Public Safety Review Committee
Meeting of September 3, 2002
Town Hall Hearing Room
Present: Ken Kimball, Chair; Kirsten Bakken, Richard Townsend, Matthew Frazier, John Ferro, Lisa Brown, Linda Pickard, Berta Bruinooge; Officer Michael Hurley, Jeff Stewart, Anne Wood, Darlene & Mike Frazier, Marilyn Miller
Excused: Kenneth Roscoe
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.; the roll was called.
Future Meeting Dates: 9/24/02 and 10/8/02
Minutes: Berta Bruinooge moved and Linda Pickard seconded approval of the minutes of 8/20/02 as amended; motion passed 7-0.
Motion to Reorganize Committee: Richard Townsend moved and Matt Frazier seconded a motion to choose a new chair. Chair Kimball ruled the motion out-of-order. He stated that he had been appointed by the Board of Selectmen, not elected by the committee, and that the committee would need to go to the BOS for reorganization. Frazier stated that he had spoken to the Selectmen, 3 of whom had stated that such reorganization was possible.
Old Business--Subcommittees:
Children, youth and young adults: Brown/Pickard. Lisa Brown stated that, although this subcommittee had not as yet met, they had talked with members of their target group and that some had expressed willingness to attend a committee meeting when asked. Others had been loath to attend a meeting and asked for alternatives; Ms. Brown suggested writing letters and choosing a spokesperson to represent them. Brown stated that she wished to represent all youth, even those who didn't feel comfortable attending a meeting. Pickard asked if the committee would accept unsigned letters; a discussion of signed/unsigned letters followed. Kimball reminded the committee that they had decided at an earlier meeting to accept unsigned letters.
Business and trades people: Townsend/Bruinooge/Ferro. Rich Townsend stated that he had no report.
Seniors, middle age and community groups: Bakken/Roscoe. Kristen Bakken reported that she had spoken with Jacqui Wildes, Director of the Council on Aging, at the Senior Center and that she would be visiting the center for lunch on 9/17. Ms. Bakken distributed minutes of her subcommittee meeting.
Community Survey Questionnaire: Frazier/Pickard/Townsend. Matt Frazier distributed copies of the minutes of the subcommittee meeting and Draft #2 of the police survey questionnaire, stating that the only changes (in italics) were changes suggested at the last meeting. Discussion covered:
Question 19 on unreported crime; the question was seen to have validity but to be somewhat ambiguous--should the writer explain the crime or the reason for not reporting it?
Question 12 on overtime
Use of survey analyst, Mr. Smith, from Barnstable County. Berta Bruinooge asked if the committee were agreed that it needed Smith's help; Kimball pointed out that when it was proposed, no one objected, and cited the advantages of expert help. Bruinooge felt that the project should not wait but move forward, that the questionnaire should be sent to everyone in town, that the committee should be more proactive in discerning what the community thinks, and that the survey would bring that information in. Kimball commented that the questions needed to be tested ahead of time for validity; Bruinooge felt that the survey would be valid for the point of view of those filling it out. Pickard agreed with Bruinooge that the committee should get the community input now and
get Smith's later. John Ferro stated that whichever way the committee chose to go, it should only do one survey. Matt Frazier advised moving on the project as soon as possible to secure the information. Kirsten Bakken stated she would be happy to take the survey to the Senior Center; Rich Townsend urged getting the survey out. Lisa Brown realized the need for validity of questions but felt that there was clearly more to look at than meets the eye, that the survey would get things on the table. An audience member asked if there would be a place on the survey for questions and was answered affirmatively. In response to an opinion that the survey should have been conducted much earlier, Ken Kimball felt that it would have been a mistake to go with the survey two months ago and that the survey still has some problems; he had some objections to sending the survey out to everyone, including the amount of work and expense in mailing. Bruinooge was
concerned that everyone in Wellfleet would not get a chance to fill out a survey. She did not feel that $1000 would be too much to spend on such a mailing and suggested that it could be mailed out bulk rate to every household. Matt Frazier reported that he had had a conversation with Roger Putnam in which Putnam told him that there was $12,000 available for this committee. Ken Kimball said he was not aware of this. Rich Townsend and Officer Hurley cited the fire and police departments' use of mailing labels prepared by town hall for bulk mailings. Officer Hurley indicated that the total cost of a Police Federation mailing is about $3000. Ken Kimball asked how it could be assured that renters would also receive surveys. Lisa Brown urged gaining a consensus of the Board for moving the project forward, noting that revision could be done and bad questions could be scrapped. She moved that the committee review and revise the 2nd Draft Questions in order to use them as a survey.
Matt Frazier seconded. Kimball asked the committee to study the time line he had submitted for its consideration as it includes the period this fall when a survey would be conducted; he did not feel that the survey was urgent and wished to see if the committee could enlist the services of the county data analyst. Brown suggested talking about the time line. The question was moved. The motion carried, 6-2.
