2013-05-14 Public Safety and Personnel CommitteeMINUTES
PUBLIC SAFETY AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE MEETING
MAY 14, 2013
Elected Officials Present: Councilmember Bloom (Committee Chair)
Councilmember Peterson (Committee Member)
Mayor Earling
Council President Petso (Presenter)
City Staff Present: Chief of Police Al Compaan
Fire Marshal John Westfall
City Attorney Jeff Taraday
The meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m.
A. Proposed changes to the Economic Development Commission Ordinance.
Council President Petso presented ordinance language to the Committee requesting:
(1) Allow for up to two city council members to be appointed as Economic Development
Commission liaisons to be appointed by the Council President; and (2) Each
commissioner serves at the pleasure of the applicable appointing official, who may
remove and replace his or her appointee(s) at any time without cause.
Councilmember Peterson expressed concern over the legal implications and whether the
deliberation would be required in a public forum, and was also concerned where one
appointee might be operating from a position contrary to the positions that the appointing
council member desires. City Attorney Jeff Taraday suggested most appointment
processes and desired actions related to volunteer appointments by council members
could be written into the ordinance.
Hypothetical situations were discussed. Councilmember Bloom preferred the oversight
by an entity such as an Ethics Board that could address the actions of all boards and
commissions and provide recommendations to the City Council for action when activity
fell short of criminal behavior. Councilmember Peterson suggested the formation of an
Ethics Board would be an additional step ultimately arriving at the end with Council
action that would apply by the processes established in this ordinance language. There
currently is no Ethics Board established.
Edits were made to allow one or two positions in number 1 above. Council President
Petso withdrew number 2 above due to lack of consensus at committee.
Council President Petso will bring the ordinance to the City Council for discussion.
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B. 2012 Fire Code Update.
Fire Marshal Westfall discussed the upcoming code cycle changes to the Fire and
Marina Codes. The most significant change will be that the Building and Fire
Departments will no longer maintain a current Board of Appeals, described by the codes.
This is an onerous task for the Building Department as volunteer experts in specific
fields must be maintained for when Building or Fire determinations are questioned by
code applicants. The most recent Board of Appeals activity occurred in 2002. This is not
a frequent event and the City currently utilizes an established Hearing Examiner on an
ongoing basis for land use issues. A Hearing Examiner is felt to be a good arbiter also
for construction issues. The Committee approved the Fire Code update moving forward
to public hearing on June 4, or when best scheduled by Council President. The 2013
Fire Code will be in effect in Washington State by July 1.
C. Annual renewal of Snohomish Regional Drug & Gang Task Force Interlocal
Agreement (2013-2014).
Chief Compaan presented information regarding this Interlocal Agreement (ILA). The
cost for the 2013-2014 fiscal year will be $10,237, half of which is already budgeted in
the 2013 approved Police Department budget, with the balance to be included in the
2014 Police Department budget.
The Committee approved placing this agreement on the Consent Agenda.
D. Interlocal Agreement — North Sound Metro SWAT.
Chief Compaan presented information regarding this ILA. The present SWAT ILA was
approved by Council in December 2011. The new ILA adds the cities of Mill Creek and
Kirkland, plus makes two minor language changes pertaining to team
structure/operations.
The Committee approved placing this agreement on the Consent Agenda.
E. 2013 COPS Hiring Program Grant Solicitation.
Mayor Earling and Chief Compaan presented information regarding this grant opportunity —
presented this evening to both Public Safety -Personnel and Finance Committees. The
proposal is to partner with Edmonds School District (ESD) to hire one police officer under
this grant to serve as School Resource Officer. If Edmonds is approved for this grant, an
Interlocal Agreement would be required with ESD. The term of the grant is four years. Years
one through three are 75% funded (salary and benefits) by the grant, and ESD has indicated
willingness to pick-up the remaining 25% for each of the three years. Year four must be
100% locally funded, and ESD has indicated willingness to pick-up 50%, and the city would
be obligated to the other 50%. During the term of the grant, the city would be required to
maintain its budgeted complement of police officers (51 at present; 52 if approved for COPS
grant funding). The application deadline is May 22. No official action is required by City
Council at this juncture, other than a consensus that the Police Department move forward
with submitting an application.
The Public Safety -Personnel Committee was of the consensus to submit the application.
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F. Public Comments
There were no public comments.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:06 p.m.
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