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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Safety - 06/09/10 �,..-.��'^"''� � � CITY OF PALM DESERT REGULAR - . PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING APPROVED MINUTES Wednesday, June 9, 2010 — 3:30 p.m. Administrative Conference Room I. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Larsh calied the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. II. ROLL CALL �����y������,r��LAC�'In� n�������c��t:i3 , s��;�rrn Present: ���'.c:c�v►?���'Fi�/�. t>���p��r�z Commissioner James Butzbach Commissioner Gloria Kirkwood M�;FZ�IN�; UATF, -���-aC� o Chairman James Larsh Avrs:���zsc-n,��G'r ���, �ro�;ne�l{,�Sn;���, � ,� ; Vice Chairman Rick Lebel �;pr�;��nP Commissioner Martin Nethery At3SENT: _ti cn� AI3STAIN:�_�� � Also Present: V�RIFIED BY:- ���1K��� �_,.� Mayor Cindy Finerty Original on File with City Clerk's Office Mayor Pro Tempore Jim Ferguson Stephen Aryan, Assistant to the City Manager Gary Rosenblum, Risk Manager Frankie Riddle, Director of Special Programs Sgt. Misty Reynolds, Palm Desert Police Department Chief Dorian Cooley, Riverside County Fire Department Battalion Chief John Rios, Riverside County Fire Department Lori Kritzer, Recording Secretary III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Phyllis Harkins, Palm Desert County Club, thanked CalFire and Riverside County Fire for offering the C.E.R.T. Training Program. She just completed the course, and said it was phenomenal. She learned how to handle many emergency situations. She expressed her appreciation for the fast response that the community received with the apprehending of the individuals responsible for the drive by shooting in their neighborhood. She stated that there were many young people in her neighborhood that are on the public portion of Facebook and APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 9, 2010 believed that there are properties in the community that may be connected with gang activity. Upon inquiry by Ms. Harkins, Sgt. Misty Reynolds responded law enforcement has been given access to Facebook, which Facebook has given them. It was a routine resource they use for all cases, not just those that are gang related. Ms. Harkins said that was good information to know. She was asked by the Neighborhood Watch chairperson to inquire about that because the drive by shooting rattled everyone in the community. She thanked the Commission for their time. IV. PRESENTATIONS A. DUI Trailer— Officer Avila The meeting was adjourned to the Civic Center parking lot to tour the DUI Trailer. V. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Minutes of the Public Safety Commission Meeting of May 12, 2010 Rec: Approve as presented. B. Palm Desert Fire Services Monthly Report for April 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. C. Palm Desert Special Enforcement Team Monthly Report for May 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. D. Traffic Team Report for May 2010 -- Includes Traffic Collision Statistics for April 2010 and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Statistics for May 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. E. Business District Team Report— May 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. 2 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 9, 2010 F. Coachella Valley Narcotics Task Force Report for May 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. G. Canine Report— May 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. H. Coachella Valley Violent Crime Gang Task Force Report for May 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. Vice Chair Lebel moved, by Minute Motion, to approve the remainder of the Consent Calendar. Motion was seconded by Commissioner James Butzbach and carried 5-0. VI. CONSENT ITEMS HELD OVER B. Palm Desert Fire Services Monthly Reports for February and March 2010 Upon inquiry by Commissioner Martin Nethery, Chief Dorian Cooley responded that he will look into the information on page 8 of the Fire Report with regard to Medical Emergency Reponses, number of patients transported in February and March. Commissioner Nethery moved, by Minute Motion, to approve the Fire Department Reports for April 2010. Motion was seconded by Vice Chair Larsh and carried 5-0. VII. NEW BUSINESS 1. Recommendation to apply for and accept United States Department of Justice BJA Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program FY 2010 Local Solicitation (Award #to be determined) Sgt. Reynolds reported that this was similar to the other two JAG grants that they currently have and will be used for computer equipment. Stephen Aryan stated that the recommendation was asking the Commissioners to approve the application to apply and acceptance thereof. 