Public Safety (Subcommittee of the City Council)

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES Wednesday April 11, 2012 Yantic Volunteer 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 Chief Frank Blanchard, Yantic Fire Department Chief Tim Jencks, Taftville Fire Department Chief Aaron Westervelt, Laurel Hill Fire Department Gene Arters, Director OEM Deputy Chief Bob LaChapelle, Occum Fire Department Chief Joe Kochanski, Laurel Hill Fire Department Sergeant Steve Lamontini, Norwich Police Department Captain Todd Milhomme, Taftville Fire Department Lieutenant Raymond Henry, Yantic Fire Department Assistant Chief Paul O’Connell, Yantic Fire Department Volunteer/Central Fire Departments and Others Chris LaRose, Norwich Public Utilities Ron Stoltz, Yantic Fire Department Ken Leo, Yantic Fire Department Ray O’Connell, Yantic Fire Department Frank Cilley, Yantic Fire Department James Marciano, Taftville Fire Department Ryan Flaherty, Yantic Fire Department Adam Herz, Yantic Fire Department 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 - Minutes of March 14, 2012. Alderman H Tucker Braddock Jr. motioned to approve the March 14, 2012 minutes, seconded by Alderwoman Sofee Noblick. All in favor, the motion passed. III. Correspondence City Manager Alan Bergren mentions the Communications Bond Figures Breakdown (included in the meeting packet). Alderman Mark Bettencourt adds Communication Bond Issue under new business. Public Safety Meeting Minutes April 11, 2012 Page 2 IV. Citizen Comment – None. V. New Business a. Communications Bond Issue Alderman H Tucker Braddock Jr asks if the breakdown included every department. City Manager Alan Bergren states that yes, every department was included in the bond package. Every needed piece of equipment for the upgrades was put into the amount. The committee looked over the bid breakdown and discussed the numbers and what each item meant. It was asked if the pagers were still necessary and it was replied that even though the service for the pagers is spotty it is very important. Chief Blanchard reminds the committee that they do have a secondary notification system set up through EDispatches. It is great for filling in the service area shortfalls but would not be a good primary service. It is being used to ensure that more department members get the call. Ken Leo also mentions that the pagers continue transmitting what is happening as it’s happening so members responding know what’s needed and where. Gene Arters talks about possibly donating any equipment that has to be replaced rather than simply throwing it away. Chief Scandariato thinks it is a good idea however there are regulations set by Homeland Security so it may not be possible to control where the old equipment goes. There are many restrictions on donations of radio equipment. The committee is thinking that maybe they can make re-use of the equipment part of the bidding process. It may also be possible to talk to the parent company to see about getting a recycle credit for returning the old equipment “in exchange” for the new equipment. Chief Blanchard wonders if anyone can elaborate on the infrastructure line item that is $134,000. City Manager Bergren will check with Josh and send out the information he used to compile the final numbers. Chief Scandariato asks where the 10 megs of data flow came from? What if it’s not enough data transfer? He has heard that Fleet Maintenance has had some times where data transfer is slow due to the amount of transmissions. Public Safety Meeting Minutes April 11, 2012 Page 3  Chris LaRose from NPU replies that it is a configuration and he will look into it. He states that a pilot study can be done to test the system. Chief Scandariato states that maybe this upgrade is a good time to expand the City’s P.A. system. It is the best way to reach a lot of people at once in group settings. Ken Leo agrees that it’s a great need but that the communications bond issue shouldn’t be held up to add PA systems. It is something that can stand on its own. Alderman Braddock made a motion, seconded by Alderwoman Noblick, to have the Public Safety Committee write a letter to the Council outlining the necessity of approving this bond, and explaining that the upgrades are being done because of a State Mandate that requires this be done this year, and that it is imperative that the Council react as quickly as possible, especially in view of the potential to increase the safety of the public. The motion passed unanimously. b. Chris LaRose from NPU asks if a date has been chosen for the Governor’s drill and when Norwich is going to be participating. Gene Arters states a date was chosen and it was Monday and he believes it was the 30th of July. He also mentions that at a meeting in Hartford it was mentioned that the State is having a lot of trouble putting this together. There is a lot of difficulty coordinating with the utilities and the towns and it does fall right in the middle of the vacation time of the year. It is probably going to be more low profile than originally thought. It is possible that it will not be anything too elaborate. VI. Old Business a. Taftville FD Addition This is a very big issue and the committee would like to do more information and funding research on this. It is decided to table this until the next meeting. b. Incentives for Employee Residency Alderwoman Sofee Noblick had a department head meeting that represented the first responders except