04/17/13 Board of Public Safety Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING TTEST• 1—IlAnda M. Martin, Cl rk APRIL 17 2013 34 BOARD OF PUBLIC SAFETY Patrick D. Cottrell, Member Laura Vasquez, Member Eddie Miller, Member ins, Luther Taylor, REGULAR MEETING APRIL 17 2013 The Board of Public Safety met in the Regular Meeting at 9:20 a.m. on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, with Board President Patrick Cottrell, and Board Members Laura Vasquez, Eddie Miller, and Luther Taylor present. Board Member John Collins was absent. Also present were Police Chief Ronald Teachman, Fire Chief Stephen Cox, and Attorney Andrea Beachkofsky. The meeting was held in the Board Conference Room, 13t" Floor, County City Building, South Bend, Indiana. ACCEPT MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS Mr. Cottrell stated unless there were any corrections, the Board would accept the Minutes of the Public Agenda Session, Executive Session, and Regular Meetings of March 20, 2013, and the Special Meetings of March 25, 2013 and April 5, 2013 as presented. DISCUSSION ON TRAINING OF FIRE AND POLICE REGARDING REPORTING GUIDELINES FOR PERSONNEL ISSUES Mr. Cottrell stated he would like to discuss in general, what the Firefighters and Police should be reporting to Human Resources, and whether they are aware of which personnel issues are appropriate to report. Ms. Beachkofsky stated she will be attending training at the end of the month for Police, but it will cover all aspects of safety. She stated part of the training will address FMLA and she will be working with Human Resources to update City policies, which will take several months. She added she will report back to the Board after her training session. DISCUSSION OF BOARD POLICY FOR SETTING DISCOVERY AND PRODUCTION DEADLINES Mr. Cottrell explained that the State has guidelines to follow, requiring the setting of a Hearing thirty (30) days from the filing of Charges. Ms. Beachkofsky added that the officer has five (5) days to request a Hearing after the Filing of Charges, and there is a thirty (30) day timeline afterwards in which to set the Hearing. She noted the officer will usually obtain counsel after being notified of the Filing of Charges and the communication then is usually done through their Legal counsel. Ms. Beachkofsky stated she has seen where a Board sets a request for discovery deadline ten (10) days from the date the employee asks for a Hearing; and then ten (10) days after that deadline for production of discovery, which would be inside the thirty (3 0) day limit for the Hearing. She added most attorneys do seem to ask for a continuance of the Hearing and at that time the attorney may ask for a continuance on the discovery request and production as well, but at least the Board would have dates established. The Board would then make a decision on granting the continuance or not. She