##VIDEO ID:Gny9jLa7tns## it is Monday January 27th at 6: PM new here at the Greenfield fire station Public Safety commission meeting this meeting this meeting is being recorded by the public safety commission if any other persons present or on Zoom are doing the same you must notify the chairperson at this time anybody here locally recording any in Zoom land recording since anony is the only one I'm guessing not but all right I'll call the meeting to order I'll take a roll call Mission Jarvis here miss Burge here mission moscar is here we have a quarum great um I will go on before public comments uh any person addressing a meeting of the public body with permission of the chair and all persons shall at the request of the chair be silent no person shall disrupt the proceedings of the meeting of a public body if after a clear warning from the chair person continues to disrupt the proceedings the chair May order person to withdraw from the meeting and if the person does not withdraw the chair May authorize a cable or officer to remove the person from the meeting and we will roll right into public comment is there anybody here that would like to make public comments welcome folks anybody on Zoom that would like to make public comments Now's the Time you can unmute yourself f are folks unmuted they're not unmuted do we have to unmute can anybody hear me and speak um un mute but there's no nobody's Stephanie can you un can you we can hear you okay great is there anybody that wants to speak on public comments speak up please okay we will move on all right um we'll move right into uh approving the meeting minutes we have a few to approve uh we didn't meet in November and December because of holidays so we have to approve November and December it's correct and I have a I will do September and October you which ones do you have September and October September and October that's right yeah September and October all right so I think we can approve them um all at the same time um do I have a motion to approve the minutes so second okay um all in favor of approving both September and October I thank you all right we will invite medical uh Emergency Medical Services up again just State your state who you are um for the folks that watch this three weeks from now yeah yeah no problem they might not know who you are uh my name is Mark Le pra I'm one of the par paramedic field supervisors uh supervisor so thank you subbing in for Kim tonight she sent me a note so that was good yeah and I thought I forwarded um folks might not have seen them tonight yet I forwarded the email K sent to W oh okay all right with the you want to go all stuff um yeah I mean I made copies I actually realized I think one of the data she might have um missed sent it twice November and December whatever those might have been the same so I called her on the way up here so she'll just resend it okay that's fine and I can distribute them yeah yeah no problem um the reports just basically call volume that we've done for the months of October and then obviously you know one's the same November December but calls volume tends to be the same around 230 to 250 a month um and then basically this is just uh emergent and non-emergent what what's EMD and dispatched the percentages um so when the call comes in to our Dispatch Center we uh have emergency medical dispatching if you're familiar with it so basically it's a triage system so whether it just says Priority One lights and Sirens or priority two no lights no Sirens doesn't mean that every Priority One is an actual lifethreatening emergency but that's just when you're speaking to the call taker that's just how it's um I lost my tra of thought but that's uh that's just how like the call taker is able to with no medical kind of background is able to prioritize the calls um and that's basically it questions if we have some after you resend the documents next so who takes the calls it doesn't go to Y dispatch right uh Chief I believe it goes to Greenfield we get the call First you get call for us once we determine it's a medical then we transfer it to amr's dispatch and Springfield okay and then does y do do you make the priority of the call once it's sent over so have a so they have a program that they use they ask questions depending on the answers to the questions determines the level of the call okay great good to know glad you mentioned that and it also will determine whether if there is an ALS res they feel the call should have a paramedic respond to the call if there is a paramedic to respond that unit gets sent to the call but if there's no paramedic available they will then just send if there's a BLS truck available we'll just send either green fill fire or one of our BLS trucks um on during the day if our ALS trucks are tied out and no no anomalies or anything extra special the last couple months nope nothing that uh gone through or NOP great not that I've been aware of or told steady yeah all right well thank you for you no problem all right fire departments we invite you up he's not here he stepped out because they had a um oh okay oh I got you I guess we'll move on hit that to um you want to do uh I have dispatch next um do you want to do it all together or do you want to come up dispatch and we'll do you first then we'll go back if ch I am I'm the dispatch supervisor for Greenfield police in fire i' like to take a moment to introduce all of you to our new trainee Trevor brunette he's been with us for about two weeks uh he has completed a 911 training and he is now this week actually at appco training the class is to give him the bones of dispatching and he'll come back to us and learn our way of doing things so if you could just give us a little bit of your background uh yeah I was born here moved moved about 15 minutes away out to Irving when I was young but I've always been just local to the area and I really wanted to get into stuff like dispatch and other forms of law enforcement at a young age and now I'm currently employed with the Greenfield dispatch department and also a member of the Franklin County Cadet program which runs weekly every Wednesday excellent I've met you before to you I would like to say that I have spoken to at least one of his um his instructors from the cadet program and a high very high marks for this young man and he uh he impressed us very much in his in his interview um as actually commissioner Mascaro actually sat in on that and um we all felt that he did such a great job so we're happy to have him with us yeah and you have a bright future so welcome the Greenfield thank you sir uh so to start off as I know some of you may be aware all of you uh so our dispatch project has finally been completed uh we moved in on the 14th I would just like to say a few thank yous uh first thank you to the uh to the current mayor mayor J serger as well as former mayor WEA Gartner and the uh city council for making that happen uh to the citizens of Greenfield certainly for uh helping us to get there uh Chief Dodge and deputy chief Green for their Decon construction of our old dispatch and putting in so much time and effort into that as well as the planning part of uh getting things going um Central maintenance uh Ed and Tyson they did a fantastic job they basically lived at dispatch for three months and were dedicated to us and we appreciate that uh the IT team they did a fantastic job and uh certainly to the public safety commission for being supported of that as well we definitely appreciate your support but last but definitely not least to the dispatchers who spent a year and a half in temporary quarters which was not easy um but uh they did a fantastic job getting through it and uh they got a office that they Des they desperately needed and definitely deserved so we appreciate that uh so if any of you have not been to see our our offices i' invite you to come and take the tour it's very nice it's very nice yes uh so because we didn't have a meeting in November I'm just going to give you them November and December numbers uh so 911 calls for November were 2, 277 calls December went down one so it was 276 calls uh in November we had 4,5 yeah excuse me 4,15 business line calls and in December it was 3,594 our total calls for service for 2024 were was actually 41,42 so again we went up 19% in our call volume um uh we still have our uh our pums working for us uh in November they covered uh nine shifts so that was nine shifts that did not have to go to overtime for forces went down a little bit in no December uh we had five and a half shifts that were covered by our pums uh we are