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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Public Safety (Committee) - 09/10/2013 KENT CITY OF KENT PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES September 10, 2013 COMMITTEE MEMBERS: William Boyce, Chair, Les Thomas, and Dana Ralph. The meeting was called to order by Chairperson William Boyce at 5:28 p.m. Changes to the Agenda: Chief Ken Thomas removed item four - School Zone Traffic Safety Camera update and item five - Police Chief's update. 1. Approval of Minutes Councilmember Thomas MOVED and Councilmember Ralph SECONDED a Motion to approve the August 13, 2013 minutes. Motion PASSED 3-0. 2. Ordinance Amending KCC 8.01 - Establishing "Chronic criminal nuisance" Acting City Attorney, Pat Fitzpatrick presented information regarding the chronic criminal nuisance ordinance. The police department Neighborhood Response Team (NRT) requested this ordinance in order to deal with continuous criminal conduct at particular pieces of property. NRT has been working with property owners to get compliance and educate on preventing further criminal conduct, but need this ordinance to deal with the absent owners. A few areas in the City continue to have continuous problems, which are taxing on police resources in addition to degrading the quality of life in the areas the properties are located. The law department modeled this ordinance after the city of Tacoma and the State of Texas. This ordinance addresses properties other than multi-family housing that are hubs for criminal activity. Multi-family housing owners participate in the City's STAR program. This ordinance specifies that if three crimes occur on the same property within a one year period it is deemed a criminal nuisance. The crime can be by the same party, owner, person renting, or guests that repeatedly come to the property. Most of the time, the police department is dealing with absent property owners. This ordinance will obligate the owners to remedy criminal conduct on their property or face a $500 penalty and possible civil code enforcement action. There are exceptions: If the person who lives at the property is a victim, that incident will not count, or if they are the person calling the police, that incident will not count. This ordinance is meant to address those people that occupy the property and are part of the problem. The NRT group is well-versed in educating owners on how to get their property in a position where their property is not a hub for criminal conduct. Pat Fitzpatrick indicated that having this ordinance in effect and having it as a threat, will allow the city to use it as a tool to notify the property owner that they have a problem and need to correct it. Public Safety Committee Minutes September 10, 2013 1 Councilmember Ralph asked about the remedy and Pat Fitzpatrick indicated that by threatening monetary penalties, we hope to gain compliance by the property owners so that chronic criminal conduct does not occur. Councilmember Thomas wanted specifics regarding property notification to the property owners. Pat Fitzpatrick indicated that the NRT group will properly notify the property owners after probably cause is determined. After deliberating, Councilmember Ralph MOVED and Councilmember Thomas SECONDED a Motion to recommend adoption an ordinance amending Chapter 8.01 of the Kent City Code, entitled "Public Nuisances," to establish a "chronic criminal nuisance" that exists when 3 instances of criminal conduct occur on a property within a one-year period and do not involve the property owner or occupants being the victims of the criminal conduct or contacting the police department to report the criminal conduct. Motion PASSED 3-0. 3. School Zone Traffic Safety Camera Update — Information Only Acting City Attorney, Pat Fitzpatrick, provided an update per Councilmember Boyce's request. Staff's intent was that this system would be operational by the first day of the 2013 school year. In early August, American Traffic Solutions (ATS) informed Pat that they would not be able to meet the August date. Based on prior interaction with ATS, staff believed that ATS would start the program with warnings going out September 1st. Pat indicated that one of the problems is that the program outline is the City's, but the installation belongs to ATS in addition to coordinating computer interaction with the City and Office of the Administrator of the Court's database. The current projected date to have the system operational is October 14tn. This is due to the need for additional required testing through the Office of the Administrator of the Courts in order to get our computer system to work with their system. This is a critical component that will avoid requiring our municipal court staff to manually enter information into the computer system. The city of Kent is one of the first cities in the state to implement this process, so additional setup and testing is required. Additionally, ATS has two types of camera technology, new technology and older technology that requires public works projects of cutting into the streets. Last Friday, ATS submitted permits for the Neeley O'Brien site. Sunrise elementary presents a problem since installation requires a new transformer requiring coordinantion with Puget Sound Energy. This project requires a bit more planning, but it is anticipated that the program will be active by October 14tn Staff is pushing ATS to ensure that the program is operational by October 14tn Councilmember Boyce requested that the committee is kept informed as to the status of the project. Councilmember Ralph asked what will happen if we don't make the October 14th dedline. Pat indicated that we have considered holding off on implementing the program until after the school's winter break, but hope that the program will be operational by October 14tn Adjournment Councilmember Boyce ad'ourned the meeting at 5:47 p.m. Kim A. Komoto ` Public Safety Committee Minutes September 10, 2013 2 KENT CITY OF KENT PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES September 10, 2013 COMMITTEE MEMBERS: William Boyce, Chair, Les Thomas, and Dana Ralph. The meeting was called to order by Chairperson William Boyce at 5:28 p.m. Changes to the Agenda: Chief Ken Thomas removed item four - School Zone Traffic Safety Camera update and item five - Police Chief's update. 