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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-12-18 PACKET 04.A.i.REQUEST OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION COUNCIL AGENDA MEETING ITEM #� � DATE 12/18/13 • . J � PREPARED BY: Public Safety Craig Woolery ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT STAFF AUTHOR ******************�**************��*************************** COUNCIL ACTION REQUEST: Pass a motion to accept and place on file the September 17, 2013 minutes of the Public Safety, Health and Welfare Commission meeting minutes. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Pass a motion to accept and place on file the September 17, 2013 meeting minutes. ADVISORY COMMISSION ACTION dPUBLIC SAFETY MEETING DATE 10/15/13 REVIEWED APPROVED DENIED x SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS: x �MINUTES: September 17, 2013 meeting minutes of the Public Safety, Health and Welfare Commission ADMINISTRATORS COMMENTS %� I� ity Administrator Date **************��****************�*************** COUNCIL ACTION TAKEN: ❑ APPROVED ❑ DENIED ❑ OTHER 'Cottage / Grove � Pride ana�'rosPerity Meet MINUTES OF MEETING September 17, 2013 PUBLIC SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELFARE COMMISSION Pursuant to due notice, a meeting of the Public Safety, Health and Welfare Commission was held at the City HaIL 1. REGULAR MEETING 01.A. Call to Order: The July 16, 2013, meeting of the Cottage Grove Public Safety, Health and Welfare Commission was called to order at 7:00 pm. Members Present: Lori Hedican, Jodi Lewis, Kellie Eigenheer, Kent Griffith Members Absent: Dave Barkow, Nick Maciejewski, AJ Janssen Staff Present: Deputy Director of Public Safety Peter Koerner, Council Liaison Derrick Lehrke, City Engineer Jennifer Levitt, Engineering Intern Robert Larsen, Officer Matt Foucault 01 B. Approval of Minutes Commission Co-Chair Jodi Lewis presented the July 16, 2013 minutes of the Public Safety, Health and Welfare Commission minutes for review and approval. On a motion by Commission member Kent Griffith, seconded by Lori Hedican, the July 16, 2013 minutes were accepted and approved by the Commission. Motion carries. 01 C. Approval of Aqenda Commission Co-Chair Jodi Lewis presented the September 17, 2013 agenda of the Public Safety, Health and Welfare Commission for review. On a motion by Commission member Lori Hedican, seconded by Kent Griffith, the September 17, 2013 agenda was accepted and approved by the Commission. Motion carries. 2. OPEN FORUM Commission Co-Chair Jodi Lewis invited citizens present to address the Commission regarding any matters that were not on the approved agenda. There being no items, Commission Co-Chair Jodi Lewis closed the Open Forum segment of the meeting. 3. PRESENTATION 03.A 70 Street/Idsen Avenue Pedestrian Crossing Study — City Engineer Jennifer Levitt Page 2 PSHWC Minutes September 17, 2013 City Engineer Jennifer Levitt made a presentation to the Commission regarding crosswalks at the intersection of 70 Street and Idsen Avenue and provided some options that have been studied since spring of this year and would like a recommendation from the Commission to present to City Council on the preferred option. She advised the Commission that the study concluded that there was an adequate gap to cross on average every 7 minutes. Data was collected on the hottest day of the week in an attempt to get the highest participation of residents that come to the splash pad. For two hour shifts, once a week for six weeks, data was collected on pedestrians that crossed 70 Street and Idsen Avenue; the number of people that were in the splash pad and the number of people that drove to the splash pad. The original concern was that there are an increased number of p�destrians crossing 70 Street to get to the splash pad. A graph showed that .75% of groups walked to the splash and 99.25% of groups drove to the splash pad. She went on to say the study found that there was inconsistency in crossing locations amongst pedestrians as where to cross 70 Street. Engineer staff would advise installing a sidewalk on the east side of Idsen Avenue and the south side of 70 Street that would connect 70 Street and 71 Street. Along with the sidewalk, pedestrian crossing signs will be installed at the location of the sidewalk so the public will know where the pedestrians are going to be crossing. After general discussion, on a motion by Commission member Lori Hedican, seconded by Kent Griffith, to accept the recommendation from Engineering staff for the installation of a sidewalk on the east side of Idsen Avenue the south side of 70 street that would connect 70 Street and 71 Street and install pedestrian crossing signs at the location of the sidewalk. Motion carries. 4. Presentation 04.A Speed Trailer — Officer Matt Foucault Officer Foucault introduced himself and advised the Commission he is a member of the police department's newly created Traffic Enforcement Division. The department recently purchased a speed trailer through proceeds from the Cottage Grove Crime Board and the city and is currently in the process of getting it located at sights in the city. He gave a brief overview of the traffic enforcement division. He added that the division is a data driven response to high complaint areas. The division operates 5 days out of the week. With the speed trailer being available, it now allows traffic areas to be monitored for extended time periods. The speed trailer is capable of tracking speed, traffic flow, time of day and date. It allows officers to view the content generated for that day. The trailer has a combination message board/speed trailer and has been a great tool since we received it a couple of months ago. Page 3 PSHWC Minutes September 17, 2013 He went on to say that he will be requesting Council authorization to apply for a grant through Data Driven Approach to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) administered through National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to help purchase a license plate reader and analytical software system. 