed the truck twist failure and that was with no load. Chief Scandariato – Please entertain this idea. It needs to be brought to everybody’s attention. And please present this to the Council. Chief Blanchard supports the replacement of the ladder truck. It is necessary. Chief Jencks – Repairing this truck is not an option any more. It needs to be retired. Chief Daly – agrees with everyone as well. Losing a life – volunteer or career firefighter’s life – is not worth keeping the truck. It could very well leave the departments with no ladder truck should they both break down. A resolution to bond is needed to keep the city safe. Lauren Casady – 7 years on Engine 2 – has served on the truck in many fire. The ladder has had many issues. The City Garage does great keeping it running but it needs much repair and having 1970’s safety devices is not acceptable. Scott Merchant points out that nobody in the room would drive a 40 year old vehicle to work. It is time to get to work on replacing this ladder truck. Assistant Chief Joe Linsky – All items point back to safety of both firefighters and the public. We want to provide the best service. With this truck in use, they can’t look the public in the eye. The people have an expectation of care. Public Safety Committee Meeting August 12, 2009 Page 4  Alderman Mark Bettencourt motions the Council adopt a bonding ordinance of $800,000 for appropriation of a replacement for ladder 2. Alderman William Nash asks if $800,000 will buy a new truck. Why not put this item on the referendum? He supports replacement and thinks the people would too. Chief Scandariato, what about grant funding? Chief Scandariato with the City Manager have been looking into leasing with purchase options. We may be able to obtain a grant to pay for part of the purchase. However, if we bond for the truck the grant won’t happen because it will be funded. A lease to buy option would still allow us to have the truck but obtain grant funding to assist in its purchase. City Manager Alan Bergren states that The RFP would request both a purchase price option and a lease option with payoff plan or any other available financing arrangements. In this emergency situation it may be the fastest way to obtain this truck. Chief Scandariato wishes to move on the lease to purchase option. As it may be the most cost effective way to fund an emergency purchase. Alderman Mark Bettencourt withdraws his motion. Chief Scandariato believes this does qualify as an emergency need situation. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks how fast the new vehicle can be delivered. Chief Scandariato believes it may be as little as 3 months. Alderman William Nash motions to say that the committee supports the lease to purchase option for an emergency need for the replacement of Ladder 2. Alderman Mark Bettencourt seconds the motion. All in favor, the motion passes unanimously. Alderman Mark Bettencourt addresses the gallery letting them know that it would be beneficial for some supporters to be at the Council meeting when this item comes up. b) Update from NPU: Availability and equipment needs Re: elimination of phone lines to Plain Hill and Orchard St. and hydrant system evaluation and color banding. Potential future water supply projects/prioritization. John Bilda reports that 32 Miles of Fiber Cable is in and tested and moving data now. The cable can work with breaks. It is capable of moving digital signals but not analog. Analog Public Safety Committee Meeting August 12, 2009 Page 5  would require devices costing approximately $5,000 each. But the cable is in every city building and the testing is done. It works. John Bilda - Hydrant Color Banding – has not been tested yet but has samples of banding to use for test and evaluation. The bands get strapped below the bonnet. Red band would mean less than 500 gal, Gray would signify 500-1000, Green would be 1000-1500, and blue would mean 1500 and up. Taftville and Norwich will be pilot testing the bands. John Bilda - Water Supply – adequate water supply for fire. We applied for stimulus but were not eligible since the project wasn’t “shovel ready”. Design specs being put together for (drinking water) stimulus requests. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks what the priorities are. What needs to be done first? The $10 million in priorities are equally incremental, equally important. Chief Scandariato – ISO has been contacted – change certification 4-9 date. We are ready to modify and improve. c) Vergason Avenue gate upgrade. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if 911 issues are ok. Captain Menard says yes. Chief Blanchard thanks Captain Menard and Public Works. Vergason Avenue is now Vergason Avenue Extension at the affected addresses. Alderman Mark Bettencourt – so 5 addresses are affected? Chief Blanchard – yes. 1 commercial and 4 residential. The gate holds up life and death calls. Have to access from Hilltop Road. Would like an update from Public Works about updating gates, new locks since the current one freezes. The gate needs fixing. Barry Ellison of NPU will get the update information. Alderman William Nash asks why the gate was put in. The business park brought too many 18 wheelers and delivery trucks. The residents didn’t want that any more so the gate was installed. Now there are several access points. Alderman William Nash asks if the gate can simply be left open in winter. Public Safety Committee Meeting August 12, 2009 Page 6 Alderman Mark Bettencourt believes that is not a good idea since EB has many employees and it would greatly increase traffic on a small side street. VII. Other. None VIII. Adjournment Alderman William Nash motions to adjourn at 7:42 p.m. Alderman Mark Bettencourt seconds the motion and it passes unanimously. Meeting adjourned.