currently training or finishing the training of U Madison who is going to be a pum so we should be getting her training done very soon we have three potential uh potentials that are interested in being pums uh so we have three that we may be calling back to see if they are interested in coming to do the training uh in the spring now while starting now but now until the spring uh we are looking into hosting some training again this year uh I've reached out to several uh places to see if they wanted to come and have US host trainings SO waiting to hear back from from those companies uh as of this week all of our dispatchers except two prms and one fulltime which is Trevor are now CIT trained critical incident training Mental Health Training so two prms were waiting they signed up for the class and Trevor is signed up so once that is done then everyone will have that training so we're very excited about that uh and um I would just like to say just briefly um I'm sure that you're all aware there was a call this past week uh in Greenfield unfortunately uh sort an industrial accident I guess we could call it uh where a gentleman unfortunately passed away I just want to commend the dispatchers who were working that day I had so many compliments uh from people telling me what a great job they did uh from start to finish and actually Trevor was in the room at the time and actually took the initial call for that that unfortunate call and um I had heard that he did a great job his trainer had nothing but good things to say and got lots of compliments from the public in regards to their handling of that um we definitely wish that there had been a different outcome of course um so our our condolences go out to the the gentleman's family and his friends um uh just one other thing I'd like to mention um I don't I'm sure that you all are aware but the city has been Staffing a warming shelter in Greenfield on the very cold overnights I know that commissioner Burge has been one of the volunteers who've gone to cover some shifts there uh some of the dispatchers have covered some shifts and so I'm proud of them for stepping up covering the warming shelter I I actually covered some of them myself and it was very eye opening and it definitely makes you appreciate what you have so I'm glad that the city could um could help out with those that are not as fortunate I think that's about all that I have um oh one other thing um so I actually one of the trainings I've been looking into and it's actually uh one coming up next week excuse me next month uh is alert training I think we may have talked about this in a past meeting maybe with the police department uh it's a scenario based uh active shooter training I was able to attend one last year in Springfield and it's eye opening and scary at the same time you're actually put in a school building and they are firing rounds inside dummy rounds of course but it's it's just like a real it's a real life scenario and it's very eye openening uh so I would like some of the dis M to attend this training hopefully uh next month and starting in the spring uh so I just have handouts for you all just to give you a little bit of the background of the training which I will give you um but other than that I think that's what we have going on you guys have any questions I'd certainly be happy to answer just a just a comment congratulations well deserved um on being in your new Dispatch Center it's been a long time I've been retired nine years and we were talking about it when I was the deputy chair so it's been a long and wiing road to get to the end so but congratulations it's well deserved for your dispatchers they do a great job for the city thank you so now you you'll be spending more time in your office with all this new Iris yes I have been spending more time in the office I do try I've been trying I'm allowed to do a couple ships a month on the desk so and I want to continue to do that just because I don't want to get rusty myself so um and right now I can still sign up for overtime so I've been doing a little bit of that as well um but yeah it will be mostly in the office and we're getting lots of things done so I'm happy about that um where is the critical incident training take place uh for most of the dispatchers it's online it's a zoom class uh they do it in two four hour blocks two four hours uh there are iners classes available um actually there was just one held in East Hampton uh at the end of last week two of the dispatchers went to so you can do it you can choose to do it in person or in Zoom yes well um I've been to the command center and seen it in all different stages so it's great to see the final stage I'm really glad you have that hard piped in coffee maker too definitely helps at three in the morning it looks really nice and it's for me I'm happy that they have a really nice area to work and you know it's quite stressful and you know you can feel like you're in a cave for your shift and it really came out nice and um you know the folks behind you the construction the Construction Group construction behind you did did did a good job fantastic job conratulations nice meeting you okay oh can you um do you have another do you have four copies yes so we have to turn one into the um the C you have to um we have to turn one in do you have it on do you have it um electonic send it to you yeah I send you an email yeah so abely okay so we'll keep this yeah that'll be great thank you send all right fire departments we welcome you the stage uh thank you Commissioners uh I'm try to keep it brief uh I asked uh uh Brian to join me um for the first couple minutes um this is Brian do um welcome thank you uh he has been chosen as our new firefighter uh through a very long process uh he is one of um two that will be hiring second one is to be um determined um uh we're still in the process of vetting that out but he has Ro risen to the top of the large candidate pool that we have uh he has applied for how many times before one time only one time he applied one time previous uh to the Department and unfortunately was not chosen at the time uh but took what he learned from that interview process um and took the the um steps that we thought he should take um to be more successful and rising to the top he happy to say he took that on with a determination that I haven't seen in a long time uh and got the qualifications that we were looking for and being offer the job so go ahead introduce yourself my name is Brian D I was born and raised here in Greenfield can you spell your name last name d Dew great thank you yeah of course uh I currently still reside across town on Silver Street I started in the firefighting and EMS side of things a couple years ago now I got my EMT certification at GCC I started at Northfield ambulance and I got on Gil fire department uh as he mentioned I applied here previously it didn't work out and this time around it did I'm very excited to start my career here certainly appreciate your persistence thank you yes you want something bad enough youc congratulations and it's the uh in my opinion it's the best job in the world so don't let the PD back there influen or anything like that fire is best job uh just need a yes yes can um have a positive recommendation I make a motion that we give a positive recommendation to the mayor's office for the new hire Brian du okay we'll do it I'll do there a r um you should to dve us yes Verge yes and M commissioner MOS po yes congratulations you wish you the best painless thank you uh got some reports here for you one of them had my notes on it I put it if one of us gets it we'll give it back to you okay this is the the end of the year report for the fire department thank you the fire department for I don't know how many years and running now uh had its busiest year on record um keep waiting for not to say that every year but uh it is our busiest year on record uh with the response of um the last page there is uh 3597 calls um to put that in perspective when I first got on the fire department you probably heard me say this we were averaging about 800 calls a year so quite a bit of difference um Staffing is uh after this hire uh and when we were able to figure out who we're going to hire for the next position uh we will finally be at full staff uh first time 15 years um and so uh that's a that's a milestone for us and it's not going to come um at a better time because our our workload is getting busier and busier every year so um it was a pretty pretty big year for us um we saw fires um in um that we assisted throughout western Mass