Committee Minutes

MINUTES/PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
Monday, June 14, 1999 - 4:30 p.m.

Members present: Bakken, Bouley, Martinson.

1. Requests to hold block parties:
a) Jennifer Tinkler for Saturday, June 19, block off 800 block of Reeves Drive between 8th and 9th Avenues South from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Chief O’Neill and Police Lt. Kirby stated their departments had no concerns. Moved by Bouley and Martinson to approve the request. Motion carried. (Comm. only)

b) John Flint, 809 Boyd Drive, to block Boyd Drive between 10th and 11th Aves. S. on
Thursday, June 17, from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Chief O’Neill and Lit Kirby stated their department had no concerns. Moved by Martinson and Bouley to approve the request. Motion carried. (Comm. only)

2. Request for refund of temporary restaurant license fee by Special Olympics.
Moved by Bouley and Martinson to approve the request for refund of fee in the amount of $65.00. Motion carried. (Comm. only)

3. Request for variance to noise ordinance:
a) North Dakota Alpha Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon on August 21 and 23 for recruitment
events.
Held in committee.

4. Request by North Dakota Alzheimer’s Assn. for 2nd Annual Memory Walk on
September 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Police and Fire Depts. had no concerns re. this matter. Moved by Bouley and Martinson to approve the request for the 2nd Annual Memory Walk on September 18 as requested. Motion carried. (Comm.only).

5. Consideration of bids for ATV lease/rental for health department.
Todd Hanson, Mosq. Control Supervisor of Health Dept., reported they are recommending to lease the Argo Conquest from Acme Electric as they feel it will be a high maintenance item and with the lease price set for rental along with the lease agreement they’ve agreed upon it to the economic benefit of mosquito control to lease rather than purchasing it. It was noted that in the lease bidder is responsible for the maintenance and the lease would be about $2,000 less than the purchase and feel life cycle of this machine maybe limited to four years. Moved by Martinson and Bouley to lease the machine from Acme Electric at $650/month for 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 and to enter into the lease agreement. Motion carried.

6. Budget amendments:
a) Health Department - $1,095
Don Shields, Health Department, reviewed the amendment which is for revenue for food service classes which managers and workers of restaurants attend, this is for March class, and that they do this 3 or 4 times a year, and use revenue to buy books for the next session.

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15. Budget amendment:
a) Health Tracks (formerly EPSDT) - $4,887.00
Mr. Shields reported this is a grant program and that there is a tremendous increase in the number of kids that have been screened (low-income kids) and have had need for additional staffing for that and the budget amendment will allow for that.

Moved by Martinson and seconded by Bouley to approve the budget amendments. Motion carried.

6. b) Police Department - $1,460
Lt. Kirby reported this represents donations to the GREAT Program from the local entities that are included, that this is the Gang Resistance Education and Training Program, and at the end of the school year there are a variety of activities that the officers who instruct in this program put on for the kids. Moved by Bouley and Martinson to approve the budget amendments. Motion carried.

7. Matter of truck traffic on 12th Avenue North.
Bouley stated that she was contacted by neighbors in that area upset about the truck traffic related to Acme, that she told them it would come up for discussion and they said they would be here, but they are not. John Thompson, traffic engineer, reviewed information form the City Code relative to truck routes where it states that truck traffic within the city that originates outside the city and traffic that originates inside the city, no prohibition as along as they have a destination that can reasonably be identified between the nearest truck route and their destination. He stated that the Code also states that in the event a person involved with truck business is in a location which may be adversely affected by the signs required (no truck traffic) the city engineer may for clarification purposes, install on the same sign post an additional sign which states “..local business stops permitted.” He stated they may want to put the additional sign on the “no truck signs” and people seem to think that means no trucks at all and it means no general truck traffic which is all they can prohibit and if they have a bona fide destination in the area, they are allowed to drive on those streets, 12th Avenue being one of the major problem areas. He stated it’s an inherent problem they have with industrial and commercial retail next to residential homes. He stated that Hugo’s has tried to work with the neighborhood. Bakken stated they should let Acme know that they don’t want trucks to come in on 12th. Mr. Thompson stated there are times in the morning when Hugo’s has 5 or 6 delivery trucks that are all running at the same time because refrigerated and gets noisy there and that’s part of the nuisance problem. Bouley stated complaints she had were only truck traffic on 12th , concerned about children. Bouley moved to include posting of an additional sign “local business stops permitted” placed below truck traffic prohibited signs on 12th Avenue North and that they talk with Acme Electric re. truck traffic. Motion carried. (Comm. only) Bakken stated that they should also talk with Hugo’s that they are getting complaints.

