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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/17/13 Board of Public Safety MinutesPUBLIC AGENDA SESSION APRIL 17, 2013 33 The Board of Public Safety met in the Public Agenda Session at 8:15 a.m; on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 in the 13'h Floor Board Conference Room, County -City Building, 227 West Jefferson Blvd., South Bend, Indiana, with Board President Patrick D. Cottrell and Board Members Laura Vasquez, Eddie Miller, and Luther Taylor present. Board Member John Collins was absent. Also present was Attorney Andrea Beachkofsky, Police Chief Ronald Teachman, and Fire Chief Stephen Cox. Board members discussed the following agenda items: - Discussion on Reporting Guidelines for Personnel Issues, Board Policy for Setting Discovery and Production Deadlines, General Orders Regarding Filing of Police Reports, and Towing List Discussion Ms. Beachkofsky stated that all of the above items are for discussion only; there is nothing for the Board to approve today on those. She added that the Towing List discussion is just an update and she expects to have some of the Towing Companies present. - Addition to the Agenda Ms. Beachkofsky stated there is an addition to the agenda of a Request for Administrative Leave from the Fire Department. - Discussion on Setting Hearing of Charges No. 2013 -01 —Theodore Robert Ms. Beachkofsky stated the Board would need to make a decision on when to reset the above Hearing. She added that she would have to recuse herself from the discussion. - Monthly Statistical Analysis — Police Department Chief Teachman explained that the FBI requires that murder statistics reflect the date of death of the victim, not when the actual crime occurred. He noted that a murder on March 1, 2013, therefore, will not show up until the April statistics because the victim died in April. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, Ms. Beachkofsky declared the meeting adjourned at 8:20 a.m. BOARD OF PUBLIC SAFETY Patrick D. Cottrell, Member Laura A. Vasquez, Member Eddie Miller, Member J Collins, Member Luther Taylor,, ember ATTEST: LPda .Martin, berk EXECUTIVE SESSION APRIL 17, 2013 The Board of Public Safety met in the Executive Session on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 8:20 a.m. The meeting was held in the Board Conference Room, 13th Floor, County City Building, South Bend, Indiana, for the purposes specified in I.C. 5 14- 1.5- 6.1(b)(2)(A)6(A). Board President Patrick Cottrell, and Board Members Laura Vasquez, Eddie Miller, and Luther Taylor were present. Board Member John Collins was absent. Also present were Fire Chief Stephen Cox, Police Chief Ronald Teachman, and Attorney Andrea Beachkofsky. Board members did not discuss any subject matter other than the subject matter as specified in the Public Notice. The meeting adjourned at 9:18 a.m. 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 REGULAR MEETING APRIL 17, 2013 35 stated she can look for other examples and present them to the Board at their next meeting. FIRE DEPARTMENT APPROVE PERMANENT PROMOTIONS — TONY NANIA, BRAD FUELLING, AND JOE WAGNER In a letter to the Board, Fire Chief Stephen Cox recommended that Firefighters Tony Nania, Brad Fuelling, and Joe Wagner be promoted permanently to the rank of Captain, no longer in special assignment, effective March 21, 2013. Chief Cox stated in his letter that Firefighters Nania, Fuelling, and Wagner were placed in special assignment as Captains on March 2.1, 2012. This special assignment required several evaluations to be completed for one year to note the progress they were making as a supervisor. Chief Cox stated in his letter that Captain Nania, Captain Fuelling, and Captain Wagner have completed all requirements of the position they have occupied in outstanding fashion. Therefore, upon a motion made by Mr. Taylor, seconded by Mr. Miller and carried, the Chief's recommended permanent promotions were approved effective March 21, 2013. ACCEPT AND APPROVE RETIREMENT — CAPTAIN THOMAS MOGERMAN In a letter to the Board, Chief Stephen Cox submitted an Application and Declaration for Retirement for Captain Thomas Mogerman effective March 16, 2013. Chief Cox noted that Captain Mogerman has served the Department with loyalty and diligence during the last fifteen (15) years, and eleven (11) months. In his letter, Chief Cox joined the Board in thanking him for his commitment, and distinguished service to the South Bend Fire Department and the citizens of South Bend. Members also wished him a long and happy retirement. Upon a motion made by Mr. Miller, seconded by Mr. Taylor and carried, the request for the retirement was accepted and approved. FILING OF MONTHLY STATISTICAL ANALYSIS REPORT — MARCH 2013 Mr. Cottrell stated if there were no objections, the Board would accept the following report for the month of March for filing as presented. A summary is as follows: MARCH MARCH 2012 2013 STRUCTURE FIRES Property Damage -- Buildings & Contents (Estimates) $219,102.00 1 $149,501.00 INSPECTIONS (Fire Prevention/Ins ection Bureau) 379 Inspections 334 Total Inspections (113 Re-Inspections) (112 Re-Inspections) INVESTIGATIONS (Police /Fire Arson Bureau) 15 21 Investigations Investigations 1 3 Arson Arson FILING OF QUARTERLY TRAVEL AND TRAINING EXPENDITURES REPORT — JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH 2013 Fire Chief Steve Cox submitted to the Board a written Quarterly Travel and Training Expenditures Report for the period of January, February, and March 2013. The report summarizes travel and training expenditures for the South Bend Fire Department personnel during this quarterly period. There being no questions concerning this report, the Quarterly Report for Travel and Training Expenditures was accepted and filed. APPROVE REQUEST FOR ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE — TIMOTHY GREENLEE Fire Chief Stephen Cox