and through actually throughout the state uh in the fall that we haven't seen before in the northeast or at least not since the 40s uh which seems to be a trend that is uh that is continuing uh I was involved uh as well as members of this department in a fire and Munson and it's the first time that I can recall where we were actually fighting a urban interface fire meeting that the woods were encroaching on housings houses and usually you may see one or two houses threatened um and this particular fire was a complete neighborhood so the fires that we're seeing out um in the woods um are a lot different than what we've been accustomed to see uh and there were massive fires throughout the Commonwealth especially down on the down in the East and the like Salem and some other departments really seeing some tricky uh very difficult fires and uh if this trend keeps going with the lack of precipitation and snow and and uh and the weather heats up again like it like it has and not get uh substantial rain we are looking at uh you know things becoming U you know dangerous down the road so it's definitely an emerging concern for uh even for the Northeast now so um yeah I'll take any questions on that you'll have you have few different reports here the reports is just to show you our you know our time how many hours we spend Staffing which we've had for Staffing what what people uh spent their time on when they were hired in and then the other one is their off time so just give you a reference on on how many hours we're actually talking about it takes to staff the fire department uh I like this chart it's interesting because if you look at it you can see that the fire red is not that it's you know it's it's not as big as some others but probably consists of the most time in labor right and and for that that little slice compared to the blue slice which is about 3/4s of the of the um the pie chart yeah this is pretty on par with what we're seeing for fire departments throughout the throughout the country uh the the actual EMS side of that compared to fire calls which is all the other colors that are in there uh is actually pretty low for us even at 60 something per most departments uh especially that run a ambulance they're running between 70 and 80% medical call or rescue calls I just I want to say that that it points out and we we've preached this chief for years that and it shows right here that over time's down a third because you got full sta in and I don't know how long we've reached that to the city saying if you stop us your overtime will go down so the proof is right there to put in that that this happens if they keep the Manpower or Personnel I should say Personnel up and keep you fully staffed um so and yeah when I started it was 400 and something py years so I'm glad to say that I think I got out of the right time tremendous group of firefighters who very dedicated to the city and they give them they give it at all so um lot of challenges coming forward but uh we're we're hugging away uh next item I wanted to talk about is the ladder truck uh the mayor has pushed forward for uh recommendation for purchase of a new ladder truck at $1.9 million 300,000 of that will come out of the ambulance revenue account um this is a process that has been ongoing for a decade plus uh our whole fleet rearrangement was uh lead led up to the purchase of the ladder truck and so the last round of trucks that we got we ended up uh working on a efficiencies and and combining two functions into one truck so we had two separate trucks that did two separate functions it's now combined into one truck uh leading up to this inevitable purchase um the truck that we currently have is a is what we call a uh Tower truck which has a platform to work off of uh the the new truck um uh for several reasons some of them efficiency some of them uh the change in operations but a great part of it is is is cost we are actually um not purchasing a platform we are purchasing a what we call a straight stick or a um just a simple ladder uh aerial device uh which means there's no platform to work off of um anymore it'll be um back like when I started off of a straight stick uh ladder truck um the difference in cost is about 2.4 to 2.5 for a platform uh versus the 1.9 and even with the 1.9 it's going to be tight we're going to be ordering it off a Stock Program uh which is basically uh every manufacturer makes a cookie cutter truck that they put through their program um and they build the truck uh Speck out the truck usually a year or two prior before it gets into the process uh and so there's some tweaks and stuff that we'll be able to make but overall the truck is already designed um which keeps the cost down uh what's also a benefit from this program is that when they built the truck and they spec the truck they built it on a year or to pricing not current pricing so uh that is that's going to save us money even with that the 1.9 is going to be very tight purchasing the truck but uh we're excited about it I I am hoping uh that it will go through city council with no problem um to give you a perspective of of just how rapidly the cost of trucks are um the ladder the tower truck that we were looking at that is now listed at 2. a 2.5 stock um the city or the town of Belchertown purchased um in 2,000 and took delivery of it two and a half years later and the truck at that time was $1.4 Million so over two from 2000 when we've been trying to get this project done to today uh that cost has risen $1.5 million um so uh it it makes no sense to pushing this down the road considering that we're seeing anywhere between uh 2 and 4% a quarter increases in the cost of a fire truck so so hopefully we can get this done and get this uh approved the Stock Program we're going to be ordering the truck through is going to be disappearing this year so the timing is pretty critical so we're hoping that everything will we'll we'll go through that any questions about the lad truck Senator rear mount rear mount um it'll be a single axle 107 foot so we're gaining 7 feet on the height and the reach uh single axle 500 gallon pump versus the 250 that's on there now uh and it will have I think it's I think it's a either 15 or 2,000 gallon minute pump the flow rate that we can flow out of the basket right now with two guns is 2,000 gallons a minute uh the new um the new uh devices they put on the front of the ladder it's going to be a single gun but it's capable fall for, 1500 gallons a minute so it's uh what's really nice about the truck is it's compact tight and movable maneuverable and so basically wherever we can get an engine we can get this truck and if you want something that's comparable of what the truck would look like it's basically what the truck that Turners Falls acquired about four or five years ago uh ambulance 2 should be hearing a couple questions yes sorry um what will the old truck be what's the plan with the old truck and is there an estimate for sale of uh they won't give an estimate right now because it fluctuates the market fluctuates so much um the uh uh the plan is to uh trade uh have it listed as a trade uh I don't the last estimates we' we've gotten is it could be as high as 50,000 or it could be as low as 10 or 15 is that is that handled through the the city you don't hand the fire department doesn't if we trade it it will go with the manufact it will go with the dealer oh when you for the new okay y just like trading in a car is that the plan to do a trade depends on where we're going to do an analysis before we sign any type of a contract that says that we look at um you know what the going rate is to sell it by yourselves versus doing the trade in will make a decision on that okay and what's the average lifetime of the new truck purchas 20 to 25 years 20 25 years ideally 20 years is a ladder truck should be taken off hawaian for for City aze and the truck the the the current one we've had for it's a 2000 2000 so it's 25 years old now it's 25 years okay okay thank you y in real quick is it going to the council in February it'll go to Ways and Means discuss month February and then they'll vote on it in February first read happened in January okay great thank you for that and any other questions about that sorry uh problem our new ambulance uh that we ordered a couple years ago uh should be here this this month um it is in the state we've gone down and did the final inspection on the truck uh it's getting uh the graphics put on and then they will ship it out here and we'll transfer the uh stretchers out of it and then we'll be able to put it in service