8. Matter of police impound lot.
Lt. Sieber brought a number of pictures about their current situation on Mill Road which
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houses bicycle and that they feel building not safe as hooks holding bicycles fall out; that building has become a haven for pigeons and other birds and creating a health hazard inside, the roof leaks as well, that they do not get all their vehicles inside and park some outside. He showed pictures of the proposed site along side of Simplot water reclamation area, where the City purchased approx. 50 acres as borrow pit for clay for temporary dikes, and proposed to the committee that consideration be given for utilizing 2 or 3 acres of this 50 acres, that he spoke with Ken Vein, city engineer, in regards to this and he gave his immediate approval if it fits into the CDBG funding that purchased this land, that they would be losing their canine training site near fire drill tower and store evidence there, etc. and will be losing that to the wet side of the dike. He stated that they would utilize this site for off-site evidence; and would also like to work with Simplot with tying into their fence line and thus reducing the cost of City’s fencing by maybe 25 to 33% if they were in agreement with that. He stated that would take care of needs for a site and for the property, the larger aspect of financing this would be in regards to the building, and was asking for approval today contingent on the finance committee reviewing this tomorrow and that the proceeds from the sale of the existing impound property and building be utilized for fencing and building needs they would have on the city’s borrow pit site. Lt. Sieber stated that they thought that would be the best source of funding for this. Chief Packett stated that they also require a site plan for approval by council.

Lt. Sieber stated that there are two separate buildings, front portion of the building which was showroom portion is currently being utilized by the civic auditorium for lawn care equipment, etc. and they would be interested in trying to facilitate something on this new site as well to house his equipment.

Lt. Sieber reported he had talked with Meridith Richards, Urban Development, and they are interested in proceeding along with this as the property to the east of these buildings is being looked at for relocation of a house for Habitat for Humanity who will be repairing the house for sale.

There was some discussion re. financing, that if more money was received from sale of the property they wouldn’t want to spend all on the impound lot, and perhaps may not get enough money to do the impound lot; committee asked if they had any figures to do the site. Lt. Sieber stated that the cost for the police department needs brought forward before; $17,160 for fence line that they needed but if work in conjunction with Simplot and perhaps cut that by 25 or 30% tying into their fence line and would be beneficial to them. He stated he has done some research on either pole barn or metal building type structures from about four companies and their figures run $20/sq.ft. for size building the City would need for bicycle impound and evidence - a minimum of 40x60’ or 2400 sq.ft. and civic auditorium needs larger structure than that to house their equipment. (building without any windows, one overhead door) It was also noted that they haven’t done any site preparation - access to the property. It was suggested they might need between $63 - 100,000 by time done, and asked what their backup plan would be if they don’t receive enough money. Bakken stated that we need to address funding of the police pound, no problem with the location but they want to make sure that the money from the sale of the
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property would go for the impound lot.

It was noted that this property had been declared surplus by the city council at its last meeting and advertisement for bids were being published.
Lt. Sieber stated if property did not sell, they would have the inside use of the building and do have a signed contract with National Guard for temporary overflow and it is their intention not to use that open lot again to make it unsightly for the neighborhood.

Moved by Martinson and Bouley to use the funds from the sale of the existing police impound property towards the new impound lot. Motion carried.

