Public Safety (Subcommittee of the City Council)

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES Wednesday June 13, 2018 Yantic Fire House 151 Yantic Street, Yantic 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: Captain James Veiga, Norwich Police Department; John Salomone, City Manager, City of Norwich; Christopher LaRose, Assistant General Manager, Norwich Public Utilities; Damian Rickard, Director of Emergency Management and Joey Hundley, Director of Operations, American Ambulance. Volunteer/Central Fire Departments and Others: Occum Chief Bob LaChapelle; Taftville Assistant Chief William Hadam and Deputy Chief Tom Jencks; Norwich Director of Training and Safety Jake Manke and Mike Dzavit; East Great Plains Captain Jay Coleman; Laurel Hill: Captain Pete Clark, Jerry Martin and Michael Carlos; Yantic Chief Frank Blanchard and Ken Leo. Citizens Present: Brian Kobylarz of 16 Hobart Avenue, Jerry Martin of Gillette Road and Mike Dzavit of 248 Browning Road. I. Call to Order and Quorum: Alderman Nash called the meeting to order at 7:06 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 May 9, 2018 meeting minutes. The motion passed unanimously. III. Correspondence: Alderman Nash reported that he had received an update from Chief Scandariato – will read during monthly updates. IV. Citizen Comment: a) Jerry Martin of Gillette Road Norwich reported that Laurel Hill Volunteer Fire Department was supposed to have their fundraiser on July 14th but terrible accident and tragedy happened to a member involved so they’ve postponed until next year. b) Brian Kobylarz of 16 Hobart Avenue said he has been in discussion with several people especially Chief Pat Daly concerning some public events in places like Howard Brown Park and the potential acquisition of water- fillable jersey barriers to prevent cars, etc. from encroaching into public area for safety. Chief Daly is looking into it to see if the cost can be split with Public Works and NPU as they’re inexpensive and could also be used when blocking off streets from traffic. c) Mike Dzavitz of 248 Browning stated the IMC bridge he has brought up at the last several meeting has been mostly finished but not yet complete at firehouse so again just shows again how diverse the city’s technology needs are but yet only have two IT personnel. Mike said that, paraphrasing Alderwoman Gould’s statements at financing hearing, it’s believed the lowered budget for the City Firehouse could be compensated by the volunteer houses but there’s nothing to support that mentality. He said understands the need for shared sacrifice but he asked his Chief their numbers to see how long the approved funding would last them and was told only 30 weeks into the year. He said if that does turn to be true than the career fire departments and volunteer houses will really need to come together and meet regularly. Mike said he wished for the next agenda to reflect discussion and planning on this subject. V. Old Business: a) Apparatus/ Equipment Financing: – Alderman Nash stated he spoke with City Manager John Salomone, who is in attendance, regarding apparatuses and was told everything is on target and moving along. Alderman Nash said he would stay on top of this and give updates at each meeting. VI. New Business: a) Norwich Public Utilities Update – Assistant General Manager Chris LaRose reported that the Mohegan Park tank has completed filling earlier today; they will now gonna go through the disinfection process and then the tank will be back online in next week or so. He said the Occum tank is tentatively on schedule for beginning of August but they are leaning on contractor as he is way behind. Regarding the pipeline project there is a signed agreement with Sprague and CLA is doing design which they are hoping to have out for review next week. The Occum & Sprague firehouses will look at locations where hydrants will be and then they will need to get state approvals from there b) Emergency Mgmt: None. c) American Ambulance: The new Director of Operations Joey Huntley stated AA just picked up a Ledyard contract but it will not impact public safety in Norwich. d) Norwich Police Department Captain James Veiga reported that last month was moderate with 3600 calls, 117 accidents 186 arrests. They just hired new dispatcher who is beginning Monday and they’re planning to get a second. e) Fire House Status Updates: Taftville: Deputy Chief Tom Jencks said they started construction last week on addition. There were 63 calls last month with the dive team activated on Memorial Day in regards to the missing kayakers. Earlier in the month Flash Fire Industries came in to do a training with other departments in attendance. East Great Plains: Captain Jay Coleman reported there were 87 Calls, regular training Tuesday nights and regular maintenance for apparatus. Their 75th anniversary is coming up in August which kicks off August 5th with their rededication ceremony. On August 9th they will be having a carnival and August 11th a night parade starting at 5pm with fireworks at 9pm. They are also hosting a chicken barbeque on June 23rd with proceeds going toward their anniversary. Yantic: Chief Frank Blanchard stated membership is currently at 59 and firework season is starting up this Friday at Dodd Stadium. Yantic’s training class that was scheduled earlier in the month has been pushed until July. They are also planning a rural water supply drill for the end of summer on Plain Hill Road and will get more information out on that. Chief Blanchard said that apparatus are all in service at this time with no major defects. Their plans for the station repairs are now complete after 14 months and are going to Mr. Hathaway hopefully this week. Chief Blanchard wanted to make the committee aware that they received an ‘end of life’ notice from Kenwood on the 90’s series radios which are in most of their rigs. They have given one month left to order supplies and then they will not be supporting them any longer. He said that last year they mentioned the end of life notices came out on their portable radios which is starting to affect them now. Chief said if the current radio upgrade bond for the City doesn’t come to fruition in the next few years it will put them in a tricky situation with different radios in each of the rigs. Laurel Hill: Captain Pete Clark reported that the hood for the kitchen will be getting started shortly and they are in the process of getting a replacement thermal camera. He said this month was extremely tight for them financially.  Occum: Chief Bob LaChapelle said they are doing well at the station and have a lot of in-house and out-of-house training scheduled for the next 2-3 months. Norwich: Alderman Nash received email correspondence from Chief Scandariato on June 12th stating they have a meeting to purchase Capitol funded items on July 2nd. The firehouse’s current working items are replacement of AED’s, PPE, communications equipment, and the firehouse’s windows. They are updating the budget to reflect new allocation and undergoing a selection of a new command car by the BC subcommittee. Norwich has received 44 SCBA’s that were grant-funded through the CDBG grant for $352,134. Chief Scandariato also reported that the firehouse’s exhaust system upgrade is complete and the Marine 1 replacement first visit was successful with the first installment allocated. They are currently collaborating with Norwich Public Works on their windows and parking lot resurfacing as well as with the volunteer departments on operational items and structure fire in East Great Plains. The Chief reported their needs are getting the IMC bridge fully complete, cross training done in all departments and to have Squad A earmarked for replacement in Capital for 2019-20 fiscal year. VI. Other: Alderman Nash reminded departments that their updates need to focus on what their needs are especially with the ongoing budget cuts. He stated that at the recent budget meeting there were things brought up that he did not recall hearing in any of the previous Public Safety Committee meetings. Alderman Nash said he wants all need to be brought up in the Public Safety meetings so it is public knowledge that the budget pays for things that the departments need to function properly. VII. Future Agenda Items: ICM Bridge update and discussion of Chiefs’ meetings. VIII. Adjournment: Upon a motion by Alderman Nash, seconded by Alderman DeLucia, the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 7:37pm Respectfully Submitted, Katherine Rose