Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Public Safety Committee - 05/13/2014 Public Safety Committee Minutes May 13, 2014 COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Committee Chair, Jim Berrios and Committee member Les Thomas were present and Committee member Dana Ralph was absent. The meeting was called to order at 4:32 p.m. by Committee Chair Berrios. Changes to the Agenda: None Item 1 - Approval of meeting minutes dated April 8, 2014 Committee member Thomas MOVED to approve the minutes of April 8, 2014. The motion was SECONDED by Committee Chair Berrios and PASSED 3-0. Item 2 - Fiscal Year 2014 JAG Grant - Recommend Sara Wood, Research and Development Analyst, presented information regarding the 2013 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant joint application for $635,618. Funds are used to assist with various law enforcement needs. The City of Seattle manages the grant funds and the city of Kent reports funding expenditures to Seattle. Funding for the current year will be used to enhance Intelligence Led Policing. Committee member Thomas MOVED to recommend council authorize the Mayor to accept the Fiscal Year 2013 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant in the amount of $52,379, authorize the Mayor to sign all documents, amend the budget, and authorize expenditure of the funds in accordance with grant terms and conditions acceptable to the Police Chief and City Attorney. The motion was SECONDED by Committee Chair Berrios and PASSED 3-0. Item 3 - WTSC - Target Zero, Distracted Driving Amendment - Recommend Sara Wood, Research and Development Analyst, presented information regarding the Target Zero Distracted Driving Amendment. The Amendment is for a $2,500 increase to Target Zero Mobilization funding that supports the National support patrols through the National Highway Transportation Safety Association (NHTSA). This was the first year there was a national distracted driving campaign that was held April loth - April 15th. Sara provided the results of the enforcement patrols that were held April 10- April 15, 2014. Officers worked 41 hours of overtime, 135 contacts were made by traffic officers that resulted in 89 cell phone or texting violations in addition to 2 DUI's arrested during the patrols. Committee member Thomas MOVED to recommend Council authorize the Mayor to sign all documents amending the Memorandum of Understanding between the Washington Traffic Safety Commission and the Kent Police Department to increase funds for police overtime for the purpose of conducting distracted driving, high visibility enforcement in support of Target Zero priorities, with agreement terms and conditions acceptable to the Police Chief and City Attorney, and recommend Council ratify all acts consistent with the Memorandum of Understanding and this motion. The motion was SECONDED by Committee Chair Berrios, and PASSED 3-0. Item 4 - WTSC - Target Zero, Distracted Driving Amendment - Recommend Sara Wood, Research and Development Analyst, presented information regarding the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) - Target Zero, Distracting Driving Amendment. Sara conveyed that the WTSC contracts with the City of Kent to house the South King County Target Zero office manager and funds 60% of the salary and benefits. This is a one-year amendment to the MOU to extend the term through June 30, 2015 with an additional $61,000 in funds. Committee member Thomas requested information on the status of the current employee holding the office manager's position. Chief Thomas and Sara Wood indicated that Sara and Stacey Judd are sharing the responsibilities until a replacement can be found. Committee member Thomas MOVED to recommend Council authorize the Mayor to sign all documents amending the Interagency Agreement between the Washington Traffic Safety Commission and the Kent Police Department to extend the dates of the South King County Target Zero Traffic Safety Task Force Project from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, and to increase funds to $122,000, with final agreement terms and conditions acceptable to the Police Chief and City Attorney. The motion was SECONDED by Committee Chair Berrios, and PASSED 3-0. Item 5 - Justice Assistance Grant Application Funding VNET Office Manager - Recommend Sara Wood, Research and Development Analyst, presented information regarding the Justice Assistance Grant Application Funding for the Valley Narcotics Enforcement Team (VNET) office manager. This Justice Assistance Grant is given to the South King County area to fund the VNET office manager and Joanne Moen currently holds that position. The funds come into the state Department of Commerce Justice Assistance grant and then is distributed to the various county task forces. i Committee member Thomas MOVED to recommend Council authorize the Mayor to accept the Justice Assistance Grant to fund the Valley Narcotics Enforcement Team office manager, in an amount of at least $91,842., authorize the Mayor to sign all documents, amend the budget, and authorize expenditure of the funds in accordance with the grant terms and conditions acceptable to the Police Chief and City Attorney. The motion was SECONDED by Committee Chair Berrios, and PASSED 3-0. Item 6 — Blumenthal Uniform Co.. Inc. Contract — Recommend Sara Wood, Research and Development Analyst, presented information regarding the contract with Blumenthal Uniform Company. A financial audit determined that the city of Kent needed to enter into a contract with Blumenthal Uniform Company for the purchase of police personnel uniform needs. Sara indicated that the City anticipates spending up to $100,000 on uniforms. Council member Thomas asked about the City not having a prior contract with Blumenthal's. Sara indicated that the City previously piggy-backed on the state contract. It was determined that since the City had Kent-specific items, an individual contract with Blumenthal's was required. Council member Thomas asked Chief Thomas what it costs to put a uniform on an officer. Chief Thomas indicated that with the vests, shirts, pants, duty belt, patches, jacket, boots, and uniform jacket, the cost would be at least $600. Committee member Thomas MOVED to recommend Council authorize the Mayor to sign a Goods and Services Agreement with Blumenthal Uniform Co., Inc., for the purchase of police uniforms in an annual amount not to exceed $100,000, subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the Police Chief and City Attorney. The motion was SECONDED by Committee Chair Berrios, and PASSED 3-0. Item 7 — Valley Special Weapons and Tactics Team Interlocal Agreement — Recommend Chief Thomas presented information regarding the Valley Special Weapons and Tactics (VSWAT) team Interlocal Agreement and Resolution. Chief Thomas indicated that the City of