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2015 10 22 WS MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN October 22, 2015 The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday, October 22, 2015, at 5:19 P.M., in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Brandon Capetillo Robert Hoskins David McCartney Chris Presley Mercedes Renteria Terry Sain Stephen DonCarlos Rick Davis Ignacio Ramirez Leticia Brysch Keith Dougherty Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Mayor City Manager City Attorney City Clerk Sergeant at Arms Mayor DonCarlos convened the October 22, 2015, City Council Regular Work Session with a quorum present at 5:19 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Council Member McCartney who arrived at 5:33 P.M. 1. DISCUSSIONS a. Fire Chief Shon Blake presented the Council with an overview of the future of the Baytown Fire and EMS Department. Chief Blake stated that they are looking at bonds to provide upgrades to Fire Station 1, Fire Station 2, and the Fire Administration Building, as well as, to complete the training field. He stated that they will receive the ladder tower it in January and will start off with staffing it with operators then staff according to the allocations. In further discussion of staffing, City Manager Davis stated that they've discussed dedicating an engineer to each shift on the ladder truck of Station 7, which will promote three (3) staff persons to engineer status further leaving the same number of vacancies in the organization that will be subsequently staffed accordingly. In regards to the EMS division, Assistant Chief of EMS, Dana Dalbey stated that this past year they've had an increase in call volume and their average response time rate is below where it should be due to the resource allocations for response capability units. He stated that a fourth ambulance was purchased at the beginning of the year that operates 24 hours a day and that the current staffing for four (4) ambulances are in three (3) shifts with eight (8) medics per shift. He City Council Work Session Regular Meeting Minutes October 22, 2015 Page 2 of 3 stated that there are 31 total paramedics with 21 being credentialed paramedics, four (4) training in the field (a four month process), and six (6) completing paramedic training which will start credentialing process in December. He stated that as there are seventeen Firefighter /EMT's that are required to obtain paramedic certification within three (3) years of being hired per their contract and there also being a need for one (1) extra ambulance which requires twelve (12) paramedics per shift one of the short term goals is to hold two (2) paramedic classes within the next two (2) years which will increase staffing to 48 paramedics and moving forward they would only hire paramedics through a possible $10,000 incentive. He further stated that another short term goal is to fill the required paramedic positions which helps meet NFPA ALS response time benchmarks and allows them to begin a Paramedic Engine Company Program that requires two (2) paramedics per engine. He stated that their long term goal includes incorporating a Community Para- medicine Program (CP) which allows them to provide advanced community paramedic training, drive non - transport vehicles, have a non - emergency dispatch line and CAD module, and build relationships with other health care entities. Assistant Chief Dalbey stated that in the past year they received a little over 10,500 calls and had a 20% increase in call volume over the last three (3) years. He stated that their national state wide average response time rate within nine (9) minutes or less 90% of the time is about 80% which is below where it should be and is due to the resource allocations for response capability units. He stated that they average 29 calls per day with an average response time of 6.50 minutes /seconds but that their goal is to meet ALS requirement of four (4) minutes or less for response time. He stated that of the 10,500 calls from last year about 7,000 were billable calls totaling over $4 million with approximately $1.8 million being collected. Additionally, he stated that their collection rate for 911 services is about 67% which is above the national standard. Council Member Sain inquired if San Jacinto is currently the only place to transport. Assistant Chief Dalbey stated that a part B triage can only transport to the closest emergency room facility unless treatment cannot be done at that facility. Council Member Capetillo inquired if ambulance staff can tell a person that they don't need emergency transportation to the emergency room if upon arrival it is determined that the person is not in an emergency condition and if there was something in place in the event that upon arrival someone refuses service. Assistant Chief Dalbey stated that although they can make the call they don't encourage telling someone that they don't need emergency transportation because of the liability issue and if someone refuses emergency transportation staff advises the patient of the risk of refusal then have the patient provide their signature of the refusal of transportation. Council Member McCartney inquired as to why an ambulance and fire truck are dispatched out, instead of only an ambulance, to a location in a case where someone repeatedly calls for ambulance services and there is no emergency situation. Assistant Chief Dalbey stated that the current CAD system does not allow for built in determinacy of the nature of the call which would serve as a directory as to what should be dispatched out. He further stated that the Emergency Medical Dispatching (EMD) has an in depth listing to assist with the dispatching determinacy and they've been investigating into this system. Deputy City Manager Bottoms City Council Work Session Regular Meeting Minutes October 22, 2015 Page 3 of 3 stated that the EMD system was budgeted for last year and has been rolled over to this year but is in the process of developing staff to be able to implement it. In further explanation, Assistant Chief Dalbey stated that the EMD system requires the communications operator to be more engaged in the call and therefore will be on the phone line longer assisting the caller. b. Police Chief Keith Dougherty will present the Council with an overview of the future of the Baytown Police Department. Chief Keith Dougherty stated that according to the Census Bureau Baytown's population has increased from 71,802 in 2010 to 76,127 in 2014, which increases the need for police officers. He stated that although there was a deduction in the number of crimes reported some patterns tend to reverse themselves therefore they are proposing for one (1) additional Lieutenant to supervise the Special Operations Unit, and four (4) additional detectives for the Investigations Bureau. He stated that they desire to create a Traffic Unit of trained Accident Investigators consisting of two (2) Sergeants and fifteen (15) Officers that can provide 24 hour coverage, 7 days a week. He stated that the accident investigators will also specialize in DWI enforcement and work in conjunction with the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit (CVE) in which they will also need two (2) additional CVE officers to address the increase in commercial traffic. He stated that they want to have a full time Police Academy by adding two (2) additional training officers who will assist with providing adequate trainings for officers of Baytown and two (2) additional training officers to maintain currently required training levels for the officers, as well as, students of the surrounding agencies. Mayor DonCarlos inquired as it relates to capital, if there was somewhere to house the academy now. In response to Mayor DonCarlos's inquiry, Chief Dougherty stated that the Fire Administration facility would be the ideal place for the academy if it becomes available. Chief Dougherty stated that they would like to expand the training building and add two (2) officers for code enforcement and apartment property crime abatement to support the efforts to implement a conscientious program in the complex initiative and beautification. He stated that with the constant changes being made in technology and the demand for public information they propose to add one (1) IT Specialist and one (1) Open Records Specialist. Additionally, he stated that they currently have 167 Officers and 51 Civilian Support Personnel and the expansion would bring the total to 197 Officers and 53 Civilian Support Personnel. 2. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor DonCarlos adjourned the October 22, 2015, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:03 P.M. Leticia Brysch, City Clerk-) City of Baytown gAYiOK,N �N N � � ® F OF CEP