3 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 9, 2010 Upon inquiry by Chair Larsh, Sgt. Reynolds responded that this grant would be used for the new station. Commissioner Nethery moved, by Minute Motion, to approve the recommendation to apply and accept the Department of Justice BJA Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program FY 2010. Motion seconded by Commissioner Gloria Kirkwood and carried 5-0. 2. Consideration to host the Riverside Sheriff's Association 15tn Annual K-9 Trials at Palm Desert's Freedom Park on November 12- 13, 2010 Mr. Aryan stated that in the past, the K-9 Trials have been held in Temecula California. After attending last year's Trials, Mayor Finerty believed it was a positive event and secured Palrn Desert as this year's location. Staff has worked with the Riverside Sheriff's Association (Association) and Palm Desert's Freedom Park was chosen as its venue. The K-9 Trials will be held Friday, November 12 and Saturday, November 13, 2010. Friday's event is for invited guests only and Saturday's events are open to the public. Mr. Aryan displayed aerial maps, which showed the outlay of the two day event. On each day, the south end of the parking area will be cornered off for the purpose of equipment storage, parking for the K-9 handler's vehicles and an RV for the Deputy that will remain on-site during the two day event. The Association will obtain a Temporary Use Permit (TUP) for those uses. There will be an area for five exhibitors, wherein staff was requesting that the exhibitors be exempt from the Business License requirements. The Association had reservations about the exhibitors having to pay $75.00 each for a business license because that may be a deterrent to their participation. The northern and eastern baseball fields will be utilized both days. Perimeter fencing will be erected on Friday morning and taken down on Saturday evening after the event. All areas being utilized will be secured and monitored by Riverside County Sheriffs. The retention basins will be used for searches as well. Both tennis courts will be closed on Friday, but the park will remain open on a limited basis. Food courts will be located on the south field near the pavilion. On Friday, the food vendor will be donating food to the handlers and invited guests and will not be required to obtain a business license; 4 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 9, 2010 however, the Saturday vendors will be required to obtain a business license. An off-site event will take place on the Oasis Church property. We do not anticipate any impact on Ronald Reagan School and will inform DSUSD of the event. There is ample parking around the school as well as additional parking south of the school. Saturday's events will be open to the public and will consist primarily of area searches, displays of obedience, agility, and protection skills. The area layout will be identical to Friday's event. A portable pool will be provided by the Sheriff's Dive Team for children to experience what it is like to be underwater with a self- contained breathing apparatus. The pool will be drained onto the soccer field Saturday evening by the Fire Department. A banquet will be held on Saturday evening at the Agua Caliente Casino. This is an invitation only event. The Association tried to secure a place in Palm Desert; however, due to economics and budgetary issues they were unable to do so. Gary Rosenblum, City of Palm Desert's Risk Manager, will be working with the Association to ensure all property insurance requirements are met. Upon inquiry by Vice Chair Lebel, Mr. Aryan responded that staff worked with the Coachella Valley Park District and our own park staff to ensure minimal disruption to areas of the park that will not be in use for the event. Mr. Aryan stated that there will be a Deputy Sheriff monitoring the equipment each night. During the event all fields and potential points of entry will be monitored by the Sheriff's Department. Upon inquiry by Vice Chair Lebel, Mr. Aryan responded that around 400 to 500 people will attend the event throughout the day. Sheriff Rivera stated that last year there were 74 different K-9 teams on Friday and 56 on Saturday. Upon inquiry by Commissioner Butzbach, Sheriff Rivera responded that the trials were put on by the Riverside Sheriff's Association in conjunction with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department's K-9 Team. Mr. Rivera added that a program will be printed, which includes photos of the K-9 teams as well as sponsor's names, 5 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 9, 2010 businesses, and types of dogs that are used in the K-9 Program. The program is 20-pages and is distributed to the public. Mr. Aryan stated that the Association has secured 65 rooms at a local hotel. The handlers bring their families who will frequent the City's restaurants and shopping destinations. We anticipate a positive economic impact. Vice