Public Safety (Subcommittee of the City Council)

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES Wednesday May 9th, 2018 Central Fire House 10 North Thames Street, Norwich 7:00 PM Committee Members Present: Alderman William Nash, Alderman Joseph A. DeLucia, and Alderwoman Joanne Philbrick Committee Members Absent: None Administration and Staff Present: Sergeant Thomas Lazzaro, Norwich Police Department; John Salomone, City Manager, City of Norwich; and Christopher LaRose, Assistant General Manager, Norwich Public Utilities. Volunteer/Central Fire Departments and Others: Occum Chief Bob LaChapelle; Taftville Chief Timothy Jencks, Assistant Chief William Hadam, and Deputy Chief Tom Jencks; Norwich Chief Ken Scandariato, Captain Mike Dziavit, Director of Training and Safety Jake Manke, Kyle Seitz, Mark Siego, Donte Esposito, and Andrew Cooke; East Great Plain Chief Keith Milton; Laurel Hill: Fire Chief Aaron Westervelt, Jerry Martin and Michael Carlos; Yantic Captain Bob Allen and Lieutenant Raymond Henry. Citizens Present: I. Call to Order and Quorum: Alderman Nash called the meeting to order at 7:01 PM. There was a quorum present. II. Approval of Minutes: Minutes of Wednesday April 11th, 2018 Alderman Nash motioned, seconded by Alderwoman Philbrick, to approve the Wednesday April 11th, 2018 meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously. III. Correspondence: Alderman Nash reported that he had received an update from Chief Milton of East Great Plain Fire Department as he would not be able to attend the meeting. EGP had 64 calls last month with usual Tuesday night trainings. Their 75th Anniversary is coming up in August and they are working on their new fire escape. They took in one new member making their current roster 50. Mike Dzavit of the Norwich Fire Fighters Local 892 distributed a letter to committee members in regards to the status of the IMC bridge that he stated he had emailed to members before this meeting but had not heard back. IV. Citizen Comment: a) Jerry Martin of Gillette Road Norwich wanted to announce that Laurel Hill Volunteer Fire Department will be having fundraiser July 14th at 6PM, located at the American Legion on Laurel Hill and they are looking for musicians. So far they have one band and then are having ‘open mic’ from community members to follow along with a cookout. Their goal is to move this event year-to-year different firehouses to give the community chance to connect with firemen and to discuss recruitment. b) Mike Dzavit of 248 Browning Road stated he submitted correspondence to all three members but did not hear back so he brought it with him to be entered into record. His correspondence is a follow up to his request of the previous two months of IMC bridge status; MIS has made some movement to complete project and while it’s not complete it is moving forward he does appreciate the help. He stated Mayor Nystrom had reached out to him after last month’s meeting to assist. Mike believes the diverse IT needs of the city have put off the IMC project which shows the depth of IT needs that we have. Mike said he just wanted to reach out to the committee again to work with them in any way he can to get this completed and for the committee’s help in making sure things stay on track. Mike also wished to thank the committee and council for its bipartisan support in saving the fire marshal position as he knows it is on the list of potential cuts year after year. He reported that so far this year there has already been 1,031 fatal fires in the US and the first step in preventing these fatal fires is fire prevention, which goes hand-in-hand with having a fire marshal. V. Old Business: a) Apparatus/ Equipment Financing: – John Salomone reported on April 30th his office received last specifications from various houses and that currently it has been about a week-and-a-half but the purchasing agent is reviewing the specifications and should be done within the next two weeks. He stated following that the formal bid process will promptly start sometime in June and at next month’s meeting he can report back with an actual start date. Alderwoman Philbrick responded that she was happy to hear that reviewing the specifications is a priority for the purchasing agent and to keep the committee, council, and firehouses updated with any setbacks. VI. New Business: a) Norwich Public Utilities Update – Chris LaRose reported that the Occum tank went offline April 7th and is schedule to be back online June 8th and that the Mohegan Park tank that has been offline over a year is scheduled back June 15th. He also stated if anyone is using hydrants for outside training to please let NPU know so they are aware how much water is being used and so that hydrants can be shut down properly. b) Emergency Management: Norwich Fire Department Director of Training and Safety Jake Manke reported that the City of Norwich is a host community site for Groton in the case that Milestone has an emergency plan. The current set up is for Norwich to receive 20% of both towns at Norwich Technical High School to be sanitized and then sent off from there. There is an exercise planned on the 17th of November at Norwich Tech and also a rehearsal on November 3rd with a FEMA evaluator where we will have chance to make revisions before formal exercise. On November 17th we will be graded alone. Jake stated that Emergency Management would be meeting the following week with various firehouses to be read into the plan. They are working to change procedures within the city so that we are at cutting edge of FEMA’s system whereas most state agencies are not. Emergency Management will need help the day of the training as well as a certification staff. Jake reported that there is a tabletop exercise being held October 3rd at McKinley Street Garage as well as the 16th, 23rd, and 30th of July and the first Monday in August. Chief Scandariato added that they are planning to use the 15,000 in the safety fund to enhance the Emergency Management Center’s capabilities and he is aware it is a large undertaking but if done correctly will last the