1. Approval of Minutes Councilmember Thomas MOVED and Councilmember Ralph SECONDED a Motion to approve the August 13, 2013 minutes. Motion PASSED 3-0. 2. Ordinance Amending KCC 8.01 - Establishing "Chronic criminal nuisance" Acting City Attorney, Pat Fitzpatrick presented information regarding the chronic criminal nuisance ordinance. The police department Neighborhood Response Team (NRT) requested this ordinance in order to deal with continuous criminal conduct at particular pieces of property. NRT has been working with property owners to get compliance and educate on preventing further criminal conduct, but need this ordinance to deal with the absent owners. A few areas in the City continue to have continuous problems, which are taxing on police resources in addition to degrading the quality of life in the areas the properties are located. The law department modeled this ordinance after the city of Tacoma and the State of Texas. This ordinance addresses properties other than multi-family housing that are hubs for criminal activity. Multi-family housing owners participate in the City's STAR program. This ordinance specifies that if three crimes occur on the same property within a one year period it is deemed a criminal nuisance. The crime can be by the same party, owner, person renting, or guests that repeatedly come to the property. Most of the time, the police department is dealing with absent property owners. This ordinance will obligate the owners to remedy criminal conduct on their property or face a $500 penalty and possible civil code enforcement action. There are exceptions: If the person who lives at the property is a victim, that incident will not count, or if they are the person calling the police, that incident will not count. This ordinance is meant to address those people that occupy the property and are part of the problem. The NRT group is well-versed in educating owners on how to get their property in a position where their property is not a hub for criminal conduct. Pat Fitzpatrick indicated that having this ordinance in effect and having it as a threat, will allow the city to use it as a tool to notify the property owner that they have a problem and need to correct it. Public Safety Committee Minutes September 10, 2013 1 Councilmember Ralph asked about the remedy and Pat Fitzpatrick indicated that by threatening monetary penalties, we hope to gain compliance by the property owners so that chronic criminal conduct does not occur. Councilmember Thomas wanted specifics regarding property notification to the property owners. Pat Fitzpatrick indicated that the NRT group will properly notify the property owners after probably cause is determined. After deliberating, Councilmember Ralph MOVED and Councilmember Thomas SECONDED a Motion to recommend adoption an ordinance amending Chapter 8.01 of the Kent City Code, entitled "Public Nuisances," to establish a "chronic criminal nuisance" that exists when 3 instances of criminal conduct occur on a property within a one-year period and do not involve the property owner or occupants being the victims of the criminal conduct or contacting the police department to report the criminal conduct. Motion PASSED 3-0. 3. School Zone Traffic Safety Camera Update — Information Only Acting City Attorney, Pat Fitzpatrick, provided an update per Councilmember Boyce's request. Staff's intent was that this system would be operational by the first day of the 2013 school year. In early August, American Traffic Solutions (ATS) informed Pat that they would not be able to meet the August date. Based on prior interaction with ATS, staff believed that ATS would start the program with warnings going out September 1st. Pat indicated that one of the problems is that the program outline is the City's, but the installation belongs to ATS in addition to coordinating computer interaction with the City and Office of the Administrator of the Court's database. The current projected date to have the system operational is October 14tn. This is due to the need for additional required testing through the Office of the Administrator of the Courts in order to get our computer system to work with their system. This is a critical component that will avoid requiring our municipal court staff to manually enter information into the computer system. The city of Kent is one of the first cities in the state to implement this process, so additional setup and testing is required. Additionally, ATS has two types of camera technology, new technology and older technology that requires public works projects of cutting into the streets. Last Friday, ATS submitted permits for the Neeley O'Brien site. Sunrise elementary presents a problem since installation requires a new transformer requiring coordinantion with Puget Sound Energy. This project requires a bit more planning, but it is anticipated that the program will be active by October 14tn Staff is pushing ATS to ensure that the program is operational by October 14tn Councilmember Boyce requested that the committee is kept informed as to the status of the project. Councilmember Ralph asked what will happen if we don't make the October 14th dedline. Pat indicated that we have considered holding off on implementing the program until after the school's winter break, but hope that the program will be operational by October 14tn Adjournment Councilmember Boyce ad'ourned the meeting at 5:47 p.m. Kim A. Komoto ` Public Safety Committee Minutes September 10, 2013 2