Public Health & Safety Committee

TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING JANUARY 14, 2025 Page 1 CONVENE: 8:01 a.m. PRESENT: Chair Peter Agabi and Councilmembers Leatta Dahlhoff and Kelly Von Holtz. Staff: City Administrator Lisa Parks, City Attorney Karen Kirkpatrick, Finance Director Troy Niemeyer, Fire Chief Brian Hurley, Police Chief Jon Weiks, Water Resources and Sustainability Department Director Dan Smith, Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Crimmins, Deputy Police Chief Jay Mason, and Police Administrative Supervisor Laura Wohl. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE, NOVEMBER 12, 2024: MOTION: Councilmember Von Holtz moved, seconded by Councilmember Dahlhoff, to approve the minutes of November 12, 2024 as published. A voice vote approved the motion. SOFTWARE LICENSE Supervisor Wohl reported the proposal is a contract for a law AND SERVICE enforcement records management and jail management system. The AGREEMENT WITH City of Tumwater is part of a consortium that includes local law 365LABS ON BEHALF enforcement agencies in Thurston County. The consortium was OF THE THURSTON established by an intergovernmental agreement as a quasi- COUNTY LAW governmental agency tasked with governance and administration of ENFORCEMENT the consortium. Governance is comprised of an executive board of RECORDS local police chiefs and the sheriff. Every three years, the Board MANAGEMENT appoints a lead agency to act as the business agent for the SYSTEM consortium. The lead agency manages records, accounting, and CONSORTIUM contracting. The Board appointed Tumwater to serve as the lead (“LERMS”): agency two years ago. The current records management system (RMS) is based on a contract implemented in 2013 that is outdated and no longer updated by the vendor. The Board directed moving forward to contract for a new RMS. The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office joined the consortium in 2022, which enabled sharing of RMS data and criminal activity occurring throughout the county. The systems are expensive because of the amount of data required for collection and retention with members sharing the cost of the system. TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING JANUARY 14, 2025 Page 2 In 2022, the agencies began moving forward to acquire a new system. Tumwater, as the lead agency, led efforts and published a request for proposal (RFP) in 2023. Three vendors responded. The vendors provided demonstrations of their respective systems. Following the demonstrations, it was clear that 365Labs was the best product. The system is web-based enabling access from all locations. Functionality of the system is state-of-the-art and designed to interface with all Microsoft products. The vendor operates the system on secured Cloud storage to ensure the security of data and accessibility during emergency outages. A team of employees from all member agencies visited the vendor in Louisiana and met with vendor staff, management, and developers to learn more about the system and the business. During the visit, the group was able to meet with current customers to share information about their respective experience with the system. The team participated in a live demonstration of the product. The proposed contract was reviewed by the City Attorney to ensure adherence to all City requirements. All member jurisdictions have reviewed the contract. The proposed contract is for a period of five years with the first year cost of approximately $1.4 million shared between six jurisdictions based on population. The remaining four years of the contract averages a cost of approximately $1 million annually. The budgetary impact to Tumwater for the first year is $305,038. The amount includes the current system during the transition between the two systems. Chair Agabi asked whether the annual five percent increase included within the contract is for administrative costs. Supervisor Wohl advised that the increase is related to inflation primarily based on the vendor’s personnel costs, which is reflective of the industry standard. The current system also includes an annual five percent increase. Supervisor Wohl requested the committee’s approval to place the proposed contract with 365Labs on the City Council consent calendar on January 21, 2025 with a recommendation to approve and authorization for the Mayor to sign the contract. MOTION: Councilmember Dahlhoff moved, seconded by Councilmember Von Holtz, to place the Agreement with 365Labs on the January 21, 2025 City Council consent calendar, with a recommendation to approve and authorize the Mayor to sign. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. INTERLOCAL Deputy Fire Chief Crimmins reported the vehicle repair facility AGREEMENT WITH operates a repair service for both fire and emergency medical TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING JANUARY 14, 2025 Page 3 THE CITY OF apparatus. The facility is located at Fire Station 34 owned by Lacey OLYMPIA FOR FIRE Fire District 3 with the City of Olympia providing staff and VEHICLE mechanics for the facility. MAINTENANCE: The City of Tumwater was one of the first agencies to participate in the repair facility. Currently, the facility serves nine customers located primarily within Thurston County. Services include regular maintenance of all fire engines and medic units to include annual pump testing, as well as facilitating larger projects, such as replacement of axles and transmissions as vehicles age. Staff vehicles are not included in the service and are maintained by City mechanics. Mechanics working on fire engines and medic units are required to be credentialed. The proposed rates for the service are competitive within the industry. Deputy Fire Chief Crimmins asked the committee place the Interlocal Agreement with the City of Olympia for Fire Vehicle Maintenance on the January 21, 2025 City Council consent calendar with a recommendation to approve and authorize the Mayor to sign. He invited questions. Councilmember Dahlhoff asked about the benefits of either outsourcing repairs or having the facility complete the repairs. Deputy Fire Chief Crimmins responded that the facility completes most repairs with the exception of some of the newer fire engines, especially if the vehicles are under warranty, which may be repaired by another contractor under the warranty program. Approximately 90% of all service is completed by the facility. Councilmember Dahlhoff asked whether the City has experienced any lag time in service with the advent of more customers using the vehicle repair facility. Deputy Fire Chief Crimmins explained that the facility added a shop on the site and more mechanics. The facility is available to the fire department on a 24/7 basis. The fire department experienced a recent incident involving a fire engine’s radiator hose that blew out while on the scene of a fire. The mechanic was able to replace the hose and kept the engine in service the entire time. MOTION: Councilmember Von Holtz moved, seconded by Councilmember Dahlhoff, to place the Interlocal Agreement with the City of Olympia for Fire Vehicle Maintenance on the January 21, 2025 City Council consent calendar with a recommendation to approve and authorize the Mayor to sign. