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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005/05/23 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session ffCTY F OFFICIAL MINUTES ilLoucTs CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION RK May 23, 2005 The meeting convened at 6:55 p.m. Councilmembers present: John Basill, Paul Omodt, Susan Sanger, Sue Santa, Sally Velick and Mayor Jeff Jacobs. Councilmember Finkelstein was absent Staff present: City Manager(Mr. Harmening), Director of Parks and Recreation (Ms. Walsh),Fire Chief(Mr. Stemmer), Battalion Chief(Mr. Dobesh), Battalion Chief(Mr. Smith), Battalion Chief (Mr. Windschtl) and Recording Secretary (Ms. Stegora-Peterson). 1. Location of Permanent Off-Leash Dog Park Ms. Walsh presented the project background. Fourteen potential sites were ranked be set critena. A public meeting was held on April 20th Bill James, Off-Leash task force member, discussed the four recommended sites. The first choice was Dakota Park to be opened in summer 2005. Bass Lake Park Reserve would remain open for a year to allow discussions with Minneapolis and Edina regarding the 40th and France site, which would be the choice for the second permanent site. If that site were not available, they would recommend Cedar Knoll Park. He discussed park details. Councilmember Velick asked if there would be plastic bags at the sites? Ms. Walsh replied they would continue to do that. Ms. Walsh stated that the City of Minneapolis was unsure about future use of the 40th and France location. They would decide within a year. Mayor Jacobs asked how big the site was? Ms. Walsh replied 1.2 acres They the area was made smaller based on comments from adjoining property owners. They may grow vines or plants to buffer Councilmember Sanger asked if they could move the location further northeast9 Ms Walsh replied there was a trail in that location. Mayor Jacobs asked if they had gotten feedback about the existing park? Ms. Walsh replied yes, it was too small. The new site would be double. Councilmember Velick received feedback about the trail from people who walk along the trail (with dogs off-leash) who were upset. She explained the reasons for this to them. Ms Walsh indicated they were looking to reroute the trail. Councilmember Sanger commented she hadn't gotten one complaint about the existing site Her main concern was that people who use the dog park respect the neighbors. Two things she heard about were adequate lighting and that wood chips are supplied. Ms. Walsh believed with two sites, there would be less traffic at each site. Mr. Harmening asked what the next steps were? Ms. Walsh responded that the next step would be to meet with residents to be sure they knew what was happening. Study Session Minutes -2- May 23, 2005 Councilmember Basill asked if the landscaping plan had been shown to neighbors. Ms. Walsh replied yes. They were considering lilacs and vines. Mr. Harmemng asked if the residents of the Cedar Knoll area preferred housing or a dog park? Mr. James replied neither, but of the two, they preferred the dog park. The biggest issues were parking along Nevada, noise and environmental issues (deer and wildlife). Ms. Slase stated that this was the best of all sites. They had many meetings and a good public process. This site had the least negative comments. Councilmember Sanger asked about the Lake Victoria site? Ms. Slase indicated that site had the most negative comments and parking issues. It was a smaller area and not very level. Councilmember Basill asked if negative comments about 40`h and France were from St. Louis Park residents? Ms. Walsh responded that people to the North were concerned about parking. Ms. Walsh stated they were meeting with Dakota Park residents in the next week and would return to Council on June 6th for formal approval. They would have further discussions with the school and also do a mailing including all comments received. Councilmember Santa asked how much this would cost and where funds would come from? Ms. Walsh indicated they recommend continuing the permit fee and offer this with the dog licenses. The money goes into the park Improvement fund and would be used for on-going maintenance. The cost would be $25-30,000 for fencing and landscaping. Councilmember Basill had a concern about the safety of the school children and thought they needed to get more guidance from the school. Could they have a double fence? Ms Walsh suggested they screen both sides of the fence with landscaping. 