Board of Public Safety

Approved by the Board of Public Safety MINUTES August 7, 2024 Vol. 7, Page 613 BOARD OF PUBLIC SAFETY Vote: Unanimous REGULAR MEETING City Hall Auditorium / Zoom June 5, 2024 A REGULAR MEETING of the Board of Public Safety was held on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. Attendance was in person and by Zoom. Present at the City Hall Auditorium were Mayor Elinor Carbone, Commissioners Tylar Young, Joe McElroy, Doug Benedetto, Glenn McLeod, and Darlene Battle, Police Chief William Baldwin, Fire Chief Eric Borden, Trinity Health EMS Manager Jeff Ganung, and Torringford VFD Commissioner James Potter. No one participated via Zoom. Commissioner Gregg Cogswell, Deputy Police Chief Bart Barown, and Deputy Fire Chief David Tripp were absent. Mayor Carbone called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance. Swearing In Ceremony for The Firefighters Mayor Elinor Carbone, Justice of the Peace administered the Oath of Office to Nicholas Boswell, Torrington Fire Department Firefighter. Mayor Elinor Carbone, Justice of the Peace administered the Oath of Office to Mark Hally, Torrington Fire Department Firefighter. Mayor Elinor Carbone, Justice of the Peace administered the Oath of Office to Richard Maloney, Torrington Fire Department Firefighter. Mayor Ellinor Carbone, Justice of the Peace administered the Oath of Office to Christopher Wihbey, Torrington Fire Department Firefighter. Trinity Health EMS Manager Jeff Ganung presented Ken Schaffer with his Lieutenant bars after being promoted to Paramedic Field Supervisor. Public Comment On a motion by Commissioner McLeod, seconded by Commissioner Benedetto, the Board voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public. No one from the public wished to speak. Meeting Minutes Approval On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner McLeod, the Board voted unanimously to accept the Regular Meeting Minutes from April 3, 2024. On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner Young, the Board voted to accept the Special Budget Meeting Minutes from May 14, 2024. Commissioner McLeod abstained. On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner Battle, the Board voted unanimously to accept the Special Joint Budget Meeting Minutes with the City Council from May 20, 2024. Police Department – Completion of Probationary Period On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner McElroy, the Board voted unanimously to accept Officers Anthony Arvelo, Logan Covello, and Matthias Ekstrand as regular members of the Torrington Police Department, after successfully completing their probationary period effective June 18, 2024. Commissioner Benedetto asked if the Officers were all doing well, and Chief Baldwin said they were. Commissioner McLeod said he would like to see the Officers at the meeting when they complete their probationary period. On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner Young, the Board voted unanimously to add Section B to the agenda. SECTION B On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner McLeod, the Board voted unanimously to enter into executive session pursuant to C.G.S. §1-200(6)(a) regarding personnel promotions at 6:51 p.m. inviting Chief Borden. On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner Young, the Board voted unanimously to go into open session at 7:10 p.m. On a motion by Commissioner McElroy, seconded by Commissioner Battle, the Board voted on the recommendation of Fire Chief Eric Borden, the Board voted unanimously to approve the promotion of Justin Maksymiuk to Deputy Fire Marshal. *Note: Per Chief Borden the effective date is June 10, 2024. * Police Department Reports On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner McLeod, the Board voted unanimously to accept Police Chief Baldwin’s reports for March and April 2024. Commissioner McLeod asked about the Police Department’s Tier 3 accreditation and if there were different tiers, Chief Baldwin explained that there were three different Tiers and standards for each Tier. Tier 3 is the highest accreditation a Police Department can receive, and Torrington Police Department was one of the first to reach this accreditation. Commissioner Benedetto asked how the Police candidates were doing, Chief MINUTES Vol. 7, Page 614 BOARD OF PUBLIC SAFETY REGULAR MEETING City Hall Auditorium / Zoom June 5, 2024 Baldwin told the Board that they had sent 14 conditional offers, however, due to polygraph, psychological, background, and still losing candidates to other departments. He said they have two candidates out of the original 14. He stated that the whole state is having the same problem. The department will continue to recruit and attend job fairs. Chief Baldwin said the biggest issue is the recruits are looking for a pension. Fire Department Reports On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner Young, the Board voted unanimously to accept Fire Chief Borden’s reports for March and April 2024. Commissioner Benedetto asked why there was so much overtime, Chief Borden said it is the time of year when vacations pick up, but it will even out. Commissioner McElroy asked if they are working on replacing the two Firefighters who left, Chief Borden said they will be looking into that. EMS Provider Reports On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner Young, the Board voted unanimously to accept the EMS Provider Activity reports for March and April 2024. On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner Mcleod, the Board voted unanimously to add by a 2/3 vote the Board of Public Safety’s evaluation of the two Chiefs. On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner McLeod, the Board voted unanimously to allow the Board of Safety to evaluate the Police Chief and Fire Chief goals and criteria set by the Policy Committee and come back to the full Board for approval. Commissioner McLeod said it’s in the Management Resolution that the Board of Public Safety and the Mayor evaluate the Chiefs. Commissioner Benedetto added that the Policy Committee will set goals and criteria for the evaluation. Commissioner McLeod stated this must be done soon to coincide with the fiscal year. Mayor Carbone suggested that the Policy Committee would want to work with the Chiefs, with Human Resources and Corporation Counsel. The policy would dictate what the evaluation will look like. Commissioner Battle asked what the Policy Committee would do, and Commissioner Benedetto said they would be setting goals, so the Chiefs know what direction the Board of Safety would like them to go. The Policy Committee will be setting annual short-term and long-term goals. Mayor Carbone clarified