Public Safety (Subcommittee of the City Council)

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING Kelly STEAM Middle Magnet School Owens Auditorium 25 Mahan Drive, Norwich, CT Thursday, November 17, 2022 7:00pm Committee Members Present: President Pro Tem Joe DeLucia, Alderwoman Tracey Burto and Alderwoman Stacy Gould. Committee Members Absent: None. Administration and Staff Present: Mayor Peter Nystrom and City Manager John Salomone, City of Norwich. Volunteer/Central Fire Departments and Others: Norwich: Battalion Chief Marc Benjamin; East Great Plain: Chief Keith Milton; Laurel Hill: Chief Aaron Westervelt and Deputy Chief Peter Clark; Occum: None; Yantic: Chief Bill Eyberse and Taftville: Chief Timothy Jencks. Citizens Present: Gerald Martin, Tom Quinley, Alec Carter, Joe McMann, Timothy Coleman, Ellen Juraski, Joanne Philbrick, Kathy Gagnon Sharenholds, Bill Nash, Mike Roll, Ray O’Connell, Steve Caisse, Guissepe Conte and Paul Pilot. I. Call to Order and Quorum: President Pro Tem DeLucia called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. There was a quorum present. II. Citizen Comment: Chief Tim Jencks of 32 Providence Street addressed the committee speaking as a resident and taxpayer of the city. Chief Jencks stated he felt the study lacked a key important component, which was a financial analysis. Chief Jencks stated there was not a benchmark in place to determine if the city is saving or spending more money with either proposed ordinance. Chief Jencks stated the city fire chiefs had met for the past several months and agreed to a six-month trial plan to see if more or less money was spent. Chief Jencks stated the ordinances came as a complete surprise. Chief Jencks stated, upon reading the study over multiple times, he felt it to be very pointed and headed in a certain direction. Chief Jencks questioned the cost of automatic aid and where the funds would come from. Chief Jencks questioned if a cost analysis had been done in regards to the second ordinance for apparatus and asked what the financial aid benefit would be for removing six apparatus throughout the city. Chief Jencks stated questioned if doing would cause an increase in mutual aid partner assistance. Chief Jencks also noted that the fire study showed an impact to the paid department but that had yet to be discussed. Gerald Martin of 19 Gillette Road stated that during his time as a councilperson serving on the Public Safety Committee he realized what little he knew about the fire departments, which led him to become a volunteer member with Laurel Hill. Gerald Martin stated the relationship between the volunteer and paid departments had come a long way during that time; moving from much conflict to working together to do what is best for the city. Gerald Martin stated that developing an ordinance after having the chiefs meet was somewhat shameful and it was sad that things had come to that. Gerald Martin stated that politics did not have a place within public safety. Gerald Martin stated that the chiefs should come together to make decisions and operate as a unit, and not have decisions made for them by politicians. Gerald Martin stated the fire service should be kept apart from the influence of the city council similarly to the way NPU is run. Tom Quinley of 75 Sunnyside Street stated an ordinance of this nature should not be brought forth if the majority of fire chiefs do not support it. Tom Qualey stated the ordinance should not be used as a wedge between the volunteer and paid departments. Tom Qualey continued that the ordinance was not in the best interest of public safety. Tom Qualey stated that unconfirmed apparatus on the road is a waste of time and money for citizens as well as departments responding to scenes. Tom Qualey reported there was a call earlier that day for food on the stove with six departments responding, which he felt was ridiculous. Tom Qualey stated the ordinance seemed political and he did not agree with it. Tom Qualey stated the interests of city council did not seem to align with public interest. Alec Carter of 34 Avery Street Part stated that the first ordinance, removing an apparatus from each volunteer department, seemed to set the city up for failure especially if the city moves to an automatic aid system like the Town of Preston had. Alec Carter stated the town of Montville was a good example of why automatic aid was not a good system. Alec Carter noted that the day prior about ten departments responded to an emergency call in Montville, during which time Preston had a second alarm for medical aid which they were not able to respond to, leaving a lot of Preston citizens unprotected during an approximately 16 hour window. Alec Carter asked how creating the potential for a similar situation was in the best interests of public safety and if the committee was comfortable with repercussions of such an ordinance. Joe McMann of 115 Merchant Street stated that as a resident and homeowner in the city for 40 years he was concerned with potential taxes being spread. Joe McMann stated that having the NFD respond to all calls is ludacris, when volunteer departments fight fires for free. Joe McMann stated that volunteers leave their homes during all hours and conditions to serve the city for free. Joe McMann stated that instead of spreading the CCD tax to all taxpayers, which would need to happen if the paid department began to cover the entire city, the