presented the Board with a letter requesting that Lieutenant Timothy Greenlee be placed on Administrative Leave without pay until the disposition of pending criminal charges. Therefore, upon a motion by Mr. Taylor, seconded by Mr. Miller and carried, Lieutenant Greenlee was placed on administrative leave without pay, effective April 17, 2013, until the disposition of criminal charges. POLICE DEPARTMENT REGULAR MEETING APRIL 17 2013 36 APPROVE PERMANENT PROMOTION — DANIEL SKIBINS In a letter to the Board, Police Chief Ronald Teachman recommended that Sergeant Daniel Skibins be promoted permanently to the rank of Lieutenant in the Uniform Division, Street Crimes, effective May 23, 2013. Chief Teachman stated in his letter that Sergeant Skibins was placed in a special assignment as a Lieutenant in the Uniform Division on May 23, 2012. This special assignment required several evaluations to be completed for one year to note the progress he was making as a supervisor. Based on those evaluations, Chief Teachman recommended a permanent promotion. Upon a motion made by Ms. Vasquez, seconded by Mr. Miller and carried, the Chief's recommended permanent promotion was approved effective May 23, 2013 subject to Sergeant Skibins continued upstanding level of service until that date. DISCUSSION ON SETTING HEARING OF CHARGES NO. 2013-01 — THEODORE ROBERT President Cottrell stated the Board set the Hearing of the above charges at their last Special Meeting, but there is a conflict with the defendant's attorney's schedule. He stated the Clerk of the Board has a call in to the Board's Legal Counsel, Joe Simeri, and they need to check with him on his schedule before resetting the date. DISCUSSION ON GENERAL ORDERS REGARDING FILING OF POLICE REPORTS Police Chief Ronald Teachman stated he did a query of the Duty Manual on the filing of Police reports and found nothing in the General Orders that lists what activities require reporting. He stated he would report back to the Board at their next meeting. TOWING LIST UPDATE Ms. Beachkofsky stated that last September the Board of Works suspended the portion of the Towing Resolution dealing with the number of companies allowed on the list. She stated she has been reviewing the Resolution based on the number of complaints since then. In that process, she stated, she found items that the towing companies agreed, needed to be changed. She noted that State law sets fees for towing companies, the City has no fees of their own, and the State fees are dealt with through Resolution which allows higher fees on unusual circumstances. She stated she is meeting on May 6 with the towing companies to try to get the issues of the resolution resolved. She noted the Board of Safety will need to weigh in on the issue of how many towing companies to allow, four (4) or five (5). The final Resolution, however, will go to the Board of Works, she stated. A representative from Hamilton's Towing questioned how long the process of getting the resolution done should take. He noted it was supposed to be three (3) months, and it is now going on a year. Meanwhile, he stated, the towing company's business is down by 20 %. He questioned when the towing companies would get to voice their input on the benefits either way. Ms. Beachkofsky stated they can discuss this at their next meeting; she just wanted to give the Board of Safety an update on the issue. She explained that the evaluation process involved a lot of people and the collection of a lot of data, becoming a bigger issue than anticipated. She noted also a change in the Police Department Traffic Communicator. A representative from ASAP Towing stated they've already established that four (4) companies is an arbitrary number, and there's nothing that states there should be only four (4). Ms. Beachkofsky reiterated that the Board does not have the facts in front of them and this is not the right forum to discuss these issues. She added they will have an opportunity to speak on these issues at a later date. FILING OF MONTHLY STATISTICAL ANALYSIS REPORT — MARCH 2013 Chief Ronald Teachman stated the FBI dictates crime reporting guidelines, based on the most serious crimes. He stated this month is a mixed report with three categories showing increases, which is a big concern. Chief Teachman noted that overall; there is a 17% decrease in crime in 2013. He stated that beyond this list, the Police Department will expand their tracking to include gun shots fired. He noted those numbers are now buried in other crime statistics such as murder, robbery, etc. He added there is no indicator of the numbers on gun violence, and it would be more accurate to track the number of people shot. Chief Teachman stated that Mayor Buttigieg has convened an anti - violence commission which has divided into sub - committees to specifically address gun violence in South Bend. He stated he would be happy to report back on that issue. Mr. Cottrell indicated that unless there were questions or objections by members of the Board, the statistical analysis report for the month of March, 2013, as submitted by the Police Department, would be accepted for filing. There being no objections, the following report was accepted for filing: REGULAR MEETING APRIL 17, 2013 37 MARCH MARCH YEAR TO DATE PART I OFFENSES 2012 2013 CHANGE 2012 JZQQ CHANGE MURDER 1 1 0 5 2 3 RAPE 1 2 + 1 9 9 0 ROBBERY 14 20 + 6 44 55 + 11 AGGRAVATED ASSAULT 27 13 14 51 24 27 BURGLARY RESIDENT 97 88 9 266 233 33 BURGLARY NON RESIDENT 44 12 - 32 122 43 79 LARCENY 259 191 68 655 558 97 MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT 16 24 2 55 68 + 13 ARSONS 1 3 + 2 1 5 + 4 GRAND TOTAL 460 344 - 116 1208 997 - 211 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, Mr. Cottrell declared the meeting adjourned at 9:48 a.m. BOARD OF PUBLIC SAFETY Patrick D. Cottrell, President Laura A. Vasquez, Member Eddie Miller, Member Collins, Member Luther Taylor, ATTEST: nda M. Martin, Cler