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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-26-1996 Meeting I I I PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE COMMITTEE ROOM - November 26, 1996 3:00 P. M. PRESENT: Hons. Larry Sconyers, Mayor; H. Brigham, Chairman; Zetterberg, Vice-Chairman; Kuh1ke, member; Jim Wall, Attorney; Chief W. L. Maddox, Fire Department; Bat. Chief Dennis Atkins and Lt. Catherine Walker, Fire Department; Pam Tucker, Emergency Management Director; Charles Dillard, Interim Administrator for operations; Linda Beazley, Interim Administrator for Administra- tion; Lena Bonner, Clerk of Commission; Nancy Morawski, Deputy Clerk of Commission and Belinda Brown of the Clerk's Office. ABSENT: Hon. W. H. Mays, III, member. Communication from the Attorney regarding an Ordinance to prohibit skateboarding on the sidewalks within the downtown business area, which would include the area from Riverwalk to Walton Way between 15th Street and 4th Street. The City of Augusta had a similar Ordinance but it only dealt with one specific location on 8th Street. This has become a problem in other areas of the downtown business district and the Sheriff's Department has requested that the area be expanded, was read. Mr. Wall: I was also asked this morning to include prohibiting skates as well as skateboards. This would include the downtown area and prohibit both skates and skateboards on the sidewalks, streets, parking lots and alleys at the request of the Sheriff's Department. It won't affect any residential areas. Mr. Kuhlke: I move approval. Mr. Zetterberg: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. The Committee next discussed the issue of hazardous material. Mr. Kuhlke: Mr. Todd asked me to bring this up and there have been communications between Ms. Tucker and the Chief. I thought we might discuss it here and try to get the problem resolved. Chief Maddox: I would have been glad to discuss this with Ms. Tucker but instead there was a memo sent out that seemingly criticizes every facet of the Fire Department. She states that it takes us 45 minutes to enter a haz material incident. We have only had one this year and it didn't take 45 minutes. We have ten trained men; they are still trained and are on duty. We have at least three on duty so any time they get a call and they need them, they can be there and it won't take 45 minutes. Another thing she points out is that we don't have trained operators. I dispute that because Lt. Walker here is in charge of it. Pam has never talked to her but instead talked to one of the operators and tried to get information. Lt. Walker: She came in and talked with an operator who said she asked how we page the off-duty haz mat team. We have a pre-programmed system on our radios where we click a mouse and page our whole haz mat team. I spoke to Ms. Tucker about it and all our dispatchers are certified by the state of Georgia and they have all been trained to handle any type of emergency. We have the capability to page out everyone at once or individually. Chief Maddox: She also points out incident command. Under the old county system they had incident command and it was used on every fire they went to. That's not necessary and there is no law that says you must use it on every incident. Mr. Zetterberg: What is that? I Chief Maddox: That's when you set up incident command and when the companies are coming in, you tell them what to do and so forth. When you have an average house fire, the first company comes in and takes charge until the next company comes in. The incident command is used in a haz mat incident and we do that. We don't use incident command on every fire and it's my call to put it into effect or not. We do have people who are trained in this. Lt. Walker: I did a test out on the page system and there I were eight men out on the haz mat team and six of them called me back in less than three minutes. Mr. Mayor: We sent a memo out from the Mayor's Office a few months ago that asked that before anything went out to the press it should come through the Mayor's Office first so we could check it. I think if this had been done, we could have avoided this problem. Ms. Tucker: I had no intentions of criticizing the Fire Department. Hazardous material is a big priority on my agenda and is one of the most likely incidents we have that could hurt a lot of people. I met with Chief Maddox in January and our two haz mat chiefs met with him also. I had some indications coming in that our hazardous materials program was regressing but until we conducted two back-to-back exercises recently, I didn't have the documentation to back it up. I was told that