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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEmergency Services Committee Minutes 08.26.2019 MINUTES CITY OF LAUREL EMERGENCY SERVICES COMMITTEE MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2019 An Emergency Services Committee Meeting was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by Committee Chair Bruce McGee at 6:01 p.m. on August 26, 2019. COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: _x_ Bruce McGee, Chair ___ Richard Klose _x_ Irv Wilke _x_ Bill Mountsier ___ Pat Kimmet _x_ Taryn Massa ___ Richard Dawes OTHERS PRESENT: Riley Hutchens, Ambulance Director Stan Langve, Police Chief Public Input: None. General Items: 1. The minutes from the July 29, 2019 meeting were not transcribed to date so they were not ready to be approved. New Business: 2. Update from Fire Chief: The Fire Chief was not present. 3. Update from Police Chief: Chief Langve stated that the total calls from the last meeting were 889 calls for service, a little over 100 of those were for Police service. There were quite a few for vandalism and the department believes they have found the culprits for those acts. There were 181 traffic stops done last month. One of the signs in the alley is up near Pennsylvania and 8th Street. The other sign will go up shortly and the Chief hopes this will help alleviate that problem. Officer Booth will go to the academy on the 8th and Officer Sedgewick goes in January. Dispatcher Sell is back and will work as tolerated. Now that they can hire an additional full-time dispatcher, he is hoping it will be another longtime hire. This will put them at six full-time dispatchers. He received a notice from MDT and it seems there may be some ramp work starting in September. A site survey was done for the new 911 system, with a go live date of late November. The Committee asked if the MDT interchange work has caused additional calls for the Police Department. The Chief replied that the only additional calls were for the truck traffic. 4. Update from Ambulance Director: Riley stated this is the first time he is attending because he does have a full-time dispatcher job in Billings. He is happy to report that recently he has been able to bring on eight new ambulance volunteers. He is moving forward with advanced life support for Laurel. All of the EMTs in Laurel are equipped with narcotics needed to practice within their scope. When they implemented ALS last year it wasn’t done fully because the department wasn’t able to bring on controlled substances. There are currently two ALS Paramedics on the department, and he is looking to add a third in October. He is also looking at training the current EMTs. As far as coverage goes, he doesn’t have the answer to that. He feels that the City Government didn’t invest in the department and he is happy that they are doing so now. He wants to urge that fact that this isn’t a problem, but it is a crisis and he wants to see this fixed. He understands that this isn’t a full-time staffed solution, but it relies heavily on the volunteers. 84% of the calls the department takes is basic life support, so he doesn’t feel that the City needs a paramedic on staff 24/7. He wants to ensure that the volunteers are maintained and retained. He wants to make sure that they are supported by the staff. He is willingly to support whatever plan is implemented. Riley wants to make sure that we have properly trained staff in place and that we are hiring the correct staff. He is the current EMT instructor and currently he doesn’t have enough time to teach another course. In order to retain these individuals, they must have buy in. They must feel they are essential. The Government needs to be open with communication and have discussions with everyone regarding where the ambulance department is. The Committee thanked Riley for his continued support of the ambulance department. Dave Wilson administrator at Laurel Health and Rehab spoke in support of the ambulance service. Old Business: 5. Emergency Mill Levy The Committee had a conversation regarding the Emergency Safety Mill Levy. The Committee discussed how to start. What MCA rules how the Council and City Staff can conduct themselves with the levy. The Clerk/Treasurer stated that the City was going to apply for a SAFER grant in Spring of 2020. Replacement costs are going to be a starting point for the levy. After the 2020 Census the City is looking at a possible 4 annexations. If that happens the City could possibly be a Class 2 city. A Class 2 City must have a partial paid Fire Department. Fire/EMTs will be part of the partial paid Fire Department. The Mill Levy is going to have to focus on equipment and replacing that equipment. Riley is going to have to work on that. The Committee discussed how this mill levy was going to affect the County. If the City is paying for the service how is the ambulance department going to answer calls in the County? The Committee discussed having a subcommittee of no more than seven members to address items and bring things back to the main Committee. The Committee would like an action plan drafted and the laws that pertain to the levy activities. Announcements 6. Next Emergency Services meeting will be held on September 23, 2019, at 6:00pm Motion by Council Member Wilke to adjourn, seconded by Committee Member Massa. A vote was taken on the motion. All five committee members present voted aye. Motion carried 4-0. The Emergency Services Committee adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bethany Langve Clerk/Treasurer NOTE: This meeting is open to the public. This meeting is for information and discussion of the Council for the listed workshop agenda items.