council should be fostering careering heroes and lowering the need of the paid department, which was called on in the fire study. Joe McMann asked the committee to please support the free departments and to limit the service of the paid department. Joe McMann stated the ordinance would cause the cost of the paid department to balloon to 30 million dollars and questioned the value in that decision. Joe McMann stated the volunteer departments were the fabric of the communities they serve and asked the committee to not tamper with some of the city’s greatest assets. Joe McMann stated that some of the volunteer departments had existed for over 100 years and questioned if during that time had anyone claimed that they did a bad job or cost too much money. Mayor Peter Nystrom of 36 Laurel Heights Road stated he thought the introduction of both ordinances was premature and the committee should allow the work being done by the 6 chiefs and city manager to move forward. Mayor Nystrom continued that data is collected on a month to month basis and reports are submitted each month, which have value. Mayor Nystrom stated that introducing the ordinance now without the knowledge of 5 out of 6 chiefs, who were all working together, is a disservice to every citizen and taxpayer. Mayor Nystrom stated this action would be dividing the chiefs again which is not in the best interest of the city of Norwich. Mayor Nystrom asked the committee to postpone the ordinance and continue collecting data. Mayor Nystrom stated that rushing to a vote would be harmful. Mayor Nystrom requested again that the committee postpone any action and when the ordinance came to a vote by council on December 5th to ensure the draft includes the data outlined within the report. Mayor Nystrom asked that the committee not walk away from an opportunity to show leadership. Timothy Coleman of 1 Sherwood Lane stated he wished citizens were better versed on the specifics of automatic aid between paid and volunteer departments. Timothy Coleman stated that to his knowledge that had always been a decision amongst chiefs and that not one volunteer department had ever been found responsible for non-response or negligence. Timothy Coleman discussed previous comments that had been made in the past by certain council people that he felt were insensitive to volunteer departments. Timothy Coleman noted that President Pro Tem Joe DeLucia had been quoted at one time in the local paper regarding how dangerous traffic on West Main Street was, and questioned what road the NFD would be traveling on to respond to increased calls. Timothy Coleman stated he did not understand reducing apparatus amongst volunteer departments to reduce response time. Timothy Coleman stated he felt operational costs will increase dramatically and noted that the volunteer personnel were also taxpayers. Timothy Coleman asked where the funds would come from to pay for this additional expense. Timothy Coleman noted that according to the East Great Plain website they attended 956 calls in 2021, all without incident. Timothy Coleman stated that he was unsure of why automatic aid response was needed and felt it was a misuse of taxpayer money. Ellen Juraski of Dunham Street questioned why after utilizing volunteer fire departments for over 100 years the city no longer had a use for them. Ellen Juraski questioned why as a taxpayer she was only informed of the ordinance by an article in the paper. Ellen Juraski questioned why taxpayers were not informed and what is to be gained. Ellen Juraski stated that taxes would be raised because of a personal issue with the volunteer fire depts. Ellen Juraski questioned the motivations behind the ordinance as the volunteer departments were never accused of wrongdoing. Joanne Philbrick of 10 Elm Avenue stated she had been involved with the city for 20 years during which time she had witness issues with transparency. Joanne Philbrick stated she felt the ordinance was a political move as she felt the vote on the ordinance was being pushed through to the council before the loss of council member seats that could be filled with republican candidates. Joanne Philbrick stated she felt as though the push was for the ordinance to go through while there was still a democratic majority on the city council. Joanne Philbrick stated the ordinance seemed to be about power and control, not public safety. Joanne Philbrick stated she supported both volunteer and career firefighters but noted that the volunteers have a different mindset. Joanne Philbrick stated that it saddened her that it did not seem there was concern from the council for the citizens in the city. Joanne Philbrick stated if that were the case information would be shared and Public Safety Committee members would be out in the community explaining the need for the ordinance to help people understand. Joanne Philbrick stated she had spoken to the mayor the day prior who told her the ordinances had not come up that past Tuesday during agenda setting for the next council meeting. Joanne Philbrick echoed Gerald Martin’s statement that politics should not be involved in public safety. Kathy Gagnon Farenholtz stated that as a lifelong city resident she was disgusted that 5 out of the 6 city fire chiefs did not have a say on the ordinance that was to be moved on and nothing seemed to be transparent. Kathy Gagnon Sharenholds stated she was the wife of a volunteer firefighter and experienced