Chair Lebel suggested that the program include an introductory letter from the Mayor with a picture of the Mayor and Van Snapp along with the Mayor's signature and Van Snapp's paw print. Mayor Finerty thought that was a wonderful idea. Upon inquiry by Commissioner Butzbach, Sheriff Rivera responded that the exhibitors will be selling K-9 equipment, toys for dogs, T- shirts, hats, coffee mugs, beer mugs, wine glasses, and sweat shirts. There is also a dog training vendor "Sit Means Sit" based out of Las Vegas. They will set-up an obstacle course and show off their dogs to the public. That is always a crowd pleaser because they do some amazing things with their dogs. There will also be a Kettle Popcorn vendor. Sgt. Reynolds stated that the K-9 Trial event is put on by the K-9 Trial Unit of the Sheriff's Department and all the organizational aspects of the Trials will be handled by that Unit of the Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Rivera explained that the purpose of the Trials was to educate the public about the relationship between man and a police dog. To show the different functions that police dogs carry and their assets to a city and its Police Department. A lot of times the public's perception is that police dogs are dangerous and we can show that the dogs are obedient, trained and will bite only when directed to do so. Biting is not the primary function of a police dog. They search for people and help find evidence. The trials are fun because the public sees the training that we do with the dogs and that training is put on for them. The competition is for us and we do compete against each other, but ultimately it is just a training day for the dogs in front of the public. The public gets to see exactly what we do and they go away with the mindset that the dogs are not vicious. You can go up to a handler and he will let you pet the dog. It's a good encounter between police officers and the public to build that trust to ensure that they have a relationship with the public. It's a great event. 6 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 9, 2010 Sheriff Rivera stated that the City Council and everyone on staff that has been directly involved in putting together the event were welcome to attend Friday night. The hours for each day's events will be 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Commissioner Butzbach moved, by Minute Motion, to approve hosting the Riverside Sheriff's Association 15th Annual K-9 Trails at Palm Desert's Freedom Park on November 12-13, 2010. Motion seconded by Commissioner Gloria Kirkwood and carried 5-0. 3. Authorize the Palm Desert Sheriff's Department to sell a BMW Motorcycle in the sum of $65�. (This item was added to the agenda by a majority vote.) Mr. Aryan reported that the Sheriff's have an old BMW motorcycle was used for surplus parts over the years. The bike was now at a point where it's usefulness was no longer viable. They would like to sell the bike. They put it out to bid with the highest bid coming in at $650. They would like to sell the bike to that bidder. Sgt. Reynolds explained that the other reason they would like to sell the bike was that it was loosing equity every day and wanted it sold before it loses all of its worth. Also, if it does not get sold it will have to be transported to the new station, which there would be a cost associated with that. Vice Chair Lebel moved, by Minute Motion, to approve selling the Palm Desert Sheriff's Department BMW Motorcycle in the sum of $650. Motion seconded by Commissioner Kirkwood and carried 5-0. VIII. CONTINUED BUSINESS None IX. OLD BUSINESS None X. REPORT ON CITY COUNCIL ACTION (S) Mayor Finerty reported that they were working on the budget and appreciated the Commissioner's support. XI. REPORTS AND REMARKS A. Citizens on Patrol Program 7 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 9, 2010 1. Monthly Report for May 2010 2. COPS Caller Newsletter Chair Larsh commented that the report was, yet again, very well done. Frankie Riddle reported that there were many COPS members that leave or go on vacation during the summer months, so there will be a decrease in volunteer hours during that time. Upon inquiry by Chair Larsh, Ms. Riddle responded that was hard to determine the decrease in hours. Mayor Finerty said she appreciated the article in the COPS Caller on K-9 training. B. Legislative Update Gary Rosenblum stated that the State will have a long and contentious budget season. He said there has been talk of another year of IOUs from the State. Upon inquiry by Commissioner Nethery, Mr. Rosenblum responded that he did not know if all of the IOUs from last year were paid off. He said the State was in the same fix as last year, only probably a little worse this year. C. Police and Fire Departments None D. Staff 1. Earthquake Brochure — Gary Rosenblum Mr. Rosenblum stated that