2. Fire Department Program and Activity Update Chief Stemmer presented a chart of the organizational structure and reviewed the job dunes and responsibilities. There are 24 career and 24 paid, on-call firefighters. Battalion Chief Windschtl, Operations, reviewed the 2004 response analysis (handout). There were 3,991 calls. They had been working on decreasing false alarms. They belong to Southwest Mutual Aid and Hennepin County Mutual Aid and can utilize neighboring cities if needed. Average response time is 4 minutes, 30 seconds and medical response time is 4 minutes, 12 seconds. • Councilmember Sanger asked if trucks were still sent for medical emergencies Battalion Chief Windschtl replied no, they send two people in a rescue vehicle. Councilmember Sanger asked how many women firefighters there were? Battalion Chief Windschtl replied two career and three or four on-call. Battalion Chief Dobesh, Training/Safety, reported in 2004 they had 6,708 hours of training. Highlights included: Finished an EMT refresher, eight members of the department are CPR instructors, annual drivers evaluation, firefighter safety and survival training, training dnll at an Edina home, four firefighters attended an international level training conference in Indianapolis, three members on the Urban Search and Rescue Team (deployed for larger incidents), with one more going through training. The 2005 plan is to focus on the command Study Session Minutes -3- May 23, 2005 structure, officer development and to solidify the promotional process. Safety numbers for 2004: 22 first reports of injury, five days lost and one light duty assignment (3 months). The 2005 safety plan includes working on seat belt usage. They have started a health and wellness committee and will continue training Battalion Chief Dobesh, Fire Prevention, reported activities involved with the fire prevention division. Highlights for 2004 included inspected 500 occupancies (businesses) with 1614 violations and they issued 182 fire permits. They were continuing to promote spnnkler systems Mayor Jacobs asked how the low interest loan program was working for businesses? Battalion Chief Smith replied excellent. They had four projects in the works. They were very restrictive on spnnkler system requirements. To assist, they had the special assessment program, which was very successful and more businesses were installing sprinklers. Councilmember Sanger asked if apartments or condos were required to have spnnklers? Battalion Chief Smith replied new buildings were required to. It didn't happen often with existing buildings because there was low turn over. Councilmember Santa stated that inspections was doing a survey, was the information on who had spnnklers being included in that process? Battalion Chief Smith replied not now He would be providing the information. Councilmember Velick asked if the requirement was that only buildings over four stones were required to have spnnklers?Battalion Chief Smith replied that had changed. Anything new would have sprinklers (not including residential). Councilmember Sanger asked if they wanted to be made aware of houses that were going to be torn down to use for practice? Chief Stemmer replied yes. They were required to do asbestos and lead abatement first, so advanced notice was preferred. Chief Stemmer further discussed the organizational chart. A labor management committee had been created within the last year or two and they had been able to talk about issues with the union. The union informed them of a company in California who would install cameras in engines to be used for peer review. The goal was for the union and management to devise a system for peer review for incidents and to be able to use as a training tool. The union was confident the tape would actually vindicate dnvers. There would be no cost to the City because they were a test site Chief Stemmer discussed strategic planning. The department hadn't done a lot of long-range planning and tended to be autocratic. They asked members of the department what they thought needed to be improved. They had focus groups and also held a daylong meeting to discuss issues, ideas and objectives. They came up with the top nine important issues: determine the right things to do and do them well; communication; decision making powers (down in the organization); personnel issues (relationship w/labor meeting); marketing the fire department; customer service; training; station improvements (possible relocation), and, wellness and fitness. They also developed a new mission'statement: Promote, educate and serve with courtesy and integnty, as well as a motto. Devoted to Duty for all who call. They had a 1,000-day plan to accomplish these and were also reviewing the visioning process in St. Louis Park Study Session Minutes -4- May 23, 2005 Councilmember Santa noted that many seniors didn't want to "bother" the Fire Department. Seniors would be a good group to market to and educate. Chief Stemmer indicated that they tried to work with families on issues with seniors. 3. Emergency Plan Review Fire Chief Stemmer stated that this was an all hazard plan. A risk assessment was done and the top vulnerability was for computer attacks such as viruses. A chapter was added solely for continuation of services and protecting the computer systems. It was important to let citizens know that government would continue. Potential targets in St. Louis Park were government facilities, schools, water supplies, etc. The Director of Emergency Management is the City Manger, but he has been directed to maintain the plan and put together training sessions. Hennepin County has an Emergency Management Plan (EMP) and he would work with them to coordinate services. They hoped to have an integrated EM system. The system deals with: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. He descnbed the steps. They use the MN Incident Command system and all agencies work together. There would be an Emergency