Public Safety (Subcommittee of the City Council)

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES Wednesday October 8, 2014 American Ambulance 7:00 P.M. Committee Members Present Alderman William Nash Alderman Mark Bettencourt Committee Members Not Present Alderwoman Sofee Noblick Administration and Staff Present Gene Arters, Director OEM Chief Frank Blanchard, Yantic Fire Department Chief Aaron Westervelt, Laurel Hill Fire Department Chief Tim Jencks, Taftville Fire Department Captain Pat Daley, Norwich Police Dept./East Great Plain Damian Rickard, American Ambulance Chief Scandariato, Norwich Fire Department Volunteer/Central Fire Departments and Others Chris LaRose, Norwich Public Utilities Ken Leo, Yantic Fire Department I. Call to Order – Quorum Alderman William Nash called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. There is a quorum present. II. Approval of Minutes - Minutes of September 10, 2014. Alderman Mark Bettencourt motioned, seconded by Alderman William Nash, to approve the September 10, 2014 minutes. The motion passed unanimously. III. Correspondence – None IV. Citizen Comment – None V. Old Business – a) Chief Scandariato stated the HVAC in the towers is being taken care of. There are 4 more sites with issues. They are developing an action plan and budget needs. Alderman Bill Nash asks if there have been any failures. Pat Daley states no failures but they’ve been pretty lucky with the weather and the open window helps. Chris LaRose states there have been significant concerns at EGP, Occum, Moriarty, and Taftville. They are working on putting together a plan and pricing. There have been several over 100 degree alarms in August. This is something that should be handled sooner rather than waiting for the next budget cycle. Public Safety Meeting Minutes October 8, 2014 Page 2 b) Chief Scandariato states the hydrant on Broadway and Willow was replaced. It was a 4” line off a 10” main. That hydrant now has the correct pressure and they will analyze the flow. On Main Street by D&D there is one being replaced too. With NPU’s help almost all the water issues in the area are being handled. c) Chief Scandariato states all the training is done except dispatch and that’s coming up soon. d) Chief Aaron Westervelt states his hose tender is not back in service yet. John Raymond says it will be back soon but no time frame. e) Pat Daley states their tanker is out of service. Hope to have it back in business by this weekend. f) Gene Arters states there was a Hostile Takeover drill at Millstone last month. VI. New Business – a) Chief Scandariato states he did a demo of some new software for command management/ incident command. It is Rhodium software. It seems great. Not recommending just suggesting something to try out. The system seems to touch on all small command to large scale unified record keeping. We need to find something that will work on IPAD’s. Maybe we could take a demo at the EOC. b) Chief Scandariato states the Fit Test machine is old and as of 12/20/2011 there is no more repair or parts being supplied. The departments share the device. A new one with the trade in is $11,300. We need a new one soon to keep from getting violations. We also need to figure out whose budget this is coming out of since we all share the device. Alderman Mark Bettencourt believes it is best to stick it in the Central department budget in the “For an overall use” which is why that line item exists. Alderman Bill Nash agrees certain costs shouldn’t be shared. It should be in the Central budget. c) Chief Blanchard states as part of their training they did a driver training simulator in Enfield. It will be here in Yantic. He got great feedback from everyone that did it. Every department can have one of these. He’s getting it Saturday too. It is a 4 hour program. Ken Leo states he took the driver training in the simulator and it was very good. It teaches how to avoid accidents. It was very realistic. You have to do the actual motions you do in the truck. Alderman Bill Nash asks what the cost is and if it is a certificate program that could maybe lower their insurance. Chief Blanchard answers $1,800 and it teaches collision avoidance. He is unsure whether it will lower insurance costs. Alderman Bill Nash will check with Josh or Bill Hathaway to see if insurance rebates exist for this driver training. Public Safety Meeting Minutes October 8, 2014 Page 3 d) Gene Arters states there was an enterovirus – 68 virus conference. There was great turnout. Pat McCormack, Pat Turrick, Damian Rickard, Backus. All concluded it was manageable. The main concern is EBOLA. Originally felt it was contained. The CDC declaring and Homeland Security bringing infected people to NY. That is not the best idea. As far as personal protection, maybe state money will become available. American Ambulance has already instituted new procedures. Damian Rickard states that so far 1 has died in Dallas. Several suspicious deaths too. It is concerning but where they’re getting sick is much poorer and less clean and prepared. It requires direct contact, the same as protection from the flu. Alderman Mark Bettencourt asks if there are any negative pressure rooms. Damian replies that any hospital can deal with them. Negative pressure rooms and separate bathrooms. All Backus new rooms are negative pressure rooms. It is not airborne. Level B or C precautions (gown, gloves, mask). Backus is using a new questionnaire to make sure we don’t send home an infected patient. They are only contagious when they are symptomatic. Gene Arters asks if there is any way to determine anything for our first responders. Damian replies there is no way to tell up front. The travel history is very key but all precautions should be taken. Alderman Bill Nash asks if PD is on board and taking precautions. Pat Daley replies that yes, they are ready. They are also having Uncas Health up to talk to assuage fears as well. e) 2015 Meeting Schedule – Alderman Mark Bettencourt motioned, seconded by Alderman Bill Nash, to accept the 2015 Meeting Schedule with no November meeting. The motion passed unanimously. VII. Other – Chris LaRose from NPU states that there was an Electric and Gas safety training. They are sending out the notices to the fire houses for next years training. They are flexible for scheduling. VIII. Adjournment Upon a motion by Alderman Mark Bettencourt, seconded by Alderman William Nash, the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 7:37 pm. Respectfully submitted by Christine Averna