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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987.07.23 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES~~ to him with an error he tries to correct it. The mayor said he agreed with him. The. commissioners are convinced that as long as that dispatch is over in his office, he should, run it. The mayor said he is inclined to agree with it. Nile Boyle ask if the city goes to county and tell them we are going to move the dispatch to the annex do you think they will do it. The mayor said if we do that we would write up an advisory board to run it he thought we could get them to go along with it. Nile said if they don't go along with it we should tell them they will have to pay for the whole thing. Glen Pond said the only option we have to set up our own dispatch. The mayor said that Tom Lehman for the College Police has made quite an issue about this dispatch and the college is upset. They don't want to be involved. The mayor had met with Mack Shirley about it yesterday, and they think every- thing is going fine now and they want to keep it like it is now, and they would like to keep it just like it is. I told him that no matter what kind of an agreement we had I would have a written agreement that the county would sign that the security people can use that system just the same as anybody else. If we change the dispatch, the city and the county might each have to have a teletype. Blair said the college had said to have the access to the teletype they would be v~illing to split the cost of the teletype. The council discussed the situation at length and it was decided that the mayor would talk to the sheriff and Bruce Webster and tell them that the city wanted to move the dispatch and the city would take over the dispatch. The city would pay all the salaries. The council also discussed the problems in the swimming and recreation department. Ma n C Porter r` r City Clerk, ose Ba MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING July 23, 1987 State of Idaho) County of Madison( City of Rexburg) A meeting of the City Council for the City of Rexuurg, Madison County, held July 23, 1987 at the City Hall. Those Present: MEDICAL INSURANCE FOR EMPLOYEES Mayor: John C Porter Councilman: Glen Pond Nile Boyle Bruce Sutherland Bruce Casper Councilwoman: Darlene Blackburn Also Presnet: Mary Smith, City Attorney Rose Bagley, City Clerk Richard Horner, Treasurer A meeting to discuss madical insurance for tf~e employees was held prior to the regluar council meeting. All department head, city council and Ken Anderson, insurance agent, were in attendance. Rate increase of 35% for Blue Cross Insurance was discussed. Alternate insurance plans were discussed. Regular council meeting started at 7:30 P.M. a motion was made by Darlene Blackburn and seconded by Nile Boyle to approve the minutes. All Aye. BEER LICENSE FOR RAY'S INC. Mayor Porter read a beer license for Ray's Inc. for sale of canned and bottled beer not to be consumed on the property. A motion was made by Nile Boyle and seconded by Glen Pond. A1.1 Aye [J 1 The first item on the agenda is the agreement on the dispatch and jail operation. DISPATCH AND JAIL OPERATION Nile Boyle ask the mayor what happened at the County Commissioner's meeting. The mayor told him they want to take over the dispatch. Nile Boyle ask if it comes right down to it does the city have a chance of holding the dispatch. The mayor said he did not know, we could have two dispatches but that would cause too many problems. If we split dispatch, where would the 911 calls come in? Randy Lewis- If we have our own dispatch running 24 hours a day, that is where the 911 calls would come in. If it went over the sheriff and they are running a jailer dispatch, it would not work. The mayor told him they would run it 24 hours also, so who are you going to call. The mayor told the group that the county would continue to hire the same 4 dispatchers and then they will have 4 jailers. The only use for the dispatchers for jailers will be is if a jailer is on vacation or sick. The jailers will take over on the dispatch when the dispatchers are on vacation or sick. Very seldom will they be using a dispatcher for a jailer. Blair- It is not my intention or any of the officers that we have two dispatchers. His intent is to have one dispatch that will provide the very best service. He was oppose to the jailer type service. He said if the dispatch was in the police annex, they could also cover dispatch without adding reserves. One of the office girls could cover the shift on Saturday and also do office work at the same time. On some shifts we might need to use reserve officers for vacations and sick leave depending on the shift and if the office girls are in the office. He said they have had four dispatchers for twelve or thirteen years and they had covered a 24 hour shift. The sheriff has now been offered 4 jailers and he claims he needs more people to help with the jail. Blair said he felt uncomfortable about that because he was afraid it would interfer with the dispatch. He said all the dispatch shifts are covered now through scheduling. He felt that it makes sense to him that the city has some say in the dispatch and run it the best they can. The county was concerned about jailers and now it is the dispatch. He does not feel that we have any choice than to tell them to come and join us. He would support the board to regulate the dispatch. He said he had already had a board in effect for some time now but the sheriff had not come and sat in on it. The mayor went over what he had presented to the sheriff, and to the county com- missioners. The council had a meeting previously and went over the three options that we had. 1. Keep the system as it is, and let the county run it with an advisory board. 