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Police Advisory Commission Minutes 07-18-2007MINUTES MONTICELLO POLICE COMMISSION Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 7 p.m. Members Present: Brad Fyle, Dick Slais, Jim Roberts and Susie Wojchouski Members Absent: Dave Gerads Others Present: Chief Deputy Joe Haggerty, Lt. Dan Anselment and Sgt. Dave Anderson - Wright County Sheriffs Department Bruce Westby - City Engineer 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m. A quorum was present. 2. Approve minutes of May 16.2007 Police Commission meeting SUSIE WOJCHOUSKI MOTIONED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE MAY 16, 2007 POLICE COMMISSION MEETING AS WRITTEN. DICK SLAIS SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3. Consideration of adding items to the agenda. The following items were added to the agenda: 1) Susie Wojchouski — Speed trailer use 2) Lt. Dan Anselment —Police Commission /Sheriff's Deputies meet and greet. 4. Review of 2008 budget for Wright County Sheriffs Department. Chief Deputy Joe Haggerty presented information on contract rates for the Wright County Sheriff's Department. Their rate for 2007 is $52.25 per hour and the rates for 2008 and 2009 will be $54.00 and $56.00 per hour respectively, which represents an increase of about 3.5% per year. Chief Deputy Haggerty said Monticello has always done a good job of contracting enough hours with the Sheriffs Department. He noted that in 2004 the city contracted 44 hours per day, and in 2005, 2006 and 2007 we contracted 48 hours per day. This equates to 2 sheriff s deputies patrolling the city at any given time of day, except for some shift overlap from 2 to 6 pm at which time there are usually 3 deputies in the city. Chief Deputy Haggerty said all cities and townships in the county receive basic coverage but cities and townships that contract for their services receive coverage over and above the basic coverage. It was noted that Saint Michael and Albertville contract for their services as well, but Saint Michael is typically quiet whereas Albertville requires more hours to respond to crimes at the Outlet Mall. Chief Deputy Haggerty said Monticello has a good deal of night -time activity so we require a fair amount of hours as well, but he added that they are able to adequately cover our calls with the hours currently allocated. Chief Deputy Haggerty added that if the City does wish to allocate additional hours to the Sheriff's Department, he would recommend increasing traffic violation enforcement on CSAH 75 and patrols at the Muller Theater during evening hours. Police Commission Meeting Minutes July 18, 2007 Page 2 Chief Deputy Haggerty also presented some current crime statistics and trends. In general, criminal damage to property and medical response calls are on the rise, and the peak time for service calls in Monticello is from about 1 pm to 7 pm. BRAD FYLE MOTIONED TO SUPPORT AN INCREASE IN HOURS FROM 48 HOURS PER DAY IN 2007 TO 52 TO 56 HOURS PER DAY IN 2008. JIM ROBERTS SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY. 5. Consideration of quarterly City Council presentations by Wright County Sheriffs Department. Sheriff's Department representatives were asked if the Department would be agreeable to providing the Monticello City Council with verbal reports on a quarterly basis at regularly scheduled City Council meetings, most likely coinciding with the release of their quarterly reports. The Sheriff's Department representatives said they would be happy to do so and asked that the city contact Lt. Anselment two -weeks in advance of each meeting that we wish them to attend. NO FORMAL ACTION TAKEN. 6. Review current snowmobile ordinance and discuss City Council initiative banning snowmobiles on Citv streets. At the June 11'` City Council meeting the resident at 515 Maple Street addressed the Council with some issues pertaining to snowmobiling on City streets. Upon hearing the resident's issues the Mayor and Councilmember Stumpf discussed whether the city should consider banning snowmobiles on all city streets. This issue was therefore brought before the Police Commission to get their comments. Lt. Dan Anselment stated that Otsego has a very strong snowmobiling ordinance, and that they have "No Snowmobiling Zones" designated throughout the City which seem to work very well at limiting complaints. Lt. Anselment requested that the city not ban all snowmobiling just because a few people are running rampant. He stated that there were a total of 17 snowmobiling related complaints in Monticello the winter before last, and only 6 complaints all of last winter. This indicates to him that there really isn't much of a problem here. Lt. Anselment stated that the Wright County Sheriff's Department works with local snowmobiling clubs to designate marked snowmobiling routes through the City. The Police Commission members recommended that an article be placed in the City Newsletter this fall to help educate residents on the snowmobiling ordinance. They also recommended that no further restrictions be added to our current snowmobiling ordinance and requested that their recommendations be passed along to the City Council when this issue was brought before them again. NO FORMAL ACTION TAKEN. Police Commission Meeting Minutes July 18, 2007 Page 3 7. Review noise ordinance enforcement and sianaee. The Police Commission reviewed and discussed the current noise ordinance. Brad Fyle feels that truckers use their jake -brake only to stop quickly when absolutely necessary and that they are not used to save on brakes or to make undue noise as some people might suggest. Brad therefore views this as a safety issue and as such does not want the ordinance to restrict the use of jake- brakes within City limits. Lt. Anselment thinks our noise ordinance does a good job of defining the allowable limits of vehicle noise, including noise related to stereos, and is actually one of the better noise ordinances in the county. He also said enforcement of the ordinance is not an issue and stated that sheriff's deputies do pull people over from time to time to educate them about our noise ordinance, but typically a warning is issued. However, if a person is a repeat offender a ticket will be issued. Regarding placement of signs at entrances to the city, Susie Wojchouski suggested that six signs be placed along the major routes into the city such as the west end of CSAH 75, CSAH 18 near the easterly city limits, and both ends of CR 39 and TH 25. The other Police Commission members concurred. NO FORMAL ACTION TAKEN. Added items: Speed trailer use: Susie Wojchouski wants to see the speed trailer in constant use throughout the city and wondered how long the trailer is left in each location that it is used. Lt. Anselment said the trailer is moved around every 3 to 5 days, and that he works with Tom Moores to schedule its locations. Lt. Anselment also said that Sheriff s Deputies will increase speed limit enforcement in an area once the trailer leaves that area. Police Commission /Sheriff's Deputies meet and greet: Lt. Dan Anselment asked Police Commission members if they would like to meet the sheriff's deputies that work in Monticello at their next regularly scheduled Police Commission meeting. The Commission members thought this would be a good idea. Lt. Anselment will schedule the next Sheriff s Department District meeting for the same night as the next Police Commission meeting, at which time a meet and greet session will be held. 8. Adiourn. MOTION WAS MADE TO ADJOURN BY SUSIE WOJCHOUSKI AND SECONDED BY DICK SLAIS. MOTION WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY AT 8:22 P.M. Following adjournment the next meeting was scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 17, 2007. Bruce Westby Recording Secretary