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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEmergency Services Committee Minutes 01.28.2019 MINUTES CITY OF LAUREL EMERGENCY SERVICES COMMITTEE MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2019 Members Present: Irv Wilke Bill Mountsier Bruce McGee Pat Kimmet Richard Klose Taryn Massa Others Present: Chief Peters Chief Langve Bethany Langve General Items 1. Review and approve the minutes of the September 24, 2019 and the October 22, 2018 meetings. – Richard Klose made a motion to approve the minutes of the September 24, 2018 and October 22, 2018 meetings, Bill Mountsier seconded the motion, all in favor, motion passes. New Business 1. The Committee was handed the list of meeting dates for 2019. The Chair asked if there was any questions or comments regarding the current meeting dates. There were none during the meeting. 2. Police Chief Langve was present to provide an update on the Laurel Police Department. Chief Langve has officially been the new Chief of Police since the 18th of December. Chief Langve is still learning what Emergency Services does and how the Chief of Police works with Emergency Services. The Committee explained that they are there to be a sounding board for the community and both the Fire and Police Chiefs. The Committee will bring forward any issues or needs that they hear through constituents to the Chiefs and vice versa. Chief Langve stated that his department is currently working through the unprecedented amount of change in personnel. Approximately 80 years’ worth of experience recently left the department. It takes about a year to recruit, train and get a new person up to speed. Making sure that there is the man power to handle the call volume is critical. One of the issues that is still coming up is parking and how-to best address that. It is difficult to address the parking calls when you have one patrolman on duty. Need to explore options on how to meet the needs. The Chief has ideas on how to potentially solve some of these problems and he hopes to bring these ideas forward to the Mayor. There is a conditional job offer out to a new Police Officer. That potential new Police Officer is currently in the background stage of hiring. There is also one new Police Officer at the academy currently and one going to go in April of 2019. Travis Pitts is the acting Captain and Joel Sauter is also assisting with command duties. The Police Department may be fully staffed but when you have officers at the academy and on FTO the department is not fully staffed. The individual that is currently being given a conditional job offer now will most likely be in the academy January of 2020. It does take about a year to get an officer fully trained and about five years to get a well- seasoned officer. Even after 19 years the Chief still learns and sees new things, so you are never fully trained as a Police Officer. 3. Fire Chief Peters was present to provide an update on the Laurel Fire Department and the Laurel Ambulance Department. Chief Peters stated that he is currently working with the CAO to update the Laurel Municipal Code to combine the fire and ambulance. Assistant Chief Hutchens is working on a staffing plan to provide full time staffing for the Ambulance Department. Assistant Chief Hutchens has a meeting scheduled with the CAO to discuss some options for staffing. Once that is outlined Chief Peters will bring that to the Emergency Services Committee to move that forward. The Fire Department is looking into replacing an apparatus. Two years ago, the Fire Department obtained a ladder truck from the Department of Defense. It is going to cost the City between $75,000-150,000 to put that ladder truck in service. The Fire Department also has a main line pumper truck that is 23 years old. They are looking at trading in both the ladder and pumper trucks on a Quint ladder truck. Chief Peters went over several legislature bills he is watching. He will keep the Committee posted on these bills as they continue through the different houses. Old Business 1. Chief Langve spoke to the Committee about parking issues. He has received a lot of requests for diagonal parking. As the City business district grows, he anticipates parking is going to continue to be a problem. Chief Langve would like to see how other Cities have handled growth when it comes to parking. As the schools get increased student drivers there is going to be increased parking issues. The City needs to plan for this and try to find a remedy. It is going to be expensive and finding the money is hard. Signage is essential and must be complied with. The Police Department responds by complaint, when officers are available. The laws are older and could use some updating. There is a concern with the interchange there is going to be increased traffic. As the City grows, there is going to need to be parking enforcement but where do we get the funding for it. The Committee stated that people quit complying with parking signage when parking tickets quit being written and the laws quit being enforced. Chief Langve stated that he feels we must get a better plan in place for these events. We must get the entire community involved in these events, starting with the individuals or groups that put the events on. Having enough staff is always a problem at large events. Parking is one of the growing pains that the City of Laurel is having to face. The City needs to work with the Community on this issue and plan for the continued growth of the City. 2. Chief Peters spoke to the Committee regarding ambulance and fire calls. The end of year reports will be given to the Committee in February. Three of the fire drivers are currently enrolled in the EMT course so they can cross over as a fire driver EMT. EMT’s and paramedics are becoming harder and harder to find across the State. Chief Peters spoke about the need for community education regarding when to call an ambulance. The number of non-emergent calls increase every year. The Committee asked if there is any recruitment that occurs for the EMT courses taught here in Laurel. Chief Peters stated that yes, there is heavy recruitment and there is an interview process that is done. The Committee stated that they were impressed with the number of ambulance calls that were answered. Chief Peters stated that having volunteers is essential and finding volunteers is becoming harder and harder. Laurel is fortunate to have an incredible volunteer group all around from Fire, Ambulance and Police. Chief Peters stated that we need a full-time staff, but we need the money. Recently a new ambulance biller was chosen, and the revenues should increase with this new ambulance biller. Other Items Announcements 1. The next meeting will be held February 25, 2019 at 6:00pm