for the volunteers. She is hopeful that the volunteer departments will attend the next meeting so that all departments will be included. This is an attempt to create an incentive program to have first responders live in the City. Not as requirement, but to encourage it. The idea is to get feedback on current and possible future incentive programs so as to push for things that would really be encouraging to them. Alderman Bettencourt thinks it may be helpful to approach Legislature to see if the State would be willing to loosen up on some of the regulations. Public Safety Meeting Minutes April 11, 2012 Page 4 c. Dry Hydrants update  Alderman Mark Bettencourt states that they received some examples of easements for the fire hydrant and pipeline easement. There was an example from another town as well. Chief Blanchard states that there have been 4 meetings since March 14th. Peter Davis has been very helpful and put them in contact with Michael Schaeffer and he is well versed in the permitting process. There is a small permit fee. They’re looking into 3 sites with one primary site. He will need to talk with Corporation Counsel about easements and speak with the neighbors. They have selected McLellan Avenue, off Otrobando Avenue, as their proposed primary site. There is a large man-made pond and both East Great Plains and Yantic would be able to use it. Alderman Bettencourt is going to remove this item from the agenda for now. It seems to be moving along well. VII. Other Chief Scandariato wanted to mention that he met with the Occum Fire Chief and Deputy Chief and they have reached out and requested assistance with their reporting and record keeping. There is a date of the 18th set up to assist. Alderman Bettencourt asks if all the departments are finally using the same reporting program. Chief Scand is hopeful that the fiber optic changeover will take care of some of the issues that are currently causing problems. He also reminds everyone that assistance of this nature is available to everyone. Chief Scandariato would also like to remind everyone that there is a training opportunity with Pak Tracker. He needs more feedback and wants more trainees. This involves training in the use of Norwich Fire Apparatus and equipment. The training is performed at the Norwich house but he is willing to go to the volunteers’ house to give the training. About the turn-around on 395, it was asked why it isn’t being pursued at the moment. Alderman Bettencourt replies that it’s currently very tough because of the regulations on distances between exits, width of the highway, and turning radius of the vehicles that would be using it. It’s not being forgotten but being tabled for a few months. b. Chris LaRose from NPU wishes to mention that there was a gas incident on Pearl Street. A contractor dug through the service of the house. The Fire Department wasn’t called and it’s believed that was a mistake. The procedures have been updated. It will probably never happen again. NPU knows and will be more vigilant. Public Safety Meeting Minutes April 11, 2012 Page 5 c. Gene Arters wanted to let everyone know that in about 2 weeks there will be a special response trailer offered by the Red Cross permanently stationed on the exterior of the Emergency Management garage on McKinley. It has cots, blankets, wheelchairs, special needs equipment, special needs cots, and a host of other emergency equipment  for use when needed and the items can be brought to the shelters when the public is displaced. Alderman Mark Bettencourt wanted to remind everyone that there have been a lot of structure fires lately. It is prudent to be aware of your surroundings. Stay safe. Chief Scandariato mentions that he has a good working relationship with everyone. When the companies have to come together they work very well together. That includes investigating the fires afterwards. Alderman Bettencourt asks if they know if a house is vacant. Chief Scandariato states that it’s impossible to know. They do have 21 “Do Not Enter” structures in the City. He can’t even assume those are empty. He also has to be mindful of any possible Hazardous products. He also believes it would be helpful if there was the ability to do an Annual inspection. Chief Blanchard says that there are a lot of great tenants that are great at reporting the status but they still have to proceed with caution. Chief Scandariato states that when some businesses close there is not guarantee that when they leave they take care of their Haz Mat items. Alderman Braddock asks if the City has any laws or if the State has any mandates that state how long a structure can be left looking awful, in a state of disrepair, and abandoned after an incident. How long does the State have to make a declaration of the property or the Fire Marshall have to make a declaration of the property that something has to be done with the property? Chief Scandariato states that this is covered in the City’s charter. For abatement issues its 30 days and then they can appeal which can take up to a year. But the charter is very specific in terms of acquiring the property, classifying the structure as something that has to come down. It is very specific on what they can and cannot do. It could take years just to get access. VIII. Adjournment Alderwoman Sofee Noblick motioned to adjourn, seconded by Alderman H. Tucker Braddock Jr. All in favor the meeting was adjourned at 8:17 p.m. Respectfully submitted by Christine Averna