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Police Advisory Commission Minutes 10-09-2013MINUTES MONTICELLO POLICE ADVISORY COMMISSION Wednesday, October 9, 2013 — 7:00 p.m. Academy Room, Monticello Community Center Members Present: Brad Fyle, Jason Roubinek, Jim Roberts, Chuck Fradella, Members Absent: Brian Stumpf, Council Liaison Ex- Officio Representatives: Tom Perrault, City Council Member Wayne Oberg, City Finance Director Sgt. Dave Anderson, Wright County Sheriff's Office 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Consideration of approving minutes of July 17, 2013 PAC Meeting JASON ROUBINEK MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE JULY 17, 2013 REGULAR POLICE ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING. MOTION SECONDED BY JIM ROBERTS. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 4 -0. 3. Consideration of adding items to the agenda A. On street parking at 7d' Street East near Burger King. B. Council liaison for PAC. C. Meeting notifications. 4. Wri ht County Sheriffs Office U dates) &A Session The Wright County Sheriff's Office 2nd Quarter Summary Report for law enforcement activity and crimes was included in the agenda packet for review by the PAC. Sgt. Anderson provided a brief summary of various activities in Monticello since the last meeting: • 2 armed robberies in town, one at Burger King and one at Game Stop. There is a possibility that these two robberies may be connected as there was a similar occurrence in St. Cloud that involved these two businesses. + 2 people went to jail for shoplifting at Walmart. Sgt. Anderson said that Monticello Walmart has a really good loss prevention staff and they work very well with the Wright County Sheriff's Office. PAC —October 9, 2013 Page 1 of 4 Traffic control has included laser checks on Broadway and stop light checks on 7a' Street and Broadway & TH 25, getting the red light runners whenever they have time and have been doing fairly well with that. Chuck Fradella noted that he has noticed squad cars where he hasn't seen them before such as on School Blvd, Fallon Ave and CSAH 39 East, and he commented that it's nice to see their presence. • Chatter's Bar & Grill: Chatter's is an on -going issue that will be worked on with the City and the bar. As an example, if we have 10 DUI's in a month, 7 of those have come from Chatter's. Sgt. Anderson is unsure if the problem is the owner or the management. The Sheriffs Office will be working with staff from the City to meet with Chatter's and educate their staff about how much alcohol is appropriate and when it's time to cut someone off. Sgt. Anderson said their liquor license is coming up for renewal so it is time for Chatter's to show a little initiative, make some changes and follow through. 5. Reduced contract hours Chuck Fradella voiced his concern that the contract with the Wright County Sheriff's Office is one of the few things that the PAC is responsible for and he inquired as to why the PAC wasn't included in the recommendation to the City Council. Wayne Oberg explained that he wasn't aware the contract with Wright County was up for renewal until he received an e-mail from the City Administrator. At that time it was already after the PAC meeting in July. Wayne said that the renewal has to be approved by the City Council so he put it on the consent agenda (assuming there wouldn't be any issues) to continue the contract as -is for 52 hours plus a 3.3% increase year one and a 3.2% increase year two. The council pulled the item off the consent agenda and cut it from there. Councilmember Tom Perrault explained that his perception from the mayor was the issue being the increased cost/hour. Tom noted that he has been told that traffic in Monticello is down during the evening hours (from 6 p.m. — 6 a.m.) and that's what he based his decision on. to P n Brad Fyle asked what other cities in the county have done. Sgt. Anderson said that Clearwater dropped 4 hours which is 113 of their total (they are at 8 hrs /day from 12). Hanover was talking about dropping hours as well (they only contract for 4 hrs /day). South Haven was talking about dropping too but they don't get much to begin with. Sgt. Anderson said no one is increasing contract hours that he is aware of. Sgt. Anderson explained that the Monticello contract amounts to a reduction of 4 hrs /day which will mean a cut in traffic enforcement in Monticello from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. as they will be down to two cars instead of three. Priority calls, citizen complaints and calls for service will come ahead of traffic issues. City Council's decision to reduce the contract hours was based on calls being down in town. The argument from PAC is that calls and crime are down