Public Safety Committee

Public Safety Committee Meeting Held in the Roswell Public Library Tuesday, January 14, 2020, at 4:30 p.m. The meeting convened at 4:30 p.m. with Councilor Jeanine Best presiding, Councilor Angela Moore, Councilor Steve Henderson, and Mike Mathews present. Councilor Barry Foster was absent. Staff Present: Chief Devin Graham RFD, Captain Kim Northcut RPD, Captain Mike Taylor RPD, Teri Best PVRCC, Jill Pollock RFD, Tim Davidson NM Mounted Patrol, Megan Telles Kennel Manager, Karen Sanders Emergency Manager, and Mike Taylor RPD. Others attending were: Larry Connelly and Alex Ross. AGENDA APPROVA A motion to approve the agenda was made by Councilor Moore and seconded by Councilor Henderson. A voice vote was unanimous and the motion passed, with Councilor Foster being absent. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. A motion to approve the Minutes for December 17, 2019 was made by Councilor Moore and seconded by Councilor Henderson. A voice vote was unanimous and the motion passed with Councilor Foster being absent. REGULAR ITEMS 2. Condemnations: Resolution 20-XX. A motion to pass Resolution 20-XX and send to the Consent Agenda, as presented, was made by Councilor Henderson and seconded by Councilor Moore. A voice vote was unanimous, and the motion passed with Councilor Foster being absent. NON-ACTION ITEMS 3. None INFORMATION 4. Department Updates: Roswell Police: Captain Kim Northcut stated that Police recruitment night will be January 21, 2020 from 7pm to 9pm. The event will be held at the convention center. Sixteen uniformed officers from various departments will be on hand along with six department vehicles. Teri Best and one more employee from PVRCC will be there to give support. Captain Northcut stated the RPD currently has 15 open slots. Currently twelve are going through the hiring process with four soon to be starting academy. This coming Friday one new officer and one new PSA will be sworn in. Roswell Fire: Chief Devin Graham stated the contract for Superior Ambulance Service comes up this July. This will most likely go out to RFP once the decision regarding changes to the contract is made. With regards to this subject Chief Graham noted that current transfers from medical facilities to higher level of care, throughout southeastern New Mexico, is measured in days not hours. The way the Certificate of Necessity is written, nothing inhibits the RFD from doing transports. Currently the certificate is owned by RFD and leased to Superior Ambulance. RFD is working with the PRC and are confident they could transport and transfer patients as necessary. RFD recently took a donation of an ambulance that is much newer then the current ambulance. This will help with transfers and back up. Chief Graham put out an open invitation for everyone to come to the station and look around or do a ride along to see the current challenges and conditions faced by the department. He will also give a presentation to the full council in February regarding the scope of the RFD. Chief Graham stated there are currently ten open spots. Three new recruits were hired in January and one resigned today. The current hiring process had 35 applicants apply with 17 showing up for the physical. Fourteen moved on to the written test and ten went on to the interviews. A list of eight names has been sent for background checks. This Friday a delegate of firefighters and the Honor Guard will be going to a funeral for the Lubbock firefighter who passed away in the line of duty. They will be there to support the Lubbock fire department and backfill stations as needed. Chief Graham completed by stating that there was a personnel matter that had made the news. He stated he could not currently comment on the matter but the firefighter has been placed on paid administrative leave and the situation is being investigated internally.  Emergency Management: Karen Sanders stated she worked in December with Otero County on an emergency action plan on dams that effect residents, commercial structures and a school. She stated it was a joint project between Chaves and Otero County. The new hazard mitigation plan is still being worked on. The survey for this is still ongoing. An emergency exercise was performed with the Kidney Dialysis center involving a water outage. Ham Radios and a new antenna were installed at station three. Karen Sanders stated that she was currently open to suggestions regarding a back- up person for her in the event that she is away or ill. Currently Mike Matthews is her back-up but in the event of an emergency Mike Matthews would be busy with other issues. Dispatch: Teri Best stated the Radio Communication Improvement Project was moving along well this month. Code 3 is at dispatch today working on calibrating the back-up radios. Dispatch is close to being ready for the big project. The new antenna is ready for placement on the Sun Bank Building. They are currently waiting for a crane large enough to reach the top of the building. This will be a one day switch out. Teri Best stated that staffing remains to be an issue. They are working to understand why so many recruits do not make it through training and believe they are coming to an understanding. With the hiring of one more person Dispatch will be fully staffed. Teri stated administrative call are an issue that she is working on with Mike Matthews. The goal would be to reduce the strain of administrative calls so the focus can be on emergency and 911 calls 5. Councilor Jeanine Best announced the next meeting will be held February 18, 2020, at 4:30 pm at City Hall. CHAIR ANNOUNCEMENT / REPORTS None PUBLIC PARTICIPATION None ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 5:02 p.m.