Public Safety (Subcommittee of the City Council)

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES Wednesday August 14, 2013 Yantic Volunteer Fire Department 7:00 P.M. Committee Members Present Alderman Mark Bettencourt Alderwoman Sofee Noblick Alderman H. Tucker Braddock Jr. Administration and Staff Present Alan H. Bergren, City Manager Chief Scandariato, Norwich Fire Department Gene Arters, Director OEM Chief Tim Jencks, Taftville Fire Department Chief Frank Blanchard, Yantic Fire Department Deputy Chief Bob LaChapelle, Occum Fire Department Raymond Henry, Yantic Fire Lieutenant Volunteer/Central Fire Departments and Others Chris LaRose, Norwich Public Utilities Ken Leo, Yantic Fire Department Ron Stolz, Yantic Fire Department Bill Eyberse, Yantic Fire Department Paul O’Connell, Yantic Fire Department Brian Kobylarz, 16 Hobart Ave, Norwich John Barry, The Bulletin I. Call to Order – Quorum Alderman Mark Bettencourt called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. It was determined a quorum is present. II. Approval of Minutes - Minutes of July 10, 2013. Alderwoman Sofee Noblick motioned to approve the June 10, 2013 minutes, seconded by Alderman Mark Bettencourt. Alderman Bettencourt noted for the record that there were spelling errors in the Headings of the photo attachments. Park photos listed as Richard Brown Park should be Howard T Brown Park. These were submitted with the errors. The motion passed unanimously. III. Correspondence – None IV. Citizen Comment – This agenda item is being held for the end of the meeting. V. Old Business a) Radio on Fiber Chris LaRose states that there are issues with maintaining the schedule. Greenville equipment is there and expected installation is the 19th with completion on the 30th. Electric work at Occum has expected August 30th completion. They are working on East Great Plains with the same time frame expected. Taftville is expected to be completed September 1st. He also asks where they can store the spare parts. Chief Scandariato believes Central will be a good storage place. Chris is hopeful for a mid-September completion. Public Safety Meeting Minutes August 14, 2013 Page 2 Chief Frank Blanchard lets the committee know that in that significant rain a few weeks ago there was significant radio traffic. It was the biggest incident thus far since the Fiber has been implemented. Other than radio hardware issues the Fiber seemed to work well and the system is not even at 100% yet. b) Downtown Camera Project update Chris LaRose states they have a detail design for the network. Bids should go out in the next few weeks. c) Plain Hill access and camera update Chris LaRose states they have been working the access and surveillance project. The equipment has been ordered and they hope to be live the 2nd week of September. Alderwoman Sofee Noblick asks if there is a backup form of entry in case of outage. Chris LaRose replies that a key is still a possible form of entry. The biggest problem with key entry is loss of keys by the last person who gained keyed entry. This will be much more secure. And Dispatch can print a report if they want to keep a log for their records. d) Uncas Health Pandemic Flu training at EOC – http://www.drc-group.com/project/pod- uhd.html "Operation POD Squad” on August 20 beginning at 9:00 AM. OEM Director Gene Arters states that this training will be important for if we have a large pandemic. There will be two mass inoculation sites. e) LNG truck 1st responder training – September 24 CT DEEP Marine Headquarters Old Lyme, 10-1 This training is open to all first responders. This will be up and down the 395 Corridor. VI. New Business a) Plain Hill Transmitter Property City Manager Alan Bergren found 2 State properties. We cohabitate with them on one of them. He is unsure about the second property. Chief Scandariato states we have none on the second property. City Manager Alan Bergren states he is searching for the agreement. He has found nothing yet. He is going to check with Brian Curtin for this information. The State acquired the property in 1932. It has a white block structure. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks what is on the second property. City Manager Alan Bergren states it has a pole with antennas and a transmission hut. Alderman H. Tucker Braddock Jr. asks if they rent that space. Public Safety Meeting Minutes August 14, 2013 Page 3 City Manager Alan Bergren states that our space is owned by the State. The other is in the name of the State and the big tower is owned by CTI privately. