Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-02-14 Government Operations Committee Minutes , Government Operations Committee � February 14, 2006 Minutes � Councilor Attendance:Greene, Hawes, Farrington Staff Attendance: Barrett, Farrar, Heitmann, Winslow, Sgt. Paul Edwards, Yardley, Hamilton � The agenda items were taken out of sequence. 2. Crisis Intervention Training Update — Bangor Police Department � Last year, the Northeast Alliance for the Mentally III (NAMI) received a grant that allowed the Bangor Police Department and the Penobscot County Jail to train several police and correctional � officers to better deal with the mentally ill. As a service center, Winslow said his department deals with a large number of individuals with mental health issues. The intent of the training was to help o�cers de-escalate situations, recognize a mental health crisis, and to reduce arrests during interactions with mental health consumers. Sgt. Paul Edwards, coordinator for ' the Police Department, briefed the Committee on the progress of the program. The program benefits are use of force decrease, officer injuries decrease, decrease in arrest rates, and the goal of short term solutions for long term objectives. The crisis intervention team consists of 11 � Bangor police officers, Sgt. Edwards, 1 mental health liaison, Bangor Firefighter paramedic, EMMC's ER nurse, 1 officer each from Brewer, Hampden, Veazie, Old Town, Orono, several Sheriff Deputies and jail guards. The ne� treining is scheduled for July, and Edwards is urging � an additional officer from each department to become involved. He swaps services between the communities involved which in tum build relationships. The team does community visits; i.e. Manna, CHCS. He provided statistical information on incidents resulting with success. � Barrett said that de-escalation skills training is something that all members of the police department can use. It is an essential skill to keep incidents from getting out of hand. Edwards said that the training is not only to de-escalate incidents involving mental health � clients. He applauded the program for its referral services. Farrington asked Edwards if progress is being made towards getting to the causes of these problems. Edwards spoke about recent meetings with all stakeholders and where the root of the problem was discussed. It is ' an area that is still in progress, and it has been difficult to get consumers at the table. Edwards is also on a statewide committee. Hawes spoke about training in deaf services and asked if officers are trained in signing. Edwards said the department has access to such individuals. ' Heitmann said that services were set up a couple of years ago for police and fire department in this area. Responding to Hawes, Edwards said he would like to have a security guard from EMMC as part of the team also. Hawes and Farrington both commended Edwards. Winslow � said the only downside to the program is the investment of time as response time has increased. The investment does have a return of great results. The DepartmenYs resources are stretched. Greene asked for a ballpark cost figure for the program. Winslow said that NAMI ' Maine administered the grant and Bangor has been reimbursed for overtime cost of approximately $2,000 for the training week. � 1. Service Agreement— Penobscot Job Corps Academy and Bangor Police Department For several years, the Bangor Police Department has provided liaison services to Job Corps ' located at 1375 Union Street. The liaison officer provides orientation for new students, provides security regarding payroll and money escorts, and ]ob Corps reimbursed the department $20,000/annualiy. This past fall, Career Systems Development Corporation replaced Training � and Development Corporation and began managing/operating the Job Corps programs. Career Systems has expressed an interest in continuing the relationship with the Police Department, � but would like a specific cost for a specific service rather than an annual fee. Committee � members were provided a copy of a proposed agreement along with a memorandum from the , Police Chief summarizing the changes. The Chief estimates the revenues to be in the area of $10,000 due to a decrease in services to be provided. The City Solicitor has reviewed the proposed agreement and there are severel areas which Heitmann suggested further review. A ' motion was made and seconded to approve the proposed agreement, subject to the City Solicitor's final approval. 2. Bangor Daily News Proposal — New Police Department Building Insert , Police Chief Winslow and Assistant City Manager Farrar have recently been approached by the � BDN regarding producing a newspaper insert that would showcase the construction of the new police headquarters building and the history of the Department. The newspaper would solicit sponsors for the insert and the only cost to the City would be for the front page, estimated at � $2,500. Winslow thinks he can negotiate a lower cost. Dollars are available in the existing police department budget. Staff views this as an opportunity to create positive public relations, show the public how their money has been spent and create a recap of the project. The ' distribution would be statewide and extra copies would be made available to the City. Barrett asked about copyrights, reproduction of the insert as well as use on the City's web site. Winslow wiil check. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff's recommendation. ' 4. Council Order 06-080, Amending Chapter 134 of the Code of the City of Bangor- General Assistance Recently, staff from the Health and Welfare and Legal Departments have compieted a � comprehensive review of the City's General Assistance ordinance. The City annually updates the maximum assistance levels but a complete review of the Ordinance has not occurred for ' some time. There are a number of proposed text changes, including many housekeeping revisions such as references to DHS as opposed to DHHS. Other more substantial changes reflect the need for our Ordinance to comply with State regulations. A copy of the Ordinance � with the proposed changes was attached to the Committee's agenda, and Yardley reviewed the changes. While many of the changes reflect changes in the State's organizational structure, there are other substantial changes including increasing the automobile allowance from $5,000 , in value to $8,000 in value and allowing flexibility in allotting the state overall maximums to address higher than allowed housing maximums. The Department of Health and Human Services as well as the City Solicitor have reviewed and approved the changes. A motion was ' made and seconded to recommend approval of the Council Order to full Council. 5. City of Bangor-Public Health Department Assessment Process � The City's Public Health Department has been approached by the Maine Center for Disease Control (CDC) and asked to participate in a formal assessment of the services they provide. � The purpose of the assessment process is to better understand how the Bangor Public Health Department, the State CDC, and other key partners/organizations in the Bangor area function as a public health system. The results will be used to provide direction and to set goals as the � City and Department work with the State CDC to improve public health infrastructure in the region. Yardley explained that the City was asked to host a public health assessment which would be funded by the Maine Center for Public Health. It will provide useful information not ' only for Health and Welfare but also for the community in terms of services provided, gaps, overlaps, and how best is the community addressing the ten essential public health components. It is a good tool to provide relationships between providers. Looking ahead, � there may be requirements imposed at a national level in terms of what constitutes a public � � health system and Yardley said this assessment would be a good tool. There are 30 community � members identifled to be part of the process, which consists of 6 consecutive weeks, 3 hours per session. It is scheduled to begin in mid-March and to be completed by eariy June. Council members are invited to participate in any of the sessions, which will all be held at Penquis CAP. � Hamilton agreed that this will be mandatory for all health departments at some point in the future. Responding to Hawes, Yardley said that staff from fire, police, and code enforcement has been invited to participate. Barrett spoke about homeland securiry issues, which has � involved the fire department and health and welfare, to some extent. He said the City needs a forum and mechanism to work on these challenges as they arise. Yardley said the Legislature is interested in developing a public health system in Maine. Yardley serves on a task force which � is reviewing the issue. Portland and Bangor are the only two public health departments in Maine. As this item was an update, no Committee action was required. The meeting was adjourned at 6:15 p.m. � ' ' � , � � , � � ' � � ,