the BrightSide published an earthquake pamphlet about 5 years ago. The Earthquake Brochure was prepared as a hand out for the public's use. He stated that he gave an earthquake preparedness presentation at the Chamber of Commerce breakfast and all of the participants received the Earthquake Brochure. The Brochure was available at the Visitor Center and at City Hall. Anytime he is asked to speak on earthquake preparedness he will make the brochures available to the attendees. The 8 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 9, 2010 brochures wiii also be given to all RDA Affordable Housing tenants. Upon request by Commissioner Kirkwood, Mr. Rosenblum responded that he would bring brochures to the July meeting of the BAI. Mr. Rosenblum added that the information in the brochure would not become outdated, thereby, preventing the need to update the information on a yearly basis. 2. Chamber Meeting Update — Gary Rosenblum Mr. Rosenblum reported that he attended the Chamber of Commerce meeting on Tuesday morning. He was the keynote speaker and had a half-hour to talk about earthquake recovery. The focus was on business continuity and the City's efforts to engage the business community in the recovery process after an earthquake. The biggest risk to businesses after an earthquake is not necessarily the damage, but the inability for businesses to stay afloat for two or three months without revenue. We are trying to encourage local businesses to work with us on these types of problems. We have several companies that were interested in working with the City and that list is growing all of the time. He said the message was well received by the Chamber and they appreciated the information. Mr. Rosenblum said he would be continuing this type of outreach to businesses into the fall. The City will host another business seminar to help bring more people in to talk about business recovery. Mr. Aryan reported that information on the power outage was distributed to the Commissioners. The power outage was a good opportunity to test the City's Power Outage Plan. Mr. Rosenblum, David Hermann and other staff members worked closely with the Office of Emergency Services to establish two cooling center locations in the City. Mr. Rosenblum said that the two cooling centers were the Joslyn Senior Center and the Palm Desert Community Center. These two locations are listed with the County as official cooling centers, which means that they are open to the public during the day for people to cool off and get hydrated. He reported that when the power outage looked 9 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 9, 2010 like it was going deep into the evening, they decided to open a shelter, through the coordination of Office of Emergency Services and the Red Cross. An emergency shelter was opened at the Palm Desert Community Center with cots and supplies. Southern California Edison restored the power at 9:30 p.m. The emergency shelter was demobilized. We put into operation the plan that we formalized last year for just this type of emergency. It worked exactly according to plan. There was good communication with OES, the Red Cross and the press. Two out of the three people who showed up at the shelter knew about the shelter because their son in Seattle saw the press release at thedesertsun.com and called them on their cell phone and told them that a shelter was available. When you are out of power you don't necessarily have TV or a computer. We always learn new things and we are going to keep working an getting better on dealing with these situations. When you have a big outage in the summer it is a big deal. There were reports about the power outage in 100+ degree weather on the Los Angeles regional news and on CNN. Mr. Rosenblum said that SCE seems to be doing a lot of repair and upgrade work due to the number of planned outage notifications the City has been receiving. Particularly, in the area of City Hall. There has been a constant loss of power; however, the planned outages were only a few hours at a time. Upon inquiry by Commissioner Nethery, Mr. Rosenblum responded that there was a major piece of equipment that had a connection burnout and that piece needed to be replaced. It was a whole day event for SCE. Mr. Aryan stated that the Public Safety Commission meetings will go dark in July and August. Fire and Police Monthly Reports will continue to be sent to the Commissioners during those months. He also reported that Van Snapp's vest has arrived and will be at the September meeting to model his new vest. E. Public Safety Commission None 10 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING JUNE 9, 2010 XII. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Nethery moved to adjou,n t e meeting at 4:30 p.m., seconded by Commissioner Butzbach and approved by a 5 0 te. � , �� Lori W' bish, Recording Secre ary 11