Kimball's Distribution of Plans, Procedures and Schedule with Time Line for Accomplishment of Tasks. The Chair distributed and then read aloud the document, commenting that its elements had come from the charge given to the committee by the BOS. Discussion followed.
Lisa Brown suggested plugging in the survey in the Sept.-Dec. section of the time line.
Berta Bruinooge questioned the meaning of "particularly successful programs" in Jan.-Feb.; Kimball explained that this referred to community communications and interaction. Bruinooge objected to the use of the word scientific (in the Goals, Guidelines and Objectives section of the document) in connection with community surveys; Kimball removed it.
Frazier, in the same section, stated that he had a problem with "avoids . . . statements about or criticism of any Town employee . . ;" he asked if the committee should "only talk about nice things?" Kimball responded that naming names is not in the committee's charge. Frazier clarified: he was not planning to invite people to come into the meeting and criticize but felt they might feel free to do so. Kimball replied that if people wished to criticize a particular officer or official, they needed to go through certain channels. He added that the committee was dealing here with complex things.
John Ferro pointed out a contradiction between the first statement ("Limit the review and recommendations . . . ." ) in the Goals, Guidelines and Objectives and the June 5 letter giving the committee its charge ( ". . . but not limited to"). Kimball responded that his statement expressed the need to narrow down the work; Bruinooge commented that the statement in the charge gives the committee an "out" for consideration of things outside the charge.
Lisa Brown emphasized two points: character assassination is completely unethical as well as illegal, but difficult problems may arise and need to be considered and addressed on a case-by-case basis without naming names. She added that the sense is that the leadership on the committee needs to be fair, with no character assassination, but smoothing over problems may not be in the best interest of the Town of Wellfleet. Speaking of general propriety for meetings, she emphasized that the ethics of the committee are very important. Kimball indicated that the committee had already experienced problems in this area. Kirsten Bakken asked if the committee had discussed not talking outside of the meetings; Kimball answered that talking about what it would be voting upon
would be a breach of ethics, but there was no problem in talking about the work it was doing.
Jeff Stewart noted that people had trouble with negatives and suggested that some negatively slanted statements in the Goals, Guidelines and Objectives be altered to positives. (e.g., "fully develop review and recommendations" rather than "limit review and recommendations").
Chair Kimball urged adoption of the document this evening; Berta Bruinooge, however, asked for time to study it at home and digest it quietly. Lisa Brown suggested that Kimball could "positive it up" in the meantime.
New Business
Survey on Public Response to the Police Department. Chair Kimball stated that he would get in touch with Assistant Town Administrator Rex Peterson and inform him that the committee would not use the services of the county analyst and that it wished to conduct a saturation survey of the town and would need mailing assistance. Lisa Brown suggested that the committee review the survey during the meeting of 9/24 and "tweak" it where necessary. Kimball added that if anyone had other questions to propose for the survey, this would be the last chance to submit them.
Chair's Motion concerning responsibilities of the PSR Committee. Chair Kimball submitted his motion (see attached) to the committee, stating that it was geared to provide the community with an explanation of the committee's purpose and function. He asked that someone move the motion; John Ferro did so. No second was found. There was no discussion of the motion. The Chair then asked the committee what plans they had for letting the community know what they were doing. Berta Bruinooge stated that the original charge spoke for itself and needed nothing more. Kimball cited a phone call from a citizen who hoped that the committee would get the word out to the community and asked again how this could be done. Matt
Frazier, agreeing with Bruinooge that the BOS charge was satisfactory, also felt that people should be able to walk into meeting to "air gripes." Lisa Brown stated that people coming forward with regularity might show patterns and bring forward points which might be grounds for policy changes; airing these points could contribute to such changes. The Chair noted that such people might be overwrought, this action might interfere with ongoing police investigations and could be quite disruptive in meetings. Lisa Brown pointed out that the committee could set the tone and set parameters for airing issues; she felt that it could not fulfill its function by hearing only from the police or "from people who make us feel comfortable." She added that last year public perception became shaky concerning the police department problems. Frazier added that the committee could manage disruption on a case-by-case basis. Chair Kimball
noted that he had gained understanding of the committee's position from the discussion.
Officer Hurley's Report on Police/Youth Activities. Due to time constraint, Officer Hurley agreed to return at a later time to discuss youth activities and programs.
Other Business. Matt Frazier expressed his concern that Richard Townsend's motion for reorganization of the committee had been "stifled." He asked the Chair to poll the entire body at that point about whether to take the reorganization issue to the Board of Selectmen. The Chair stated that Frazier was out of order.
Berta Bruinooge moved and Lisa Brown seconded adjournment. The committee adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
________________________________ ______________________________
Frances J. Castillo, Assistant to the Kenneth Kimball, Chair
Committee Secretary ________________________Date
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