Rochester Hills Legistar System

The Committee briefly discussed Mr. Casey's memo dated February 22, 2005 and

agreed that it explained the questions that they had asked. However, the consensus

was to invite Mr. Casey to a future Public Safety Committee meeting to discuss ways

that may be explored that could use some of the tax base generated from special

developments to offset the increase of police and fire services, i.e. a possible special

assessment district created specifically for police and fire.

Approved and Referred to the City Council Liaison

Monthly Report - Fire Chief

020705 Memo Crowell.pdf

Chief Crowell gave a brief update that included the following:

* The Fire Department has had a vacant full-time position for several months. After the

advertisements performed by the Human Resource Department (HR), 36 applications

were received. A person should be hired by mid-September.

* Jim Bradford is currently Acting Deputy Fire Chief until that position is filled

permanently.

* The attempt to unionize the paid-on-call (POC) firefighters was defeated by a vote of

38 to 23.

Discuss Future Fire Department Positions

Draft Resolution of Support.pdf

Chief Crowell gave an overview of the future Fire Department positions needed and

included the following points:

* In 2004, the Rochester Hills Fire Department (RHFD) was identified as an Interim

Advance Life Support (ALS) Agency through 2007 by the Oakland County Medical

Control Authority (OCMCA).

* Currently, the RHFD uses two (2) two-man ALS units and a third unit with one (1)

paramedic. The ALS units are comprised of two (2) engines and one (1) squad, but do

not include the ambulances.

* The Agreement requires that RHFD demonstrate progression toward being a

complete ALS provider by responding with two-men ALS units at all times.

* In order to show progress toward the Agreement with OCMCA, the RHFD must hire

three (3) firefighter/paramedics in Fiscal Year 2006.

* Ultimately, the RHFD will need to hire three (3) additional firefighter/paramedics in

Fiscal Year 2007 to meet the department's minimum staffing requirement as outlined in

the Agreement and to allow for department staff vacations, etc. However, if there are

funding difficulties in 2007, the RHFD can request a one (1) year extension from

OCMCA.

Chief Crowell outlined various reasons to warrant hiring one (1) EMS Coordinator [which

is not related to the OCMCA Agreement] and included the following points:

* The State of Michigan has tightened requirements on continuous education training

classes.

* The RHFD currently has two (2) instructor/coordinators. There are many times when

the instructor/coordinators have to be called in to work when they are not on duty in

order to teach classes required by the State. The additional work hours result in

overtime pay.

* The new EMS Coordinator position would work a flexible shift depending on when

classes need to be taught and would fill in for a paramedic who may be off duty due to

vacation, etc. It will be a multi-functioning position as it relates to EMS duties but will

also be a certified firefighter position.

A motion was made by Robbins, seconded by Eble, that this matter be

Recommended for Approval to the City Council Regular Meeting.

Resolution of Support

Whereas, in 2004 the Oakland County Medical Control Authority (OCMCA)

identified the Rochester Hills Fire Department (RHFD) as an Interim Advance Life

Support Agency through 2007 and,

Whereas, under the Agreement, the RHFD must demonstrate progression toward

being a complete Advance Life Support (ALS) provider by responding with

two-man ALS units at all times by 2007, and

Whereas, the Rochester Hills Fire Chief is recommending the hiring of three (3)

firefighter/paramedics to comply with the Agreement, and

Whereas, the Fire Chief is recommending the hiring of one (1) EMS Coordinator

due to the demand on the RHFD as it relates to EMS Service and continued

increase in overtime cost,

Therefore Be It Resolved, that the City of Rochester Hills Public Safety Committee

supports the recommendation of the Fire Chief in pursuing this action.

The motion carried by the following vote:

Chairperson Raschke asked for a progress update. Chief Crowell responded with the

following comments:

* There is $30,000 budgeted for an AM radio station which was approved by Council in

2004. This was a project started by the previous Fire Chief. The bids are currently out

at this time.

* The RHFD is currently working with the City of Sterling Heights because they already

have an AM radio station. Their signal can be heard at Adams & M-59.

* Once everything is in place, the Fire Department and OCSD Substation can broadcast

emergencies with continual updates. They are working with the City's Media Specialist

for Channel 55/10 to discuss the facilitation for community announcements [not

emergency announcements] .

Capt. Smith concurred that there are sound reasons to use an AM radio station for

emergency broadcasts, but he cautioned that people should not lose sight of the fact

that no matter what notification system is used, there will always be a period of time

needed to assess an emergency before information can be released to the public. He

also mentioned that the County is in the process of establishing a "reverse 911" system,

whereby some type of technology will dial every active phone number in the County and

leave a recorded message regarding an emergency.

The Committee discussed the need for a Police Millage campaign and noted the

following:

* There is a definite need to add additional police officers due to the City's growth and

development during the last few years.

* It may not be in the City's best interest to attempt to use the millage to terminate the

subsidy of the General Fund because it may not allow for additional officers as needed.

* There may come a point where the County's contract may require a minimum number

of deputies that the City will be required to have.

* It would be very risky to combine the renewal language with a new millage language

because if it failed, the City would not get the renewal.

The 2003 special police millage campaign could have failed because of the following:

* Members of the "no new tax" group were invited to participate on the ad-hoc

committee but declined to do so.

* There seemed to be dissention between the Administration and Council which did not

present a "united front" to the residents.

* The facts to show the difference in the cost of contracting police services versus

having a City police department did not appear to be strong enough to convince the

voters.

The Committee consensus was to request the Clerk's Office to provide the meeting

minutes relative to the special police millage attempted in 2003 so that the Public Safety

Committee can review the information before recommending that this topic be discussed

at a Council meeting for further support.

problems, costs, liability issues and greater harm by reducing the credibility of all

alarms and,

Whereas, other communities, which now include Sterling Heights, have instituted

programs involving alarm registration and a scale of fines for repeat false alarms

and,

Therefore, be it resolved, that the Rochester Hills City Council Public Safety

Committee recommends that City Council move forward with adopting a False

Alarm Ordinance based on Sterling Heights False Alarm Ordinance and that the

Council President schedule it for an upcoming Council meeting.

The motion carried by the following vote:

Chairperson Raschke asked if the first Five Year Plan had been completed. Chief

Crowell explained that it has been completed with the exception of one (1) item which

was the relocation of the paid-on-call (POC) firefighters at Station 1 to the other fire

stations which are referred to as "out stations". He recommended that at this point in

time, due to the volume of calls that Station 1 responds to at different geographical

areas, that the POCs should remain at Station 1.

Chief Crowell also noted that POCs and full-time fire fighters at Station 1 share

responsibilities accordingly and work well together. The number of POCs vary station

by station due to the station location. Station 5 does not respond to medical calls due to

the low volume of POCs at that station.

The Committee briefly discussed the increase of medical calls due to the new

developments coming to the Tienken and Rochester Road area, namely Waltonwood

and City Walk.

The Committee briefly discussed a new Five Year Plan. The next step after gathering

data is to obtain input and recommendations from the Fire Chief. Then, Council will

develop a policy with some direction, but it is up to the Fire Chief to determine how to

implement the policy.