City Council - Workshop Meetings

City Council Workshop Meeting June 14, 2023 | Public Safety Education Training Center, 2100 Radio Drive Following City Council Meeting Approximately 7:15 p.m. This City Council Workshop meeting is taking place at the Public Safety Education Center, 2100 Radio Drive. Members of the public may attend the meeting in person. Public comments will be accepted during the meeting. Questions regarding the meeting will be also taken between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 651-714-3524 or at council@woodburymn.gov. Questions received after 4:30 p.m. will be responded to in the next three to seven business days. Please note that all agenda times are estimates. Workshop Agenda 7:15 p.m. 1 Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention 23-138 Strategic Initiative Update 7:45 p.m. 2. National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident 23-139 Command Structure (ICS) overview with tabletop exercise 9:15 p.m. 3. Administrator Comments and Updates1 9:20 p.m. 4. Mayor and City Council Comments and Commission Liaison Updates1 9:25 p.m. 5. Adjournment 1 Items under comments and updates are intended to be informational or of brief inquiry. More substantial discussion of matters under comments and updates should be scheduled for a future agenda. The City of Woodbury is subject to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by public entities. The City is committed to full implementation of the Act to our services, programs, and activities. Information regarding the provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act is available from the City Administrator's office at (651) 714-3523. Auxiliary aids for disabled persons are available upon request at least 72 hours in advance of an event. Please call the ADA Coordinator, Clinton P. Gridley, at (651) 714-3523 (TDD (651) 714-3568)) to make arrangements.  1 City of Woodbury, Minnesota Office of City Administrator Council Workshop Letter 23-138 June 14, 2023 To: The Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council From: Clinton P. Gridley, City Administrator Subject: Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention Strategic Initiative Update Summary At the Council meeting of October 12, 2022, the City Council approved three Strategic Initiatives through 2024 (the next community survey year). One of the selected areas was Public Safety - Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention. This agenda item is to provide an update on our progress with this initiative. Recommendation Staff recommends Council review our progress on this Strategic Initiative and provide any feedback. Governance Mode • Strategic - Setting priorities, reviewing and modifying strategic plans, and monitoring performance against plans. Focus is the “ends” rather than the "means”. Fiscal Implications To be determined. Public Process The Council held its biennial City Council retreat on June 8, 2022, received an update at the August 31, 2022 workshop, approving the plan documents on October 12, 2022. Background In October 2019, council adopted the 2019-2021 Strategic Initiatives that included Adapt and Enhance Public Safety Effectiveness. The 2022 – 2024 Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention Strategic Initiative looks to build on that work and take the next step in this mission critical area of city services. Council Workshop Letter 23-138 June 14, 2023 Page 2 Every two – three years, the City Council reserves time for study and ideation around emerging, critical issues facing Woodbury. Council identifies two or three urgent, high priority focus areas. Staff then designates an implementation team with a clearly identified team leader; develops a plan with clear goals, milestones, and performance measures; and reports to Council at least once a year on outcomes or as dictated by the initiative timeline. Written By: Clinton P. Gridley, City Administrator Attachments: 1. Public Safety - Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention Strategic Initiative 2. Strategic Initiative Progress Plan 3. Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention  2022-2024 Strategic Initiative 22-02 Public Safety Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention Issue Summary Our success as a leading community in which to live, work and thrive requires that the safety of the community and public safety services be continually evaluated, adjusted, and enhanced to meet the needs of a changing and growing community. As our city has grown in a rapid, yet well- planned manner, so has our Public Safety Department. We adopted a public safety service model in the mid-1990s that combines Police, EMS, Fire, and Emergency Management. This allows for better collaboration and coordination of services and has proven to be successful for our community. Throughout the years, the department has evolved in a proactive and forward- thinking manner to meet emerging expectations. Continuing to provide high-quality and exceptional public safety services to our community is of the highest priority. City Council has highlighted the importance of feeling safe and our community has voiced their concerns in this area via survey results. Although overall feelings of safety will fluctuate, being responsive to the evolving expectations is key to building a sense of community and supporting a high quality of life. Increased connectivity via timely data sharing, along with effective communication and community connection are required to meet the expectations of our community. Therefore, with a notable decrease in the feeling of overall safety and an increase