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Police Advisory Commission Minutes 02-18-1998 MINUTES MONTICELLO POLICE COMMISSION . Wednesday, February 18,1998" 7 PM . . Members Present: Dave Gerads, Liz DesMarais, Brad l<'yle, Chief Deputy Don Lindell, Deputies Steve Quill and Stewart Wirth Members Absent: Brian Stumpf, Bridget Baldwin Auurovalofminutes. The minutes of the regular meeting held October 1, 1997, were approved as presented. Consideration of election of officers and review 80Dointment!l to advilmrv committee. The terms of commission members Baldwin and Gerads expired December 31, 1997, and it was noted that the City Council had recently approved re-appointment of these individuals to another three-year term. Mr. Gerads suggested that the City determine if there are any other individuals interested in serving on the commission, as he would be willing to step down from his position if there were others interested in serving. It was the consensus of the commission that an advertisement would be conducted to see if anyone was interested. It was also a consensus that the current slate of officers, consisting of Liz DesMarais as Chairman, Brian Stumpf as Vice-Chairman, and Rick Wolfsteller as Secretary, continue until the next meeting. Discussion on increa...ed incidents of theft in Industrial Park areas. Joel Abraham ofRenunele Engineering had recently expressed concerns to the City Council over an increasing nwnber of incidences of theft of their recycling materials placed outside at their business. Upon further investigation by the Sheriffs Department, it was noted that Remmele Engineering had suspicions that theft of their recycling materials was occurring and that the Sheriffs Department was not necessarily promptly notified of these suspected thefts. The Sheriffs Department is communicating with Remmele officials and is working on increasing surveillance in the area and will be providing suggestions to various businesses on how they can improve and deter future thefts. In reviewing the statistical data from the Sheriffs Department, it does not appear that there is an increasing level of problems in the area; and now that the Sheriffs Department is aware of some concerns industries have in the area, they will be better able to work with the businesses to deter future crime. Pagel (i) . . . Police Commission Minutes - 2/18/98 Consideration of reviewim!' draft cony of the School Boulevard traffic study. Commission members reviewed a copy of the School Boulevard traffic study that was authorized by the City Council in October 1997. The initiall"€quest came about because of a Police Commission recommendation to have the City Council consider a four-way stop sign at the intersection of School Boulevard and Fallon Avenue. The report authorized by the City Council studied the traffic patterns along the entire route of School Boulevard from Highway 25 w County Road 118 and made recommendations in a number of areas, but primarily nored that a four-way stop sign was not warranted at the intersection of Fallon and School Boulevard and that also in the future when traffic volumes increase along Oakwood Drive, Oakwood Drive should have the stop sign and the stop sign on School Boulevard should be eliminated. Chairman DesMarais still felt that as the traffic increases in the area because of the high school being constructed, traffic movement would be safer with stop signs along School Boulevard. Commission member Gerads also indicated that originally he thought School Boulevard should have stop signs to control traffic; but after reviewing the report, he would concur with the recommendations of the traffic engineer. Commission members also discussed and suggested that the report also include a recommendation to install a pedestrian crosswalk on the south side of School Boulevard across County Road 117 (Oakwood Drive) and that rumble strips be considered along Fallon Avenue and in the future along County Road 117 as an advance warning of an impending stop sign. With those recommendations, the Police Commission recommended the study be forwarded to the City Council for reVIew. Discussion on snowmobile trail route. Deputy Steve Quill was in attendance at the meeting to briefly review with the commission members the effectiveness of the snowmobile trail route that was established this year through park of Monticello. Due to the unusual snow conditions this year, Mr. Quill was not aware of any major problems with the snowmobile activity in Monticello and did feel that the route established from the Highway 25 bridge crossing along Cedar Street to the railroad tracks seemed to have worked fairly well. It was noted that the marked trail system ended at Washington Street and the railroad tracks and that the City is continuing it's efforts to obtain permission from Burlington Northern for establishing the balance of the route to the County Road 118 intersection. Burlington Northern has been slow to respond to the City's request, and it was noted by member Brad Fyle that possibly a route near the Page 2 G> . . . Police Commission Minutes - 2/18/98 freeway will be easier to establish for next year if Seventh Street is extended through the St. Henry's Catholic Church parcel in that the City could establish a route along the right-or-way of Seventh Street. The consensus was that the City should continue to obtain the necessary approval from Burlington Northern for a trail on the railroad track right-or-way but to also consider establishing a rouw along the right-or-way of Seventh Street when it is extended through the church parcel. Miscellaneous: Discussion on increasine: hours of coverage. Commission members briefly discussed the idea of induding in the 1999 budget funds for increasing the hoW's of coverage to provide for a consistent level of service as the city continues to grow. It is recommended that during the budget process for 1999, the Commission will review the activity reports with the Sheriffs Department and make a recommendation to the Council that may include staging an increase in 1999 and 2000 to add the equivalent of another full.time officer to oW' contract. Discussion on school liaison offiC!er . It was noted by the Sheriffs Department that calls for service to the Monticello schools has not declined and an officer serving Monticello can spend a lot of time dealing with issues at the school. Sheriffs Department representatives have contacted the School District in the past to see if they were willing to become involved in funding for a school liaison officer from the Sheriffs Department that would be in the school full-time_ To date, the Monticello School District has not supported this concept; but as the calls for service increase, the level of service to other residents in the community is suffering. As a result, the commission supported the idea of requesting that the School Board consider involvement in the school liaison officer in the futW'e. MEETING WAS ADJOURNED. Q~t,~~&- City Administrator Page 3 C?)