so we're excited about that excuse me that like I said that should be here in a few weeks to be in service in around in February is February or um probably March March yeah we'll probably have it here for two to three weeks of you know getting everything equipped and it the way that we need it and then it will go in service shortly after y we still uh even if we say that the trucks in service we we still have to coordinate with the state they have to come in and give a a license for the ambulance uh the deputy Chief's Assessment Center is scheduled to be on the 17th of February the assessment center is a private uh company that we have hired to come in and conduct that um it's it'll be a full one- day event uh where there's multiple stations and exercises uh for the deputy chief um the deputy Chief's position's been gone since Eddie has uh has retired uh and we're excited uh we're finally excited to get the deputy chief back it was um a decision that um that uh I made as chief of Department um before we restored the depuy's Chief's position we were going to restore the staff on the FL uh but it's been well um very documented and and proven that it's very um very much needed to have a second in command um so we're excited about that um in addition to that uh we have a Lieutenant's position opening in July uh and we will be having a testing and Assessment Center um whenever we decide a date uh I have to give 90 90 days notice to the collective bargaining unit for studying purposes and whatnot so we're looking probably sometime some sometime in May to have that Assessment Center April or May that's a very um in-depth process that is a test written examination of 100 questions plus plus an assessment evaluation they get a fire problem and they get other exercises so and then that again is a third party vendor that is hired to do the evaluation we're excited about that and couple questions um the deputy chief how many folks uh have um applied um we have had two letters submitted okay and I think Public Safety are we are we able to observe the assessment absolutely I definely plan on being the I can't speak for the other Commissioners yeah we would encourage you to I don't think you can have three or more but too y but we would I would encourage that it is quite the process and it's a very in-depth evaluation um yeah Eddie and I went through it when we when we were applied for the chief's job so so that will be here department so what are the steps uh so the lieutenant the depuy's chief's exam will be the lieuten exam will be somewhere offsite okay okay so what are the steps um that will be followed after the assessments with respect to are there other steps in between that before it goes to you to pick the final no so the assessment center will have the grading done by the end of that day um this's there're very similar but there's distinctions between the deputies exam and the Lieutenant's exam so if you're talking the dep talk de right now not so the depuy's exam that the that will be that day I should have the results and then the follow the the then that will come to me and I'll sit down and evaluate the scoring and then make a recommendation based off of what we have for for the candidates put forward ultimately it's the the mayor's call through the recommendation of the chief and the public safety commission and um the assessment center doesn't take away the ability of a chief of Department to make a decision it just helps steer that conversation so they'll have the results of those um by the end of the day a day for for y okay good all right and then a decision will most likely be made shortly after and then brought to you folks to make a recommendation to the mayor for appointment okay great thank you the mayor uh intent is that the deputy chief will be restored the last quarter of this fiscal year so between April and June other questions on that subject no so uh last but not least um as Cindy U mentioned uh Friday morning we had a uh pretty uh unique uh tragic and difficult call for uh Greenfield Public Safety police fire dispatch AMR uh and then outside agent um it was um a career call as we like to call it in-house where uh we don't see um a lot of times the magnitude of this call A a call like this um it was a challenge um both physically mentally emotionally uh but everybody Rose to um Rose to the job that they were supposed to do I will tell you personally uh it is the first time in my career and I've been involved with many very difficult and challenging and and uh uh unique uh calls over the years uh tragic calls uh it is the first time that as chief of Department um we were uh in a rescue operation uh where I had to pull put a firm stop on the operations and and make a determination that we've done what we can and unfortunately we're at the point where um this is now a recovery um the firefighters the first in officer uh my my first in engine company was uh Captain Phelps Adam Mitchell and Kevin Warden and the first officer police officer was purington um there were other officers that also responded but but officer perington um uh is is the one that I want to um highlight uh at no regard for their safety at any time um they put themselves in tremendous risk to try to save this individual um when I say tremendous risk I cannot um you know overstate that enough uh what the rescue operation was uh even when it went to a recovery was probably one of the more uh nerve-wracking um uncomfortable rescue and operation that I've been in charge of or even be involved in um these people put everything on the line and unfortunately were not able to have a successful outcome um but from a department standpoint and a city standpoint nobody went nobody got hurt um uh but they put themselves at tremendous amount of risk uh and and I for once for one want to publicly say to them how awfully proud I am of the responders in this town my firefighters the police officers the dispatchers the emergency medical um response I should say there was a a EMT from AMR that was up uh on the platform helping um and it was uh really all hands on deck uh and the professionalism dedication and the respect for the gentleman and the situation um matched and it's times like that that uh I am proud to be uh the chief of such a fine crew of folks so um I'm gonna shift gears a little bit because I know we'll come back but I'm G to shift gears um and today we had a visitor in the firehouse um uh the um the couple their kids weren't with them but their couple that were injured over a year ago on the Mohawk Trail where a very serious accident um we really didn't know if people were going to make it stopped by the firehouse today to say thank you to the responders um and um uh one of the police officers that he was first on scene he was he happened to be here as well and it was really touching to have someone come in and say thank you and um you know and um give give you know the acal to the responders they really do a good job so these kind of tied in together for me but um yeah I'll take any questions on that if anybody has them no questions just to comment that that just that that the city should be the city should be very proud of the emergency responders that they have they work hard they do their job and it's uh very difficult at times to do what we do for what I used to what you guys do every day and see and have to deal with it's a it's a tough place to be in so that my hats off to you to you guys in the PD and DPW police EMS everybody that was involved there it had to be a very uh stressful tough situation I will say I neglected to say this and it should have been the first thing that I said uh is that our hearts and and and and thoughts and prayers and go out to the family and the business that has been permanently affected by this by this accident I was there um I Heard it I it was interesting I I turned the scanner on in the morning just to I don't usually turn it on and I heard and it's only right around the corner and um I came back there for a couple hours and I came back through the day and um it was really a humbling experience to watch the I I it had to be 100 um Public Safety folks and it was only one thing on their mind and um even when you shifted to it's a recovery um it didn't matter um and you know as commissioner uh Javis said um you know other companies DPW showed up just wanted to do the right thing Sandry you know folks were you know offered their their place as a warming station if you guys needed it they brought warm drinks the state showed up um it was really a sad but touching experience for Public