11-26-01 Health & Public Safety - Laserfiche WebLink

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QCotttmittoe import: O au4 )ubit of tii Qonuttitt t The November 26, 2001 meeting of the Health and Public Safety Committee was called to order by its Chairperson Council Member Andrew Ujdak at 5:05 pm in the Council Informal Meeting Room. Persons in attendance included Council Members: Aranowski, King, Ujdak, Kirsits, Varner, Coleman, White, Kelly and Pfeifer; Mayor Stephen J. Luecke, Citizen Members Khadijah Muhammad, Isabel Gonzalez, Fire Chief Luther J. Taylor, Assistant Fire Chief for Services Richard Switalski,Battalion Chief for Special Operations James Lopez, City Engineer Carl Littrell, Executive Director of the Morris Performing Arts Center Dennis Andres, Margaret King, Terry Bland of the gout j ifaett4 gributtU,and Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand, Council Attorney. Council Member Ujdak noted that the first item on the agenda was to review Bill No. 109-01 which would transfer $ 55,000 from the Fire Department Salary Fund to the Fire Department Equipment Fund. Assistant Fire Chief for Services Richard Switalski made the presentation. The transfer would allow the Fire Department to purchase two(2) thermal imaging cameras and pay the City's share of the 30%federal grant for the flashover simulators. Council Member White inquired how many thermal imaging cameras the Fire Department has. Assistant Chief Switalski noted that with this transfer there would be a total of four (4) thereby enabling each of the four(4)quadrants to have one. Mayor Luecke stated that the City made a commitment to have one such unit per quadrant,however if the prices of such units continue to go down, the City would re-look at the need for more. Following discussion, Citizen Member Gonzalez made a motion, seconded by Council Member White, that Bill No. 109-01 be recommended favorably to Council. The motion passed. The Committee then reviewed Bill No. 110-01 which would appropriate$ 59,070 from the general fund to the Fire Department Equipment Fund. Assistant Fire Chief for Services Richard Switalski made the presentation. He noted that the appropriation would cover the federal grant for the flashover simulators and the purchase of one(1) chemical detector. Battalion Chief for Special Operations James Lopez provided a 2-page handout describing the APD2000 which detects chemical warfare agents which is designed for both the battlefield and civilian emergency first responses. Chief Lopez noted that currently there are three (3) such units being utilized in the State of Indiana with the closest one being located in Peru, Indiana. Following discussion, Citizen Member Gonzalez made a motion, seconded by Council Member White that Bill No. 110-01 be recommended favorably to Council. Council Member Kirsits noted for the record that he is a Battalion Chief with the South Bend Fire Department. He will not benefit personally be the purchase of the proposed Fire Department equipment and will not have a conflict of interest as determined by the Council Attorney.