9. Matter of Y-2-K generator for police department
Lt. Sieber reported that this proposal has to do with the purchase of a larger generator for the police department, currently building has a generator in the basement which is 150 kw generator and was put in when the building was built, it handles 2 out of 3 air handlers in the building and a number of outlets, it does not have enough power to supply the entire building during a power outage, and they are proposing to install a larger generator, 400 kw, which would be self sufficient for the entire building and all of the equipment, including Emg. Operations Center, Dispatch Center. He stated this would reduce NSP electrical rate for this building, could reduce it at least $12,000/year; and this could also provide a site for all administrative offices to operate out of City Hall and at the Police Department should we have another disaster, prevent any disruption of city services in the event of Y2K problem. He stated that the Y2K Committee sees this as a very serious concern and would like to move forward with this quickly as it takes about 4 or 5 months for the entire installation to be put in place. They would look at relocating the current generator to other city emergency services or other city departments, such as street department to run the gas pumps, etc. Preliminary cost estimates have run between $111,760 - $143,200 based on number of kilowatts the generator produces and whether you enclose it with a walk-around building. He stated they looked at potential financing operations, NSP and Ottertail both came forward and are interested in offering some financial packages if do a lease purchase through them, City of Grand Forks general fund, or more appropriately the CDBG funding. He stated they are looking for approval from this committee to move forward on this project and bring it to the finance committee for appropriate funding, probably CDBG funding. He stated this would be housed a short distance away from the building, would be a turn-key operation based on approximate costs that they’ve set up, and think it’s a real safety measure for the City to have both for emergency services of dispatch, emergency operations center, the police department, but also administrative offices from City Hall should they have to come over and operate out of that building. It was questioned whether this would be large enough to supply power for the proposed addition to the building; Lt. Sieber stated it would. He stated that the current peak time they have is a 275 kw and they add to that and go up to 400 and that’s for any possible future expansion, but also need above 275 in order for this to kick in should there be an immediate outage, and feel 400 would be sufficient for the addition.

Lt. Sieber reported as to cost savings - that NSP will reduce their rate of electricity that they
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charge as they would require us to use this generator no more than 300 hours/yr. when they are
running at peak times and want load reductions, they call the generator and it kicks on automatically and reduces their load so they can supply other customers and for that City would get a year-round rate reduction of about $12,000/year. He stated that the only other additional costs to this would be for the diesel fuel to run that for whatever hours they would require, that it’s a contract with the power company not to exceed 300 hours, and they said they’ve never come close to that.

Lt. Sieber stated this would be located outside the building for access for maintenance, and this is put on a large cement block about 12x20 ft., that he checked into the noise factor and exhaust factor and that meets environmental standards (72 decibels when running) and don’t feel that would disturb the neighborhood, and would have this in place where it would be flood height that would be satisfactory and compliant with the rest of the building. He stated the building looks like a large square box and if do walk-around building it looks like small brown building, not unsightly and as get into plans for any addition to the building, can maybe adjust location. Lt. Sieber stated they would work operating costs within their budget, fuel costs of $6,000, maintenance costs - have contract for existing generator which will increase some and they base their maintenance costs on kilowatt of the engine and would increase somewhat.

Moved by Bouley and Martinson to proceed with the purchase of a 400 kw generator for the police building. Motion carried.

