12-03-86 Safety Comm Minutes4:00 P.M. b'7'iEDNESDAY
DECFNBER 3. 1986
SAFLTY CC1,1MITPEE
• The Committee met in the Council Chambers on this date, present were
Chairman Schindler, Committee Member Mayne Saverud, Mayor Kennedy, Chief
Martin Stefanic, Fire Chief Duane Larson, Acting Assistant Fire Chief Ted
Waggener, Roger Hopkins and briefly, Councilman Palmer.
MUTLTI-CHANNEL RECORDER BIDS
Chairman Schindler opened the meeting with discussion on the bids opened at
the December 1 Council Meeting. The Dictaphone bid was $14,811, Motorola
was $25,930. Chief Stefanic listed the extras features included with both
systems, which were essentially the same. The one exception was the
Motorola bid includes a 4 channel beeper for telephone use. All parties
would hear the beep and know they are being recorded. This was included as
an option of the Dictaphone bid at $190. Motorola would have to buy from
Dictaphone and that accounts for some of the middleman mark-up. Also, their
bid does not consider trade-in of present supporting equipment --Dictaphone
allowed a handsome trade-in allowance plus a discount in the amount of
$6,000. Stefanic stated that a year ago it was felt we were looking at
$16,000-18,000 roughly, to cover everything--$20,000 was budgeted for the
system.
Fire Chief Larson stated that he had no problem with accepting the lower
bid, both bids come up to the specs.
Saverud asked if any of the optional equipment should be included
initially. Stefanic said they had looked at remote control units which
• would give instant replays of the last call received. These would be
installed at both police and fire dispatch areas, tapes could be replayed at
console. This option costs around $4,000. Rather than this, he would
prefer to look at a separate device, aside from this option list, a call
check recorder at $2,000. This holds the last 15 minutes of each call,
instant playbacks for emergency calls. Saverud asked about beeping in these
calls. Chief Stefanic mentioned the state law requiring all parties involved
in a conversation being taped must be advised that they are being taped,
with the exception of general public meetings being taped by an official for
recording purposes. He stated the City Attorney feels another exception
would be this emergency tape recording backup. If at some point we need to
add the beeper it would run around $200.
Aside from the legal aspects of people knowing they are being taped, he
feels that the beep tends sometimes to deprive the department from
information that is needed because callers won't talk as freely -even expect
the call to be tapped. The benefit of the beep is that dispatchers are
saved from being treated abusively by callers. At this time, he feels he
wouldn't want the beep.
Another option another time: a channel activity monitor, this gives daily,
etc. analysis of how much time each of the 10 channels has activity.
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C. Saverud moved that the Dictaphone bid be accepted in the amount of
$14,811. Seconded by C. Schindler. The call check recorder can be added as
• a Revenue Sharing expenditure and will not have to go to bid. This will be
reported to the Council at the December 15 meeting.
Mayor Kennedy asked how this additional purchase of equipment differed from
the recent question of additional street repair expenses. Discussion
followed on the time element of purchase and the fact that this is a bid -the
street repair was not -and general bidding requirements. Stefanic reminded
that this would be replacing the $4,000 optional control with a less
expensive system. The $4,000 could actually be authorized today and still
be within the budget. Stefanic will get the exact price and C. Schindler
stated that the additional equipment purchase of around $2,000 would be
recommended to Council.
ALARM CHARGES
C. Schindler stated that we are way under in charging for alarm services and
asked for Chief Stefanic's input. The Chief was not sure of private firms
charges but feels there should be a monthly charge for monitoring alarm
calls. Regarding responding to false alarms, he feels we are providing a
chargeable service and from the punative standpoint, would like to minimize
excessive false alarms. He would like to see implemented instead of the $1
false alarm penalty, a fee of perhaps $25 with three false alarms allowed
and any additional calls would be charged $25. An additional
monitoring fee should be charged by both police and fire department.
Chief Larson stated that his department was different in that most of their
calls were legitimate alarms, maybe a slight malfunction in the system
• rather than truly being false alarms.
C. Saverud asked about our liability in call backs, discussion followed. The
City Attorney has been asked to look into this. C. Palmer asked if it was
not unusual for a police department to monitor alarms and was told that it
was a common practice. Chief Stefanic felt that about the only extra
exposure might be if an alarm is unanswered but that could happen in private
service as well.
Fire Chief Larson had no objection to the suggested charges. C. Saverud
said he would hope that if the fees are increased to a reasonable level we
would have an accurate billing procedure established. Ale should look at
fees for private enterprise for the same service and provide a service at a
competitive rate. Chief Stefanic will investigate private sector rates for
fire and burglar alarms.
FIRE DEPAMIENr REQUESTS
Chief Larson distributed copies of his department's Capital Outlay narrative
request this budget year. He referred to items he felt to be prioritiy
needs which were disallowed: Their 1980 vintage National Fire Code books are
out of date and the personal alert devices are essential needs.
The 1986 code books are loose leaf and can readily be updated —they are
preferred to the bound copy type. Price for the set is $482.00. The Life
• Guard Personal Distress device sounds an alarm when the wearer is motionless
for 30 seconds. It can be manually activated also. He requests 6 devices
at $150.00 each. Both requests will be recommended to Council.
Chief Stefanic mentioned one other fee to be associated with the recording
system, a very modest telephone company charge for readying lines separate
from Dictaphone installation and perhaps a small fee for radio service for
the same thing. This charge will be approximately $100 and enough remains
in the budget to cover all of these items.
C. Saverud stated that he was a little concerned when the Personal Distress
devices were originally deleted and thinks it only common sense for a
professional department to have a current set of codes.
The meeting adjourned at 4:35 P.M.
Markie Sabol
Recording Secretary
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