Safety commissioner to see how much care and effort both from the fire and police department and other departments put into this situation and yes we we all of us would want would want to see the outcome different um but the the the care for the gentleman was either way was um just a humbling sight to see so uh the whole city should be proud the whole city should be proud I mean of course the department should be but the whole city should be proud of how um their reaction was towards such a tragic situation so thank you much for you done so there are some people that I do want to publicly thank too outside of our um first responder realm um like you said the DPW responded uh and was there in case we needed anything JH Ray which is a private contractor their V truck turn to be invaluable um Home Depot uh didn't hesitate when we said we needed certain supplies uh our neighbor um next door here made sure that the responders were all fed uh it was really a a community effort Sandry open their doors to us made sure that their lunchroom and their in their restrooms and um it was really a really touch to see the community involvement in this as well um um and uh yeah it's it was one of those uh one of those tragedies um but uh um you know the best chance that that gentleman had was given to him by greenfield and uh um so yeah thanks thank you thanks for your time thanks I'm righty so we welcome up the one and only Greenfield Police Department man we got we got two hand I emailed them to you but I did add things what last minute welcome and just State yours who you are for the future Zoom Watchers Dodge chief of Greenfield police M green Lieutenant Greenfield police um he D the correct the fire chief but the first responding officer for police was Pat Maran officer Mary and uh and also along with him was Lieutenant Ben goody from the sheriff's department they were the ones that really got in there and started to do what they can so and we share the remorse and condolences to the family obviously um was a sad day long day sad day and there was some amazing work being done that's an absolute certainty so um I have our stats and then I'll present you as well our we have to each year we have to do a used to be called use of force it's now rela as response to resistance and aggression report and a Pursuit analysis all of these get published on this website used to be our own website but now the city owns the website so I don't know if we get them to mway or not yet but they'll be there at some point um okay so I'll get into the stats stuff first um for December total calls for service were 3,591 which was down 145 calls probably because it's a little colder time spent on calls 1639 hours um calls handled in the business district were up 32 to 304 of those calls uh we generated 187 incident reports 57 accident reports 47 summons or sorry arrests and 252 citations I then gave a a full year analysis um which I believe you have that the total cost for service in 2024 is 49,28334 184 not including minor accidents arrest reports uh this is physical arrests are 517 and there were 2748 citations issued um four I have additionally downtown business district calls was 4,072 as you can see the business district is a busy place and we do and since I put more of a focus there total time spent on calls was 21850 4 hours see all right special reports officer movement Ricky D we all remember Ricky [Music] D um he just completed completed his training Shadow phase I believe it was yesterday yes and he is now certified as solo Patrol so he'll start on his own ASAP uh we have since onboarded Hunter Z um and he has since started in the fto program Hunter comes to us from where young man with military background um we dropped the ball and getting him here tonight U we will introduce him hopefully at the next point is he part time full time it's fulltime full time oh great ex yeah next time you can put it on the agenda Main Street substation the building permit after a lot of ups and downs was finally signed we are doing a pre pre-build meeting this Thursday I believe that's at 10:00 a.m. and once that meeting's done um that's just to make sure everybody's on the same page and I believe the construction will start the construction outfit reassured us that's not going to pay long there should be more than a couple weeks so what's going to take the longest is the ordering of the glass so that could be upwards of eight weeks to get the glass in so it's all going to have to be best and ordered um dispatch project than F has been completed um there'll be little odds and ends here and there um like any other job but it is in fact done and it's looking like we did come in probably about $100,000 under the bided number of that job which was 240 and again I I can't think central maintenance enough um like Cindy said Ed particularly Ed renz our electrician was basically live there he was there constantly and they did a lot of really really good clean work he went far above electrical work and he stayed extra and did a lot of stuff for us so he's he's definitely a lot to thank for for that job uh roll call in other areas now that dispatch has moved out um we're trying to put a little freshen up into that dispatch room or sorry about the old dispatch room now roll call room again um we're going to try to match that room to the rest of that front of the building now with black ceiling tiles um same color walls just just a face lift um we were able to get uh the work team from the House of Corrections to the PD and just buying paint they've put a Fresh coat on the the detective Bureau the hallway in the detective Bureau and many of the offices in the building so it's looks a lot better um the property room it was a mismatch of flooring in the property room there was ripped and shredded carpet and stained tile and all kinds of we we did a small flooring job in there put a couple new desks so our evidence property room has been freshened up a little bit too uh Chris and I have been talking as well as others in the station the next area we would like to focus on and it should have been focused on probably a long time ago is the actual officer Port stations it's the most heavily used area in the building and that needs some attention um it's really old at least 25 plus year old Cabinetry and countertops and all the cabinets are missing at the doors and the hinges don't work right that's that's next up we're starting to put the pieces of that puzzle together the two new Cruisers are here they're all lettered up all the for the most part all the tech has been installed I anticipate it will come up to do the final touches to that tomorrow therefore they'll actually be Road ready so I'm hoping to get them on patrol at least no later than the end of the week um I do got the introduction on here but he's not here so special reports um I want to recommend to the public safety commission to promote attendant Christopher green to deputy chief I make a recommendation that we forward a positive recommendation to the mayor for promotion of Lieutenant Christopher green to deputy chief Christopher green second do call um commissioner jvis yes you are yes commission moso says yes um um we're really pleased with this and congratulations thank you well well deserved and that's the only time I'm gonna give you a comp that does come with a fine print there is fine print you want to talk about the fine print so we're making currently right now we're doing the selection process for deputy chief which will cause um the need for a lieutenant which then would likely cause the need for a sergeant so the processes are underway we're not yet sure as to when we can make the actual appointments it's going to be based on finances um there's a couple things uh that are underway that we believe um it should be able to happen pretty soon so I'll keep you posted on that I don't have an exact day just yet what I do know um is I can't ask for a vote on it yet but we did go through the promotional process for sergeant and at the next meeting I'll be recommending the promotion of detective Cory green to Sergeant uh the lieutenant promotional process is well underway candidate selection is expected to take place this week so that's it's it's a long drawn out process there's a lot to it there's a lot of steps um I I congratulate the individuals involved in the process for taking it as serious as they have um they really did spend a lot of time On promotional projects on reviewing oral board interviews and discussing various other facets of any of the candidates employment history um and I'm