Public Protection Committee
Minutes of 10:00 A.M., February 11, 2009 Meeting
The Town Office Meeting Room
Abbreviations Description Abbreviations Description
BOS Board of Selectmen PS Pump Station
FF Fire Fighter WC Warrant Committee
WWTP Wastewater Treatment Plant
MDWD Mount Desert Water District
I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at approximately 10:10 A.M. by Chief Bender.
II. Roll Call of Members
Attendance Present Attendance Present
“Voting Members (9 total)” Citizen Rep. Dennis Shubert (DS) Yes
Citizen Rep. Mary-Lee Bayne (MLB) Yes 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”
Citizen Rep. Marilyn Damon (MD) Yes Town Mgr. Mike MacDonald (MM) No
Harbormaster Shawn Murphy (SM) No BOS Liaison Rick Mooers (RM) No
NEHA Joanne Robbins (JR) Yes MDWD Mgr. Paul Slack (PS) No
III. Discussion/Approval of Minutes
JW: Page 4 under the Police Department heading, item 2 revised “one part time officer to cover, etc.” to “several part time officers to cover, etc.”. Revised minutes approved 7-0 (JR-MD).
Prior to entering into Item IV below, DS suggested that the committee should arrive at a consensus of opinion per major topic discussed to be included in the minutes. This would allow anyone reading the minutes to understand what the committee thought about the particular topic.
IV. Unfinished Business
A. Tour: The tour consisted of visits to the highway garage, the Somesville fire station, the Somesville WWTP; the Seal Harbor WWTP, the Seal Harbor fire station and the Northeast Harbor WWTP.
1. MLB stated that she appreciated the tour.
2. MD stated that she hoped that KB and DS can go on a tour; DS introduced himself stating that he had seen the highway garage and was interested in the WWTP’s based on his degree in environmental engineering. DS asked if there were any odor problems at any of the WWTP’s and was told no by the group.
3. Highway Garage Air Quality:
a. It was agreed by the group that the air quality at the highway garage is very poor due to the presence of exhaust fumes and fumes emanating from the many solvents, oil, etc. in use there. The problem is compounded by the lack of an air exchange system. It was felt that such a system should be installed as a stopgap measure. TS stated that this would essentially be throwing good money after bad. DS, MLB and MD all agreed that the building needs to be replaced, that it is non-redeemable; the latter two members stated that it should be replaced as soon as possible.
b. At a question from the other members, JW explained that the air exchange system and air-conditioning system in the town office only works upstairs, not downstairs. MB explained that the fire truck bays at the town office only have a venting system, not an air exchange system.
c. Consensus: The highway garage does not reflect the respect that the employees deserve.
4. Town Office:
a. MLB and MD stated that they felt the town office building was adequate. MLB went on to say that she felt the meeting room should be subject to a change in use, maybe offices, and that planning board, BOS, etc. meetings should be held elsewhere e.g. the Northeast Harbor library.
b. For clarification, MB asked MLB and MD what time frame they felt the town office was adequate for. MD stated that she felt it was adequate for 10 years for police and fire. She went on to say that the use of the town office should be maximized and that she was against a consolidated police and fire public safety building.
5. Regionalization: MLB and MD stated they thought there should be an island-wide police and fire department. MB stated that a major drawback to that idea from his perspective is that, on a good day, it takes anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes for the Bar Harbor fire department to get to Northeast Harbor.
Consensus: No consensus was agreed upon.
6. Dispatch: MD stated that she had heard rumors that there had been problems with dispatch during the July 2008 and Tan Turtle fires. JW said this was not the case and that he had not received any reports of “bad work”. This explanation was generally accepted by the committee. MB discussed, in brief, how Bangor Hydro Electric handles power issues during a fire. He stated this would be a good agenda item for a future meeting.
Consensus: MD will meet with JW about the dispatch issue.
7. Police Department Security: Referring back to his January 14th and 22nd presentation regarding security, JW distributed a newspaper article describing how a man in Presque Isle walked into the secure area of the Presque Isle police department, security measures preventing him from advancing any further, and shot himself in the head. He went on to describe that he had ordered a new window with a speaker in it so the public and dispatcher can more readily converse.
8. Police: Part- and Full-time Officers: JW stated that the changes to the requirements for part-time police officers he had alluded to in prior meetings were moving ahead quite rapidly towards implementation. He expects them to go into effect in the Fall of 2009 or early 2010. He stated that current part-time officers will be grandfathered relative to the changes. At a question from the group, JW stated that when on duty, a part-time officer has the identical responsibilities as a full-time officer. He went on to say that there is a high turnover rate amongst part-time officers and that hiring difficulties might be a good agenda item for a future meeting.
Consensus: The part-time officers are valuable to many police forces, including ours, and are needed, for example, to fill shifts. They are hard to come by and to keep.
V. New Business
1. Public safety resources and assets: The committee was unsure as to exactly what was required. TS handed around a number of pages listing public works assets. JW stated that the specific assets are summarized each year by department heads for our insurance carrier. DS stated that he felt our mission was to look at the big picture, not the “how many” of each we have. JW stated that we need to look at the broader picture.
2. TS will coordinate a second tour with DS, KB and JW.
3. Per the suggestion previously offered by DS, the issues the committee feels require a summary consensus include air quality at the highway garage, part-time police officers, rumors regarding dispatch and regionalization.
VI. Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 11:48 (TS-MLB). The next meeting is scheduled for 10:00 A.M., 3-11-09 at the town office meeting room. Agenda items are to be developed between now and then.
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