city through the years. c) American Ambulance: None. d) Norwich Police Department: Sergeant Thomas Lazzaro reported that last month NPD responded to 3,910 calls for service and out of those 126 were motor vehicle accidents, 118 arrests and 313 other reports. He stated with the warm weather there has been an increase of motorcycle activity with two bike accidents the previous night. They currently have two offices training on their motorcycle – one for the evening and one of the day. Alderwoman Philbrick asked if the computers were on-board and operational. Sergeant Lazzaro responded that they are and there are two vehicles that had just returned from the city garage but they are planning to get those installed ASAP. e) Fire House Status Updates: Taftville: Chief Timothy Jencks reported they had 58 calls in the past month and several mutual aid responses including the Baltic Mill Fire. Taftville is moving forward with their training program, conducting drills and all members completed physicals. Chief Jencks said he attended the meeting for the New London County Marine Group for the 2019 grant session and put in for some equipment that they have a good chance of getting. He also attended a separate meeting regarding Sail Fest deployment. Taftville has had a busy month they currently have two iPads down as they had a data issue and was collecting data even when in the firehouse. Their server that died at the firehouse three months prior is finally getting installed and they have a construction meeting for the new addition coming up the following week. East Great Plain: None.  Yantic: None. Laurel Hill: none Occum: Chief Bob LaChapelle reported that the fire school training has been very active all through last month with newer recruits looking at extended training through the summer months. Occum has also been working drills with other departments and all members’ physicals are completed. Chief LaChapelle said the firehouse’s BBQ is coming up the first Saturday in June and other than that they’re just preparing for their 75th anniversary on August 4th. Norwich: Chief Scandariato reported all materials have been ordered for the new marine unit and a team has been put together for boat construction assembly. Next they need to send down a representative to go over specifications of the boat. He is shooting for end of September to beginning of October for delivery so there is still time to get in training and there are plans to rewrite general training to accommodate having the new vessel. Chief Scandariato also reported that the firehouse’s exhaust uptake system had been failing and in turn polluting environment but with the help of City Manager John Salomone and the finance department they were able to find funds to get it fixed. Norwich Fire Department has also been approved for transfer of funding to Public Works in order to assist with re-paving of back lot. The firehouse is undergoing their annual PPE instruction which they typically complete in May as they receive reallocated funding in July. Chief Scandariato said he had recently sent out an email regarding the need for new gear in particular new hoods. He said there is a new good out that reduces carcinogens among other things than can be absorbed through the neck area in order to help prevent fire members from getting cancer and they also have a squad to be replaced. Norwich Fire Department received 178 calls during the month of April and also assisted in several mutual aid calls including the Baltic Mill Fire. He added that he was also concerned with the Fire Marshal positioned being considered for reduction each year. Chief Scandariato said that we truly cannot go without one as fire prevention is the first and most important thing that they do. Alderwoman Philbrick asked Chief Scandariato what his plans were to get fuel for the marina tanks as she had heard Joyelle would not be replacing them. Chief Scandariato said they would need to go to Groton or New London to get fuel. Alderwoman Philbrick asked John Salomone if he could look into alternative options as she and the Chief did not think doing this made a lot of sense. VI. Other: Alderman Nash stated he spoke to Bridget Marks about the EAP services for volunteer fire fighters and while the city can cover the first three appointments anything further would be $250 an hour per member or the firehouse can choose to pay $100 per member per year. He said because of the large cost and lack of interested in the past Bridget felt it was more cost effective and logical to use the services case-by-case. Chief Scandariato said he understands the economics but disagrees on the necessity as there is a common  stigma that firefighters are able to handle all of the stresses of the job and if members are to go individually it shows they are reaching out and one of the main issues with getting members to reach out to begin with is they feel as though they are putting a target on themselves. He added that you typically can’t plan when you are going to need this services and the best way to handle PTSD is immediately after an occurrence. He believes presenting the EAP services in this way provides more obstacles to those wishing to receive help opposed to encouraging anonymity and have a number available to those in need at all times. Chief Timothy Jencks said that his firehouse has used a state group for the past 30 years that they offer to their members if they are in need of additional assistance after first three city-covered appointments. Chief Jencks and another member inquired aloud if there were perhaps a collective fund New London County volunteer departments could pay into and get EAP services. Laurel Hill Fire Chief Aaron Westervelt added that there is a national volunteer fire council that has a phone number you can get with a yearly fee and provides one-on-one phone conversations; he will get this information out to other departments. VII. VIII. Adjournment: Upon a motion by Alderman Nash, seconded by Alderman DeLucia, the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 7:56pm Respectfully Submitted, Katherine Rose