1 00:00:00,140 --> 00:00:09,860 Okay, I'm going to call the meeting to order for September 22nd, 2026, please do a roll call. 2 00:00:10,180 --> 00:00:10,980 On some number Welsh. 3 00:00:12,380 --> 00:00:13,520 Council Member Gerola. 4 00:00:14,380 --> 00:00:15,180 Council Member West. 5 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:16,740 Council Member Edward. 6 00:00:16,940 --> 00:00:17,020 Here. 7 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:18,480 Council Member Engstrom. 8 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:19,240 Here. 9 00:00:20,780 --> 00:00:22,220 Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. 10 00:00:24,990 --> 00:00:29,010 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. 11 00:00:36,230 --> 00:00:36,970 All 12 00:00:39,150 --> 00:00:56,650 right, welcome everybody here. And on TV land, welcome to our city council meeting. I'm going to start right away with item 2A approval of the minutes. However, there's been a request by staff. 13 00:00:56,650 --> 00:01:02,070 Oh, sorry. Sorry. Approval of the minutes. I'm trust everybody. I had a chance to look over the minutes. 14 00:01:03,630 --> 00:01:05,390 Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? 15 00:01:06,110 --> 00:01:06,830 So moved. 16 00:01:07,590 --> 00:01:08,210 Is there a second? 17 00:01:09,370 --> 00:01:09,810 Any discussion? 18 00:01:11,370 --> 00:01:11,870 All in favor? 19 00:01:12,510 --> 00:01:12,770 Aye. 20 00:01:13,530 --> 00:01:14,130 Any opposed? 21 00:01:15,150 --> 00:01:15,630 All right. 22 00:01:16,230 --> 00:01:18,490 The minutes for September 8th have been approved. 23 00:01:19,170 --> 00:01:26,630 Item 2b minutes of the city council housing and redevelopment authority joint work session on September 15th, 24 00:01:26,630 --> 00:01:29,030 Do I have a motion to approve? 25 00:01:30,230 --> 00:01:31,210 So second. 26 00:01:32,490 --> 00:01:33,490 All in favor? 27 00:01:33,770 --> 00:01:33,930 Aye. 28 00:01:34,270 --> 00:01:34,410 Any? 29 00:01:35,910 --> 00:01:36,870 All right. 30 00:01:37,970 --> 00:01:38,510 It passes. 31 00:01:40,290 --> 00:01:42,170 Item three, adopt the agenda. 32 00:01:42,770 --> 00:01:47,690 Now there has been a request by staff to add a closed session towards the end of the meeting 33 00:01:47,690 --> 00:01:52,750 to discuss active litigation with the council related to a fire service contract 34 00:01:52,750 --> 00:01:54,630 dispute with white bear township. 35 00:01:54,630 --> 00:01:58,410 I'd ask for a motion to approve the agenda as amended. 36 00:01:59,190 --> 00:01:59,810 So moved. 37 00:01:59,810 --> 00:02:00,190 Second. 38 00:02:00,510 --> 00:02:01,570 Any discussion? 39 00:02:01,950 --> 00:02:02,350 Exactly. 40 00:02:02,570 --> 00:02:04,950 Where do you want to put that topic on the agenda? 41 00:02:06,090 --> 00:02:09,350 I am going to move it after item 10. 42 00:02:09,870 --> 00:02:11,030 Communications from the City Manager. 43 00:02:11,370 --> 00:02:11,950 Thank you. 44 00:02:13,790 --> 00:02:14,170 Second. 45 00:02:15,870 --> 00:02:16,410 All in favor? 46 00:02:16,930 --> 00:02:16,990 Aye. 47 00:02:17,310 --> 00:02:17,930 Any opposed? 48 00:02:19,030 --> 00:02:19,310 All right. 49 00:02:19,710 --> 00:02:21,510 The agenda is adopted. 50 00:02:21,510 --> 00:02:31,290 The consent agenda, I hope everybody had a chance to look that over and I accept a motion to approve the consent agenda. 51 00:02:32,310 --> 00:02:33,010 It's a move. 52 00:02:34,810 --> 00:02:35,470 Any discussion? 53 00:02:36,870 --> 00:02:37,590 All in favor? 54 00:02:38,670 --> 00:02:39,370 Any opposed? 55 00:02:40,150 --> 00:02:40,370 Okay. 56 00:02:40,730 --> 00:02:42,310 This consent agenda passes. 57 00:02:43,330 --> 00:02:43,770 All right. 58 00:02:44,010 --> 00:02:44,970 Item five. 59 00:02:45,730 --> 00:02:45,750 Aye. 60 00:02:45,750 --> 00:02:46,930 Visitors in presentation. 61 00:02:46,930 --> 00:02:57,250 It is firefighter appreciation month and I have a proclamation and we're also going to be hearing from the fire department with their biennial report. 62 00:02:57,810 --> 00:03:01,350 Do you want me to read the proclamation? I will read the proclamation first. 