the motion stating that the Board would be established as an evaluator of the performance of the Chiefs, the process for developing those goals, and to develop a document for evaluation, which is why Corporation Counsel and Human Resources can help. She said the first step would be to have the Policy Committee establish a policy naming the Board as the evaluators for the Chiefs, next would be developing goals, to be established by the Policy Committee. On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner McLeod the Board voted unanimously to add by a 2/3 vote for the Fire Department response. On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner McLeod, the Board voted 3/2 by roll call vote with Commissioner McElroy and Commissioner Battle opposed to the Fire Department to respond to the five critical calls, cardiac arrests, delta seizures, echo overdose, echo difficulty breathing, and mutual aid. Commissioner Benedetto asked Chief Borden if any critical calls were missed, Chief Borden told him that there were probably some that were missed, however, he is not prepared to respond tonight, and asked the Board to table this discussion and vote until he’s had time to look at it all and see how the calls fall into the different categories from dispatch. Mayor Carbone told Chief Borden that since he was not a Board member, he couldn’t ask to table the motion, however, one of the Board members could. Commissioner Benedetto asked EMS Manager Jeff Ganung if any critical calls were missed. Mr. Ganung said that the Fire Department used to respond to those calls, including all echoes, and if a mutual aid ambulance were coming into town, the Fire Department would respond to that call. Commissioner McElroy asked how many times last year the Fire Department had to respond to an EMS call because they had no one to respond, Mr. Ganung said every month there are anywhere from one to ten mutual aid calls. Commissioner Benedetto explained the reasoning behind the motion, that the City is paying for another ambulance in town, the Fire Department calls to EMS are going up, and there are many canceled calls while enroute. Commissioner McLeod added that this has been a topic that the Policy Committee has been discussing. Commissioner McLeod said that they would like things to go back to the way they were and work with the Chiefs to come up with a new policy with what everyone understands and what everyone would adhere to. Commissioner McElroy said that he is not comfortable with this until he has all the facts, before changing the response to the public safety of the City of Torrington. He agrees with what the Commissioners are saying but MINUTES Vol. 7, Page 615 BOARD OF PUBLIC SAFETY REGULAR MEETING City Hall Auditorium / Zoom June 5, 2024 now is not the time to change anything. Commissioner Benedetto told the Board that this new policy was put in place without the Board's approval, or any Policy Committee approval. He further explained that the Fire Department won’t stop going to calls, just the critical ones that they outlined. Commissioner McLeod feels that they are doing too much now. Commissioner Benedetto said that they are trying to eliminate the amount of runs that the fire engines are making, but the care wouldn’t change because the City still has Trinity. Commissioner Young asked Mr. Ganung how comfortable they were going back to the old ways, Mr. Ganung said that they would never turn down help. He said that it’s a matter of how calls come in that dictate the response. He explained that for example for someone choking, even the Police Department will send someone. Commissioner Benedetto reiterated that they are not eliminating calls, just responding to critical calls. Commissioner Young asked who would respond if Trinity was not available, Mr. Ganung said that the fly car would respond, and then it would roll over to mutual aid, which the Fire Department should be responding to. Commissioner Benedetto said that he thinks the Fire Department is wasting resources on calls that they shouldn’t be going to. Commissioner Benedetto asked Chief Borden what would happen if a fire call came in while the Fire Department was on an EMS call, Chief Borden said that they would have to wait until Trinity showed up. Chief Borden said that they would own the call until equal or higher skill comes to take over. He said that for them to not go on a certain call, that all depends on how it comes into dispatch, because it could fall under certain categories that would trigger the Fire Department to respond. Mayor Carbone added that this needs to be a high priority for the Policy Committee. Tabled: Business by the Policy Subcommittee On a motion by Commissioner McLeod, seconded by Commissioner McElroy, the Board voted unanimously to table business by the Board of Safety Policy Subcommittee. Business by Volunteer Fire Departments On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner McLeod, the Board voted unanimously to consider business by the Volunteer Fire Departments. James Potter, Torringford Volunteer Fire Department, provided the Board with the latest updates from the department. Commissioner Benedetto asked how many active firefighters there are currently; Mr. Potter said 10 active firefighters and 6 active fire police. Business by Department Heads On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner McElroy, the Board voted unanimously to consider business by Department Heads. Police Chief Baldwin, Fire Chief Borden, and EMS Manager Jeff Ganung gave the latest updates from their departments. Business by Mayor & Members On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner Young, the Board voted unanimously to consider business by the Mayor and Members of the Board of Public Safety. Commissioner Young thanked the Mayor and the leadership team for a responsible budget this year. Commissioner McElroy congratulated the firefighters and the Trinity promotion. Commissioner Benedetto thanked the Torrington Police Department for the Torch Run. And congratulations to the firefighters and Trinity promotion. Commissioner McLeod congratulated everyone. He also added that he doesn’t like reading in the newspaper about hurt firefighters. If he is going to read about it in the paper, he would like to know about it beforehand, as it is the Board’s responsibility to be made aware of these issues. Commissioner Battle congratulated everyone. Adjournment On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner Young, the Board voted unanimously to adjourn at 7:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted by ATTEST: Heather Abraham, Asst. City Clerk CAROL L. ANDERSON, CITY CLERK CAROL L. ANDERSON, CITY CLERK