in support for the prioritization of crime prevention and education, Public Safety was identified by the City Council as a 2022 - 2024 strategic initiative. Areas of Focus The focus areas of this strategic initiative will be: 1. Culture a. Building and Sustaining Officer Wellness. In recognition of the critical role that officer wellness plays in public safety work, Woodbury has created programs designed to promote mental and physical health and enhance overall resiliency. Despite these efforts, police and fire services are facing recruitment and retention challenges, worker unavailability and rising workers compensation and pension costs due in-part to post- traumatic stress disorder claims. We desire to further evaluate initiatives, practices, 2022-2024 Strategic Initiative 22-02 Public Safety – Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention Page 2 programs and resources that enhance officer wellness and promote healthy employees able to deliver high quality services to our community. b. Examine means and methods to reduce the number of unfilled positions and how to better keep the department closer to its full accompaniment of employees so the mission-critical work of Public Safety can be fulfilled. Work towards returning budgeted officer staffing levels to our historic ratios while planning for continued growth. c. Create intentional internal cohort groups of under-represented employees to support each other and to facilitate diversity in future recruitment and promotional opportunities. d. Evaluate staffing and partnership needs of the Community Support Team with Washington County to enhance mental health and crisis response. 2. Community Connections a. Develop a Public Safety social media strategy to expand the reach of messaging, education, and information sharing. b. Research communication mediums and the frequency of publications for the delivery of timely communications. c. Integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles throughout Public Safety’s governance, operations, and programs leading to a sustainable culture of enhanced understanding and connection within community member by Public Safety. d. Grow partnerships and collaboration with non-profits groups (private and public) to support our community service. e. Complete development of clear pathways for community members to raise questions, concerns within the City’s policies, ensuring professional and impartial follow-up. 3. Crime Prevention and Education a. Explore crime prevention public education opportunities tailored to various community groups. b. Identify and evaluate neighborhood-level crime prevention programs to address residential area crimes. c. Examine Washington County records management system capabilities and the capacity to create an information-sharing platform for residents that provides easy-to-access (updated) crime data and mapping. 2022-2024 Strategic Initiative 22-02 Public Safety – Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention Page 3 d. Use IT innovatively to achieve better crime tracking, case management and resolution. Enhance data-led policing practices to direct timely allocation of police resources. e. Evaluate the possible development of a Community Impact Team comprised of detectives focused on timely interdiction of trending crimes. Scope and Schedule The Public Safety Department recognizes that many of the initiatives presented are interconnected and will need frequent adjustments as our community continues to grow. This will require concentrated coordination to ensure the effectiveness of the overall strategy to enhance connections and communication with our community. Q3 2022 City Council Adoption of Strategic Initiatives Q4 2022 Develop strategy, tactics and identify focus area champions and team members to implement strategic initiative Q1 2023 Commencement of strategic initiative focus area action teams Q3 2023 Check in with Council Q2 2024 Check in with Council Q4 2024 Final report on strategic initiative Implementation Team In order to bring the strategic initiative to life, a 5-member team of senior staff members including the Police Chief, EMS Fire Chief, Public Safety Manager and Assistant City Administrator led by the Public Safety Director will guide and direct fulfillment of this strategic initiative. Each area of focus will have a staff member assigned to champion a particular focus area and formation of an action team, project management plan and community engagement plan to support this work. Team members will include as necessary, but is not limited to: Police Commanders, Community Support Specialist, Crime Data Analyst, Communications Manager, IT Manager, Community Engagement & Equity Coordinator and community stakeholders. Background The City of Woodbury recognized early on in our development that in order to meet the increasing public safety needs of its growing population without breaking the bank, it would need to consider some creative staffing options. In 1995, the city began cross-training some police officers as paramedics, and in 1996, it merged its fire and emergency medical services (EMS) with its police service. 