City Council

THE CITY OF ~D Of OU[) Zanesville 9-0ciY-~ l)--1<:?. 401 Market Street• Zanesville, Ohio 43701 -~ .q ~•:i\;, .• ~ ~ - ~ ~ ~ ITJoF~~ANE~I"~LLE] Phone (740) 617-4875 E-mail: council@coz.org Council - Mayor Government Doug Merry - Public Safety Direc tor ~i:-;~ ~@~~ ZANESVILLE CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE AGENDA Council Chambers, 401 Market St reet, Zanesville OH Tuesday, September 5, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. This meeting is for discussion pertaining to the upcoming Ordinances, Resolutions, and discussion items of the Public Safety Committee for review as follows. This meeting is open to the public t o attend in person or remotely by using th e information below. 1. Roll Call 2. Approval of minutes of the special meeting from July 17, 2023 ORDINANCES 3. None DISCUSSION ITEMS 4. Ambulance discussion 5. Side-by-sides on roads in the City This meeting is open to the public who may attend in person or attend by phone or Internet using t he information below. Phone 1-844-621-3956 US Toll Free or 1-415-655-0001 US Toll Use Access Code: 126 750 8098 # Online with WebEx- Enter zanesvillecity.webex.com in web browser. Enter Meeting Information- 126 750 8098  SPECIAL PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE M EETING- MONDAY, JULY 17, 2023 The Public Safety Committee met at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, July 17, 2023 in Cou ncil Chambers at City Hall, 401 Ma rket Street, Zanesville, Ohio. Mr. Roberts: It is 5:00. I' m going to call this meeting of the Public Safety Comm ittee to order. Can I have roll call, please? Committee members attending were Councilperson Andy Roberts, Chair; Councilperson Joey Osborn; and Councilperson Mark Ba llmer. Mr. Forema n was absent. Others in attendance: Jeff Bell, Fire Chief Dianna LeVeck, Genesis Mike Bennett, Genesis Don Mason, Mayor Jan Bradshaw, Councilperson Doug Merry, Public Safety Director Austin Colopy, Firefighter Cody Pettit, Councilperson Bill ie Corns, Clerk of Council Doug Vandenba rk, Assista nt Fire Chief Michael Ferguson, Firefighter Da niel Vincent, Preside nt of Council APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JUNE 26, 2023 Mr. Roberts: I'll entertai n a motion on the minutes from June 26, 2023. Mr. Ballmer: So moved. Mrs. Osborn: Second. Mr. Roberts: A motion and a second to approve as written . All those in favor, aye. Opposed sa me sign. A voice vote was t aken with all present in favor. None were opposed . Mr. Foreman was absent. ORDINANCES Ordinance No. 2023-67 - Int roduced by Council - An Ordinance authorizing the proper city official t o execute all documents associated wit h the purchase an emergency medical services vehicle and declaring an emergency. Mr. Roberts: That brings us to our sole piece of legislation t o consider ton ight, 2023-67. Mayor, do you want to start or do you want somebody from the FD to start? Mayor Mason: I'd be more t han happy t o start, and I know Chief Bell might have some things to add . So, over the last several months we, City Council and admin istration, have had discussions with Genesis, and it sounds like the Community Am bulance Service is requesting to reduce basically the operations as they presently stand. Two years ago when ValueCare pulled out of the 911 business, Genesis basically told us that they would buy more trucks and hire more crews and step into the breach if we would sign off. We did so. Again, I don't know if this is a f inancial situation at Genesis or otherwise, but it looks like they' re making a small withd rawal from Page 1 of 4 that standard. So we're preparing the Zanesville Fire Department to be able to pick up additional runs. We believe that if 25 is how many runs we have now a month, it might go up to just around 70. But we'll just have to work with it. So the reason we've discussed buying another EMS vehicle is so that should our present Medic 1 go down or the crew fatigues, it will have the availability of moving to Medic 2. Mr. Roberts: Questions from the committee? I guess I'll just add to what the Mayor said with our thought on this is just to protect the citizens of the City of Zanesville as best we can. By having both of these, we will have redundancy. And if, like you said, if something does happen to the f irst, we'll have a second backup. And in looking at this, I think we're looking at a unit that would be substantial enough that if we did end up going with fire-based EMS, we would have something that we could use in that rea lm and not have to go back and buy another piece of equipment. And, best of all, paying out of ARPA, so it's not coming out of the General Fund. Mayor Mason: And Mr. Chairman, that's why we went ahead and set aside $300,000 for the Medic 1 and then $60,000 possible for equipment. Jeff Bell is here, the Chief. He and his staff are looking at all the various alternatives. We started getting notices from possible vendors of fire equipment. Mr. Roberts: What do you have, Chief Bell? Chief Bell: I was going to give a little bit of a timeline and then answer any questions. Of course, whenever we talk about apparatus, and it was rough for us when all this started . They said what would it take? Well, we have long build times right now. So when it was asked, we don't do anything in a bubble when it comes to the safety services. When we were asked if we could assume any more EMS runs and transports with consistency, it required a backup. So that's where this came in, was making the step to say, we had been down nine days for hail damage at one point. We had to take warranty work to Coshocton, so that's a day. And anytime we're out of service, we rely on Community Ambulance Service or the county units to come in and take those. So, for consistency of service and care, we need to have a backup for that instance. But the administration, when they asked us that, what