her husband leaving their home in the middle of the night to save a complete stranger, for no pay. Kathy Gagnon Sharenholds stated the committee needed to take a look at the other side of the equation and try to listen to concerns. Bill Nash of 21 Harland Ave stated he served on council for 12 years and as far as he could remember the fire departments had always fought amongst themselves like siblings. Bill Nash stated that after 12 years of sitting on the Public Safety Committee he also knew that the commitment from the volunteer and paid firefighters was beyond reproach. Bill Nash stated that during his tenure he worked to try and improve the relationship between the departments. Bill Nash stated that discussion of one city tax had occurred before and he did not see how the council could not address spreading the CCD tax if the paid department began to serve the TCD. Bill Nash stated he did not support a fire study originally and did not feel the money used was adequate to the service of the study. Bill Nash stated he did not feel the fire studies had even been followed and that it now seemed items were being cherry picked from the most recent study. Bill Nash questioned if the size of the paid department had been decreased, which was also noted in the study. Bill Nash stated that codification did need to happen but not at this time and that there was no pressing concern for it to occur. Bill Nash recommended the committee pay attention to what codification would cost and how it works. Bill Nash stated that increased response by the paid department will cause a loss of interest from the volunteer responders, and it should not be that way. Bill Nash noted that the volunteer firefighters serve on their own time and that the city needed their support regardless of the time of responses. Bill Nash questioned if the city needed to go down a path that would diminish the value of those volunteers and take away their opportunity to respond to calls. Bill Nash stated the chiefs should be given the time to agree upon automatic aid response, to acquire more data, and then start codification then if it needs to happen. Bill Nash stated that rushing through the ordinance at the last minute was doing a disservice to paid and volunteer departments. Chief Keith Milton of 400 New London Turnpike stated that the fire chiefs had met with the city manager for months developing a policy. Chief Milton stated it took some work to get his members at East Great Plain on board, who had a lot of questions that were answered. Chief Milton stated that hearing about the ordinance was a slap in the face. Chief Milton stated he took time off from his job to meet with the chiefs and city manager and for an ordinance to come out instructing the chiefs on how to operate made his work feel like wasted time. Chief Milton respectfully asked on behalf of himself and EGP that the ordinances were not approved and that the chiefs continued to work together. Chief Milton stated if the chiefs needed assistance they would come to the committee. Chief Bill Eyberse of 44 FItchville Road stated he felt very fortunate not only firefighters but the general public was expressing their disapproval of what was occuring. Chief Eyberse echoed that all six city fire chiefs from the paid and volunteer departments have been working together for months and providing monthly updates to the Public Safety Committee. Chief Eyberse stated the committee had also received monthly updates from the city manager so that they were aware of exactly what was happening in the meetings and the status of the plan. Chief Eyberse stated the agreed upon plan was scheduled to be implemented on November 1st, 2022 and then two days prior the ordinances were released, seemingly out of nowhere. Chief Eyberse stated the ordinances were developed by people with no fire service background, which was almost unconscionable. Chief Eyberse noted that people were starting to discuss the fact that the ordinances were a potential gateway to spread the CCD tax through the city and laid groundwork for that to be hidden behind the ordinances. Chief Eyberse stated that after the completion of the fire study the departments were encouraged to train and work together. Chief Eyberse stated that every month the committee listened to the different departments working together yet the committee was attempting to drive a wedge between them. Chief Eyberse stated he did not feel the committee was serving as leaders and felt the ordinance was government overreach, not oversight. Mike Roll of 202 North Wawecus Hill Road stated he owned a business in the industry park, as well as being a citizen of Norwich. MikeRoll stated he had no affiliation with any fire department but he was concerned with talks of the city spending more money in the current climate. Mike Roll stated the city spent 80,000 dollars on a fire study within which it states the city of Norwich’s volunteer departments buck national trends. Mike Roll stated the city has an incredible resource at its disposal and the relationship between departments is 10-to-one in comparison to neighboring towns. Mike Roll stated that firemen are good firefighters but there is an 11 million dollar difference. Mike Roll stated that as the city was not in a position to discuss spending more money. Mike Roll stated it was his understanding that the volunteer departments had never failed to do their jobs. Mile Roll stated