EVENDALE POLICE-FINANCE-RECREATION-ADMINISTRATION
COMMITTEE MINUTES
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2006
The meeting of the Evendale Council Committee for Police, Finance, Recreation and Administration was called to order at 6:00pm. Councilmembers Albrinck (Chairman) and Lohmeier were present. Councilman Puthoff was an excused absence. Police Chief Gary Foust and Village CFO, George Snyder were also present.
On motion by Councilmembers Doug Lohmeier and Jeff Albrinck, the minutes of the February 28 meeting were unanimously approved.
RECREATION DEPARTMENT-
There was no Recreation Department committee meeting
POLICE DEPARTMENT -
A. The Chief has applied for a new Ballistic Vests Grant through the COPS Program.. Chief Foust indicated that he will know approximately in 60 days whether they will pay up to 50% for the approximately $10,000 cost of the new vests. The Chief indicated that due to breakdown of the vest material it is necessary that this safety gear be replaced every five years. The $10,000 was allocated in the budget for the purchase of the vests and they will be purchased with or without the grant. We will, however, wait until the grant application has been completed before purchasing.
B. Mobile Data Computers - one is currently installed for testing purposes. These are being provided through RCIC funding and will cost the Village nothing. Beginning May 1, these laptops will help officers with daily logs, images and report writing. They are currently working out several bugs, specifically the integration with other data bases. Right now, they will not complete the citation processing completely and each new citation will have to be processed through police department staff.
C. Capital items revisions - Chief Foust has requested that the capital items originally requested during the 2006 budgeting process be amended.
1. The primary change is the determination that the Voice Stress Analyzer is not reliable. Chief Foust, in his recent conversations with polygraph experts has learned that the voice stress analyzer is not a reliable tool and will not appropriately serve the purpose intended. Therefore, Chief Foust indicated that he does not wish to purchase the voice stress analyzer.
2. Chief Foust has subsequently requested that a new seat restraint system be purchase for each of the 7 police vehicles. This restraint system will allow an individual officer to secure a passenger in the backseat without having to reach completely over the passenger to secure them. This new belt mechanism will alleviate the need for a second officer to simply assist in the belting in of a passenger in the backseat. The current system requires that an officer reach completely over the lap of the detainee and belting him/her into the vehicle. This new system utilizes a bar system similar to that seen on a roller coaster and will secure the passenger without reaching across.
3. Additional requests are the Scout Portable Alarm System which can be used to assist businesses as well as residents who have short term security problems. This mobile system can be set up to monitor areas that may be having a security issue. The committee raised the issue as to the term under which any resident or business could utilize this system. They fear that the popularity of a free system provided by the police department would have high demand, therefore, the Chief will have to evaluate a time frame under which the system can be at any one location.
4. The last addition to the capital improvement request is the camera and electronic upgrade. This upgrade will allow our in house video system to be upgraded from to VHS format to a digital format. By a unanimous vote of the council members, Chief Foust was instructed to proceed with the modifications.
D. Penn Alert Update - On April 2, 2006, letters were sent out to all residents requesting that they provide the Village up to two phone numbers that will be added to the Penn Alert System. Residents and businesses have until April 17 to respond.
E. Accreditation update from on-site visit - The accreditation process went well. Chief Foust indicated that the exit interview will occur Wednesday, April 5, 2006 at 10:00am.
F. Badges - The Police Department has elected to modify the current badge. They evaluated several options and have chosen a badge that reflects an historical perspective.
G. DART Annual Report - Chief Foust provide us with the DART Annual Report. In reviewing the report, it was noted that the Village had six drug busts in 2005, after having only one in 2004. Chief Foust indicated that these were all arranged transactions from people outside the Village who chose to meet at the sites within the Village.
H. Solicitation Ordinances - Chief Foust provided us with a letter from Village Solicitor, Tim Burke, regarding our current Village Solicitation Ordinance. Mr. Burke has opined that our current ordinance is flawed. He specially stated that he believes it would be difficult to enforce the ordinance in court and could face civil rights challenge based on the Constitutionality of the Ordinance. Mr. Burke has specially suggested that we regulate the time for all uninvited solicitations and that we better define the form of activity ie. distinguishing girl scouts from “for profit” commercial activity. Councilmembers Albrinck and Lohmeier requested that Chief Foust contact the center for local government and come back to the committee with some recommendations on how this is handled
in other municipalities. The committee did endorse the idea that solicitations could be limited to a period of 9:00am to 6:00pm Monday through Friday and that No Trespassing signs could be enforced. We could add a requirement that anyone soliciting within the Village must be licensed.
FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT -
Due to the Records Retention Meeting scheduled for 6:30pm, Mr. Snyder provided Councilmembers Lohmeier and Albrinck with copies of the financial data at which time everyone convened to council chambers to participate in the Records Retention presentation.
There being no further items to come before the committee and upon made motion by Councilmember Doug Lohmeier, seconded by Councilmember Jeff Albrinck, the meeting was adjourned.
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J Jeffrey Albrinck, Chairman
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