Public Safety (Subcommittee of the City Council)

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES Wednesday January 11, 2012 Occum Fire Department 7:00 P.M. Committee Members Present Alderman Mark Bettencourt Alderman H Tucker Braddock Jr. Alderwoman Sofee Noblick Administration and Staff Present Alan H. Bergren, City Manager Kenneth Scandariato, Fire Chief Patrick Daley, Norwich Police Lieutenant / Chief East Great Plains Fire Department Chief Frank Blanchard, Yantic Fire Department Chief Tim Jencks, Taftville Fire Department Chief Aaron Westervelt, Laurel Hill Fire Department Gene Arters, Director OEM Darrell Dunnum, Chief Engineer, Occum Fire Department Deputy Chief Bob LaChapelle, Occum Fire Department Lieutenant Ken Gauvin, Occum Fire Department Chief Paul O’Connell, Yantic Fire Department Volunteer/Central Fire Departments and Others Ron Stoltz, Yantic Fire Department Damian Rickard, American Ambulance Marc Landry, Norwich Fire Department John Jakubowski, Occum Fire Department Chantell Beauchamp, Occum Fire Department Sean Bennett, Yantic Fire Department Scott Suplita, Norwich Fire Department Nick Mathieu, Norwich Fire Department I & II. Call to Order – Quorum – & Selection of Chair Committee Secretary Christine Averna called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and requested a motion for nomination of a Committee Chair. Alderman H Tucker Braddock Jr. motioned to elect Alderman Mark Bettencourt as Committee Chair, seconded by Alderwoman Sofee Noblick. All in favor Mark Bettencourt is elected as Committee Chairman. Secretary Christine Averna turned the meeting over to Committee Chair Alderman Mark Bettencourt. It is determined that a quorum is present. III. Approval of Minutes Alderman H Tucker Braddock Jr. motioned to approve the minutes from the September 14, 2011 meeting, seconded by Alderwoman Sofee Noblick. All in favor the motion passed. IV. Correspondence – An email regarding the OptiCon System Alderman Mark Bettencourt read the email messages to all. One email was from Barry Ellison and one was from the Chief. V. Citizen Comment Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if there are any citizens who have any public safety issues or items that they would like to bring before the Committee. Hearing none, citizen comment closed. Public Safety Meeting Minutes January 11, 2012 Page 2 VI. Old Business Turn-Around on Route 395 – Chief Blanchard replies that the turn-around is still being worked on. Mark Bettencourt states he will continue to pursuing this. OptiCon System – Chief Blanchard states he has been continuing to work on this and it is on the preliminary list for upgrade. It will need to be incorporated into the design ahead of time to keep the costs down. Alderman H Tucker Braddock Jr. asks how old the current signal light is. Chief Blanchard states it is 10 to 12 years old. Alderman H Tucker Braddock Jr. asks what the life expectancy is. Chief Blanchard states 10 to 15 years. VII. New Business a. Update / Review for Board and Chief’s Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks for an update for the new Committee members from the Chief’s and others present. Those present for the meeting currently do not have any additional items to share with the Committee. b. Incentivizing Residency There was a discussion about incentivizing residency in Norwich for Police and Fire. The laws prevent requiring residency to work in Norwich. Residency in Norwich earns quality points under the current hiring Merit System. Chief Scandariato agrees that the current rules are somewhat restrictive. He is constantly trying to come up with new ideas for incentives so more hires will want to move to Norwich. There is a formal process for each suggestion. He believes there should be recognition for ones capabilities, local awareness, and their dedication to the city. Alderwoman Sofee Noblick agrees, and believes it would also be good to encourage them to move to Norwich as well. Giving new hires a good reason to make the move to Norwich would be beneficial in so many ways. Captain Daley explains the Police Quality Points scale. It is possible to obtain up to 30 points over the course of a Police career, but those are for time of service. However there are only 5 points at the time of hiring for residency. There are no points added for staying in Norwich, or for moving to Norwich. City Manager Alan Bergren asks Pat if he knows the percentage of Police personnel who also live in Norwich. Captain Daley replies that he doesn’t have actual numbers but that he believes it is about 25% that live in town. Public Safety Meeting Minutes January 11, 2012 Page 3 Alderman mark Bettencourt says that he has noticed that most of the new hires don’t live in town. That is unfortunate. Chief Scandariato believes that growing within the department is easier. There are response requirements (number of calls that come in vs number of calls they respond to) that locals have the ability to meet easier than someone from out of town. Scott Suplita responds that they want to tighten the residency radius. Currently there is a 60 mile radius within which applicants can reside (Connecticut only though). Alderman Mark Bettencourt would like to continue working on this. Alderwoman Sofee Noblick feels that there must be other Cities in Connecticut facing this type of issue. It would make sense to check neighboring towns and the residency encouragement. Alderman Mark Bettencourt says he will continue working on this. It’s important to start at the beginning of contract negotiations and to have a solid plan. VIII Other Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if there are anything else they would like to bring before the committee. There are none. IX. Adjournment Alderwoman Sofee Noblick motions to adjourn, seconded by Alderman H Tucker Braddock. All in favor the meeting adjourned at 7:27 p.m. Respectfully Submitted By Christine Averna