because of the additional law enforcement hours. If the hours are reduced then it may increase again. PAC —October 9, 2013 Page 2 of 4 Jim Roberts noted that according to the quarterly report from the Wright County Sheriff's Office, calls for service are up, motor vehicle crashes are up, part I & U crimes are the same, and criminal arrests are up. Jim said he would like to go on record that he's opposed to a decrease in hours because it's a safety issue for the residents. It's about prioritizing, and public safety is an important issue. Jim said it seems irresponsible and short sided. Jason Roubinek agreed that he feels the same way and that rather than cut the contract, the City should find other avenues to save money. Wayne said that while the (two -year) contract has already been approved and signed with the reduced contract hours, the budget has not yet been adopted and will go to the City Council for approval at the December 9a' council meeting. Discussed options on how to proceed with the City Council; Jim suggested that each PAC member email a "sample" letter for the council to Brad Fyle explaining the PAC position of not agreeing to the reduction in contract hours. Brad said that he would put together a final letter and email it out to all PAC members for approval. Brad said that as the PAC chair he would be willing to attend a council meeting and bring it up. The PAC was in consensus of submitting a letter to the City Council. 6. Video_ camera update /safety scants Jason Roubinek said that he is currently working on putting together some grants for cameras through Homeland Security and is trying to find someone to help him write the grant applications. Wayne Oberg said he put the amount for monitoring the cameras with FiberNet into the budget but did not budget for the cameras initially. The money for the equipment needs funding. Jason said that roughly around $5,000 for the equipment and we can get something up and running. Jason said that he will send the info to Wayne and they agreed to work together on the grants. Jason said they will get everything together and bring back to the next PAC Meeting for approval prior to submitting. 7. Discussion of Added Items A. On street parking at 7"� Street East near Burger King. Brad Fyle said that traffic coming from Target heading west towards TH 25 on 7h Street, near the entrance to Burger King and VFW seems to be very unsafe with a lot of people coming and going. Also at Cedar Street and 7`" Street near the Hillside Cemetery, the visibility is very poor there. Sgt. Anderson said they do quite a bit. of speed enforcement at the bottom of the hill at Washington Street. Discussion of the old bike lane on 7a' Street and why that is no longer signed as such; possibly due to the sidewalk/pathwy on the north side of 7a' Street. Currently parking is allowed on the south side of 7 Street. The PAC consented to have the Public Works Department research the parking there (on the 200 block of 7h Street East). B. Council liaison for PAC. Chuck Fradella noted that the council liaison has been absent from many meetings and is not providing the representation to the group, and he reiterated that a council member is necessary for the success of the PAC. Discussed the option of having an alternate council liaison if the appointed liaison is PAC —October 9, 2013 Page 3 of 4 unable to attend, as currently there is not an alternate council liaison assigned to the PAC. The PAC indicated that they could include this issue in their letter to the City Council regarding the reduced contract hours with the Wright County Sheriff's Office. Wayne Oberg said that he will check with the City Attorney on the open meeting laws and determine whether or not a letter and emailing without a meeting is appropriate. Wayne said that he will contact the PAC members after he speaks with the attorney. C. Meeting notifications. Chuck Fradella brought up concerns about not receiving meeting notices and needing better communication. Wayne Oberg said that he will inform the Administrative Assistant to use an affirmative approach for contacting commissioners regarding meeting notices, date changes, etc. 8. Approval of next regular meeting date (January_15, 2014) CHUCK FRADELLA MOVED TO APPROVE THE NEXT REGTULAR PAC MEETING DATE FOR JANUARY 15, 2014 AT 7:00 P.M. IN THE ACADEMY ROOM AT THE MONTICELLO COMMUNITY CENTER. MOTION SECONDED BY JASON ROUBINEK. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 4 -0. 9. Adjournment CHUCK FRADELLA MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 8:06 P.M. MOTION SECONDED BY JASON ROUBINEK. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 4 -0. Recorder: (:SiFeth RIM11"Al i" 14A, Wayne Oberg, Finance Director PAC —October 9, 2013 Page 4 of 4