Committee Minutes

MINUTES/SERVICE/SAFETY STANDBY COMM.
Monday, June 23, 2003 - 5:00 p.m.________________

Members present: Kreun, Kerian, Brooks.
Also present were Al Morken, Chief John Packett, Chief Pete O'Neill, Rick Duquette, UND Chief Duane Czapiewski.

1. Office space for PSAP.
Chairman Kreun stated one item on the agenda and need to get more information on whole process of what they have in line for the civic center, and asked Mr. Duquette for overview of what is taking place at the civic center.

Mr. Duquette stated not necessarily at civic auditorium, that PSAP Board has decided not to move to civic center and there were some additional issues regarding costs of the move if PSAP goes to the civic center - $5-6-7,000,000 in retrofit costs and not sure that has been budgeted for, money set aside for technology updates but not sure dollars available for that type of move; not sure civic is going to be first choice for them right now; and in addition will be bringing forward in the next couple weeks to the city council that the County court system would like to lease the civic for about for 10 months while doing some renovations on the county court house, but that doesn't preclude PSAP from using the civic but doesn't see on the short term horizon.

Uses of the civic - storage uses for police department and fire department and what areas are being used. Mr. Duquette stated the entire main floor is occupied by public safety equipment, that equipment could stay with the County being there - the County going to take all of the office space on main floor and all of the office space in the basement and the main rooms in the basement.

Chairman Kreun stated we are somewhat tight in the police facility with Highway Patrol, Sheriff's Office PSAP, Police Department - and if that is what precipitated some of these discussions. Al Morken, PSAP director, stated they've always been looking for a new location for PSAP, that he has looked at several different locations, part of the problem revolves around the dispatch center with all the radio communications, telephone communications, computer connections and gets to be the most expensive entity to move outside police department; however, have PSAP, State Patrol, Sheriff's Office, Police Department, Emergency Management and Municipal Court all within that building so at this point there isn't a lot of room to move within that building - if they move to another location the amount is close to $800,000 - a line of site could tie in their computer systems back into the police department, however, if get outside of that line of site, then even the $800,000 is going to go up in price; costs continue to rise and part of the process is to make sure that their equipment is upgraded and updated to meet Phase II, the cell phone technology, and in reality that is the number 1 priority along with trying to find more area. He stated for just the dispatch area - for communications they have up to 4 dispatchers on duty and they are having problems with the business phones, and now dispatch is answering all the business calls for the police department, sheriff's office and being diverted during business hours, and they are in a very cramped environment - the other side is that he is very happy with the people that work in the dispatch area and they all do a tremendous job under some very trying conditions.

Mr. Duquette stated that not all the entities involved have heard of this yet - he has been visiting with the county administrator, and they are remodeling the county courthouse, and asked what if we could make arrangements to move our municipal court over to the county courthouse, which would mean a matter of scheduling court rooms and establish some administrative offices over there and allowing expansion of PSAP into the municipal court area and would minimize some of the cost or relocation - that needs to be worked out and talked with the people that are involved.

Kerian asked if there were any discussions with other entities moving to civic. Mr. Duquette stated it was more of a package arrangement where had PSAP and bureau or two of the police and continue to store equipment - if there are other ideas and approaches they could take on that. Mr. Morken stated the municipal area would be about 980 sq. feet which would be enough room for the dispatch center at this time, the other thing is that the police department was actually built years ago to be added onto and if they moved into municipal court would save hundreds of thousands of dollars rather than moving outside of the building - later on if something happened and they became a regional dispatch center, they would still be able to expand outward where the addition was initially set up and would give area for the short term and also for the long term looking down the road if that opportunity did happen where they would still be able to expand if needed.

Kreun stated that at one point in time PSAP was looking to move into the civic but at a PSAP meeting it was indicated that they probably wouldn't want to do that any longer. Mr. Morken stated one of the alternatives was to find another location within the building, and don't have a lot of other options because the cost of running lines back to the police department and dispatch is very important part of the police department and the sheriff's office and end up not having high speed connection back and forth that it's necessary to run all the equipment and if not within a line of site or costs go dramatically higher, and options became very limited unless looking at spending hundreds of thousands of dollars more than what looking at. Mr. Duquette stated there is more info that is needed before bringing forward to the committee, and suggested doing some workups on space analyzation and costs and see how it shakes out; concerns and needs of municipal court are important to the city and haven't talked to them yet.

Kreun stated in the PSAP scenario that there should be one agency that is in charge of the PSAP and sub other portions out, maybe UND wants to be lead agency, and just pay them to administer it or the other way around. Chief Czapiewski stated a year ago he recommended that - Kreun asked if it wouldn't be a good time in this discussion to bring PSAP under one roof and basically charge for services to the other entities - same way doing it but the people - some work for PSAP and some for the City, but one entity in charge of all employees basically and in charge of the space, and into one combination with space and personnel and go back and have that group in charge and charge for other services to the other entities, 3 main entities - Sheriff's Office, Police Department UND, and look at that at the same time, Chief Czapiewski stated UND would concur with that.

Brooks stated moving it out of police building is going to be very costly because of equipment, but adding onto the police building presents some real problems for us and questions - moving them out creates some other problems - sq. footage would be adequate - but need Mr. Duquette to follow through and touch base with departments and put some things together, address their concerns and bring back.

Kerian asked if the building addition was in the CIP or taken out; Mr. Duquette stated that has been taken out for some time. Kerian stated needs for expansion have been discussed and why not in budget and why isn't PSAP looking at how they are going to cover growth costs. Mr. Morken stated that since he started there have been several projects that he has been trying to prioritize, been trying to learn some of the budget issues, part of problem has been not knowing where they are going to move or where new location going to be, because it could vary several hundred thousand dollars - that he has been looking at some of the cost of some of the technology but not bricks and mortar. Brooks stated the issue of raising additional monies and haven't been able to do in long range planning - or long term budgeting until know what kind of revenues dealing with. Mr. Morken stated initially they were part of the $4 million expansion of the police department, that initially for this year they had put both into one budget, now for the rest of this year and next year, going to divide it out again so can easily see which is actually for the technology part and which is for PSAP.

Kreun suggested this committee make a motion to direct this group to study the space needs, analyze that, and the management system as far as who would be the lead agency to bring those groups together, and do analyzation together so that there is one building facility with one entity involved and go forward with it. Mr. Duquette suggested including in the motion that he, the county administrator and rep. of UND to put together one lead agency. The committee noted to bring together whom you need to get this job done. Moved by Kerian and Brooks. Motion carried.

ADJOURN

It was moved by Kerian and Brooks to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 5:35 p.m.

Alice Fontaine
City Clerk

Dated: 6/26/03