04.B License Plate Reader— Officer Matt Foucault He added that once the Council has authorized the grant application, the items we would purchase is a license plate reader which is a camera system and a hard drive that is mounted in the car. These can capture license plates at about 5,000 reads per minute that will match to a"hot list" only and the officer can then make the traffic stop of the violator if there is a violator "hit" or match on the "hot list". The analytical software system (from BAIR Analytics), which is a 3 part software program that integrates with our records management system. Essentially, this would give the ability to look at past crimes, past crime trends and the predictability piece where officers would have the ability to combat those areas with higher crime however they see fit. This would be an 18 month reimbursement process: 6 months identify hot spots; 6 months reimbursable over time and last 6 months increased enforcement. Concerns over possible "privacy issues" were brought up by Commission member Kellie Eigenheer. Officer Foucault reassured the Commission that running license plates is not a privacy issue, because there is no expectation of privacy of the license plate information; nobody would be looking at the data or license plate if there wasn't a"hit" — he went on to say that what is currently being discussed at the legislative level is how it's used and how long that information can be kept on a server at the police department. He encouraged the public to look into what a license plate reader is for a more in-depth explanation of what it actually does and is. If the grant is approved, the department will draft a policy and will solicit input from the commission. 5. Old business None at this time 6. New Business 06.B Snowmobile Ordinance Review and Star Trail Route — Deputy Director Pete Koerner Captain Koerner requested that this item be discussed first due to some of the Snowmobile patrol was in the audience to address this topic. Page 4 PSHWC Minutes September 17, 2013 Captain Koerner provided a summary of the memo in the Commission packet which informed them that the City of Cottage Grove has recently approved housing subdivisions along 70 Street (County Road 22) and there is a proposed senior housing development at 70th Street and Hinton Ave. One area that has been identified as a future concern is the snowmobiling along 70 Street. He went on to say that the majority of the snowmobile activity is east of Keats Ave (County Road 19) on what is called the Star Trail system which runs the length of Washington County and is part of a statewide trail system. One of the spurs (feeder trails) for the Star Trail system runs east/west along 70 Street. The Star Trail system receives state grant monies and the Star Trail system has been in Cottage Grove since the late 1960's. There is also a paved county trail that follows 70 Street that is not plowed in the winter to allow for the Star Trail which received grant dollars. Captain Koerner also provided a copy of the Star Trail in Cottage Grove, being only a small portion of the map due its large size which can be viewed on the county website. Staff has been directed to evaluate our current snowmobile ordinance, discuss whether an alternate east/west route is necessary, and identify any issues from complaints or calls to police for enforcement. Public Safety did not identify any problem areas. He invited Brian Hagen, a former Commission member and who is currently the president of the snowmobile club, to address the Commission and answer any questions they might have. Mr. Hagen provided additional history of the Snowmobile Club and invited any comments or questions from the commission. Staff is recommending that the snowmobile ordinance be reviewed to ensure it is current with State Laws. He went on to say that we are not recommending changing the Star Trail at this time however we see a need for a process to review the designated trails and coordinate this review with staff, the Public Safety, Health and Welfare Commission and the snowmobile club. 06.A Winter Parking Ban discussion — Deputy Director Pete Koerner Captain Koerner provided the commission with a brief history of this item. Earlier this year the City Council made a request to have staff and the Public Works Commission look at the City's on street parking regulations specifically with the winter parking ban. At the May 13 Public Works Commission meeting, Public Works Director Les Burshten distributed additional information regarding general parking restrictions and winter parking ordinances from other cities. He then described the ordinance and how public Page 5 � PSHWC Minutes � September 17, 2013 works responds. Captain Koerner added that the Public Works Commission minutes are included for further information on the discussion. � The Public Works Commission did make suggestions and recommended changes to the ordinance. The following changes were suggested: • Change the prohibited months for on street parking�(from 2:00 am to 