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if there is an advantage if the City owns it. City Manager Alan Bergren states he isn’t sure. Chief Scandariato states that if we’re a tenant and we just maintain it the City is investing money. Wouldn’t we be better off if we own it? What are our obligations; are we paying rent; what do we get in return? Alderman Mark Bettencourt states we will try to find the agreement. It’s best to know our obligations and gains. City Manager Alan Bergren asks how many electric meters are there. He also asks who pays the electric bill. Chief Scandariato states that there is one meter and that he doesn’t pay the electric. City Manager Alan Bergren asks what about the propane tank. Chief Scandariato states he fills it. He still feels we need to know what each party is responsible for. OEM Director Gene Arters brings up the 10 year statute of possession. Alderman Mark Bettencourt states it doesn’t apply to the State or Municipalities. Chief Scandariato also mentions another aspect – tower usage and ownership. There is income potential. Alderman Mark Bettencourt and City Manager Alan Bergren both ask who put up the tower. Chief Frank Blanchard states the City of Norwich did. It was damaged and we needed it back up. We have the top position but can’t prove it. Suppose the State suddenly decided to put up a higher tower and gave away our top slot. How would that affect our communications? Would that cause a breakdown of our ability to function? This was done under Chief Walsh and Deputy Chief Tessier. VII. Other – Chief Frank Blanchard wanted to let the committee know that they should try to research around the August of 1991 Public Safety minutes for the Tower information. It was around Hurricane Bob time. OEM Director Gene Arters commends our responders for the 7/25 storm that dumped 7” of rain in a 4 ½ hour timespan. There was no loss of life with motorists trapped in cars. Great job everyone. Public Safety Meeting Minutes August 14, 2013 Page 4 Alderman H. Tucker Braddock mentions that just down the river there’s a huge snag in the middle and asks if we can do anything about it. Chief Jencks states that Lisbon Boat Launch owns it. It is a sandbar there. First Light maintains it. Agenda Item IV – Citizen Comment Brian Kobylarz has several Public Safety items to bring before the committee. 1) He wants to bring up something he sees as a problem or failure of the Silver Alert System. He heard a Silver Alert describing a 20 year old that was missing. The Bulleting and The Day both ran it after the second PD transmission. He did an email blast with all the information he got from the information given. PD came by the Oak Street Cemetery on a drug sting. They found a motorcycle with only 106 miles on the odometer. Then they staked out the Cemetery. Later they found a body. The Silver Alert failed due to all the follow up information. The obituaries identify the person as 42 years old. The Alert had everyone looking for a 20 year old, someone very young, when in actuality she was in her 40’s. And she was found dead. Alerting everyone to look for a 20 year old is not even close to a 42 year old. He believes the State made the error but it is a grievous error. 2) The drug issue. The PD is astounded by the drug use going on in the Cemetery. They are being written up as infractions. This means we’re not seeing arrest reports in the papers Blotter Reports. Do these infractions calculate into the City’s calculations? He is concerned tht reports about activity in certain areas may not be reported including infractions. Alderman Mark Bettencourt states that it is public information. It is up the paper whether they report them in the Blotter or not. Brian Kobylarz – 3) One day when I came home there was a woman in my backyard. I don’t know her. When I confronted her she confronted me back, saying “what’s it to you”. I still have illegal trespassers on my property. I called the Police and followed her as she left. I stopped following her as she entered the Downtown area. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks for the date and time of the incident. Brian will get it to him. Brian Kobylarz – 4) there is still a problem with the Soup Kitchen with drivers going the wrong way up the one way street. This morning a motorcycle came up the hill. It was a Soup Kitchen patron. He is going to set up a time lapse camera to get the best times for the Police to help. VIII. Adjournment Upon a motion by Alderwoman Sofee Noblick, seconded by Alderman H. Tucker Braddock Jr., the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 7:50 pm Respectfully submitted by Christine Averna