Village of Western Springs Public health and Safety Committee met May 2.
Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:
Members Present:
William Siffermann, Chair
Berry Allen, Trustee
Staff Present:
Chief Patrick Kenny, Fire & EMS
Chief Brian Budds, LES
Deputy Chief Gary Mayor, Fire & EMS
Deputy Chief Daniel Albrecht, LES
Shaun O'Connor, LES
Others Present:
Alice Gallagher, Village President
Mike Jurusik, Village Attorney
Public Present:
None.
Electronic Attendance: None.
#1 Call to Order and Approval of Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2018.
Motion: Trustee Allen made a motion to approve the minutes, of April 4, 2018, meeting. Chair Siffermann seconded the motion to approve the minutes and they were approved by unanimous vote.
#2 Public Comments
None.
#3 FD - Promotional Process Update
Chief Kenny discussed the promotional process results from the Lieutenant's exam. Three years ago was the first time the Fire Department used the Illinois Fire Chief's Association to conduct the assessment. They come in, and do a training night for all the candidates, going over what the components of the assessment are going to be. The candidates will hand in their applications, which is used as a grading tool later; they go through an oral assessment, a tactical assessment, and a problem employee scenario. They are graded on everything and the results are given in a sealed envelope to the Fire Department from the Illinois Fire Chief's Association. The Chief Officers go through and do an application review and those are graded on objective criteria based on education, experience, leadership role, outside leadership activities, and outside training, they are involved in. All the grades are compiled to make a cumulative score for a list. They are required to have a minimum score of seventy to make the list.
Seven candidates took the exam and three received a minimum of seventy. The remaining four all scored in the sixties and for five of seven, this was their first time taking this test. The evaluators commented that they do not often come into departments where everyone is rooting for each other. Overall, it was a very positive experience. There is not a current opening available but Captain Heinzelman will be retiring at the end of the year, the department will move a Lieutenant up and the new Lieutenant will come off this list.
Deputy Chief Mayor reports this is the third time in total they have used the Illinois Fire Chief's Association, twice for the Lieutenants and once for Captain and they are popular with the officers.
Chair Siffermann asked how many total applicants there were. Chief Kenny responded that there were seven total applicants. Chief Kenny also reported that when the test was completed, there was a review done with each candidate by the assessors. They do not give out a score but will address strengths and weaknesses of each candidate.
Trustee Allen asked if the Fire Department evaluates and decides who the best to be promoted is. Chief Kenny explained that it is in rank order. Whoever is first on the list is the first offered the position.
Chair Siffermann asked if they do not have the rules for the list or of the top three. Chief Kenny reported that with a paid-on-call department, they are not governed by those rules. They technically do not have to abide by the test. They can promote from any position. They also include a probationary period for them to evaluate the officer and for the officer to evaluate the position and see if it is the right fit for them. The officer, at the end of probation, can request to drop back down from their new position.
Chair Siffermann liked the concept of the assessors providing feedback to the candidates. It shows that there is still hope for the future. Chief Kenny agreed and said the candidates liked getting the feedback from someone who is doing the actual evaluating.
#4 National Police Week Proclamation - May 13th to May 19th
Chief Budds reported that May 13th - 19th is designated as National Police Officer Memorial Week. May 15th is designated as Peace Officer Memorial Day. The President of the United States has designated that all municipalities should fly their flag at halfstaff.
Chief Budds requested, with the committee's permission, that President Gallagher read the proclamation at the May 7th Board Meeting.
#5 Proclamation EMS Week - May 20th to May 26th
Chief Kenny reported that May 20th – 26th is designated as Emergency Management Service Memorial Week. Chief Kenny reported that almost seventy percent of the Fire Department's calls for service are EMS calls. The medics respond to a high number of help or assistance calls, where a patient needs help getting into bed or off the floor.
Chief Kenny requested, with the committee's permission, that President Gallagher read the proclamation at the May 7th Board Meeting.
