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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-03-10 Government Operations Committee Minutes Government Operations Committee March 10, 2009 Minutes Councilor Attendance: Wheeler, Gratwick, Blanchette, Nealley, Palmer, Hawes Staff Attendance: Barrett, Farrar, Gastia, Yardley Others: Mallar, Carlson, Marble 2. Public Health Advisory Board – Update on Programs and Activities Yardley stated that approximately 16 months ago the City Council established the Public Health Advisory Board to provide assistance and support to the City’s Health Department and 11 communities in the greater Bangor area as they worked toward improving public health as part of the Healthy Maine Partnership Program. The Health Department and Advisory Board is very engaged and has been very busy with a number of programs, activities, and initiatives. He noted that when the board was established the membership cycle was done so in terms of one-third for one year, one-third for two year and one-third for three years. Those who agreed in the first year to serve a one-year term all agreed to sign up for a subsequent three-year term. There is now a representative from the Town of Orono. In terms of Bangor, Councilor Hawes served in the first year and now Councilor Gratwick is on the Advisory Board. Yardley spoke about the programs directly resulting from the collaboration. Through funding, a website has been established (www.whatyoudomatters.org). The group is branding ‘what you do matters’ especially in the area of health. He referred to a monthly newsletter received by over 4,000 individuals and local radio spots. He noted that EMMC electronically forwards the newsletter to its employees. There is also a channel markers program, which is a youth leadership development program in area middle schools. Advisory Board members Rev. Bob Carlson and Dennis Marble were introduced. Carlson said this partnership has been dream realized for him, and he expressed appreciation to Yardley for his work and efforts in this area. Marble stated that the make up of the advisory board membership is remarkable, the staff who do the daily work is topnotch, and there are new and beginning efforts towards broader message cost efficiencies; i.e. linking with existing initiatives such as the recovery community, delivery of certain services on a more regional basis. Carlson noted that Yardley was able to move State government for a parent-focus group during tournament week with information made available to every parent in attendance on the issue of substance abuse. Yardley spoke about a food security effort. Last year, the Council approved Yardley to apply for an Americorp Vista position. There has been an individual in that role working with food cupboards and community groups, and one of the projects has been to identify potential garden spots to grow vegetables and healthy food in the community. He also spoke about a late May event which would be a skating competition. It would a chem-free event to provide an opportunity to connect with youth who are the most vulnerable with a lot of challenges. The plans are to host the event in Bangor and one the next day in Calais. These events will fulfill the grant guidelines. Gratwick asked about the possibility of utilizing free public service announcements and using advisories from the medical field. Yardley said there are focused subcommittees of the Advisory Board, and there is one on substance abuse with a number of individuals working on strategies. One sub-group is made up of public relations related staff from various organizations that help effectively communicate to the community. As an example, the first week in April is National Public Health Week, and the public relations group is coming with up a public health related story for every night of the week on the local news. Yardley is also talking with local media about a week long series. 1. Discussion of Parking Enforcement outside the Downtown Parking Management District. rd Wheeler explained that at the February 23 Council meeting, Wayne Mallar, a Bangor citizen addressed the Council regarding his concerns that the Police Department was not enforcing various parking ordinances outside the Downtown Parking Management District. The matter was referred to Government Operations for further discussion and review. Mallar stated that when ordinances are on the book they should be enforced but it doesn’t appear to be that way. He referred to the Downtown Parking District, specifically Broadway, indicating that it could be handled by another section/portion of the Police Department. He said that he thinks the officers already go to French Street and Center Street. He said it seems that one and two hour parking on Broadway has been ignored for years noting that at times vehicles are parked there from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm. He was told that if he had a parking issue he was to call the Police Department to submit a complaint. It bothers him to follow that procedure. He doesn’t think it is a very cost effective and ties up an employee’s time. If a complaint is made, someone must follow through with it. He would like to think that the police officers are observant enough to see the same situations that he (Mallar) sees. He understands that there are patrol areas within the City and thinks that officers should be able to make independent observations of street lights that are out or parking violations or obstructed sidewalks during their patrol hours. Mallar expects an officer to be observant and not to just to respond to calls. He thinks