Public Protection Committee
Minutes of 10:00 A.M., July 8, 2009 Meeting
Town Office Meeting Room
Abbreviations Description Abbreviations Description
BH Bar Harbor NEH Northeast Harbor
BOS Board of Selectmen PS Pump Station
COC Chamber of Commerce PT Part-time
FD Fire Department SH Seal Harbor
FF Fire Fighter SV Somesville
FT Full-time SWH Southwest Harbor
MDWD Mount Desert Water District WC Warrant Committee
MMA Maine Municipal Association WWTP Wastewater Treatment Plant
I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at approximately 10:02 A.M. by Chief Bender.
II. Roll Call of Members
Attendance Present Attendance Present
“Voting Members (9 total)” Citizen Rep. Kathy Branch (Kathy) No
Citizen Rep. Mary-Lee Bayne (MLB) No Pub. Works Dir. Tony Smith (TS) Yes
Citizen Rep. Katie Bell (KB) No Police Chief Jim Willis (JW) Yes
Fire Chief Mike Bender (MB) Yes “Non-voting attendees/at large”
Harbormaster Shawn Murphy (SM) No Town Mgr. Mike MacDonald (MM) No
NEHA Joanne Robbins (JR) Yes BOS Liaison Rick Mooers (RM) No
Citizen Rep. Dennis Shubert (DS) Yes MDWD Mgr. Paul Slack (PS) No
Citizen Rep. Sharon Gilley (SG) Yes Basil Mahaney (BM) for JR-NEHA No
MLB and KB called Chief bender and told him they would not be in attendance. Selectman Jean Bonville was in attendance for the entire meeting as a member of the public.
III. Discussion/Approval of Minutes
Minutes of June 17, 2009 approved. Motion made and passed: 6-0 (DS-JW).
IV. Unfinished Business
A. DS was complimented by the members for making a very good presentation to the BOS at their July 6th meeting. TS stated that it was good for the BOS and the public to hear some of the town issues from someone other than a town employee e.g. from one of the representatives of the public on the PPC.
B. MB stated that MLB was interested in what the BH FD has for an annual budget. Based on his research, it is $302,484 as compared to our $438,705 (FY-10). BH’s budget includes wages for three paid FF’s on duty 24-7 and daily operations and does not include EMS, hydrant rentals, reserve accounts or CIP. The average paid FF annual wage is $25 – $30,000 plus benefits. MB and JW pointed out that EMS in some communities help finance the FD’s they are associated with so a cursory comparison of FD-to-FD budget may or may not be accurate.
(Note: Our budget includes the cost of all employee benefits, reserve accounts totaling and a one-time cost of turnout gear totaling $217,933. Reducing our budget by this amount allows us to more accurately compare with BH as BH at $302,484 and us at $220,712 or, $81,772 less than BH.)
MB stated that our average annual cost over the last three years is $219,487.
It was noted that BH EMS calls exceed ours by approximately a 5:1 ratio.
PD strategy for improvements: DS handed out and discussed a worksheet entitled “Evaluating Alternatives for Resolving Deficiencies Supporting Police Services”. A copy of the worksheet will be included with the final minutes of this meeting.
a. Options identified to address the police needs include new construction, renovation of the town office and regionalization. New construction speaks for itself; use of the meeting room and the current PD space was examined. JW stated that he and TS had been assigned the task of evaluating and subdividing the meeting room on paper and calculating approximate renovation costs but had not completed the task.
b. SG asked about the use of the current COC building for PD and dispatch. Much discussion ensued as to who owns the building and the land upon which it sets. SG had a deed with her she had obtained from the town office and described it as showing that the town owned the land. It was pointed out that the building was an integral part of the realignment of the Northeast harbor project and was being referred to as the “Yachtsmen’s Building”, not the COC. Further discussion of whether or not to ask the BOS for a consensus on PD’s use of the COC building ensued. TS was against it because we had not asked the BOS for such information on any of the other issues we had discussed up to this point. Others felt we should ask them to save us time if they were against the use of it by the PD. No vote was taken to ask the BOS.
c. JW described some of his needs including secure and private interview space, storage space, and evidence room, break room, staff room and dispatch with its associated lobby space. JW and TS will compare the meeting room to the current PD space. DS stated that he felt the meeting room has parking issues relative to its use by the PD and the current arrangement for access to it is inadequate.
d. JW described the consolidation of dispatch services with the County. Presently, our dispatchers get 911 calls transferred to them by the Ellsworth PSAP. Southwest Harbor recently received a quote of $10 - $11,000 per year to be dispatched from the Hancock County PSAP in Ellsworth; our costs would likely be similar. JW went onto say that the PSAP has a new director who has been charged with getting new clients to be paid for by the County taxes. If it gets implemented by the County, we would be paying a large portion of the bill for a county-based service which we would not be using under our current structure. Currently, user departments of the Hancock County RCC pay a fee to use the service. Under the plan being discussed at the County, these fees would no longer be charged to the users.
e. Consolidation of the current Island PD and dispatch services was informally discussed. When we formally discuss the issue, we will likely be looking at the cost per service and its affect on the mill rate.
f. JW and TS were charged with review of the meeting room and the COC as PD space.
g. DS mentioned the new construction option stating that he felt the SLAM study had PD’s needs secondary to administration’s needs.
h. MB will assess the current PD space from the perspective of how it might fit his needs if PD is relocated. JW pointed out that the interior walls in PD are load-bearing walls.
V. New Business
None.
VI. Adjournment
The following action was taken: Motion to adjourn at 11:24 A.M. Motion made and passed: TS-SG (6-0).
VII. Next Meeting
MB reminded us that the next meeting is August 12, 2009 at 10:00 AM at the NEH meeting room.
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