2. Set up our dispatch. 3. Move the dispatch to the police annex and we take over the entire cost. We would also have a teletype for the police and one for the sheriff. The mayor said he had talked to several cities about their dispatch and reported the findings. He had reported it to the county. The mayor had looked up how much we had paid for overtime in the dispatch this year. We had paid $5050.00 extra for dispatchers for this year. If we moved the dispatch over to the city annex we would have two secretaries over there that would have to start taking their turn on the dispatch, and one of the officers on duty might have to help out for an hour, this would help cut this cost out. He told the county this. One of the commissioners felt that they should give it a little more chance to be heard. After he thought he was making headway, one of them said they had already decided on plan "1" in one of their meetings for the county to take part of the law enforcement of the county. He said he did not know why everyone felt that the county was not capable of running the dispatch. The mayor told them all the complaints that he had heard from anyone. They agreed to everything. We would have it in writing and would have an advisory board, and we would split the cost right down the middle. Nile Boyle said if they want it they should pay for it. Tile m«yor said he did not know how we could get them to change. Jim Terry-Campus Police-It seems to me if they have hired two jailers, there is no need to chnnge the dispatch. The tax payers might be opposed to having two dispatch. Randy Lewis- Another problem I see now is the way they run now, they are short handed on their shifts. I feel if the City has the dispatch, they could do a good job with the dispatch. We are now constantly pulling our officers off the street to cover the emergencies. Mark Brunell- If I understand correct, if the city takes the dispatch we foot the whole bill and if they take the dispatch we pay for half the bill. Again Nile Boyle stated if they want the dispatch they will have to pay for it. #.,, f'. Y ..-' r'. The mayor said maybe if they find out they will have to pay the whole bill. they might change. ~. 1 Tom Lehman- The thing that bothers him is that the city is within the county and therefore part of the county. The dispatch is within the county and therefore they should run that function. He wondered if they would now argue that the police department is a function within the county and therefore. should be run by the county. The city is a complete independent sovereignty constitutionally and the county cannot impose itself police rule or policies upon the city. Mayor Porter said that is not true in Idaho, we are a public corporation. Tom was concerned that before decisions are made that everyone concerned by very clear ~n the legal and constitutional issues which separate the city from the county. The thing that bothers him is that the excuse in the beginning was joint jail dispatch. Now that is not completely the issue at all, they want control of the dispatch. Don't feel that the county can impose anything they want on you. Mayor Porter- One of the arguments that they used last night was there were two law enforcement officials in the county, on was the sheriff and the other was the elected mayor. They did recognize that the city was an entity and the county could not come in and take over. I don't think there is anyone that would vote for consoludation. Duwane Rubink- It seems that it comes down to who is going to control it. I don't think that the control should be handled by any one person. The separation of power needs to be maintained.. We need equal representation for the dispatch. Nile Boyle- What happens if we leave it where it is and put it under a board? Blair- I have not checked into the 911 line. That is still under control of the telephone company. I would guess that if we were going to be involved with the 911, they would look at the column or maybe they would have two lines one for us and one for the sheriff. That is still open. It is obvious that they want the dispatch for what ever reasons. I'm afraid that it would be difficult to ever smooth it out. The sheriff pointed out that there are city employees working in his office and it is very difficult. He was not sure that he would be satisfied with things as they are now. We need to put it in an area where we can expand and grow, and we need a decent access without interfering with jailers and this type of thing. Mayor- They had it figured last night showing on the 911 calls there was 57% last month that was from out of the city. They contend that there are more emergency calls from outside of the city than there are inside the city. Mark Brunell- The dispatch is important, but the jail is extremely important also. It is a great liability. I feel comfortable if the city would take the dispatch as a route for them to supervise it, that would let the jailer be more highly trained and to concentrate on the jail. Tom Lehman- About the board, we have heard the sheriff say many many times he is responsible to absolutly no one. I think that the board would be ineffective, under the sheriff's direction. Chief Siepert is appointed and the council and mayor has control over what he does. Mayor Porter- The commissioners would sign the agreement. Ken Anderson- We are against using dispatch for jailers. It would