some of the dispatchers could not page out so I talked with a dispatcher who said she'd never been told how to do it. On Friday after the exercise, I called Ms. Beazley and asked her what would be the appropriate way to handle my concerns. She told me that there were three Commissioners in her office, Mr. Zetterberg, Jerry Brigham and Moses Todd. She put me on speaker phone and I talked to them via the phone line. They requested me to write a memo I and send it to Public Safety Committee Chairman Mr. Brigham and that's what I did on Monday morning. I I I Mr. Zetterberg: And I told you over the phone to make sure Chief Maddox got a copy of the letter. Ms. Tucker: of Commissioners, committee. I did copy him. I sent it to the Mayor, Board Chief Maddox and the local emergency planning Mr. Zetterberg: How did it get to the Metropolitan Spirit and on the Austin Rhodes show? Ms. Tucker: Before I finished faxing it out to the Commissioners, Rosemary Forrest called me from the Metropolitan Spirit and I asked her how she knew about it. She told me a commissioner had faxed it to her. I did not send this to any news media. Mr. Kuhlke: Isn't there a reasonable way for you both to sit down and come up with the appropriate solution to the problem? Ms. Tucker: I did what I was told to do by three Commissioners. Mr. Kuhlke: Well, I understand. That's done. Could you now sit down and make things work? Ms. Tucker: I'd be glad to do that. After a lengthy discussion, Mr. Kuhlke: Since we're going to have a new Chief, let's wait until he comes in and ya'll get together and get something resolved on it. Mr. Zetterberg: This community is blessed with a competent Fire Chief and a competent Emergency Management Director and we need to work this out. Mr. Kuhlke: I move that we receive this as information. Mr. Mayor: I think Mr. Brigham can report back that the meeting between the new Chief and the EMA Director was held and it was implemented and taken care of. Mr. Chairman: All right. At this time Mr. Robert Hunter and Ms. Sheryl Jolly of the Solicitor's Office appeared before the Committee regarding a personnel matter. Mr. Hunter: Due to our increasing workload, we are asking for a Jail Clerk who will just handle the paperwork from the Jail. We have seen an increasing number of cases and desperately need this person to help with the paperwork. We also need another trial team, which consists of an attorney and two clerks, because we are starting to back up. Our case load is up 44% over Mr. Kuhlke: Where did this go previously? I last year. Ms. Jolly: Some of these cases went to Municipal Court. They are handling all of the old failure to pay fines that were left over from the City but all of the tickets are now being written as misdemeanor State Court violations rather than under City ordinance violations and because they are State Court violations, they come through State Court. After further discussion, Mr. Chairman: Did you go to budget hearings? Ms. Jolly: Our budget hearing was cancelled. on the attorney but we really need the two Section as the Jail Clerk. We can wait Clerks as well Mr. Kuhlke: How much does a Jail Clerk make? Ms. Jolly: $17,660 plus benefits. Mr. Kuhlke: Can some cases be shifted to Municipal Court? Mr. Wall: law, they have violation of a either court. No. If they are written as violations of to go to State Court. If they are written City or county Ordinance, then it could go State as a to I After further discussion, Mr. Zetterberg: Can you look at transferring someone from Municipal Court to the Solicitor's Office? Ms. Beazley: We can look at it. Mr. Mayor: Could you use a temporary person until we can find someone for you? Mr. Hunter: We're going to transfer one of the Section Clerks to the Jail Clerk position and train someone as a Section Clerk. Ms. Jolly: Yes, we could take a temporary as a Section Clerk until we look at it in the budgetary process. Mr. zetterberg: I would suggest and move that the Administrator work with the Solicitor's Office and solve this problem through internal resources and if they cannot, then they come to the Commission and ask for a Clerk. Mr. Chairman: Are we committed to give them another body? Mr. Kuhlke: Yes, preferably through a transfer but if not, a temporary. I I I I Mr. Zetterberg: I would support a permanent position but I'd like to see them look internally before you advertise out. Mr. Beazley: How about a person who is in a temporary position that plays out in 30 or 90 days swapping over to do something like that? Mr. Zetterberg: Sure. Mr. Kuhlke: I'll second. Motion adopted unanimously. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Lena J. Bonner Clerk of Commission NWM