Public Safety (Subcommittee of the City Council)

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES Wednesday December 11, 2013 Laurel Hill Fire Department 7:00 P.M. Committee Members Present Alderman Mark Bettencourt Alderwoman Sofee Noblick Alderman Bill Nash 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 Pat Daley, Norwich Police Dept./East Great Plain Chief Aaron Westervelt, Laurel Hill Fire Department Asst. Chief Jerry Strange, Laurel Hill Fire Department Volunteer/Central Fire Departments and Others Jeremiah Kvasnik, Norwich Public Utilities Ron Stolz, Yantic Fire Department J. Scott Ellis, Yantic Fire Department Ken Leo, Yantic Fire Department Romer Rodriguez, Laurel Hill Fire Department Brian Kobylarz, Hobart Ave, Norwich I. Call to Order – Quorum Alderman Mark Bettencourt called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. It was determined a quorum is present. II. Nomination and selection of a chair Alderman Mark Bettencourt motioned to nominate Alderman Bill Nash as Committee Chair, seconded by Alderwoman Sofee Noblick. The motion passed unanimously. III. Approval of Minutes - Minutes of November 13, 2013. Upon a motion of Alderman Mark Bettencourt, seconded by Alderwoman Sofee Noblick, the minutes were unanimously approved. IV. Correspondence – The recording secretary received an email from Chris LaRose, NPU, letting the committee know that Randy Black would be updating the committee on current projects and their completion status. (Jeremiah Kvasnik was present to do the update). Public Safety Meeting Minutes December 11, 2013 Page 2 V. Citizen Comment – Brian Kobylarz addressed the committee to clarify something in the minutes. They feel that the community policing is a success. They are responsive and do come out. They have cleaned up the cemetery issues very nicely. The issue is the interim level of management that oversees the force. They were going to meet with neighbors and establish good one on one with the community and that meeting hasn’t taken place. We want better interaction with middle management. We are happy with the upper management and the police. Alderwoman Sofee Noblick asks if there is a neighborhood watch. Brian Kobylarz replies that they haven’t had one since 2002. They sometimes hold informal community meetings. Alderman Bill Nash asks if they are looking to have a meeting. Pat Daley is willing to get a block watch going again. He’ll get a community meeting planned and inform the community. They will distribute a flyer in several language so as to be all inclusive. Alderwoman Sofee Noblick states she understands there are times of high and low membership in a neighborhood watch. It should be continued so you’re already established if something happens. Alderman Mark Bettencourt adds that he went to a community meeting in Taftville. Community Policing is something we’re trying to teach. It is true that some in the community only get involved when a threat is perceived and stop going when no threat is perceived. Brian Kobylarz adds they did have a community Christmas Tree last year. Everything was stolen and the bulbs were broken. It is hard trying to get the entire community involve. We have a new population moving in to be close to the new services offered there. We are getting more section 8. We have halfway houses. Handing out flyers is sometimes like informing the enemy you won’t be home. He ask if it’s possible for the designation of halfway houses not be carried over to new owners. Alderman Mark Bettencourt replies that a zoning designation wouldn’t change. That use carries over with it. Permitted items have to be applied for in timely fashion. If they miss their deadline it is possible to lose their permits. VI. Old Business a) Radio on Fiber – Jeremiah Kvasnik - all but Backus Hospital is done now. There were a few issues with fiber not going to the right room. The fiber has now been run. It should be done in a few weeks. b) Downtown Camera Project – Jeremiah Kvasnik - the project is going well. All camera location construction is done. There were 2 camera failures. One wouldn’t power up and the second would power up but not communicate. Those cameras have been sent back. The company has been very responsive. The fiber is done. The networking is done. The servers should be recording by Friday. The next step will be Police access. They are very impressive when they’re working. Public Safety Meeting Minutes December 11, 2013 Page 3 Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks isn’t Greenville is already up and running. Jeremiah Kvasnik replies that NPU wants to change how PD views the cameras instead of changing the current to include the rest of the cameras. Alderwoman Sofee Noblick asks if they are the same cameras as Greenville. They’ve been great. Jeremiah Kvasnik replies that they are the same cameras. c) Ken Leo asks if there has been a conclusion to the question of ownership of the Plain Hill Tower Property. City Manager Alan H Bergren replies that the State owns it. They are still working on it. Chief Blanchard adds that we are not the exclusive users of the tower. d) Tim Jencks mentions his departments portable radios. He tried to be compatible with the required upgrade. They were told the radios they purchased would be compatible but they’re not. They’re now working with the Finance department to replace them. It is about $28,000. Chief Blanchard adds that some of the narrow banding is not done. Brian Kobylarz informs the committee that the 600 range of frequency is going to be reallocated. VII. New Business OEM Director Gene Arters informs everyone that there will be Radiologic Training on 12/17 at 7 pm. There will be another one in January. The recent bio scare where the Bulletin and PD and Dispatch were evacuated – there is a need for access to sirens during that type of evacuation. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if sirens are truly needed. Chief Blanchard replies that the tone generator activates their radios. Pat Daley states that two forms of notification are required for insurance reasons. Radio and siren. Getting a tone coder into the EOC would be the easiest solution. Chief Blanchard adds that it is critical where they’re installed. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if they are analog. Chief Scandariato replies that Chris at NPU is working on this. The EOC is the best place for it. The EOC is complete except for this oversight. They want to involve the dispatchers so nothing else is overlooked. Public Safety Meeting Minutes December 11, 2013 Page 4 Chief Blanchard states that the Bulletin/PD incident went well considering. There is a need to get funding to pull audio off for tach-1 frequency. They couldn’t hear everyone else (Taftville/Yantic). We didn’t know what was going on. They need to be able to hear everyone’s calls. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if we have a plan in place for these types of events. The business in question obviously didn’t. They should never have transported questionable mail. We should reach out to them. OEM Director Gene Arters replies that there is much information available since the 9/11 anthrax scare. There are videos available on the Emergency Management section of the norwichct.org website. Alderman Bill Nash asks if maybe NPU can put a flyer in with the utility bills that directs them to you. City Manager Alan H. Bergren adds that something can be included in the Norwich Newsletter. Chief Scandariato wanted to clarify that PD was never shut down. They simply maintained isolation. The Chief was aware at all times. They did much by phone to keep the information off the radios until they verified what they had. Since it was a media company they couldn’t keep it fully contained. Their own publisher can’t believe the person who received the questionable mail transported it. Chief Scandariato asks if maybe a simple informational flyer can be included with the tax bills. Chief Blanchard informs the committee that the LifePak 500 AED from Physio Control will no longer be supported after 2015. They will need to budget for new ones. Chief Scandariato adds that this would be a great time to go over all equipment and start making it all the same for every department. a) Chief Scandariato believes that there needs to be an update to the Municode. It is necessary to change “fire” to “incident”. Some authorities aren’t covered for incidents, only fires. Our language doesn’t sit right with State Statutes. Alderman Mark Bettencourt motioned, seconded by Alderwoman Sofee Noblick, to accept the recommendation and ask Corporation Counsel to draft an Ordinance to that effect. The motion passed unanimously. VIII. Other – None. IX. Adjournment Upon a motion by Alderwoman Sofee Noblick, seconded by Alderman Mark Bettencourt, the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 8:02 pm Respectfully submitted by Christine Averna