Public Safety Committee (Meets 3rd Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m.)

Proceedings of the Public Safety Committee August 18, 2021 Members Present: Councilor Elm Councilor Sutherland Councilor Bender Councilor Ledin Others Present: Chief Alexander, Chief Gordon, Lt. Trone, Tina Anrig, Councilor Van Sickle, Shelley Nelson Some participants joined the meeting via Google Meet. Councilor Sutherland called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. and noted that Donna Swanson recorded all participants for roll call. Approval of minutes: April 21, 2021 Motion by Councilor Elm, seconded by Councilor Bender and carried to approve the Public Safety meeting minutes from April 21, 2021. Standing Agenda items: 1. Fire Department Update Chief Gordon talked about the joint Dive team. The team is active and has had two recent incidents. We are continuing with the dive team model and evolving it. The team is comprised of the Fire department, the Police department and the Douglas County Sheriff’s department. Chief Gordon believes that the team is doing things that would be considered cutting edge, and the team is in the upper echelon of the upper Midwest. There are now federal agencies that are seeking the skills of the team. Chief Gordon also talked about the Rescue Task Force Model. This team is comprised of both the police and fire departments, and it is utilized when police and fire go into a hot or warm zone, commonly for an active shooter situation. The program is up and running and training takes place on a regular basis. Chief Gordon has put in a request for the fire department personnel on this team to obtain equipment necessary for this purpose, such as ballistic vests. Lastly, Chief Gordon talked about two recent traffic fatalities that the department has responded to. Chief Gordon said that the department analyzes all of these fatalities internally, to see if they can learn from the situation, and possibly have a chance of saving people’s lives. 2. Police Department Update Chief Alexander said the department is busy and running steady. Hiring has been a big activity in the last seven months. We have hired ten new officers during this time. Five of those officers are in the Field Training Program, and five are in two different recruit school classes. This means we are working short because these new officers are unable to work the street yet. There has been a lot of overtime and forced shifts to fill the gaps. As we near the end of the year and those people phase out of training into being solo officers, we’ll be in better shape. We’ll be able to begin resuming activities that we’ve done in the past, that are just difficult to do with minimal staffing. The Coordinated Response Specialist position has been filled. We had over 30 applicants, 27 of them were very well qualified. Those applicants were interviewed and we narrowed that pool down to five and then the chief and some community members interviewed those five candidates. We made a conditional offer to Jennifer Stank. Jen has worked in the criminal justice system for most of the last twenty years. She currently works in the District Attorney’s office as the Victim Witness Coordinator. Chief Alexander thinks she will be a great fit for this position with her experience and education. It is a conditional offer so there are medical and psychological and other tests that have to take place. The plan is for her to begin her position in mid-September. No action New Business 1. Elections Motion by Councilor Bender, seconded by Councilor Elm and carried to elect Councilor Sutherland as Committee Chair. Motion by Councilor Elm, seconded by Councilor Sutherland and carried to elect Councilor Ledin as Vice Chair. 2. Director Janigo: Update on parking-Weeks Avenue Motion by Councilor Elm, seconded by Councilor Sutherland and carried to hold this item in committee. 3. Lt. Trone, recommendation: Odd side parking only, 3000-3100 North 19th Street Motion by Councilor Sutherland, seconded by Councilor Bender and carried to approve odd side parking only on the 3000‐3100 North 19th Street. 4. Wisconsin Point Parking Enforcement Motion by Councilor Elm, seconded by Councilor Sutherland and carried to hold this item in committee. 5. N. 58th St Traffic Enforcement Motion by Councilor Bender, seconded by Councilor Sutherland to table this item. Meeting adjourned at 6:56 p.m.