2020.02.10 Public Safety Commission Minutes

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officer. He reported the Bartz Brothers had another successful snow sculpture season. He discussed how the Public Safety Department assisted with traffic and signage. He stated the ice castles have been busy and there were more people in the community frequenting local restaurants. He explained the Public Safety Department has not received any emergency calls out to the ice castles. He reported the newest fire truck had been delivered and made its maiden voyage on Saturday. He explained the new aerial firetruck would be delivered in the next few weeks and the department would be selling the old aerial firetruck. He discussed the awards that were handed out at the Annual Public Safety Meeting and thanked Allina for being present to hand out the Stork Award. He commented on the sign measuring devices his department acquired and stated these would be used throughout the City to assist with monitoring the speed of traffic in the community. He reported the Council had discussed changing the residential speed limit to 25 miles per hour at a recent retreat and indicated further discussions on this topic would be held throughout 2020. C. City Council Update – Paul Jacobsen, Councilmember Councilmember Jacobsen commented on the City Manager hiring process that was underway. He reported the Council had whittled the 33 applicants down to 12. He explained the Council would be interviewing the final candidates later this month in hopes of having a new City Manager in place by the first part of April. He stated the Council was seeking applications for its Commission members at this time. He discussed how the Council was examining how to get its Commissions more involved. He thanked the Commission members for their dedicated service to the community. He reported early voting was open at this time for the Presidential Primary. He encouraged all to get out and vote on or before Tuesday, March 3rd. He explained the Council recently held a worksession meeting with Ramsey County where affordable housing was discussed. He described the construction work that had begun on the Midtown Village redevelopment project. He stated a traffic signal would be constructed at Old Highway 8 and 8th Avenue. He sent his condolences to former Mayor Dave Jacobson’s family and discussed how the former Mayor had been a great mentor to him. VII. Business Items A. 2019 Stats: Crime, Fire, Crashes, and Traffic Stop Data – Tony Paetznick, Public Safety Director Director Paetznick reviewed the crime, crash and traffic stop data from 2019 with the Commission. He explained violent crime was down 20% last year, with over 100 fewer theft reports. He believed this was due to the weather and use of the police camera trailer. He noted traffic crashes were on the rise (20% higher), which could be due to the increased number of vehicles using the City’s streets due to the I-35W road construction. He reviewed the locations of the City’s major accidents and traffic stops. He commented on how valuable the information gained from the 2020 census would be to the Public Safety Department. He reviewed the fire calls from 2019 noting several of the major calls occurred at apartment complexes in New Brighton. He stated targeted work would be done in 2020 to work with the apartment tenants/ landlords. He commented further on the ongoing benefits of the Closest Unit Dispatching and Automatic Mutual Aid dispatching system.