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING JANUARY 14, 2025 Page 4 INTERLOCAL Fire Chief Hurley reported the Thurston County Emergency AGREEMENT FOR Management Council coordinates combined efforts in the county for THURSTON COUNTY emergency management under the national response framework for EMERGENCY preparation, mitigation, response, and recovery. MANAGEMENT COUNCIL: Member agencies include Thurston County, cities, towns, tribes, and other partner agencies such as law enforcement, public health, Puget Sound Energy, Intercity Transit, LOTT Clean Water Alliance, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), The Evergreen State College, South Puget Sound Community College, hospitals, and the Public Utility District. The Council meets once a month and provides updates from members and partner organizations, discusses issues of common concern, and shares information about emergency management and planning activities within Thurston County. Activities are coordinated with Homeland Security Region 3, the regional organization responsible for coordinating many of the grant activities and grant funding in the county. Thurston County and the agencies collaborate on emergency management planning. The Council sponsors two executive seminars each year to share information with elected officials and staff. The Council hosts the Emergency Preparedness Expo. The cost of the agreement is shared by member agencies. The City’s portion is approximately $250 in annual membership dues. The recommended action is to place the agreement on the January 21, 2025 consent calendar for approval and authorize the Mayor to sign the agreement. Chair Agabi asked for an example of the command structure if the region experienced a fire similar to the fires experienced in California. Fire Chief Hurley advised that the command structure incorporates different levels dependent upon the event. The fires in Los Angeles entailed both a regional and statewide response. In Tumwater, the Emergency Management Program would be activated in the form of an operations center. Thurston County Emergency Management is the larger organization that could also be involved. In terms of response, mutual aid agreements are initiated within both the county and within the state. Resources can be mobilized through a state mobilization, which happened during the fire in west Thurston County several years ago. For larger incidents, the Regional Incident Management Team would be deployed. Many of the larger fires in the state are managed by both state and national incident management teams. TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING JANUARY 14, 2025 Page 5 MOTION: Councilmember Dahlhoff moved, seconded by Councilmember Von Holtz, to place the Interlocal Agreement for Thurston County Emergency Management Council on the January 21, 2025 City Council consent calendar with a recommendation to approve and authorize the Mayor to sign the agreement. A voice vote approved the motion unanimously. Fire Chief Hurley responded to several of Councilmember Von Holtz’s previous questions about planning for wildfires. Specific plans have been developed to address hazard mitigation. The Thurston County Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan was coordinated by the Thurston County Emergency Management Council. Thurston Regional Planning Council served as the lead for development of the plan. The plan addresses earthquakes, floods, wildfires, and other climate emergencies. The plan includes ongoing initiatives to address efforts. The City developed an Annex to the county plan with City-specific initiatives. Both plans address planning for hazard mitigation. The plan identifies from 2008 through 2022, the numbers of acres burned in wildfires. Generally, Tumwater’s risk is low to medium for wildfires. The large fires that have occurred in Thurston County were located in west Thurston County near Grand Mound, Rochester, and Little Rock and southeast Thurston County near the cities of Yelm, Rainier, and the Tenino area. One of the initiatives in the regional plan is a broad community wildfire protection plan, an ongoing effort that addresses hazardous fuels management, wildfire response, hazard mitigation, and community education. The coordinated effort requires funding and occurs over several years. Programs have been implemented in the west Thurston area where the highest risk is located to help identify and mitigate issues. Within the City, Deputy Chief Crimmins and other staff members have received training to assess and help people evaluate homesite risks and what measures to take to mitigate wildfires. The fire department plans to work with Communications staff on public education efforts and promotion of the Wildfire Neighbor Ready Program and Firewise USA Program advising citizens of actions they can take to defend their homes from wildfire. Fire Chief Hurley encouraged residents to sign up to receive Thurston County Alerts (TC Alert). The program sends notifications if there are issues occurring within their area. The system enables geographical location of alerts as well. Chair Agabi asked whether the City has developed any information for the public on ways to prevent fires of homes. Fire Chief Hurley TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING JANUARY 14, 2025 Page 6 said that other than posting information on social media and including materials on the City’s website, the City has not formally sponsored an education campaign. However, a public education campaign would be timely especially based on the growth of the City’s social media channels and website. ADDITIONAL ITEMS: Councilmember Dahlhoff requested the committee receive a comprehensive briefing on the implementation process for body worn cameras by police officers at the February meeting. City Administrator Parks affirmed the request, as well as addressing other questions that might not be covered in the briefing. Approval of the budget represents the first affirmative action for implementing body worn cameras and represents the first milestone. The City is now in an implementation process rather than an evaluative process. Many moving components will need to coincide along with contending with different types of resource pressures in terms of time within the police department. In terms of policies, a body worn camera program requires both technical and policy decisions. Staff may not be able to provide example policies by the February meeting. Councilmember Dahlhoff explained that over the years, the committee has received briefings on different components of the body worn camera program. Her request now that the City is moving forward is to provide an updated briefing on the different components of the program to help the Council understand the complexities involved with body worn cameras. ADJOURNMENT: With there being no further business, Chair Agabi adjourned the meeting at 8:44 a.m. Prepared by Valerie L. Gow, Recording Secretary/President Puget Sound Meeting Services, psmsoly@earthlink.net