Chair Siffermann asked if CSOs would respond to medical calls for service. Chief Budds reported that it happens very rarely. It would have to be a serious situation where they could perform life-saving measures. The CSO does have the basic lifesaving training to perform those measures. Patrol Officers may respond to those types of calls, unless they are busy with other calls for service, and can perform life-saving measures as well.
Any fire-related call officers are dispatched to the call as well.
#6 Other
Topic A: Assault Weapons Ban Update
Chief Budds reported that Attorney Jurusik is present at the request of the Village Manager to discuss a request made by a Trustee on an assault weapons ban ordinance. Attorney Jurusik explained that in 2013, the Board had to address if they were going to adopt an assault weapons ban regulation in a compressed period. Municipalities only had a ten to fourteen day period to decide what they would do. In July 2013, the state law said that if the municipality was going to enact an assault weapons ban ordinance, it had to be by July 19, 2013. The Village at that time declined to enact the ordinance. Attorney Jurusik provided a background memo from June of 2013. The Village completed a draft ordinance and it was discussed at the July 8, 2013 workshop. The Board declined to move forward at that time. The State was implementing an ordinance and Cook County already had a ban in place since 2006.
Currently, some municipalities want to reconsider what occurred in 2013 and have opted all the way into the law. They worked under a section of the state law that said if you adopted or amended your ordinance in 2013, you could further legislate in that area. They villages that did further legislate are being sued by two gun advocate organizations.
The Cook County ban is still in place that was enacted in 2006 and amended in 2013. It is consistent with the state law and is comprehensive with the only exception being for members of law enforcement.
As far as for our Village, we cannot do anything because the state law prohibits us from regulating in this area. If the state law is ever amended to open another window that gives us the discretion to do something, we can make sure it gets before the Board in the proper form for consideration and possible action. Right now, the door is closed for the Board to act due to the window to act being closed. The way the statute reads, the current Board does not the jurisdiction to act.
Chair Siffermann reports that he is not in favor of forwarding this issue to the Board at this time due to the Village not having any legal options to bring up.
Attorney Jurusik added that currently there is a state law and a county law already in place, there is enough enforcement. If there were a problem with assault weapons or large capacity magazines, the police department would be working with the State Police and Cook County Sheriff. Those two law enforcement agencies have the statutory authority to deal with those situations.
Chief Kenny asked how short of the period they had to act last time. Attorney Jurusik reported that they had a very compressed timetable to bring it up for passage. The legislation was signed in late May or early June of 2013. The attorneys were able to get it ready for the municipalities and The Illinois Municipal League assisted in evaluating it.
President Gallagher reports that the previous Board had ample time to review it. They also had quite a few members of the public at the meeting to discuss it.
Chair Siffermann asked what the obligation of this Committee, in regards to this item, was at the Board level. President Gallagher stated that it could be reported or Attorney Jurusik could give a quick overview. Chair Siffermann asked if Attorney Jurusik could report this to the Trustee who made the inquiry and not bring it to the Board level at this time.
Topic B: Construction Project on l-294
Chair Siffermann raised concerns about the impact the construction project on the Interstate has on our Law Enforcement and EMS services. He reported that the site may need security protection overnight and that may place a burden on our services. He thinks that may require calls for service or extra patrol and future discussions should include compensation to the Village from the tollway authority for those services. He is also concerned with a staging area containing materials or supplies being left unattended.
Chief Budds reported that he has had conversations with Village staff and those conversations are ongoing. He does not currently have enough information on the situation. Attorney Jurusik reports that there is a checklist of issues that are discussed during staff meetings. All of the department heads have a checklist of issues and documents that need to be prepared and it is discussed every few weeks. One of the issues was if they would have their own security at night or if there would be a cost sharing agreement with the Village and one of our officers would be there overnight. The burden would not fall to the Village for the cost of security.