confident their decision in that whereas Cory in that case detective green Rose to the top um is is a good decision so um again hopefully I believe they meet on Wednesday to do that discussion for the Lieutenant's position so we should have an answer soon after that so from a sorry sorry go ahead so from a public safties commissioner standpoint um all three of these just to read kind of a little more from what Chief just said um the three processes for the the deputy chief um the lieutenant the sergeant and the lieutenant positions um all have three pretty different processes for certain reasons um you know that the I think the process was the same but the people that joined in and you know how we went about it were had to be a little bit different because of you know who you could discuss things with who Public Safety could discuss but I think that um you know the folks should be proud of um you know the amount of time like you said chief of the amount of people that showed up you know level one was you know outside um folks from other departments you know then we had internal um folks and and really you weren't even a part of it until the very end which just is really kudos to this all of us in the city with respect to um objectivity and being transparent you know um you know you got your you got your top three you didn't have know which order they were in and um you know so we really should be proud of the the processes that take place to get us to the point where we're making a recommendation um and you know we're proud of you Chris um you know in for you know getting the position and and other folks that um also applied for the position you know I mean we have some really great choices so it's it's it's like the chief said it's a long process it's not just the chief in his or her office making a decision this is the person I want we should be proud of that as a city so yeah and all I mean for the listeners that's you know it's a good thing to point out is this is a several phase approach to Promotions um in a few years back when we sort of readdressed our promotional policy that was a change I had requested and I I really believe in it is that our interview panels are individuals ranking individuals from other police departments that don't have prior connections to our applicants so the candidates are are not to know them um and we're seeing sometimes the results aren't quite surprising but some aren't and and it's interesting to see that so U it shows that the questions being asked are probably the right questions and they're eliciting the right responses and they're being sort of scored by individuals who just don't know who have no stake in the process so uh it's comforting to know that the process is is heavy on objectivity as much as we get at least until that point then again like I said the second phase of that is what we call the promotional committee and for the sergeants that's all the sergeants and lieutenants as well as you know yourself the public safety commissioner in there and we have throughout every phase a non moting a non- voting member who's placed in there from the city who basically monitors the entire process and in the event there's any disagreement on anything that person can break the tie so the mayor's Chief of Staff Aon anal has participated in every step of this process and she's she's Amazed by it and again I I like to always you know point out the fact that these high ranking individuals from these other agencies are always beside themsel at the level of knowledge that our officers here bring so the training we're doing something right with training we're doing something right with the professionalism that they present to these panels because they're they're constantly boasting about it when they leave they try to take our people as what they try to do but yeah it's a good process we're coming to the end of it thank goodness um and again we should have our final move noted by the end of the week I'm hoping budget stuff um at25 it is tracking well we do have a deficit due to a buyout um mid year and that's primarily was causing a delay in the promotions to be honest so um but again we have a couple thoughts in mind we're following up in several ways to try to figure out when we're ready financially speaking to make these promotions in FY 26 budget we're setting up in mun and that's always a good time we're having fun with that I set it up to get started and I already got kicked down quite a bit so yes we G have to figure that out lastly co-response [Music] um go response in December they did 28th understanding that's a drop from previous month but we did lose one of the three uh we did seven evaluations four individuals were section 12 there was two diversions 10 hospitalizations of those hospitalizations six went voluntarily forward medical um no officers were injured and there was no arrest or charges resulting from any questions on any of that stuff we are we looking to go back to three y we're probably going to go less for a minute because one of the co-respondents will be going out on maternity leave sometime in the spring believe May before that yeah but there is a so we be down to one down to one for a little while there's an intern that's uh considering coming to our area too she graduates in May uh she's already been coming here um pretty regularly to you know do her internship part very interested in coming this way it's going be a good pickup when she does she's very very easy to talk to I take sorry go ahead so before we dive into this I just want to revert back to roll call and other areas um I want to say that it's it's great that the um dispatch is done and it's welld deserved room for everybody but I don't want people you know that's in the rearview mirror now but I don't want people especially the city or the folks to lose the headlights in front of us where everything that we've done so far is a Band-Aid we are sitting in new fire station we need to get the PD into a building that's professional for them at some point um we get them out of the medical building that they were forced into um because right now we're putting Band-Aids on on the building but we need to as a city and as a public safety commission and as City councilors and elected officials need to keep in their headlights down the road um that costs get greater as as we put Kick the Can down the road and at this building what we've done is just Band-Aids it's not a fix all it's not going to you know give us another 20 years in this building um that that that the city needs to keep this in mind and that's all I wanted to say on that I didn't want to get in depth in it but it it'll be well deserved for the police officers and the City to have a building that they can be proud of and work out of uh professionally um and um yeah because I know what it's like to sit in a building that's falling around around and we now took care of my heart and soul the fire department but the police department needs also to be kept in the focus and in the headlights that they deserve a building that's professional and up to snope in the 21st century for them to work out of so that's what I had to say about that appreciate app that more what I can say is I'm confident that they are looking in that direction so you know I've had a lot of communication on it and and I appreci appreciate everybody's attention to it but I think we are moving in that direction and again it is much appreciated I just want to take a step back real quick and I apologize did you want to say anything after we I I you can get a chance to speak you don't have to but I didn't know if you had any comments or anything that you wanted to say you don't have to it's fine I just want you to feel left out from you know we talked about you we approved to we skipped right over no I just appreciate G up their time to be on these boards and and I don't know you saw you've seen the process on all three levels so far and it's a big investment on on your guys end and the candidates end too and I mean I see say I hope hopefully we're picking the best you know the best people for the r jobs you know so well we we we'll look forward to the um there is a probationary period too yeah I know we'll keep a close eye on the probationary [Laughter] period his might have to be doubled we'll talk we'll talk it doesn't work out back to my old role it gives me the power of the card and access major areas his uh his work list has increased dramatically and that's part of this which is what I used to do so that's why this is his work we can move on to this yes