the volunteer departments should not be pitted against the paid departments, and while he did not believe that was the intention of the council or the Public Safety Committee, the volunteer departments are a valuable asset that should be utilized. Mike Roll noted the amount of citizens that came out to speak on what they believe in and for the committee to do anything less of what has been requested is irresponsible. Mike Roll stated the Public Safety Committee should not be making recommendations on the operations of the fire service when there are fire service members contributing their vast knowledge. Mike Roll implored the committee to utilize that knowledge and the assets they have that others do not. Chief Aaron Westervelt of 16 Laurel Circle Drive echoed what had been said by others. Chief Westervelt stated that when the fire study came out he had felt that an hour long meeting to determine how fire service works in Norwich was inadequate. Chief Westervelt stated the city spent a lot of money on study, but very little was done in person. Chief Westervelt continued that the study said to cut apparatus without discussing their use with the departments. Chief Westervelt stated that a lot of the information in the study was inaccurate and no follow up conversation occurred after it was published. Chief Westervelt stated almost a year later the city puts forth an ordinance calling for a repeat of the process. Chief Westerverlt stated that during his time with the city five or six apparatus studies were completed and every time nothing progressed. Chief Westervelt stated the ordinance being put forth is not what is best for the citizens of Norwich. Chief Westervelt stated, in regards to the automatic aid ordinance, the chiefs had worked together for 10 months to develop a plan that they felt was sufficient. Chief Westervelt stated the ordinance was put in without consultation from the volunteer fire chiefs, who were not even invited to the meeting where the ordinance was drafted. Chief Westervelt questioned why the city would not consult the volunteer fire departments who have a collective 150 years of service to the town. Chief Westervelt stated a group meeting was never requested prior to the ordinance. Chief Westervelt requested that the ordinance be tabled so that the chiefs can continue to do what they originally sat down to do; which is to develop a working six-month plan to collect data before moving forward with anything. Chief Westervelt stated the ordinance would hurt the volunteer service. Ray O’Connell of 320 Otrandbo Avenue stated he had experienced several fire studies through the years during which some items in the studies were implemented and others were not. Ray O’Connell stated that regardless there was always a group of fire chiefs and council people reviewing the study together and developing a plan. Ray O’Connell stated the same should happen with the current Public Safety Committee. Ray O’Connell stated that if the ordinance is passed the city would lose its volunteer fire services as time progressed. Ray O’Connell stated the CCD tax would be spread through the town and citizens would not be happy. Ray O’Connell questioned what it would cost the city for full paid fire protection. Ray O’Connell stated the city is in the midst of building new schools, the police department was seeking a new station and taxes were already being increased. Ray O’Connell stated that spreading the paid fire service would require new departments since the city does not own volunteer department buildings. Ray O’Connell stated that each city district has its own unique items going on, and while the fire services are united as a group the areas they service require different and specialized equipment. Ray O’Connell stated the Public Safety Committee needed to sit down with the fire chiefs to develop a good plan. Ray O’Connell stated the fire chiefs had worked very hard with the city manager to develop a plan just to be hit with an ordinance that they did not have any say in. Steve Caisse stated he recently celebrated 50 years as a fireman and one thing that irked him is the entire system would be broken by what has been proposed, similar to what is occurring in nearby towns. Steve Caisse stated that Waterford had approximately 300 volunteer firefighters before making a similar move with automatic aid. Steve Caisse stated currently if NFD has a large fire call they can call on volunteer departments for assistance. Steve Caisse questioned where that assistance would come from if the volunteer firefighters leave. Guissepe Conte of 15 Malavenda Lane questioned how politicians would feel if  volunteer department personnel were not available to save a family member of their own. Deputy Chief Peter Clark of 46 Perry Avenue stated he did not understand how the city council got to this point. Deputy Chief Clark stated he did not understand either ordinance and did not feel the council was listening to any citizen or firefighter. Deputy Chief Clark stated the council was operating on their own agenda and questioned why this was being done. Deputy Chief Clark stated the council would not communicate with chiefs or listen to them and it did not make any sense. Deputy Chief Clark stated the ordinances were a matter of public safety and he was not feeling comfortable with what was being done due to a lack of listening. Paul Pilot of 479 New London Turnpike stated his family served