Loading...
230209 -- City Council -- Agenda Questions Council questions and staff responses for items on February 9, 2023 City Council Meeting 9.4- LULAC Revised Commitment Schedule Sponsor: Debbie Eller Question: Will any of these changes result in additional expenses for the city/ CDBG funds beyond the ones discussed in December? Response: The changes to the contract will not change the financial obligation. 10.1- Police Department Update Sponsor: Chief Billy Couch Questions & Responses: Things I wonder – please don’t answer in agenda questions if you are already including it in your review. At the request of PD , we moved crossing guards to a third party. What has been the benefit experienced by PD as a result of that change? The crossing guard program being outsourced has proven to be a huge benefit for the police department staff and the service delivery has not been compromised by the provider. There were a number of Northgate changes that PD recommended. How many of those have been implemented and has there been an improvement in the area as a result? The Northgate presentation created a culture of more cooperation with some bar owners who have been difficult in the past. There are a few pending ordinance modifications that should come before council for consideration this Spring, that if approved, will lead to improvements to the area. How many funded PD positions are unfilled? The police department is currently at 152 of 155 in sworn staffing. Of the 152, 11 are in some form of training and not in full service yet. The police department has 7 vacancies in our communications center. The police department has three police assistant vacancies. Council had a consultant conduct a study (back in probably 2018 ?) that made recommendations as to PD staffing levels in proportion to city size. Have we increased our staffing to meet those recommendations? Based on the consultant study, we have added numerous positions in the police department. While we have not completely met all of the recommendations, we have been strategic in adding resources to better cover demands. Has there been an increase in the number of incidents where residents reported gunfire in the last quarter? This is a difficult category to pull because many reports come in as a noise that could have been gunfire. Based on the response, the call is often closed unable to locate with no way to prove where the noise came from. We have credible gunfire calls that come in, but I do not believe there has been more the last quarter than earlier parts of the year. How are catalytic converter thefts trending? This will be in the presentation. What is the average response time to noise complaints? This will be in the presentation. 10.2- Fire Department Update Sponsor: Chief Richard Mann Questions & Responses: Things I wonder – please don’t answer in agenda questions if you are already including it in your review. What has been the impact on station 6 to the recent change in the mutual aid agreement with Bryan? Firefighters are definitely feeling the impact of reduced responses into the city of Bryan which increases their service within the city. The greatest current concern among the department is assuring that as we transition to mutual aid, we maintain the ability to provide the best care for high acuity emergencies regardless of the location or which department is closest. We all want to assure we always to what’s in the best interest of the patient. The CAD interfaces will provide some challenges with this. What role will firefighters have in designing the new fire station number 7? Has a site been chosen for the new station? We are currently evaluating a few recently built fire stations in Texas to determine if there is an existing design that will meet our needs. This would allow us to work with that architect on a pre-existing design to save time and money. When we have a design team in place, we will put together an internal workgroup to provide input. The department has identified 2 preferred locations along Greens Prairie that will serve existing and projected future needs. CIP is working to secure the property or find similar alternatives to meet the same objectives. How many ambulances do we currently have in operation and how many do we have ordered? We currently have 4 ambulances in service full-time 24/7. We have a peak-time ambulance in service Tuesday-Saturday from 8am-8pm. We have four ambulances on order: (2) as normal replacements, (1) as an additional reserve to increase our reserve capacity and for Special Events, (1) to be placed in service as a 5th full-time ambulance. We anticipate the first arrival in September and plan to put the 5th ambulance in service as soon as possible thereafter. How is the number of minutes we have no ambulances available trending? The numbers have trended down due to the combination of two factors: 1) changes in the EMS automatic aid procedures with City of Bryan, and 2) the impact of the peak time ambulance This information will be covered in more depth at the council meeting presentation. Have we started hiring for the new station ? No, we do not anticipate Station 7 opening until mid-2025 at the earliest. Ideally, we will pursue two SAFER grant opportunities for 2024 and 2025 to allow us to increase staffing by 12 each year to have staffing trained and available when the station opens. How did the recent hiring period go? Did we get more qualified applicants than we needed? We opened up applications for both certified and non-certified. We had 339 apply in total but ended up with 70 that will be moving on to written & physical ability testing. Of the 70, only 11 are certified candidates. This information will be covered in more depth at the council meeting presentation. 11.3- Interactive Sign at City Hall Sponsor: Jennifer Cain Question: Item 11.3 what is the permit fee for? From whom are we requesting a permit? Response: This fee is for the sign company’s time to prepare and submit the documentation required for a sign permit. We will require them to submit the engineered plans to the Planning & Development Services Department for approval.