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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024/11/04 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study SessionOfficial minutes City council study session St. Louis Park, Minnesota Nov. 4, 2024 The meeting convened at 6:45 p.m. Council members present: Mayor Nadia Mohamed, Paul Baudhuin, Sue Budd, Yolanda Farris, Margaret Rog Council members absent: Lynette Dumalag, Tim Brausen Staff present: City manager (Ms. Keller), deputy city manager (Ms. Walsh), interim fire chief (Mr. Scott), deputy fire chief (Mr. Andersen), assistant chief of training and EMS (Mr. Beauvais), police chief (Mr. Kruelle), administrative services director (Ms. Brodeen), finance director (Ms. Cruver), property maintenance and licensing manager (Mr. Pivec), building and energy director (Mr. Hoffman), racial equity and inclusion specialist (Ms. Hernandez Guitron) Guests: Martin Scheerer, Hennepin Health EMS Chief Discussion items 1. Community Health update – Vision 2025 Mr. Scott introduced the emergency response service staff and Mr. Scheerer, then presented the staff report. Council Member Baudhuin asked whether medics can operate as a medic while serving their capacity as firefighters for the fire department. Mr. Scott said there would have to be an approval process with Hennepin Health first, and there is also a component related to rate of pay. Council Member Baudhuin asked what the limits are related to medical response from medics. Mr. Beauvais stated there are prescribed protocols to follow, which are limited within the program being discussed. Council Member Rog asked for clarification on whether the proposed medic will be embedded within the police department, fire department, or be a shared resource. Mr. Scott stated they would be an alternative response embedded within the police department. Council Member Rog stated in the past, there was a large focus on seniors. In this discussion, she is now hearing more about behavioral health, and there seems to be a shift in focus. Mr. Scott stated the fire department is still focused on working with senior facilities and group homes. Council Member Rog referenced lift calls, asked what the solution is, and noted there was a large focus on this issue in the past with the Community Health Alliance. She asked how lift calls will now be approached. Mr. Scott stated these calls can be related to behavioral health, or sometimes the aide needs assistance within the home and safety issues, noting the fire department will not lose sight of this. Docusign Envelope ID: AFBC3F62-0817-4D90-A6B4-6110F5D71FA3 Study session minutes -2- Nov. 4, 2024 Council Member Budd asked if emergency services (EMS) or 911 calls are the same as calls for service (CFS). Mr. Kruelle stated that EMS calls can be for assistance from the fire department, police department, or a combination of the two. Calls for service refers to all calls. Council Member Budd stated she understood there were metrics around the reduction of CFS calls based on other resources for lift and assistance. She stated her fear is this will be lost now. Mr. Scott stated when the situation is not an emergency and is a staffed facility, then education comes in, because non-emergency situations should not require calling 911. He added there can be alternative solutions to making a 911 call for those non-emergency type situations. Council Member Budd asked about the data management contract. Mr. Scott stated a contractor was doing data analysis on EMS calls, and now a staff member is doing this work. Council Member Budd asked what functions are lost with the sunsetting of the EMS person. Mr. Scott stated there were not significant losses with this change. There are outside social services that a person can be assisted to utilize and a separate employee is not necessary – this work can be accomplished by a fire department employee. Council Member Budd asked if anything will be lost in losing fire department interns. Mr. Andersen responded that the department did not feel this was a notable loss. He added that internship work had been very short-lived; the program had been related to past contractors. Ms. Keller added it was a good training experience for the interns, but at the comparatively short internship duration of about 80 hours, this was not a long enough program for the department to receive recognizable benefits. Council Member Farris asked why the city had worked with the other contractor. Mr. Scott stated that he had come into the role of interim chief with similar questions and concerns, which were confirmed by the results of the assessment performed on their services. Ms. Keller stated the city has a strong history of trying new things, innovating and then re-innovating and better evolving to meet needs. Mayor Mohamed stated that the community has needs that city emergency response staff may not have the tools and resources to address immediately, and this is a conversation the council is consistently holding space for. Mr. Scott confirmed that connecting people with the resources they need is very time- consuming, and the community health vision for 2025 will enable staff to address these needs better than before. Council Member Rog noted there is difficulty in finding nurse practitioners, but not in finding medics because we have them on our staff. She asked if we are looking at a new hire or an internal promotion. Mr. Scott stated the position would be filled by a new hire who will not have multiple roles and duties between being a firefighter and medic duties, but be dedicated specifically and only as a medic. A recent local layoff has resulted in a large talent pool from which to recruit intentionally for the skills needed. Docusign Envelope ID: AFBC3F62-0817-4D90-A6B4-6110F5D71FA3 Study session minutes -3- Nov. 4, 2024 Council Member Rog stated it feels unfortunate that the city is giving money back to Park Nicollet. She asked if there is a potential future partnership with Park Nicollet in this critical community health work. Ms. Keller stated in her discussions with the Park Nicollet Foundation, returning the monies makes sense and Park Nicollet stands ready to consider future proposals. Mayor Mohamed stated this topic hits close to home for her. She shared that her family has called the fire department for an emergency and she saw that gap with not having a medic on site, resulting in a longer wait for the EMT to arrive. This experience, along with doing a ride- along and seeing assisted living places and ongoing calls, showed her the need for this type of community health plan. She is excited the fire department is getting all that is needed and is supportive of the policy questions. Council Members Rog, Baudhuin, Budd, and Farris added they are also supportive of the policy questions. Council Member Budd thanked Mr. Scott for the metrics supported. Council Member Budd added it will be helpful also to have response times faster. 2. Racial equity and inclusion training for St. Louis Park city council members Ms. Hernandez Guitron presented the training and led the council members in an exercise. The training, “Let’s Talk About Race,” explored the dynamics of discussion about race. Council members engaged in reflection and conversation on how to mitigate barriers to honest conversations involving race. Through the guided reflection exercise, council members gained understanding of respectful engagement as they shared lived experiences around race. Council members voiced their thanks to staff for leading the training and exercise. Written Reports 3. Housing + neighborhood-oriented development system wrap-up Communications/meeting check-in (verbal) Ms. Keller shared that preliminary planning for future city council retreats is taking place. She asked council members to consider what training topics they would like to spend additional time on at those future retreats. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Melissa Kennedy, city clerk Nadia Mohamed, mayor Docusign Envelope ID: AFBC3F62-0817-4D90-A6B4-6110F5D71FA3