06-08-87 Safety Comm Minutes6/22/87 ms
SAFETY COMMITTEE
The Safety Committee met on 6/8/87. This is the minutes of that
meeting.
Present were Councilman Grainger, Chairman Sandy Schindler, Mayor Ed
Kennedy, Fire Chief Duane Larson, and Roger Hopkins from the Daily
Inter Lake.
The Bethlehem Lutheran Church requested two handicapped parking spots
on the north side of the church on Sixth Street. The Committee
decided to table that request to find out if they want it just for
church services on Sunday or all the time. If it was all the time,
it would interfere with funerals and parking on Sixth Street. Chairman
Schindler will follow up on this.
The hospital has requested that there be no parking on the north side
of Conway Drive, which is the street that runs to the south of the
hospital. Fire Chief Larson was asked if the parking on that street
created a problem as far as he was concerned. Chief Larson said it
created some congestion and also some possible safety problems and
visibility problems. Chairman Schindler will follow up on this-.
The State Highway Department sent a letter that showed their study
indicated that speed should be increased on Highway 93 coming into
Kalispell from Whitefish. The Mayor and Councilman Schindler have
received a letter from Russell School voicing their opposition to an
increase in the speed limit, also the Mayor had received a letter
from the doctors in the Medical Arts Building requesting that the
speed limit be decreased because of the potential for an accident
there and the numbers of traffic now entering the highway from the
side streets. The Safety Committe will recommend to the Council that
we request that they do not increase the speeds.
There was a discussion on Ad Clark's letter requesting a waiver of
his requirement for him to live within the City and be Chief of
Police. There was discussion that Don Halver, Ken Jackson and Pieter
Drent all live outside the City. We should take a serious look -at
the ordinance and be sure we want to enforce it or completely eliminate
it. The Safety Committee agreed to back the Mayor on his appointment
as Chief of Police which will also mean backing this waiver request.
Fire Chief Larson said there will be a demonstration at 1 P.M. on
June 9 at the stoplight on 1st Avenue West and Center Street if
anyone would like to attend. Tt's a new concept like a garage door
opener that would allow Fire Department personnel to only activate or
de -activate the lights that are within their route. It will be put
on by Opti-Com Company. There will possibly be some State funds to
help pay for this if we decide we want to use it.
Fire Chief Duane Larson explained that the new ordinance in regard to
charging for false alarms sometimes was not applicable because of
some malfunctioning equipment that needed to be followed up on, so he
will use his discretion and, the committee concurred as far as charging
-1-
Safety Committee Meeting
June 8, 1987
for false alarms. The Fire Department will keep track of these
alarms separate from the Police Department. The Police will be
billed per Fire Department discretion.
The meeting was adjourned.
EK/sh
0
-2-