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Police Advisory Commission Minutes 07-18-2012MINUTES MONTICELLO POLICE ADVISORY COMMMISSION Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - 7 p.m., Academy Room Members Present: Brad FyIe, Chuck Fradella, Jason Roubinek (arr. 7:06 pm) Members Absent: Brian Stumpf Ex- Officio Representatives: Sgt. Dave Anderson, Wright County Sheriff's Office Lt. Todd Sandin, Wright County Sheriff's Office Bruce Wcstby, City Engineer Others Present: None 1) Call to Order Brad Fyle called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. 2) Consideration of approving minutes of A ri118 2012 regular Police Advisory Commission meetin BRAD FYLE MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE APRIL 18, 2012 REGULAR POLICE ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING AFTER SPELLING CORRECTION IS MADE TO LT. SANDIN'S NAME. MOTION SECONDED BY CHUCK FRADELLA. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3) Consideration of adding items to the agenda Chuck Fradella — Requested update on vandalism in city parks. 41 Wright County Sheriffs Office Updates /O &A Session Captain Anselment provided an update on issues with Chatter's. Captain Anselment stated that Cathy Shuman has been in contact with Chatter's about their licensing. She has also been in contact with the Wright County Public Health Department trying to coordinate the department sending notices to businesses about bar training that's available. Due to a mix -up the letters were sent out with only a day's notice prior to the training, so the training was canceled due to lack of participants. Sergeant Anderson stated that it is in fact the county's public health department that's responsible for sending out the training notices as they provide the training and the city should not be responsible for coordinating or setting that up. Chatter's has had turnover in their personnel which has assisted in them becoming more compliant. They were also warned and the calls have since reduced. Police Advisory Commission Minutes: 07/18/12 Sergeant Anderson indicated that in the past 3 months approximately 25 stop sign tickets were issued, and around 64 traffic tickets /month were issued from deputies assigned to Monticello. Numerous curfew violations were also issued. Sergeant Anderson said there is a newer deputy that works traffic shifts from 2 -10 pm and in an 8 hour shift he is stopping cars for 7 112 hours. Brad Fyle noted that he has seen more traffic stops around town and he said that is sending a good message to the public. Lieutenant Sandin said that he's been very pleased recently in that the number of nuisance calls have been significantly lower and that thefts from vehicles has settled down. 5) Consideration of 2013 Law Enforcement budget recommendations to City Council Bruce Westby indicated that he is working on the annual budget for 2013. As in years past, council is asking staff to look at any and all ways to reduce the budget. With the law enforcement budget being one of the larger line items in the city budget, the question comes up on whether that is an item that can be reduced. Bruce noted that the way to reduce the budget would be to reduce the number of contract hours with the Writ County Sheriff's Department. The county must be notified in writing by August 15 if the city intends to reduce their contract hours. The hours may be reduced in 4 -hour increments. Monticello's contract currently includes 18,980 hours which equates to 52 hours /day. This has been at this same amount for quite some time. The budgeted amount is $60.50/hour or a total of $1,148,290 for 2013. The current contract is up at the end of 2013, so a new contract will be brought to the city council next summer for execution and approval. Brad Fyle indicated that it has taken a number of years and a number of steps to get where we are at and it doesn't make sense to go backwards in service. Sergeant Anderson indicated that there isn't much room for excess in the contract and that it is just enough to provide Monticello with the services requested. Brad Fyle stated that he feels that this contract amount is a small price to pay compared to Monticello having its own city run police force. Lieutenant Sandin clarified that all contract cities are charged the same rate per hour, it is the number of hours of service that are different. For instance, both Buffalo and Big Lake are in the $2 million contract range because they want more hours of service. JASON ROUBINEK MOVED TO MAINTAIN THE CURRENT CONTRACT HOURS WITH THE WRIGHT COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE FOR THE CITY OF MONTICELLO' S CONTRACT AT 52 HOURS PER DAY THROUGH 2013, AND RE- EVAULATE WHEN THE CONTRACT IS UP FOR RENEWAL IN 2014. MOTION SECONDED BY CHUCK FRADELLA. