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The May 27, 2003 meeting of the Health and Public Safety Committee was called to order by its
Chairperson, Council Member Roland Kelly at 4:25 p.m. in the Council Informal Meeting Room.
Persons in attendance included Council Members Kelly, White, Pfeifer Kuspa, Varner, Kirsits
and King; Citizen Member Isabel G. Gonzalez, Fire Chief Luther Taylor, Assistant Fire Chief
Howard Buchanon, II, City Controller Rick 011ett, Asst. City Attorney Ann-Carol Nash, Public
Works Director Gary Gilot; Lt. Dick Powers, Michael Shlakman, Juanita Dempsey & Phylis
Fields who members of the Community Oriented Policing Leadership Council of South Bend;
Terry Bland of the 00110 NW( trihlttfi* and Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand.
Council Member Kelly noted that Bill No. 31-03 which would amend Chapters 4 and 12 of the
South Bend Municipal Code to include new regulations addressing "alarm systems" was
continued from the May 12th Committee meeting to today.
Assistant City Attorney Ann-Carol Nash made the presentation. She noted that the Bill was
continued in order to address the concerns raised by Council Member Kirsits with regard to leaving
a location after 15 minutes when the key holder has failed to arrive. She stated that she spoke with
the Council Attorney who sent her proposed recommendations which have been included in the 3rd
Substitute version of Bill No. 31-03 with those changes being set forth on page 4 of the Bill. The
amendments include a definition for"officer" and include a new last sentence to § 12-2 (b) (copy
attached).
Fire Chief Luther Taylor noted that he received the Council Attorney's recommendations and
agrees with them. Chief Taylor commended the hard work of the Community Oriented Policing
Leadership Council and stated that he believes that this is the first ordinance in the state which
addresses the concerns of both the fire department and the police department.
The Council Attorney stated that the proposed changes attempt to provide as much flexibility for
the officers in light of public safety concerns while being legally specific.
Juanita Dempsey, Co-Chairperson of the Public Safety Committee of the COP Leadership Council
stated that the ordinance should help address the issue liability in light of the red lights and sirens
which are used by our public safety officers when responding to a call, as well as having the alarm
companies would with their consumers who have their service to check for defective equipment.
Michael Shlakman, Co-Chairperson of the COP Leadership Council stressed that when officers
from the South Bend Police and Fire Departments respond they are doing so thinking that it is an
actual alarm or an actual incident taking place. The Bill is needed in light of the safety of all of our
officers and in light of the fact that the number of false alarms is at an unacceptable level which is
jeopardizing our officers' safety when responding.
C.O.P. Coordinator, Lt. Dick Powers of the South Bend Police Department then provided updated
information to the Committee noting that in 2002 there were 10,107 reported false alarms for
residential and commercial burglary alarms. As a result in calendar year 2002 there were 2,526.35
hours of down time for the City's public safety personnel (one-page handout attached).
Dr. Varner voiced concern with regard to the language set forth on page 6, § 12-3 as to the time
period involved as well as whether the Police and Fire Departments would continued to Hein
Health and Public Safety Committee
May 27, 2003
Page 2
records. He also noted that perhaps the effective date should be January 1, 2004 for the sake of
consistency and educating the alarm companies of the new regulations.
Lt. Powers stated that the Committee had assumed that time period would be a calendar year and
that the Police and Fire Departments would continue to maintain the records. Lt. Powers further
noted that at the time of the 2d violation he has worked out an agreement with the alarm companies
that they would at that point work with their customers in retraining them on the usage of their
systems and/or checking the devices for malfunctions.
Fire Chief Taylor stated that the calendar year time period should be maintained.
Council Member Pfeifer agreed that the clarifications should be made. The Council Attorney
suggested that the appropriate changes could be made to pages 6 &7 of the 3rd Substitute Bill by
the Legal Department and have those pages filed with the City Clerk's Office so that at the 7 p.m.
Meeting the acceptance of the 3rd Substitute Bill would then have all of the amendments. (Pages 6
&7 attached)
Following discussion, Council Member Pfeifer made a motion, seconded by Citizen Member
Gonzalez that 3rd Substitute Bill 31-03 with the new pages 6 & 7 be recommended favorably to
Council. The motion passed.
Under miscellaneous business, Isabel Gonzalez thanked the Committee for scheduling the meeting
after 4 p.m. since meetings scheduled prior to that time are difficult for her to attend in light of her
work schedule.
There being no further business to come before the Committee, Council Member Kelly adjourned
the meeting at 4:48 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Council Member Roland Kelly, Chairperson
Health&Public Safety Committee
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