the city in between the fire, police and utilities services for nearly 50 years. Paul Pilot stated the Public Safety Committee should focus on public safety and put tax money and focus where it is needed, not elsewhere. Public comment was closed at 7:54 PM. III. New Business: a. City Council referral regarding Ordinance 8-17 Alderwoman Burto made a motion to make a favorable recommendation to the City Council to adopt Ordinance 8-17 regarding the Automatic-Aid policy for the city’s Fire Service. President Pro Tem DeLucia seconded. Alderwoman Gould stated that she could speak about how the two ordinances were brought forward between ink was even dry on the proposed automatic aid policy or about how the ordinance is about demoralizing volunteer service in the city and dissuading volunteers to get out of bed in the middle of the night, during their personal time, because someone needs help. Alderwoman Gould stated the ordinance is about dissuading the volunteers from showing up and that is about driving a wedge between the volunteer and paid departments. Alderwoman Gould read aloud a statement written by Chief Tracy Montoya, “The group agreed to go forward with an automatic aid response policy for a sixth month period before evaluating. The city manager made a plea to all of us to give this initiative a fair shot to succeed. We've been working on that for months and have made great progress to reach the implementation date of November first. The proposed ordinance and the timing of it are not the initiative of myself nor the city manager, if I may speak for him. I have worked hard to further a positive relationship with all of the chiefs and I hope that they can see that the proposed ordinance is the result of efforts of council members and not my work or that of the city.” Alderwoman Gould stated that the city needs to let the automatic aid policy agreed upon by the 6 chiefs be evaluated, studied and reported back to the Public Safety Committee for next 6 months. Alderwoman Gould suggested letting the professionals decide what is working and what doesn’t work. Alderwoman Gould stated that pitting the paid department against the volunteers was not in the best interest of public safety. Alderwoman Gould stated she could not support making a favorable recommendation to the city council at that time. President Pro Tem DeLucia stated that the ordinance is a direct result of the work done by the chiefs. President Pro Tem DeLucia stated that if one were to compare the policy written and the 8-17 ordinance they would see that the two are mirror images of each other. President Pro Tem DeLucia noted that the ordinance did contain a lot of references to the charter which he felt was necessary as the city  needed to be in line with it and state statutes. President Pro Tem DeLucia added that the ordinance provides for refinement every six months and for the city manager to convene a chiefs’ meeting to overview the ordinance. President Pro Tem DeLucia stated that latitude and flexibility were built into the ordinance and it was not carved in stone. President Pro Tem DeLucia stated that as soon as there was word of the ordinance 5 of the chiefs abandoned the automatic aid agreement that they had worked very hard on. President Pro Tem DeLucia stated that many of the reports received during the past 11 months of the chiefs meeting in regards to automatic aid provided reasons it could not be done in the city, which he felt was not acceptable. President Pro Tem stated that the chiefs continued to meet and came up with a working product that they were all in agreement on, however once it was put into an ordinance they abandoned that plan by means of a pointed letter. President Pro Tem stated that action showed the need for an ordinance, which could not be abandoned by a knee-jerk reaction. President Pro Tem stated the city manager simply reinforces policy as part of his job. President Pro Tem stated the ordinance was merely taking the valued work product and turning it into the rules by which the city operates. President Pro Tem DeLucia stated the ordinance was not an attempt to drive a wedge or spread the CCD tax amongst the city. President Pro Tem DeLucia stated that one thing that could be said of the ordinance is that it puts the protection of lives and property ahead of all other concerns, where it belonged. Alderwoman Burto and President Pro Tem DeLucia voted in favor. Alderwoman Gould voted in opposition. The motion passed. b. City Council referral regarding Ordinance 8-18 Alderwoman Burto made a motion to make a favorable recommendation to the City Council to adopt Ordinance 8-18 regarding the implementation of recommendations from the Study of the city’s Fire Service report. President Pro Tem DeLucia seconded. President Pro Tem DeLucia stated he felt the ordinance demonstrated the fiscal responsibility for oversight of the fire service finally brought to fruition. Alderwoman Gould questioned, in regards to implementing the fire study, when the reduction of staff in the paid department would be addressed as it was also mentioned. Alderwoman Burto and President Pro Tem DeLucia voted in favor. Alderwoman Gould voted in opposition. The motion passed. IV. Adjournment: Upon a motion by Alderwoman Burto seconded by President Pro Tem DeLucia, the meeting was adjourned at 8:01 PM. All voted in favor. The motion passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Katherine Rose