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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEmergency Services Committee Minutes 06.27.2022 (2)MINUTES CITY OF LAUREL EMERGENCY SERVICES COMMITTEE MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2022 The Emergency Services Committee meeting was called to order at 6:OOpm on Monday, June 27, 2022 by Chair Heidi Sparks Members Present: Heidi Sparks- Chair, Richard Klose, Bill Mountsier, Bruce McGee, Jamie Swecker Others Present: Fire Chief Brent Peters, Police Chief Stan Langve, Ambulance Director Lyndy Gurchiek Public Input: None General Items 1. Approval of Emergency Services Committee minutes of May 23, 2022. Richard Klose moved to approve the minutes, Bill Mountsier seconded- Motion carried 5-0 New Business 2. Update from Emergency Departments a. Fire Department Chief Peters- Report attached i. Things are starting to pick up, a lot of responses during the flooding event, especially along the Clarks Fork. Flooding stage seems to have passed and now moving into wildfires. Wildfire by container site last week. Stage 1 fire restrictions for Yellowstone County beginning July 1St. Does not see any additionalrestrictions for within city limits. ii. Bill asked what Stage 1 is- Chief Peters stated Stage 1 is no open burning, so no open burning within the county. Stage 2 is additional restrictions b. Police Department Chief Langve- Report attached i. Trying to fill Sergeant positions and Instructor positions to assist with department training. High call volume for DUI. ii. Staffing up for the July 4th festivities. iii. Thefts are steady and consistent, should be receiving the quarterly update on opioid overdoses. There was a rash of an individual doing some tagging, does not appear to be an organized effort, appears to be a single individual. iv. Richard asked why we don't have a left turn arrow under the underpass- Chief Langve stated the State had been petitioned a few years ago but it has not gone anywhere. Chief Langve also brought up the traffic study for Main Street that had been previously discussed. Heidi stated would follow up with the mayor on the status of the traffic study since this was under the previous administration. v. Bill asked about fentanyl, is this being mixed with anything other than meth? Chief Langve stated it is being mixed with everything. vi. Bruce asked about pumping up the reserve force to assist with the shift work of the full-time officers when there is only one person on. The sheriff s department is not always available to assist during those times. Chief Langve stated that the reserves could be utilized, but the overnight shifts are a harder sale to the reserves to get assistance. The department is getting busier, and an electronical scheduling system, city-wide would help with some of these issues. This would also be applicable to city events, etc. as well. Jamie stated the Police Chief and the mayor need to have conversations with the county commissioners to discuss the needs of the sheriff's office covering and assisting out in Laurel when there are staffing shortages on shift. Bill asked if there was any additional support received other than the sheriffs department. Chief Langve stated we do have mutual aid agreements with the neighboring areas, such as Carbon County, Stillwater County, etc. vii. Jamie stated the county is changing radio frequencies and that is going to have an impact on our Emergency Services Departments. Chief Peters stated that City of Laurel will no longer have a direct communication to Billings because of this change, and just learned about it within the last month or so. Jamie stated this is going to cause more communication issues for the various departments. Chief Peters stated this is something the City of Billings decided to do. Jamie stated this is now going to require additional assistance and reliance on dispatch for the communication gaps. Chief Langve stated this is a hurdle of technology and required licensing on the radios and frequencies. c. Ambulance Director Lyndy Gurchiek- April and May Reports attached i. Sleeping quarters are just about done, painting is being completed ii. Completing training on new volunteers iii. Had talked previously in this committee about hiring seasonal EMTs and did get approval on this program. It has been a little slow getting started but should be a good program once it gets off the ground iv. Budget related items- Director Gurchiek is updating the stipends during this budget cycle and hoping that this will get approved through the budget process. v. The department was pulled for a Medicaid Audit, so busy working on that. Old Business- None Other Items 3. Jamie brought up the fire chief position again and wants this to be pursued. Feels that this should be part of the committee's role and looking at this position moving to a full-time position versus a volunteer position. What is the follow up on this discussion from the conversation with the council at the workshop on June 21, 2022. Announcements 4. Next Meeting will be Monday, July 25, 2022, at 6:OOpm in Council Chambers Meeting adjourned at 6:54pm