we're asking for is kind of put your trust in us at looking. Because right now, if you're ordering one, you're looking at a year+, two year build t ime. When things come up as demos and everything else, they're going very quickly. We have a couple companies right now that they're bringing one down tomorrow for us to look at. The other company, Horton, the thing with a Horton is we know what we have because we spec'd that one out as the truck that we have. It's almost a carbon copy. So we know with that, we're going to look at this other one. What we' re asking is that if Council approves this for the Mayor to be able to move forward with the purchase before we lose one. Maybe these two aren't the ones, but when the one comes up, we want to have the freedom to not have to come back and bring everything to you and by that time, it may be gone. I know with a Horton, I talked to him yesterday. He said they had a couple departments who had accidents, and they were looking at this unit, but he promised us he was going to keep it on. So I told him I would give him an answer of where we were by Wednesday morning to see if they're still going to be viable. If neither of these are viable, at least passing this ordinance gives us the freedom that when one does open up, we can move quickly on it. Is that pretty fair what we're looking at, Mayor? Mayor Mason: Yes, 100% accurate. Page 2 of 4 Chief Bell: So that just gives us flexibility this way because we don't know an exact number, but $300,000 and then $60,000 for a cot and equipment and stuff putting in it, at least makes it something we can make work and look for one that fits into that. Are there any other questions from any of the Safety Committee? Mr. Roberts: I guess, and this might just be general administration questions, but I guess this is the triage part of this that we' re going to at least have the capacity to do it with the equipment. Is the administration looking at bidding this out within the next 6 months? Mayor Mason: If we can do it by taking quotes per the ordinance, then I'm very satisfied with that. Mr. Roberts: Okay. As far as the EMS as a whole, not just this ambu lance. Mayor Mason: Oh, you're talking about EMS service. No, and Bo Keck has had a lot of discussions with some of the counties, Washington, Falls, and South Zanesville and others. I th ink there's a collective belief that if Zanesville Fire Department increases their runs, the other services can do the same, so we can fill the breach. Is that what you're talking about? Mr. Roberts: I guess I'm just trying to come to some sort of timeline as far as where we are going. Are we going to continue with Community with one unit, the Fire Department running one with a backup, and then the county coming in when needed? Or are we going to bid this out at some point in t he near future? Mayor Mason: I have no intent of preparing an ordinance to bid out as subsidy. Is that your question? Mr. Roberts: That was my question. Anything else? Chief Bell: Just if there's any other questions. Like I said, the decisions that are goi ng to be made will impact the t imeliness of our decisions and what we have to move forward with too, whether it's with equipment or whether it was manpower. But we have had discussions with the t ownships and the villages that are around, and they said they will support us. We will have to put together, once we figure out the di rection, what the plan is going to be. And then we' ll need the Safety Committee and then Council's advisement on that, and then we can get you the information. Mrs. Osborn: Mr. Chair? Mr. Roberts: Mrs. Osborn. Mrs. Osborn: Chief, how are you on manpower? Are you at full staff now? Chief Bell: Right now our maximum staffing is 56. We just hired three firefighters that are ki nd of in t he queue right now; they have to pass their physicals or waiting for a stress test to open up. That will get us to 54. So, we're 2 below our maximum staffing, for what we do, which is firefighting and cross-manning a third. When it comes to EMS, and we're looking at t hat, it is going to take additional staffing to cover that. What we have to do is figure out what that cost would be, what revenue would be, and then decide wit h the city and Council and administration what direction we want to go then. Mrs. Osborn: Okay. Page 3 of4 Chief Bell: And I don' t know until we know everything else and what everybody else is. Mayor Mason: Let me ask, do we still have the lateral transfers posted for Fire? Chief Bell: I spoke with Jessie today. She's getting me the phone num bers to call because we kind of had a lull. We had 3 this year, and we have 5-6 from last yea r. So we have to call and see if that's something they're still interested in. If not, then we have to start putting out advertisement for positions. Mayor Mason: I think they're posted downstairs. Chief Bell: But we have to get out there and advertise a little more if we're wanting to have more applicants. Mr. Roberts: Anything else from the Committee? I' ll entertain a motion on the ordinance at hand. Mrs. Osborn: Move to recommend to Council passage as an emergency. Mr. Ballmer: Second. Mr. Roberts: A motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor, aye. Opposed same sign. A voice vote was taken with all present in favor. None were opposed. Mr. Foreman was absent. Mr. Roberts: Motion carries. Since this is a special meeting, we are not allowed to discuss any other matters. I' ll entertain a motion to adjourn. Mrs. Osborn: So moved. Mr. Ballmer: Second. Mr. Roberts: A motion and a second. All those in favor, aye. Opposed same sign. A voice vote was taken with all present in favor. None were opposed. Mr. Foreman was absent. Mr. Roberts: Motion carries. We stand adjourned. Thank you. Mr. Roberts called the committee meeting to a close about 5:11 p.m. Andy Roberts, Chairman Billie Corns, Clerk for Council Page 4 of 4