2015.10.13 CC Packet Combined - Laserfiche WebLink

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Public Safety Commission June 29th9 2015 Attending: Commissioner Allen, Commissioner Anderson, Commissioner Boyd, Commissioner Donohue, Commissioner Eichers, Commissioner Hollimon, Commissioner Kerns, Commissioner Lamp, Commissioner Schumann, Deputy Director Olson, Deputy Director Paetznick, Council Member Strub, and Dave Matteson (Allina Health) Absent: N/A Call to Order/Roll Call Commissioner Allen called the June 29th meeting to order at 6:32 pm and roll call was taken. April Meeting Minutes The April meeting minutes were reviewed. Commissioner Schumann made a motion to approve the April meeting minutes; Commissioner Kerns seconded. Motion carried. Public Hearing/Presentation A. New Brighton Public Safety Model of Service — Deputy Director Olson and Deputy Director Paetznick Deputy Director Paetznick noted separate police and fire departments existed in New Brighton since the years 1946 and 1947, respectively, but they were very much separate and unique organizations. In the late 1990's, discussion began on how to better serve our community. At that time, the police department consisted of 27 sworn officers and the fire department was staffed entirely by 40 paid-on-call/volunteer firefighters. Also during this time, there was a change in leadership. Deputy Director Olson was elected Fire Chief and Director Jacobson was promoted to Police Chief. The Fire Department was given approval to hire one full-time position, the Fire Marshal. The Public Safety model began with these changes at the top and spread to operational functions as well. Our new building brought both disciplines under one roof. In 2000, Public Safety had only one cross -trained police officer/firefighter; this has increased to a full one-third of the sworn law enforcement staff. Our continued partnership with Allina Health has played a part in our success by handling medical calls in our city. The relationship amongst the public safety employees has been enhanced by joint training, with police officers and firefighters joining together for first responder, OSHA, blood borne pathogens, emergency right -to -know, and hazardous materials refresher courses. At the last Council meeting, approval was given to purchase a new fire truck to replace an aging fire truck. Our fire trucks are so well taken care of, they last years beyond their scheduled replacement. One of the main considerations for this new truck were all the safety changes that have been made to fire trucks over the past 30 years.