effect the people in our fire district, and the type of service they get in an emergency situation. Preston Hailey- I would like to express my opinion to the council. If I have an emergency at home, I want to be able to dial 911 and get someone that knows how to help in an emergency. I don't care who it is if it is a city employee or a county employee. I want an efficient system. If we split the dispatch we will have a lot of confusion. Layne Nelson- I have been a patrolman and also a dispatcher and with having experience with both of those, I feel that the dispatch has been run efficiently. I think it would be a help to the dispatch if it were put into the city annex, away from the confusion in the sheriff's office and in the dispatch area that it is in now. A lot of times we get an emergency and we have to worry about turning the monitor down so we can hear and understand people on the phone who are panicing. If it was in a different department, we would not have to contend with the noise. A lot of the time I am unable to hear the dispatch while I am out on the street. Mark Burnell- I am concerned about my family. We-house people in the jail and I can picture the dispatcher jailer walking the hall with a phone in one hand and a radio in the other and coming across a problem in the jail and while trying to converse with them we get a 911 call. Many times our 911 only give us a little bit of information .and then panic and hang up. I don't know how she or he would write it down with a radio in one hand and a phone in the other. i We will be looking at injuries that could have been taken care of it we would have had a dispatcher sitting at a table with all the resources at his or her fingertip. Mable Smith- I feel bad that we can have someone throw down a ball and give us an ultimatum. We pick up the ball and throw it back to him with all the money and e~cpenses that he has ask for and two jailers. He tells us that it is not going to work and refuses to except our gift. I would like to see the dispatch moved over to the city. I think the only workable thing is to say we are going to i~,ove over to the city. I think the only workable thing is to say we are going to move the dispatch over to the city annex. Dwayne Rubink- I have been a dispatcher for the city as a reserve, I have also been a dispatcher for Twin Falls County Sheriff's office. I have experience in other departments in the state. My experience in being a dispatcher and also in being a patrolman, leaves me to have a great concern over the position of that dispatcher. There are a lot of problems we have dispatch in that county office. We have employees running through there all the time, we have calls for the county and we have to go around the counter and leave the radio sometimes to find them just give them a call. There are times on the street that I need back- up and I don't have more than to grab my radio and say I need help. If that dis- patcher is not attentive at all times to pick that up, I am .not going to get the help I need. In Boise the dispatch is down stairs. They are locked in there, and the only ones that have keys are the dispatchers. Van Cleverly-We have a lot of concerned citizens and a lot of employees of the city. We are concerned about the dispatch being controlled by the county or by the city. If the sheriff controls the dispatch, ti is our opinion that it would degrade as far as it is now. As an officer we are required to work a dispatch shift from 7:00 A.M. until 3:00 P.M. on Saturday. There has been a lot of comments made to me as a dispatcher working as a city officer in the dispatch. John Egbert- I worked for Jerome Sheriff office as dispatch. There as a short time that our jailer was ill and off duty, and many nights I had to fill in as jailer as well as dispatcher. We did not have a 911, but calls came for the ambulance and the hospital as well as the sheriff office and the police department. It was totally impossible. You cannot be in two places at one time. The mayor said they will not use dispatchers for jailers without coverage. Randy Reese- I agree with Mr. Hailey, 911 line needs to be maned at all times. One dispatch could serve the county and should do so. I don't agree that dispatch should be under the sole control of one person. I think we chould have a board. Nile Boyle- I am disturbed that we had all those meetings with theCounty Commissioners to get better relationships. On July 6 we talked about jailers during the meeting. During that meeting I ask Bruce if he was threatening the city that you are going to take it over, and he said no. Within a week they unilaterally announced to the paper they were going to take it over. If they take it over I think they should pay .for it. Mayor Porter- If we don't go along, and they have the dispatch in their building and they just start operation it, I don't know what we can do. Mary Smith said we could take them to court. A motion was made by Bruce Casper and seconded by Darlene Blackburn that the city moue the dispatch to the city annex. All Aye INSURANCE PLAN FROM BLUE CROSS A motion was made by Nile Boyle to adopt ''C" Wrap-Around Insurance Plan from Blue Cross for the up coming year. All Aye BUDGET & COST OF LIVING The council discussed Budget meetings and cost of living increase. SOCCER GAMES DURING THE WEEK Bruce Casper ask the mayor to talk to Vaughn about putting soccer games during the week instead of Saturday. A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Bruce Sutherland to pay the bills. All Aye ~'~ `- 4~ Glen Pond made a motion to adjourn seconded by Darlene Blackburn. All Aye