2022-2024 Strategic Initiative 22-02 Public Safety – Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention Page 4 By 2004, it became clear, however, that additional measures were needed to ensure continued provision of robust public safety services within the city’s existing financial constraints. A major concern at the time was that the city’s pool of paid, on-call volunteer firefighters had not grown with the city’s population. From 1991 to 2005, the city’s population had increased by 275 percent while the number of paid, on-call volunteers had remained static. Although the city of Woodbury was in a relatively strong financial position with a comparatively low property tax rate, it would have been financially burdensome to add the number of regular, full-time firefighters that would have been needed to make up for the shortage in the paid, on-call volunteer pool. Moreover, the city was also concerned that, with its growing population, a shortage of police officers might become a problem. To address these concerns, in late 2004 the city formed a fire-EMS task force comprising citizens, elected officials, and city staff. The task force was charged with drafting recommendations for public safety service standards and performance measures that represented community expectations. Task force members also recommended staffing levels to meet the new service standards. The task force considered a number of different public safety organizational models and ultimately recommended the public safety integration model, which features the cross-training of public safety personnel in multiple disciplines. A major benefit of the model was considered to be the likelihood of improving fire response times because on-duty police officers are usually among the first to respond to an emergency; under the new model many police officers would be cross-trained as firefighters. In addition, the task force recommended the hiring of additional public safety personnel to meet growing service demands in both police and fire. In 2007, the Emergency Management position was created to develop, coordinate, and direct emergency preparedness and management. This involves staff training, outreach to schools, private industry, and the general public. A core function of this position is natural disaster planning and preparation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the position was critical in setting up an Emergency Operations Center (EOC), which coordinated the city-wide response while also overseeing the delivery of all services. As our community continued to evolve, so did our response model. In 2014, we began the process of hiring full time Paramedics to ease the pressure to our Police Paramedics. Being early adopters of the emerging body worn camera system technologies we began an implementation process in 2016. This involved an initial press release, a published draft policy, input from internal stakeholders, and the hosting of a public forum. This transparent and inclusive process led to the successful rollout of the program. In 2017, the City Council identified safety as one of seven “Critical Success Factors” crucial to Woodbury’s continuing success. Council supported the following guiding statement in support of safety: 2022-2024 Strategic Initiative 22-02 Public Safety – Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention Page 5 Woodbury is a welcoming community where all people feel safe. The City provides professional, effective and compassionate protective services to ensure Public Safety builds a sense of community and supports a high quality of life. In 2019, the Multicultural Advisory Committee (MAC) was formed with involvement from a community steering committee. The purpose of our MAC is to enrich the relationship between community members with diverse identities and experiences and the police department by creating opportunities to learn from each other, engage in meaningful conversations, and solicit input for decision-making processes that impact the community. By building trust and communication between the police and community members, we work to ultimately improve the safety and livability of our community. Also in 2019, to support our staff we researched and implemented a mental wellness program. Each front-line worker visits with our independent professional mental health provider at least once per year for a mental wellness check-up. If additional visits are needed staff can anonymously attend up to five additional sessions free of charge. Employee wellness is further supported by physical wellness programs and facilities. The Public Safety Department embraces a culture that values excellent customer service, training, and education, all of which contribute to our consistently positive resident ratings. To ensure Public Safety staff members are highly trained and capable of providing quality services, City Council supported the construction of the HERO Training Center, which opened in 2020. The new regional training center allows our police officers, firefighters, and paramedics to hone their skills using state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. Also in 2020, a staffing study identified critical areas of improvement and provided a foundation for organizational planning. The Public Safety Department continues to work towards achieving the goals identified in the study. This process has allowed the department to enhance its effectiveness in many areas. Another key tool in the evaluation of public safety services has been our biannual resident survey. The 2022 resident survey results revealed an approval rating of over 90% across all divisions within Woodbury Public Safety. Highlights of the survey are: • 94% of residents rated Woodbury as excellent or good in overall quality of life • 94% of residents felt safe or somewhat safe walking alone in their neighborhood, (85% in commercial areas and 85% in city parks and recreation facilities) • 98% of residents rated fire services, ambulance, or emergency medical services as excellent or good • 92% of residents rated police services as excellent or good 2022-2024 Strategic Initiative 