2022.06.14 CC Packet - Complete - Laserfiche WebLink

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explained in the spring of 2021 the Hennepin County Chiefs of Police created a metro region-wide initiative in order to provide those cities that were facing a crisis with anti-scale fencing in hours and not days. The logistics, training, and staffing requirements for the fencing initiative was further discussed. He further reviewed photos of the 8’ by 4’ wide anti-scale fencing with the Council. It was noted 53 cities have already joined the consortium. Foschi discussed the cost for the consortium stating the expense would be funded through the Risk Management Fund. She reported the impact to the budget would be minimal as the expense to the City would be $7,000 annually. Paetznick stated possible alternatives to joining the consortium would be to contract directly with a vendor for rental, however the cost would likely be $100,000+ and could take several days for deployment. He explained the City could purchase its own fencing, which would be expensive and would have to be stored indoors. In addition, a number of public works staff would have to be trained and readily available to deploy the fencing. Another solution would be to install permanent fencing around the Public Safety Center campus, which would be a significant capital expense and would also impact daily operations/public access to the building. He stated he did not support this option due to the cost and how the public safety facility would be imp acted. He indicated the fencing consortium would provide the City with a great option in the event of an emergency. Schlichting discussed the incentives to join the consortium stating fencing would be available, there would be one call for response, a trained team would manage and deploy the fencing and external resources would be brought in to setup the fencing. He reported the fencing consortium did request $5 million in funding from the State of Minnesota in 2022 and this request was denied, but the group would be making a request again in 2023. He indicated the state funding would cover the cost of the fencing which would result in a savings of over 50% of the annual cost for members. He commented further on the benefits of being a member of the consortium stating the deadline to be an original member was September 2, 2022. He discussed the three actions the city would have to take prior to joining the consortium and it was noted two of the three items had already been completed. It was noted the third item on the list would be to have the City Council adopt a Resolution joining the Fencing Consortium, which staff would like the Council to consider at their June 14 meeting. Councilmember Allen asked if two communities could be covered at the same time by the fencing. Schlichting stated there would be 10,000 feet of fencing which would cover two cities at once, unless the other city was Minneapolis. Mayor Niedfeldt-Thomas questioned served on the fencing consortium board. Massopust stated the board would be made up of members from the representative cities. Paetznick explained the board would have five members and the members would serve for a two year term. Mayor Niedfeldt-Thomas inquired if the cities New Brighton has JPA’s with for police/fire mut ual aid services would be joining this consortium. Schlichting stated Blaine, Bloomington, Spring Lake Park, Fridley and Columbia Heights have already joined the consortium. He reported other cities surrounding New Brighton would be considering the fencing consortium yet this summer. Councilmember Abdulle questioned what the monthly fee would be for the fencing consortium. Foschi stated the annual fee would be approximately $7,000. She reported if the fencing was deployed to New Brighton there would be a monthly fee of $36,000 charged to the City. She indicated the City had funds within its Risk Management Fund to cover this expense.