6:00 am) for snow and ice removal from "between October 1 and April 30" to "between November 1 and March 31 ". Remove the language "within fifteen (15) minutes of demand made by a city employee for such removal. After such notice, it shall be unlawful to park on such streets until the snow removal operation is completed in the area involved" and replace with the language "if a motor vehicle is found in violation of this ordinance a police officer is authorized to issue a citation and/or have the motor vehicle removed at the owner's expense." Snow and Ice Removal - Before November 1 and after March 31, on street parking shall be permitted only when the same does not interFere with the removal of snow and ice from the City streets, and vehicles so parked shall be removed from the street by their owners. It shall be unlawful to park on such streets until the snow remoVal operation is completed in the area involved. If a motor vehicle is found in violation of this ordinance a police officer is authorized to ticket and/or have the motor vehicle removed at the owner's expense. The suggested changes were presented to the Public Works Commission at their July meeting for their review and recommendation to amend the ordinance. The Commission did approve the revised language but asked for the Public Safety Health and Welfare Commission to review and provide comment, if any, prior to sending the recommendation to City CounciL After discussion, the Commission did not have additional comments and recommended that the suggested �changes be sent to City Council for approval. Commission Member Lori Hedican did make a motion to approve the recommendation that City Council adopt the ordinance amending Title 6, Chapter 2, Section 1, General Parking Restrictions — On Street Parking Regulations of the City Code. After being seconded by Commission Member Kellie Eigenheer, the recommendation was approved. The motion carried. � Page 6 PSHWC Minutes September 17, 2013 7. RESPONSE TO PREVIOUSLY RAISED COMMENTS AND REQUESTS None at this time. 8. COMMISSION COMMENTS AND REQUESTS Commission member Eigenheer just wanted to encourage citizens to participate in the Cottage Grove Citizen's Academy. She had the opportunity to be a participating member in the Academy's most recent class and has really enjoyed all the involvement that citizens can take part in while in the Academy. 9. STAFF REPORTS 09.A Police — Deputy Director Koerner informed the Commission of the following: Officer Brian Campbell was sworn in two weeks ago at a City Council meeting. He brings with him several years of experience as a law enforcement officer. He brings our officers up to full complement of 40 � The Public Safety Department's 3� Citizens Academy began on August 7 This has been our largest class so far with around 18-20 participants. Hinton Avenue has some new signs. It has been causing some confusion with the "stop" sign — what it is telling motorists is that if there is a pedestrian in the crosswalk it's telling you to stop. These are newer signs that you will start seeing statewide. Started a Reserve Academy with new volunteer Reserve officers. Reserves put in over 2,600 hours of volunteer service. We are in the hiring process for a CSO and currently we are doing backgrounds for the position. ' Friends in Need Food Shelf, OctoberFest, on 10-20 from noon to 5 p.m. will host a fundraiser at Hope Glen Farm, all funds raised will go to the emergency fund versus food On Thursday, 9-19 from 3 to 7 Public Works will be hosting an open house. On Saturday, 9-21 from 10 to noon, the Youth Service Bureau (YSB) will be hosting an event called "Touch a Truck", it's a free family event to raise awareness about the YSB and Beyond the Yellow Ribbon. 09.B Fire — Fire Chief Redenius informed the Commission of the following: For July we had 221 calls — Fire and EMS responses up about 7% from the year before Page 7 PSHWC Minutes September 17, 2013 For August we had 216 calls - Fire and EMS responses For Labor Day weekend — we had 41 calls from Friday afternoon to Tuesday morning Most calis are EMS related We had two reported fires since our last meeting — one structure fire and one small grill fire near a garage Upcoming Open House Saturday, 10-12 at Fire Station 2. Starts out at 9 a.m. with a demonstration of an air boat at Pine Tree Pond Park. Asked Council to approve the application for a SAFER Grant to help offset hiring costs to hire more fire/ems personnel. Should hear in November if our application was accepted. Received delivery of a new pickup truck. The siding and hose, which is about 5 years old, will be reused. Hope to have this in service by mid-October. Swearing in 3 new firefighter/paramedics at the second council meeting in October. They were previously part time firefighters with the city. 09.0 Council Recap - Council Liaison Lehrke advised there was a public hearing scheduled for tomorrow for a bonding of the City Hall/Public Safety building and it will be pushed out to next month due to a clerical error for filing the official public notice. The meeting will be next month. Woman brought up to Council a discussion of Lemurs in Cottage Grove — exotic pet issue. Is this something the Commission would like to look at an ordinance revision. Captain Koerner advised the Public Safety Department is researching this at the time. 10. ADJOURN 10A. Motion by Commission member Kellie Eigenheer, seconded by Commission member Kent Griffith to adjourn the meeting at 8:28 p.m. Motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Cyndee Engfer Administrative Secretary