Operations Center(EOC), which was currently the Fire Conference room. The EOC is activated when an incident goes beyond the scope of people to deal with it, which helps facilitate an emergency and allows people to work together better. The Emergency Plan has a resource manual, which includes all phone numbers of those who need to be contacted in the event of an emergency. He further reviewed the chapters. Councilmember Santa noted in Chapter A, there were wardens for every department except the Rec. Center? Chief Stemmer replied those listed were primarily in City Hall. There are radios in the Rec Center and they have a plan. They can include more information regarding the Rec. Center. Councilmember Santa asked in the case of a major disaster, was there a centralized number for people to call for information? Chief Stemmer replied that the Red Cross has a tracking system. They can also set up public information lines, which the State would help with. Councilmember Sanger asked if there was an employee oriented plan dealing with issues such as work place violence or a disgruntled member of the public? There should also be a section on employee issues, disasters and the aftermath. Also, who calls to provide notification in the case of an emergency and communicates with the media? Chief Stemmer replied contact information was included in the manual. Any information to the media needed to be cleared by the Emergency Preparedness Director. There is also a communications coordinator who would gather information for the Preparedness Director. The Mayor would potentially present the information after that. It was laid out in the manual. Mr. Harmening clarified as Emergency Preparedness Director he wouldn't be instructing Police,Fire, etc. on specific emergency management, which would be the Coordinator's job. He would make sure people were informed and resources were being provided to deal with the event, and the departments were working properly. Mayor Jacobs stated the ability of the City to work with utilities was a concern. Chief Stemmer indicated that Public Works would work with the utilities on issues such as restoring power. Councilmember Basill thought there was a work place violence procedure separate from this. Mr. Harmening thought it might not be as comprehensive and would be kept as a separate policy. Study Session Minutes -5- May 23, 2005 Councilmember Basill noted a concern about the availability of contact numbers. Chief Stemmer responded their list included home, work and cell numbers for those who would need to be contacted. Councilmember Santa suggested the list include Email addresses. Councilmember Sanger suggested they keep that list at their homes. Councilmember Omodt noted he kept his important work numbers in his wallet and also in his vehicles. They were updated once a month. Councilmember Basill was womed about what had happened at the substation and companies with the chemicals. Councilmember Santa was concerned about what the trains were carrying and potential issues. Councilmember Basill asked if they should consider a chapter on potentially high-nsk areas to work on in the community. Chief Stemmer noted that was a part of the mitigation. They have done some hazard assessment and have worked with businesses on their plans. The emergency plan was how to continue government in the case of an emergency and how to minimize impact Councilmember Sanger asked if something happened to City Hall, where would they govern? Chief Stemmer replied at Fire Station #1. Chief Stemmer stated that the role of the Council was to be informed and to exercise leadership. They needed to establish legal contacts and do things equitably. Any meetings needed to be documented. They would need to keep the public informed The Mayor was able to declare a disaster and the Council would be able to meet without the special meeting notice. City Charter allowed the rules to be suspended in the event of an emergency. They needed to have final acceptance of the plan and sign off from the Department Heads. The government now has a planned called the National Response Plan. With that came NIMS, the National Incident Management System. A resolution will be coming before Council to adopt NIMS. City employees will be required to go to an IS700 class on the National Management System. They will also be looking at and evaluating EOC locations. In the fall there will be more extensive discussions with the directors. Councilmember Sanger asked what coordination had been done with pnvate entities and with their emergency plans? Chief Stemmer replied they had been working with Methodist Hospital and other businesses, although many businesses in St. Louis Park do not have plans. 4. Meeting Schedule Councilmember Sanger asked when they were meeting in January? Mr. Harmening indicated there would be three meetings in January, with the first meeting of the year (the annual meeting) to be held on January 9`h. A study session may be combined on a Council meeting night. 5. Other Mr. Harmening suggested the Council meet with Golden Valley City Council to discuss the 394 comdor and mutual items of interest along 394. He would set a meeting date. The meeting adjourned at 9.38 p m. • /1-.2--&—J--1— ?Cal City lerk M yor