Trustee Allen asked what the policy currently is at Foxford Station in terms of security. Attorney Jurusik reported that it is private property and it is their responsibility. There are occasions that we have security provisions for special events where the organization conducting the event has a security provision set up to pay for officers for security details.
Topic C: Distracted Driving Detail Results
Chief Budds went over the results of the Distracted Driving Detail for the month of April. On April 25th and 26th, we hired back an officer to conduct distracted driving enforcement. The details were from 8 a.m. to noon on both days for a total of eight hours. The results were nine warning citations for distracted driving and one traffic citation for speeding during that period. The monthly results were twenty-eight distracted driving citations, eighteen of which were warning citations and nine were local ordinance citations.
Chair Siffermann pointed out that the results affirm that distracted driving is a problem. Chief Budds stated that these are only one month's results and that we will continue to enforce the violations.
President Gallagher asked if there was a way for the officer to see if someone was given a warning citation previously and possibly give another type of citation. Chief Budds reported that in our system you could see previous citations issued.
Chair Siffermann asked if there was a video the School Resource Officer could show about Distracted Driving. Chief Budds stated that during the week of April 22nd, the SRO provided specialized instructions to the students on distracted driving. Chief Budds also reported that if someone attends driving school, there is a section at a driving school on distracted driving.
Chair Siffermann asked if there were opportunities at the high school for students to participate in National Police Memorial Week. Chief Budds reported that we have not done that in the past. Chair Siffermann reports that he thinks it would be a good opportunity for students to hear a different perspective on Law Enforcement because it seems like there is a lot of anti-police and negative press coming out. Chief Budds reported that it could be brought up going forward.
Chief Budds reported that he would inform the Trustees and the Board of when the flag lowering ceremony would occur and invite them to attend.
Topic D: Peer Jury Update
President Gallagher asked for an update on the Peer Jury Program. Chief Budds reported that the program has been suspended indefinitely due to the legal advice of our attorney due to changes to the state law. The main reason is the confidentiality issue with juveniles. The legislative changes to the law were passed late last year with little time to prepare and almost no input from the Illinois Police Chief's Association.
Attorney Jurusik reports that the attorneys are working with different organizations and groups trying to clarify the solution. They are trying to figure out how to amend or roll back the legislation to address problems that have come up.
Chair Siffermann asked if there were other opportunities or activities that are being considered for the current jurors. Chief Budds reported that several of them are graduating and they will be recognized at a future Board Meeting. Chief Budds also reported that he has asked Sgt. Piest not to recruit any more jurors until we have more information on when the program can be restarted.
Chief Budds reported that if the program continued without clarification from the State, he could be held personally and criminally liable for not following the law. Several other municipalities have also suspended their programs as well. Chair Siffermann asked if there was a possibility to create another type of program that can assist with the education of juveniles, much like an explorer program. Chief Budds reported that we currently have an Explorer Program and there have been discussions on creating a Youth Police Academy Program in 2019. It depends on funding and staffing but may be brought up with the Village Manager at some point in the future.
President Gallagher asked what happens to the juveniles with citations that would have gone to Peer Jury. Chief Budds responded that they might go to Cook County Juvenile Court or the local adjudication hearing. The adjudication hearing was being monitored to make sure it is not in violation of the Juvenile Act but has been determined to be allowed. There can also be a formal or informal station adjustment issued instead of a citation issued.
President Gallagher said that going to local adjudication with an adult adjudicator could appear to be more of a scared straight situation. Deputy Chief Mayor pointed out that going in front a jury of your peers could also lead to the shaming of the juvenile.
Attorney Jurusik added that given the severe consequences, it is something that we should be more conservative in respects to the law. Chief Budds added that we have other methods to handle juvenile crimes without the Peer Jury Program.
Adjournment:
Motion: Trustee Allen made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:48 a.m., Chair Siffermann seconded the motion, and the motion to adjourn was approved by a unanimous vote.
http://www.wsprings.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_05022018-715
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