Rochester Hills Legistar System

The Committee briefly discussed the current two (2) millages for the contracted police

services from OCSD. The concensus, based on the Committee's past experience, was

that any Fire and Police millage requests should be two (2) separate issues. If one of

the two current Police millages expire in 2006, it would be prudent to begin plans as

soon as possible to determine how to educate the residents.

The Committee requested that Julie Jenuwine, Finance Director, be asked to make a

presentation at the April Public Safety Committee regarding the following specific

questions:

1. What are the millage amounts [for both millages] for the Police and when are

they due [to expire].

2. What do we need at a minimum to eliminate the General Fund subsidy.

The Committee also discussed developing a financial comparison between a

city-supported Police Department versus the current contracted services from OCSD. It

could be an educational tool to show the residents what it costs to provide the current

services. The Committee also noted that the start-up costs alone for a city-supported

Police Department would be approximately $10 to $12 million dollars and that may or

may not include liability and workers compensation insurance, etc. During the

mid-1980's, the City, which was Avon Township at that time, discussed the possibility of

starting a city-supported Police Department, but the idea was disbanded.

The Committee discussed Public Safety Aids and noted the following points:

* There could be collective bargaining agreement issues because of the contracted

police services with OCSD. But if the City wanted to form a Public Safety Aid

Department of its own, it should be outside of the contract with OCSD.

* OCSD uses "reserve officers" which are similar to RHFD's "paid on call" (POC)

firefighters.

* The City of Troy uses Public Safety Aids for several things that may be feasible to do

in Rochester Hills.

Chairperson Raschke will contact Major Dammon Shields at 248.858.4970, Oakland

County Sheriff's Office, 1201 N. Telegraph Road, for more information about the Public

Safety Aids. Capt. Smith will provide the Committee with a packet of information from

the City of Troy.

Committee. He noted the following points:

* The 2004 Bravo (Ambulance) Staffing Statistics were broken down annually. The

2003 statistics distributed by the previous Fire Chief [Walterhouse] were broken down

quarterly.

* Council should begin receiving statistics on a monthly basis.

* The 2004 response time with one (1) person responding has drastically improved

especially for the night shift. The improvement is due to each fire station being required

to have two (2) people assigned as a medical team one (1) night a week. Most stations

have enough staff to cover two (2) nights a week.

* In addition, the RHFD has one (1) ambulance staffed with two (2) POC Firefighters for

the day shift which is 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM. There will soon be two (2) staffed

ambulances during the day shift which will also improve response times. A station will

not be "toned" until both units are tied up.

* Recently, there have been approximately six (6) POC firefighters that have received

their Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) licenses and are available during the day

shift.

Interim Chief Crowell presented an update on the RHFD that included a report dated

February 7, 2005, as requested by the Committee. He discussed the following points:

* The RHFD is planning to hire two (2) basic EMTs to staff an ambulance during the day

shift in addition to the current day shift employees. This will allow them to function with

one (1) ambulance from 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM, two (2) ambulances from 8:00 AM to 4:00

PM, and one (1) ambulance from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM.

* The rationale behind sending two (2) units [an engine and an ambulance] to one (1)

call is that many times an Advance Life Support (ALS) call can turn into a Basic Life

Support (BLS) call, which frees up the paramedics to run another call. If an ambulance

only goes to a call that turns into a BLS call, it is tied up and cannot go to an ALS call.

* The RHFD received permission from the Oakland County Medical Control Board

(OCMCB) to run two (2) two-person ALS units and one (1) one-person ALS unit as

needed.

* The rationale behind sending a fire engine staffed with paramedics to a medical call

instead of sending an ambulance is so that the fire engine will be in service to go to a

fire call if needed.

* The POCs that are on the ambulances can be part of both divisions: Emergency

Medical Service (EMS) and Fire; or can be part of EMS only; but are not part of Fire

only.

* It is current practice to have an ambulance staged at the scene of a fire and for police

action. It can be a BLS or an ALS ambulance, however, it is preferred to be an ALS

ambulance with the understanding that the ALS ambulance can be substituted with a

BLS ambulance if needed.

* Interim Chief Crowell gave an example of how well the North Oakland County Mutual

Aid Agreement works between the fire departments when handling multiple calls in a

very short period of time. The RHFD also has a mutual aid agreement with the Shelby

Township Fire Department and a verbal understanding for mutual aid with the

Washington Township Fire Department.

* The RHFD has implemented a "call-back" policy regarding structure fires for local

full-time firefighters on the day shift who may be off duty. Some of the "out-station"

firefighters will be trained on Truck 1 so they respond to Station 1 if dispatched. The

full-time firefighters that live outside of Rochester Hills will also be included and will

receive one (1) hour's pay if they respond to the "call-back" but were not needed.

1st Draft Questions

The Committee discussed the 1st draft questions and made the following suggestions:

* Include a question that asks what POCs are paid at other Fire Departments and what

types of incentive programs are offered to improve POC retainment and/or response to

calls.

* Expand Question #9 to include population density, the number of school buildings

services, residential makeup, the number of expressways that run through the

community, and what other police services are provided, i.e. State Police, etc.

* Re-word Question #3 to read "What is your initial apparatus response to a medical

emergency".

Chairperson Raschke will forward the revisions to the Clerk's Office and the final survey

will be reviewed at the April Public Safety Committee Meeting.

Interim Chief Crowell commented that the City of Troy volunteer firefighters receive a

pension. However, a salary is paid to each station which can use the money for items

that benefit the entire station, i.e. cabins, pontoon boats, dinners, etc. RHFD has

recently furnished some of their stations with big-screen TVs, DVDs, VCRs,

PlayStations, and more durable furniture as incentives for POCs. He also noted that the

hourly pay rate for POCs was increased to $12.50 per hour.

Georgia between a prisoner and a judge. Capt. Smith noted that OCSD is very

proactive regarding courtroom security due to the experience with high-profile trials in

the past.

Chairperson Raschke briefly mentioned a resolution that was passed at a City Council

meeting regarding incident pagers for Council members. Interim Chief Crowell noted

that he is willing to provide whatever is requested and explained that it would require the

Supervisor of Communications to rework the pagers which would take time. He also

advised that if a pager is rewired to received all incidents calls, it may "go off" every five

(5) minutes. Chairperson Raschke requested that Interim Chief Crowell send a memo to

Council members stating something to the effect that "whoever wants it in their pager

can have it in their pager".