this is great thank you so so every year um uh throughout the year we we have to document all our re response to resistance and aggression and you can see on all the all the pages are the uh reports associated with the numbers that you see on on the the first page you'll notice that in 2024 there was a a noticeable increase in uh in like the physical techniques uh um in the firearm pepper and Baton area a lot of this is due to police reform and the level that we have to actually report um make a report and document the incident um a simple escort for instance was back in the day not even a reportable incident now now if you if an officer even remotely um does a gentle escort on on somebody they they have to report there use of force has to be done that I you want have any questions on it I guess I'm better at answering the questions I am explaining it all so is that so the statement that you made is there is there documentation that clearly it you know what you know the difference between 2022 2023 and now as far as you know you know like an escort you mentioned and there's probably a lot of other things that um you didn't have to consider uh use of force right um but are there other examples are there other things that um you could use as an example for that you know I know like whether they have to be you know like handcuffing that's all use of force right compant yeah compant handcuffing if they're they're compliant it's it's not a problem it's a just the the mere Act of any kind of force put on the person it can be the the most minor of force like just the just that um would trigger a report of the use of force so in in years past you know you could escort somebody you know and be just it'd be nothing you except for the you know documented into your narrative but now just the miror using your force on them to get them to a certain place it could be a person in medical need too and you have to put them on the on the stretcher it's it could be any any one of those things I mean don't get me wrong I'm not saying I disagree with the reporting I think all should be reported but there are differences between levels of use of force that's just my point there's there's differences because sometimes you look at the number and you say oh wow it went up X percentage but you know let's look at the reasons why it went up X percentage and I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with it I'm just saying you know numbers are numbers and it's important to understand why things have either gone up or gone down just like the the report you show us about the city calls might have gone up they might have gone down but it's good to know why did they go up and go down that's just my point the type of call can also um indicate you know an upward pattern too sure you take um maybe a home invasion you know and you have everybody and their brother officers you know on a house you know with their firearms out and that's that's a lot of uses of force you know it's no one's discharging them there was no discharges firearms in 24 thank god um but simple big incidents like that can make that number 38 you know seem like a lot but it's really probably just a couple um you know high potential High violent uh crimes that you notice on you'll see even I had six for firearm and what that was car a firearm sometimes a shooting hand no so we had a homeing and it was like early on um it was soon after taking over as acting Chief we got a home invasion on on one of the streets in Greenfield and I was just covering the building so as they were escorting the suspects out I had to get them back safely so you got contact and cover well I was cover so every one of those required a use a force only because I had my weapon drawn so that was six incidents right there in one call so again like like the fire aieve alluded to I think it's a it's just calls for service are trending upward in all disciplines we're left handling it and you know by virtue of that you're going to see increases in these numbers so you if you compare them to Total calls for service that increase might not be yes that much of a percentage difference so um but again yes our calls for service being close to 50,000 calls for service I remember like you know we're talking numbers I think when I first started in the 20s or teens and you know we're closing in on 50,000 calls for service a year your numbers are going to go up on everything so and again yes the reporting requirements change dramatically I I'm not here to debate whether or not it makes sense but that's the rule so we change with the rules and we're we're recording them Mak sense the details are very important like you had mentioned you know there wasn't one firearm discharged discharged correct this in 2024 and if you look at the taser deployments 11 deployments but zero actually um probe deployments so the taser came out 11 times on an incident or incidents but they were not you know the projectiles weren't shot from the tasers so yeah and and this explanation is really important you can read this document and everybody can come up with what a definition of that means but understanding the guts of the document and why it's put together for me anyway as a public safety commissioner is important so I might have other questions in the future but thank you for continuing explaining this to us the second half is uh along with um we have to report the uh vehicle Pursuits and we had five in 2024 uh some of it was assisting other agencies some of it was um a you know initial Pursuits and then the officer decided due to you know the danger of the of the driving behavior that they called it off but we in the whole year we had five um it's the very last page oh okay great and with that there's a brief explanation of each pursuit to for you great just a all to Pursuits are seemingly seemingly becoming a thing at a pass you know I don't think many want to see them um often times the risk doesn't equal the reward and and officers more routinely are being shut down on them uh off if we can get a plate number or something to that effect we got what we need anyways so there's no sense you there's been a lot of traumatic events that have taken place during Pursuits it's not to say we won't do them but we're definitely becoming more and more strict as to when we will and I think it makes sense so for something like this first one you know if the offic is out there the situation happens someone's pull over they take off I would assume that officer out in the field go to City a sergeant and then the fs on duty the lieutenants make this determination I mean is that how it works you know there's a group making the determination on yeah the officer May initiate it but it's read it's immediately communicated to the the sergeant or whoever's in charge of the shift I mean I I agree with Chief I mean it's you know you can have more tragedy than you could have actually a good outcome you know with these situations so in five seems pretty low low number I don't know maybe wrong but five doesn't seem like it's it's not it's not out of line with previous years I think you go back away there's probably a heck of a lot more but like I said the attitudes are are changing in regards to Pursuits um it's just not something we want to risk other people's lives on and I think it like I said it makes sense so um we'd rather not have five sure again some of them some of them are if you read the second one in particular I think it was the D Street one yeah I mean that person was very very dangerous um this was a strange I watched all the body cam videos on it very very this person needed to be stopped we really didn't know what the endgame was going to be for him he was experiencing some Mental Health crisis um and he was smashing into everything so he had a total disregard for Public Safety so that needed to be put to an end I mean he came to stops and then would take off on him and there was conversations about him having a weapon and uh it was sometimes it has to happen sure again we're just trying to minimize that your your risk versus reward yep absolutely so would it be a fair estimate even though the numbers in 20 24 have been you know increased it it would be a fear statement saying that that that with post now there has been no complaints on any of these where where Force wasn't I just want people listening to know that that that this has been so would that be a fair estimate that do these have increased but there's been no incidents where Greenfield officers have been reprimanded for the good part about these is we have to document