that people are willing to cooperate and follow ordinances when they are made aware of them. But if individuals are not approached they will continue their habits. Nealley asked if this might be a situation where people are parking at the end of their driveway and in the way of the sidewalk. Mallar responded saying that when he came back from vacation there was a vehicle parked on a Somerset Street sidewalk. It was covered with snow and sat there for 3 days. Nealley noted that due to the smaller driveways and larger vehicles in the older neighborhoods in Bangor, people are forced to shuffle vehicles constantly. Gastia said that he did not disagree that parking enforcement is not the priority that some believe that it should be and that parking enforcement is not enforced at the level that he would like it to be. There are specific instances that take place within the City having to do with specific parking problems. He encourages people to contact the Police Department, and he understands the concern that Mr. Mallar has about calling the Police Department to file a complaint that would tie up an officer. The same amount of time, however, is required for a police officer to answer a complaint as opposed to coming across the violation on his own. Last year the Police Department answered 34,329 calls for service. On an average, that is 94 calls per a 24 hour shift, which is an average time of about 30 minutes for an officer from the time he gets the call until the call is cleared. This translates to about 4-5 hours a day that the officer is out on calls, whether it is a domestic violence case, burglaries, etc. Gastia spoke about the traffic enforcement plan he initiated last summer. Last year, officers stopped 16,331 vehicles for traffic violations. In addition, once the officer has finished a call, there is an additional 10-20 minutes to handle the paperwork and evidence. A longer amount of time is needed for some situations such as an OUI violation. He feels that the Police Department can improve on the traffic violation enforcements, but the vast majority of them will not be dealt with given the current resources and the time needed to deal with them. Gastia said that last year the patrol division outside the Downtown Parking Management District issued 1,460 parking tickets. The dispatch and officers prioritize the calls, and a more serious crime will take precedence. The officers are not assigned to regular beats anymore. They are spread out and it changes on a daily basis. Gastia noted that he has been looking to increase residential enforcement and is working toward possibly using a current officer that has some physical restrictions as someone to enforce more parking violations. He said that there might be a need to hire some additional part-time parking enforcement aides for outside of the Downtown Parking Management District. The parking aides who enforce the Downtown area are paid for by the downtown merchants. Broadway is not a part of that District. Gastia stated that the Police Department does not ignore calls and deals with them in the order of priority. Gratwick thanked Gastia for his hard work with limited resources and thanked Mallar for sharing his concerns. He asked Mallar how he would recommend the City to use its limited resources differently. Mallar stated that he expects the officers to multi- task and make observations by making notes and then at some point submitting the information. When there have been a few violations on the same street, they should be addressed. Responding to Gastia’s comment of never ignoring calls, Mallar stated that his neighbor confronted an intruder in his house about a year ago and called the Police Department. It took officers an hour to respond. Mallar said he checked and found there was nothing going on that particular day. This past summer, Mallar’s alarm system went off and the alarm company called Mrs. Mallar indicating that the Police Department had been dispatched. She immediately went home but never did see a police response from that call. Gastia wanted to be clear that Bangor has about 32,000 – 33,000 residents, which in terms of a City, is not very big. In the daytime, its population rises to 100,000 and that is when the majority of the City’s parking violations occur. He also said that in order to better utilize its resources that the City is remapping Bangor for the Police Department by using a grid system. Upon completion, the Police Department will have a much better way to identify where the majority of the calls are coming from and then the Department’s the beat system can be divided in a much more efficient and effective way. Palmer commented that due to the limited resources and the miles and miles of sidewalks and streets in Bangor, citizens of Bangor need to take responsibility to let law enforcement know. The situation will be documented and, if the citizen does not feel that the situation has been resolved to their satisfaction, there is something in writing to go back to in order to solve the problem. Blanchette commented that due to the winter and lack of room in the streets and sidewalks people are parking on the sidewalks forcing pedestrians out into the streets. She suggested that maybe the Police Department should issue warnings on parking violations outside the downtown area similar to the warnings that are given to parking violations whereby a warning is issued with the individual has not received other citations within a 90 day period. Many people visit Bangor and may not be aware of parking regulations. Blanchette said that the Police Department is trying to do too much, and