10. Matter of police department restructuring
Lt. Sieber presented video presentation of organizational structures in 1979, 1996 and 1999, that 20 years ago they had a chief and now have chief who is under contract; they had an assistant chief 20 years ago and that position eliminated after that person left the department; had 4 captains 20 years ago and reduced to 3 and more recently reduced to 2 captains following retirements; they had 11 lieutenants in 1979, reduced to 8 through retirements and now to 6 through attrition and retirement; and seeing upper echelon of this agency reduced. He stated they had 13 sergeants in 1979 and holding at 12, but now going to 13 later this year based on a grant. He stated that in 1979 they had 33 officers and 31 people with rank; in 1996 had 42 officers and in 1999 have 61 officers, some being federally funded through grants; and the total did not increase significantly until 1999 because of grants, and point he wanted to make was that the upper echelon of administrative positions have changed. He stated that they have pushed down a lot of responsibilities into the sergeant/lieutenant level, etc. by giving them each a specific identifiable bureau including Uniform Patrol Bureau, Planning & Research Bureau, Community Service Bureau, Technical Services Bureau, Criminal Investigations Bureau and Records Administration Bureau. He also reported that they don’t have anybody with a new title and this is a much more efficient system than what they once had with larger number of people at the top and is a re-deployment with the same titles and not any new sub-departments. Chief Packett stated these changes were discussed with the mayor and predecessors on the previous public safety committee , and are coming back before committee to walk you through these plus with the reclassification issues before Civil Service.

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Moved by Bouley and Martinson to approve the 1999 organizational chart for the police department. Motion carried.

12: Applications for games of chance:
a) The ARC - Upper Valley, Inc. (site auth.) 7/01/99-6/30/00 at 1395 S. Col.Rd. (Dagwood’s
b) Listen, Inc. (site auth.) 7/01/99-6/30/00 at Long Haul Saloon, Muddy Rivers and El Roco.
17. Games of chance:
a) St. Michael’s Altar Society - raffle 11/13/99
It was noted that the applications were at the attorney’s office for review. Moved by Bouley and Martinson to approve the games of chance contingent upon approval of the city attorney. Motion carried. (comm.only)

13. Matter of request for stop sign at entrance to Longview Fiber.
A recommendation from John Thompson, traffic engineer, recommended approval of the stop sign. Moved by Martinson and Bouley to approve the request for stop sign. Motion carried. (Comm. only)

14. Matter of intersections of 11th Ave. S. at S. 36th Street and S. 38th Street.
John Thompson, traffic engineer, recommended installation of yield signs on South 36th and South 38th Streets at 11th Avenue South. Moved by Bouley and Martinson to approve the recommendation. Motion carried. (Comm. only)

16. Request for refund of temporary restaurant license fee by Red River Valley BMX - Speedway (Alternative Sports, Inc.)
Moved by Bouley and Martinson to approve the refund of the temporary license fee in the amount of $65.00. Motion carried. (comm.only)

18. Extra items:
a) Friends United, local Self-Advocacy Group, is holding their annual picnic on June 22, 1999 at University Park from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. with a band during that time. The committee asked that this matter be run through police department.

b) Bakken presented matter of need for a stop sign at Congressional II, that the first entrance has one but the second one doesn’t have a stop sign coming out. (Referred to traffic engineer)

b) Martinson reported that in the area of 4000 Valley Square, should look at considering a stop sign coming out Valley Square onto 24th. (Referred to traffic engineer)

c) Martinson stated he was extremely proud of fire and police departments for the emergency they took care of on Friday evening (Simplot fire) Chief O’Neill stated they have a lot of thanks to a lot of different agencies that assisted them, including the police department, and also East Grand Forks, Airport, and received assistance from many different agencies and do appreciate it.
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Bakken stated that they did an excellent job.

Bakken stated they were worried about the ammonia leak, but not great success doing an evacuation, and asked what they would do if really had to do an evacuation within a half mile radius of there: Lt. Kirby reported they had already prepared the officers and supervisors that were on the scene and identified what the evacuation routes would be, the Sheriff’s Office was prepared to assist in evacuating as well as UND police department; they would have used the EAS (cable interrupt system), would have been difficult but would have had some success, identified routes and locations open for shelters, were prepared to do it if needed to do it.

Chief O’Neill stated that the compressors that were pumping ammonia through the system, kept a close watch on those throughout the fire, and watching pressures, and also relief valves would have given them some type of warning. and would have been able to give the police department a little bit of time to evacuate in case that had occurred, and there would have been some time to play with for themselves to back out if were going to lose the systems.

Moved by Bouley and Martinson to adjourn; meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.

Alice Fontaine
City Clerk

Dated: 6/16/99