them and and clearly by the Numbers you're seeing they're being documented okay so the officers are not shying away from completing these response to resistance and aggression the minute those are received by supervisors they go under a microscope and I mean to the extent that all body camera footage is reviewed they speak with Witnesses any potential Witnesses this is all documented and yes I'm happy to say that at the conclusion even even after that amount of use of forest incidents there has been no disciplinary stuff meaning they were all found to be in compliance with their training andc consistent with policy um so again and this is other people giving that opinion as well people that we talk to so it's been really good we haven't had to submit any two post and again the vast majority of these are simply I'm escorting you and you freeze in place and I got to push you into the car I just wanted people out there to hear this saying you know that they hear the increase and then they don't so I just wanted them to fully understand there's even a second layer as oppos to the lieutenant after the sergeant yeah so so double review on all this stuff yeah any injuries that are resulted from that are documented even more so and I think we've had Next To None So as you can see these use of forces didn't amount to much is is there a way that we can get the total calls for 22 and 23 I think we probably have 23 but I I'd like to see some average I think can you get the is that for the Pursuits no this is total calls you have these these calls are these these numbers here from in this first page they're based off of the total calls correct for the year yes yeah so like we're saying in in 202 there was 49,000 calls which resulted in 70 respons you want know 22 and 2 22 and 23 the total amount of calls just for my record so I could a it's not an emergency I don't I'm a geek like that so don't comment just it's too much work you don't have to do I think I emailed you it did you see the email uh oh all right was that it for this document yes you have more questions but if you want to review it and then ask me I'm always accessible so you have any questions on it at all be happy to answer it I'll probably have a few that's fine shock just gonna say here's my shock book all right anything else gentlemen no that's all right we have one more agenda the item you can stay there or you can go back it's up you doesn't matter we have um Commission of birge would like us to have a discussion about the Waring Center and I think it's an important discussion so would you like to take the floor no no I just um I just wanted to to say that the fact that we are making the um the population that we're serving feel safe I feel I believe that keeping them from from freezing out there is part of keeping our citizens safe and it is part of our job and I'm very glad that everyone came together you know the this the city and um the um the police department the fire department the emo everyone is on board making it happen this is the first time that I hear that it is been a success um I don't know how long today I heard a rumor that it was going to be shut down is there any truth to that rumor I think it depends on volunteers and money the mayor has a very specific number that she has in terms of funding for it but I know the intent will continue long past that but it'd be based on volunteers okay I think as long as the temperature hits the requisite number they're going to try to staff it all right so I have a question who does who determines really I mean a name who determines you do what what is the well what's the heat determine what oh I'm sorry what deter is the temperature he I make that you make that call the mayor the mayor and I collectively make that okay um the policy is 15° 15 155 Dees I mean I I read it but it's like you get so much so many different pieces of information that I wanted to get it from you guys directly the mayor and I consult every day every couple days and try to pro pro um project out um for at least five days so have you heard any problems any issues that will um lead you folks to to decide to close it regardless of what the temperature is I have not had that conversation no no no complaints or anything like that I have not had a conversation of that magnitude I think a lot of questions rose up if if any like they they didn't know our officers went there one night looking for somebody and the person who was I guess the lack of a better term in charge of a place didn't feel comfortable with that there's a little bit of growing pains we talked it out there's been communication and I think it's it's nothing more than a protocol update maybe with staff the city doesn't run the program it is run I don't forget the agency that runs the program but the city does is we make the recommendation of who open we make the call on open and then if they don't get volunteers and City staff has stepped up to uh assist with um manag but the program is actually run by I think it's don't hold me to this I think it's CSO yeah well iation that's going on the one that got the grant was the uh Opia task and they're the ones that put out de M de m from the U op T and then goes to the town it's not set to Desert to to to put out somebody had to be somebody had to be the one that because there's a lot of um concern in criticisms brought up when you talk about temperatures right and so like when we looked at um I'm talking about opening because of cold weather when we looked at the definitions of their emergencies whether it's a winter emergency or cold emergency or whatever the the guidance for that is there's no set rule but the guidance for that is is really under zero degrees um and we all know that that's not really a the most appropriate way to dictate what when and how the the and it's not a shelter we need them be very clear it's not a shelter it's a warming Center CER yes there's a big distinction that I don't think people understand a warming Center is for is just that for people to come in and get warm a shelter alludes to that there's beds right building code bu code other things like that don't permit a a shelter of that magnitude this is a warming Center a place for people to come in and and warm up as far as the degrees go 15° we felt was the most appropriate degree to put that open and and yes we could talk about windshield and we can talk about other things but really the guideline has been 15 there's been days where it's been a little bit over 15 that it's been um open because it's it it's gotten cold but the the the rule is we forecast at 15 degrees because you have to have something you have to have you can't just go you know I think tomorrow night will be it'll be cold let's open you need to have some type of a rule because if you don't um who knows when it would be open you know and I don't want that pressure I mean we have a firm it's if it's 15 degrees and even if it gets to be like 15 to 16 degrees forecast we open because we're going to error on the side of but there is limited funds that doesn't permit it to be open all the time um so I had 21 folks when night and there was like you know there's no walking room um what is your plan for the Overflow I mean how how many people can we have in there not company is based on whatever the occupancy of the Salvation Army is so whatever they have for a and you POS a good question because I don't know that off hand um but it would be based off of that um I mean there there's there's a lot of a lot of questions I've been there many many nights even when I'm not scheduled to be there to to form relationships with these folks because once you know this um the the warming Center closes I'll be dealing with them out in the street if I ever get a little office over there so um but I I think that I don't want to take any more time okay bottom line I'm going to be communicating with each one of you individually what I see as issues that could prevent us from getting any and maybe next year or the year after that um so that's all I really have to say about that any questions well I want to thank you for your persistence and your feeling that this is important um issue because it is and you know Chief had alluded to it's a there's a learning curve so you know hopefully next year we can learn from this year and move forward and with your help um I appreciate your you putting the time into it commissioner so thank you you're welcome anything else from the Commissioners all right so we want to go home NOP I moved I second all right I say I thank you everyone for your time [Music]