2025 01-15 Board of Public Safety Meeting Minutes

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JANUARY 15, 2025 18 Pam Claeys asked how the Brycer Agreement fits in with businesses beginning to self report in partnership with their alarm companies. Assistant Chief Skwarcan stated that there is an agreement in place, but he doesn’t believe that notices have gone out yet. Brycer has to issue the notices which is a benefit to the department. It will give them visibility into perhaps some businesses that we lacked visibility into just because of the amount of inspections an inspector can do in a day. They are hoping for increased compliance from places that they don’t get into as frequently. He added that they will ramp up the installation and education of smoke detectors when they are fully staffed, but they may look to use some retired or past members to help with volunteer fire safety. E.PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR Attorney Weiss reminded the public to use the hand-raising function of Microsoft Teams to indicate their desire to speak during Privilege of the Floor. She reminded attendees that they would be allotted three (3) minutes to speak. Eric Griffin, President of Local 362 apologized for not being able to be in person. He wanted to say that they appreciate everything the Board of Public Safety has done and continues to do. This isn't necessarily an issue that we have with the current Board, but it is more just a safeguard for the future. With the Board currently being entirely appointed by the Mayor there is the possibility of potential issues in the future. This is the standard across the board for fire departments. We are by far the largest fire department in the state that does not currently operate under a merit board, so our state unions have been pushing that for quite some time. Again, it isn't necessarily an issue or a problem with the current board we are just looking forward into the future. He agreed with Pam Claeys that he doesn’t necessarily like some of the rules that are within the state model, but they feel as though following the model that our voted in members of the state agreed on instead of trying to modify the model helps avoid opening up the department to potential liabilities. Lastly, he mentioned that there was another Lexipol Policy change or proposal on the agenda and cited Article 29, Section G that says within our collective bargaining agreement, the employer agrees that prior to changing any existing or introducing any new policy, practice, or standard operating procedure, the employer will first discuss the change with the Joint Labor Management Committee as provided. He stated that to his knowledge, no one within the Labor Management Committee has set eyes on that new Lexipol Policy. He asked the Board of Public Safety to encourage the administration to try to follow that section of the CBA and provide potential Lexipol changes to that labor Management Committee prior to submittal to the Board of Safety, that would be appreciated. Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski reported the correct numbers for the certified voice stress analysis (CVSA) training certification from Captain Kathy Fulnecky. The course fee is $595 each times three (3) which would give the total of $1785. The hotel was $366 times three (3) which is a total of $1,098. If adding the $1785 plus $1,098 plus the $672 per diem, you get a grand total of $3,555. F.ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, upon a motion by Darryl Heller, seconded by Pam Claeys, and carried by roll call, the meeting was adjourned at 10:19 a.m. BOARD OF PUBLIC SAFETY Daniel Jones, President Darryl Heller, Member