Public Safety (Subcommittee of the City Council)

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES Wednesday April 10, 2013 Laurel Hill 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 Chief Scandariato, Norwich Fire Department Chief Timothy Jencks, Taftville Fire Department Chief Frank Blanchard, Yantic Fire Department Patrick Daley, Norwich Police Lieutenant / Chief East Great Plains Fire Department Chief Robert Patton, Occum Fire Department Chief Aaron Westervelt, Laurel Hill Fire Dept. Gene Arters, Director OEM Volunteer/Central Fire Departments and Others Chris LaRose, Norwich Public Utilities Mike Lattin, Laurel Hill Fire Department Jerry Strange, Laurel Hill Fire Department Rob Ladd, Yantic Fire Department Ray Henry, 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 is present. II. Approval of Minutes - Minutes of March 13, 2013. Alderman H. Tucker Braddock Jr. motioned to approve the March 13, 2013 minutes, seconded by Alderwoman Sofee Noblick. All in favor the motion passed unanimously. III. Correspondence – None IV. Citizen Comment – None V. New Business a. State Practice Exercise – Gene Arters explains that the exercise is going to be Thursday, June 20th. It is not mandatory. This is going to be an ice storm simulation. The City will need to show its ability to open the EOC and shelters. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if anyone has anything on budget or other information that they would like to address the committee with. Public Safety Meeting Minutes April 10, 2013 Page 2 b. Chief Frank Blanchard states that FMI has asked us to participate in a drill dealing with in- house safety. This will be a dry exercise about an electrical arc flash explosion. Chris LaRose asks if there will need to be NPU involvement. Chief Blanchard states it will be low key, table top exercise. c. Chief Blanchard also wishes to discuss their Hydraulic Hoses and Vetter Air Bag System. He brought with him a bag that failed during an extraction. They have only 19 bags, each of different size and use and capability. These are pneumatic Lifts and many are old and failing. Need funds to replace this failing equipment. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if they can swap the funds from the SCBA bottle replacements for a year and use those funds to replace the failing Vetter bags. Chief Blanchard replies that there is a new standard for air packs coming up. He would prefer to finish getting those packs now. Chief Scandariato states he had to make the same choice. It is better the way Frank recommends so he can be full of all same systems in complete sets. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if this means that in the next few years upgrades will be necessary. Chief Blanchard replies that only the packs and not the cylinders will need to be replaced. It is not a big line item. d. Alderman H Tucker Braddock Jr talks about the armored vehicle at John Raymonds. To bring ours up to date he thinks he can put in a new motor for $20,000. For $2,000 new radio for compatibility, $2,800 new light bar. This is less than 1/10 what a new vehicle costs. Pat Daley says he is concerned about putting an old piece of equipment out there. There are standards that have to be met. It’s better than nothing but it isn’t department specific. Ours is not operational. Also it is not dependable against today’s bullets. The ballistic protection is just not there. Alderman H Tucker Braddock Jr states he went to the State Police to reconstruct what happened that night. They will do what they have to to protect and save. Pat Daley states that suppressing (gun)fire is not safe. It is not an option in an urban setting. The criminals don’t fight fair be we have to. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if we have a tactical team. Pat Daley replies that we don’t. Those are a liability. Our actions always draw a re-action. Alderman H Tucker Braddock asks when Norwich arrived. Public Safety Meeting Minutes April 10, 2013 Page 3 Pat Daley replies that Norwich arrived around 3:30. The shooting started around 4:05. The armored vehicle around 5 pm. Can’t wait for the State armored vehicle. The City’s current vehicle is 24 years old. We’ve been trying to get this for many years. Alderman Mark Bettencourt states he is concerned about not having a tactical team. Pat Daley replies that this is a rescue vehicle. Tactical teams cost a lot of money. That’s why we have the State Police. But we can save lives with this armored rescue vehicle when dealing with active shooters. The AR’s are out there and they’re not going to go away because criminals have them and are going to keep using them. If there’s a way to reduce the risk to our team this is it. We got Manchesters old one. Alderman H Tucker Braddock Jr asks about the new air pack standard. Can we get an inventory so we know what we’re up against? Chief Blanchard replies that we do have a list. It is not a complete replacement so it’s not a large fund request. Pat Daley replies they are going over to new already. Chief Jencks states they are doing several a year. Rob Ladd asks if the next time someone’s at the State if they can find out who is in charge of getting money out of the government. Nothing comes to Connecticut but it all goes out. There’s availability of equipment we could get. There’s millions of dollars worth. But no one at the State is returning his calls. Chief Blanchard replies that he has met the same stonewalling. Pat Daley states that there is Federal equipment available but it goes through the State. There’s Hummers going out with 50,000-60,000 miles on them. There’s trucks, dump trucks. They’re class A through F. We have to transport anything we get but it’s worth it. It is free equipment. It benefits the whole region/State. Alderman H Tucker Jr replies that maybe Bob Zarnetske can offer assistance. VI. Old Business a. Update on the Fiber Optic Changeover Chris LaRose states that the radio update was started at Norwich Police Department. In the next few weeks will be contacting for placement at each department and site. He also handed out a schedule (see attached). Chief Scandariato states that training dispatch will be the toughest part. Public Safety Meeting Minutes April 10, 2013 Page 4 b. Chief Blanchard asks if there has been any update from DOT. City Manager Alan H Bergren replies that there has been none so far. Alderman H Tucker Braddock Jr mentions a new cut in Plainfield being done. Pat Daley states that the excuses change when we point out their (the State) own cuts. VII. Other – None VIII. Adjournment Upon a motion by Alderwoman Sofee Noblick, seconded by Alderman H. Tucker Braddock, Jr., the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 7:48 pm Respectfully submitted by Christine Averna