Kent has been in a partnership with local jurisdictions for the past several years for the combined VSWAT enforcement team. This is an updated to the Interlocal Agreement. Committee Chair Berrios asked how often the Agreement is updated. Chief Thomas indicated that this Amendment is only to update the current signators for all jurisdictions. Committee member Thomas MOVED to recommend Council adopt the proposed resolution authorizing the Mayor to sign the Valley Special Weapons and Tactics Team Interlocal Agreement that establishes and maintains a multi-jurisdictional SWAT team to effectively respond to high risk criminal occurrences, with final agreement terms and conditions acceptable to the Police Chief and City Attorney. The motion was SECONDED by Committee Chair Berrios, and PASSED 3-0. Committee Secretary, Kim Komoto, presented an email received from Council President, Dana Ralph, providing her concurrence for all items on the agenda for the Public Safety Committee this afternoon. Item 4 — Police Chief's Update Chief Thomas presented information regarding the police department. STAFFING: The police department is authorized through the budget to employ 144 commissioned officers. There are currently 133 officers on staff. Offers out to 3 additional new hires that will start on June 1st and 1 lateral will start on June 1st By July Vt the Chief anticipates he will have at least 1 more lateral officer. By July, 138 officers should be on staff. That will leave 6 open positions. Two interviews are scheduled for this week and he anticipates filling all positions by August and their will then be 144 authorized police personnel by the end of August. The police department is focusuing on lateral hires and Wayne Graff is now the officer in charge of recruiting. Chief Thomas indicted that Wayne is doing a fantastic job of carrying on the work done by Officer Bobby Hollis. The Chief learned that the wait to get new hires into the academy is in excess of 6 months so the Chief would like to focus on hiring lateral officers. Committee member Thomas asked if there is a lot of interest from other jurisdictions and Chief Thomas indicted that due to the recovering economy, all jurisdictions are sending officers through the academy which is causing the extended wait time. PRESCRIPTION DRUG TAKE-BACK Chief Thomas presented information regarding the prescription drug take back day held on April 26th and was coordinated by the city's Community Education Unit. 300.4 pounds of unwanted prescription medications were collected. Council member Thomas asked if medications are collected from local senior living facilities. Chief Thomas indicated that he was not sure if they participated, but if so, the City would accept the medications. Council member Berrios asked if this was one of our best years. Chief Thomas indicated that this is consistent and that the City holds these take back events quarterly. Some jurisdictions accept medications every day. Council member Berrios indicated his appreciation for the community participating in this program that helps keep the drugs off the streets. Gang Resistence Education and Training, Chief Thomas presented information regarding the 7 officers that went to Portland to participate in the week long Gang Resistance Education And Training (GREAT). The Chief met with Kent School District this week in hopes of bolstering our effort of getting more officers in elementary schools in Kent by teaching the GREAT program to 5th grade students. The school district felt that the best age group for this program would be 5th grade students. The police department is gearing up for the instruction of GREAT program in Kent Schools in additional to the Cops in Schools Program Chief Thomas indicated that he is getting positive feedback on his weekly reports from sergeants, that the patrol officers are going to the schools and interacting with the students and staff, including playing basketball and reading to students. This is a model program for getting officers to interact with students in Kent. Committee member Berrios requested clarification and Chief Thomas confirmed that these programs also included the Kent schools that are also located in the city of Federal Way. Committee member Thomas asked for clarification on whether the seven trained officers would conduct the GREAT training. Chief Thomas indicated that they would in addition to having more officers trained in an effort to increase the number of officers that can participate in this great crime prevention tool to enable officers that interact with Youth. City Council Meeting Chief Thomas indicated that he will be away at the Washington Sheriffs and Police Chief's conference so Assistant Chief Jon Straus will present the Public Safety Report that will include the swearing in of one additional officer at the June 3rd City Council meeting. Officer Recognition Committee Chair Berrios asked Chief Thomas to present information regarding an email received from a victim of fraud regarding her appreciation of Officer Kallir. Chief Thomas conveyed that the victim was extremely appreciative of Officer Kallier and indicated that he was the kindest, most sincere officer she has ever dealt with. Chief Thomas went on to present additional outstanding work by Officer Birkhofer and Officer Beerbower. Multi Services sent an email regarding the fantastic work done by these two officers during their interaction with a homeless couple in the downtown area that were in need of resources. The officers ensured that the couple received the proper services. Additionally, the officer's went and got the special operations truck, loaded couple's property, and took them to where they needed to go while always treating them with respect during the entire process. Chief Thomas indicated that this was another great example of work being done by Kent officers that represents the vision of departed - "To be the most well- respected and effective police department in the region." Chief Thomas indicated that while officers were individually identified, work like this happens by most of our officers on a daily basis and that he is extremely proud of work officers are doing. Committee Chair Berrios indicated that we are developing a culture that we can all appreciate and thanked everyone for the leadership and for the leaders that are working with the team and the officers doing such a great job. Committee member Thomas asked for an update on the potential retirement of officers. Chief Thomas indicated that they have a process that helps identify and prepare for potential retirements around the first of the year. The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. by Committee Chair Berrios Respectfully su mitted, � 1 Kim Komoto Public Safety Committee Secretary s:�>uaugwue�v.ee<sar<p C4m.:rttexUorq\N.3y 3ot4\mad iI w:sEs.L:a !