22-02 Public Safety – Safer Community through Culture, Connections and Crime Prevention Page 6 This survey revealed two additional significant results: • 78% of residents rated their overall feeling of safety in Woodbury as excellent or good (18% decrease from 2019) • 46% of residents rated crime prevention and education as the department’s top policing priority (22% increase from 2019) Overall, per capita data shows crime rates in Woodbury have remained level. However, meeting the expectations of the community for public safety is more complex than just addressing crime. The feeling of safety is impacted by the media, regional and national crime trends, and the occurrence of low frequency but significant incidents in Woodbury. Per capita crime is how the community experiences crime; however, officers experience the resource strain if officer staffing levels do not keep pace with population growth. To maintain our high service levels, our staffing levels will need to stay on pace with population growth.  2023-2024 Safer Community through Culture, Connections, and Crime Prevention Community Crime Prevention Culture Connections and Education Building and Sustaining Officer Wellness. We desire to further evaluate initiatives, practices, programs, and resources that enhance officer wellness Develop a Public Safety social media strategy to expand the reach of Explore crime prevention public education opportunities tailored to various and promote healthy employees able to deliver high quality services to our messaging, education, and information sharing. community groups. community. Examine means and methods to reduce the number of unfilled positions and Research communication mediums and the frequency of publications for the Identify and evaluate neighborhood-level crime prevention programs to how to better keep the department closer to its full accompaniment of delivery of timely communications. address residential area crimes. employees so the mission-critical work of Public Safety can be fulfilled. Create intentional internal cohort groups of under-represented employees to Integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles throughout Public Examine Washington County records management system capabilities and support each other and to facilitate diversity in future recruitment and Safety’s governance, operations, and programs leading to a sustainable culture the capacity to create an information-sharing platform for residents that promotional opportunities. of enhanced understanding and connection within community members by provides easy-to-access (updated) crime data and mapping. Public Safety. Grow partnerships and collaboration with non-profits groups (private and Use IT innovatively to achieve better crime tracking, case management and Evaluate staffing and partnership needs of the Community Support Team with public) to support our community service. resolution. Enhance data-led policing practices to direct timely allocation of Washington County to enhance community mental health and crisis response. police resources. Complete development of clear pathways for community members to raise questions, concerns and complaints with the Public Safety’s policies, Evaluate the possible development of a Community Impact Team comprised practices, programs, and actions to ensure professional and impartial follow- of detectives focused on timely interdiction of trending crimes. up.  2 City of Woodbury, Minnesota Office of City Administrator Council Workshop Letter 23-139 June 14, 2023 To: The Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council From: Clinton P. Gridley, City Administrator Subject: National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command Structure (ICS) overview with tabletop exercise Summary This workshop will provide an overview of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command Structure (ICS) and its application. The overview will include a review of when the city would use this model to respond to planned and unplanned events as well as a tabletop walkthrough exercise. Governance Mode • Generative - Identifying key questions, anticipating future challenges, framing of issues, development of options. Problem-framing. What to pay attention to, what it means, and what to do about it. How does it fit with our mission, vision and values? Fiscal Implications None Policy None Public Process This is the first public process for this time. Background The city utilizes the National Incident Management System and Incident Command Structure when responding to planned and unplanned events that involve multiple city divisions to work in concert and/or require coordination of assets and personnel that exceed the scope of our daily operational capacity. Council Workshop Letter 23-139 June 14, 2023 Page 2 Some pertinent examples include our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, response to severe weather, and hostile events. These events require resource management involving multiple city divisions or coordination with outside resources to prevent, mitigate, respond to, and recover from an event as efficiently and effectively as possible. This workshop will provide a history and overview of NIMS and ICS and how this framework would be used during an event. A walkthrough tabletop exercise will be discussed including city government’s role prior, during, and after an event. Additional educational resources will also be provided to those who want more information on the topics discussed. Written By: Chris Donahoe, Police Sergeant Approved Through: Jason Posel, Public Safety Director/Chief Law Enforcement Officer Attachment: None