the City needs to give this department help and encouragement. The City needs to respond with respect and dignity to any resident that brings forth a complaint. Wheeler spoke of a future workshop session to review and provide a refresher on parking policies current in place. Wheeler spoke about the Somerset Street issue indicating that it seemed like a legitimate street; i.e. vehicle on the sidewalk for several days and forcing pedestrians to walk in the street. Considering the number of violations and incidents that the Department deals with on a daily basis, he did ask the Chief to seriously look at the Somerset Street. Wheeler asked Gastia for his thoughts about the Broadway parking issue. Regarding Somerset Street, Gastia said if he were to assume that an officer observed that violation his response would be shame on the Department for not dealing with it. There are no calls that go unanswered by the Police Department. In his 26 years with the Department, there may have been fewer than 10 missed calls due to glitches in the system. He indicated that he would be more than happy to review the records of the calls made referenced by Mallar to see how the response was handled. Regarding Broadway, Gastia said the parking issue has been in existence for a long time. Over the past 10-15 years, the driving population has increased in the John Bapst area. There have been numerous meetings with school officials, faculty, students, and area residents analyzing the situation and attempting to reach solutions. He indicated that it is a work in progress without great results. He noted that all involved were willing to find a solution, willing to be adaptive and flexible but there is not enough space in that area to accommodate the needs of the public. Wheeler told Mallar that his concerns have been taken seriously and he hopes that Mallar recognizes that the Chief and his Department take them seriously. He noted that Mallar does a service to his fellow citizens in being persistent with the concerns. Wheeler asked that Mallar be understanding and patient in that not every concern is addressed as quickly as one would like. Mallar thanked the Committee for the invitation to attend and for being attentive to his concerns. He does think that the Chief has problems as far as Broadway is concerned but it goes back to his original suggestion that the 2-hour parking limit be removed. It does not make a positive statement to the public to have 2-hour parking in place and not have it enforced. Palmer spoke about the pressure for parking around John Bapst noting that at a recent fundraiser the school auctioned off a parking space for $1,000. Mallar asked if a permitted parking area could be created with the City issuing and selling permits for the students and faculty. Wheeler again noted that a workshop will be held with adequate notice given to the public. He said that Mallar would be personally notified when the meeting date is set. 3. Partnership Opportunity with Community Housing of Maine (CHOM) regarding Permanent Housing Units. Yardley informed the Committee that his Department was recently approached by Community Housing of Maine and asked to partner with CHOM regarding the establishment of four units of permanent housing on Mitchell Street. CHOM is a statewide organization, and they would own and manage the property, which is four housing units with 3 bedrooms. On the Mitchell Street property, CHOM has a memorandum of understanding with Spruce Run. This opportunity would create a partnership between the City and CHOM. He noted an upcoming meeting between the City, CHOM and Spruce Run to discuss the opportunity. The Park Woods project is a two-year transitional housing program. He sees an opportunity for individuals who are successful at Park Woods to be able to transition to this permanent housing. The City, by way of agreement, would be obligated to facilitate the referrals and to insure that Health and Community Services connect the individuals to appropriate services. He stressed that the city would not be the service provider. He noted that if a Park Woods tenant is successful within year one they could be referred to this new housing opportunity, and it would free up space at the Park Woods for individuals in need. The challenge for Spruce Run might be that if they do not have control over the residents of all four units there is a potential of an abuse male moving into a unit next door to a family who has experienced domestic violence. Yardley stated that his Department would obviously be very sensitive to those issues. The challenge for CHOM is that they have not been able to meet a bottom line due to not having renters to allow them income to sustain the property. It speaks well of the City’s Park Woods and General Assistance staff that CHOM would seek the City for a potential partner. There is no financial obligation on the part of the City. Wheeler said that the only cost would be Yardley’s staff’s time for the referrals. Yardley said his staff is excited about this opportunity as it provides them with an opportunity to move individuals. It does provide the City with good control over a good housing option of four units with three bedrooms. Responding to Blanchette, Yardley said it is not true that HUD is no longer issuing Section 8 vouchers. Gratwick applauded Yardley for his efforts. Responding to Gratwick, Yardley said he has a great staff but not in an excess capacity noting that his staff is very creative and collaborative. Without objection, the Committee encouraged Yardley to continue with this partnership opportunity. Committee adjourned at 6:25 pm.