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 66) Update on vacant Police Advisory Commission position Bruce Westby stated that on May 15a', Leila McCarty called Bruce and verbally resigned her position. She also submitted an email to Bruce which stated that she liked working as a volunteer for the city and thought everyone worked well together in the commission but she had some concerns and she didn't feel she was really being effective. With time being taken away from her family, she said it was in her best interest to resign at this Police Advisory Commission Minutes: 07/18/12 time. She indicated that she would be happy to talk to anyone on the commission about her decision. Bruce said that her seat is vacant and it has been posted for several months but there has been no interest thus far. Bruce presented the option of advertising in the local newspaper at a cost of approximately $150 -$175 for the ad. The commission discussed recruiting ideas such as posting flyers around town, including an insert in the utility bill, and/or word of mouth recruiting. Brad Fyle said his recommendation is to try to recruit first before spending the money on an ad. Brad reminded the commission that the vacancy must be filled by a city resident. Brad said he planned to call Leila to discuss her resignation. BRAD FYLE MOVED TO DENY ADVERTISING FOR THE POLICE COMMISSION VACANCY AT THIS TIME AND TO FOCUS EFFORTS ON WORD OF MOUTH RECRUITING AND POSTING FLYERS. MOTION WAS SECONDED BY JASON ROUBINEK. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 7) Discussion of added items Chuck Fradella asked the sheriff's office representatives whether vandalism in the city parks still remains a problem. The officers said they apprehended a juvenile male in the Groveland Park vandalism case and that he was charged out for that. Since then there haven't been many issues. 8) Schedule next meeting Brad Fyle requested information from the sheriff's office for the next meeting. Brad said that he has heard that Kjellberg's has less calls per capita compared to the rest of the city and he would like confirmation on that. Sergeant Anderson said that when he was working in Monticello years ago he spent 60% of his time at the parks but that has significantly decreased. The approximate population of Kjellberg's is around 1,000 for both parks. Sergeant Anderson said he will pull the calls and put together a report. Brad Fyle asked Sergeant Anderson if they can break down the number of false alarms at one residence /year. Brad said that if the fire department has more than 2 nuisance fire calls /property they will bill out at approximately $200 -$300 for each additional nuisance call /property. Brad Fylc asked Sergeant Anderson if drive -offs at the gas pumps are a problem in Monticello. Brad said that he has heard that in Anoka or Coon Rapids they are mandating pay at the pump due to this problem. Lt. Sandin said that it is time consuming because they have to spend time locating the owner of the vehicle, then send out a letter and ask the vehicle owner to contact the businesses regarding the non - payment. Approximately 15 -20% of these calls aren't resolved before the end of the deputy shift. Sergeant Anderson stated that probably only 5% of those gas drive -offs are legitimate thefts where they haven stolen plates on the vehicle or covered plates. Sergeant Anderson said that approximately 50% is clerk error or card reader error. The patron may go into 3 Police Advisory Commission Minutes: 07/18/12 the station with the intention of paying for their fuel, and then they buy some refreshments, snacks, cigarettes, and the clerk forgets to ask about gas so when they pay the gas fill isn't on their bill. Another issue arises with a reader error at the pump where the patron swipes their card and it doesn't accept but the clerk inside the station pushes the button so the patron can fill. When the patron is done filling their vehicle, they assume the charge went on their card at the pump. Lt. Sandin said he is aware of three different vehicles in the county that were legitimate gas drive -off thefts. There was one that was apprehended in South Haven, another was apprehended in Clearwater, and there is one still outstanding. The next regular Police Advisory Commission meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 7 p.m. 8) Adjournment CHUCK FRADELLA MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 7:44 PM. MOTION SECONDED BY JASON ROUBINEK. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Recorder: Beth Green, Administrative Assistant Approved: April 17, 2013 Attest: Wayne Oberg, Finance Director 4