63 00:03:04,460 --> 00:03:15,640 Whereas fire prevention month is recognized each year in October to raise fire safety awareness to educate families, students, and communities across the United States. 64 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:22,700 And, whereas firefighters follow a long line of tradition and honor that inspires them 65 00:03:22,700 --> 00:03:26,600 to help colleagues, neighbors, and strangers alike. 66 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:32,140 And, whereas at a moment's notice, firefighters are quick to respond 67 00:03:32,140 --> 00:03:38,620 to uncertain situations to mitigate danger in order to protect individuals, families, 68 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,000 and the economic being of our community. 69 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:53,840 And whereas the demands of firefighting are accompanied by both personal and physical tools that all firefighters knowingly accept while risking their lives to protect the lives of others. 70 00:03:54,680 --> 00:04:06,780 Whereas the White Barrel League Fire Department is committed to saving lives and property within the communities that we serve through prevention, preparedness, emergency response and investigation. 71 00:04:06,780 --> 00:04:12,660 Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Mary Niklaski, mayer of City of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, 72 00:04:13,140 --> 00:04:18,940 do hereby proclaim October of 2026 as Firefighter Appreciation Month. 73 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:27,820 All right. 74 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:33,760 And Chief Peterson is here to give his biennial report on behalf of the Fire Department. 75 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:34,680 Thank you, Mayor. 76 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:35,540 Thank you, Mayor. 77 00:04:36,260 --> 00:04:40,060 And the Klauski and members, Council members, sorry, just go by out of town. 78 00:04:40,500 --> 00:04:41,840 So, I'm trying to warm up to this. 79 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:43,800 We've had another busy year. 80 00:04:43,900 --> 00:04:46,640 I'm going to have a brief presentation for all of you 81 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,720 and be available for any questions after that. 82 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:54,060 So just so the public is aware, I do this every time. 83 00:04:54,380 --> 00:04:56,780 So we cover the city white bear lake, township, 84 00:04:56,940 --> 00:04:59,700 Delwood, Berchwood, John Lake, it's about 35 square miles. 85 00:04:59,860 --> 00:05:03,240 It's a large area and about 40,000ish people, 86 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:04,740 including residents and visitors. 87 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:07,980 So it's a lot of responsibility on our part. 88 00:05:08,280 --> 00:05:11,220 From last year, our call volume continues to increase. 89 00:05:11,220 --> 00:05:16,360 not as dramatic as last year was, but it does continue to increase the difference. 90 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:21,080 This year is, we haven't had any major storms that I really added a whole lot of calls. 91 00:05:21,100 --> 00:05:27,760 So this is more of a base call volume of day to day medical calls, fire calls, and it continues 92 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:28,400 to go up. 93 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,140 So it will be close to another record setting year. 94 00:05:31,260 --> 00:05:35,500 We'll see what happens last year where just shy of that, so we'll see. 95 00:05:35,980 --> 00:05:40,320 Our staffing consists of three chief officers, all of us are full time on the chief. 96 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:45,420 of two assistant chiefs, one administrative assistant, who is going to be new to our department, 97 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:53,160 Connie served for almost 42 years, and she retired about a month ago now, it's going by fast. 98 00:05:53,820 --> 00:05:58,580 And so we're in the process of hiring a new fire administrative assistant at this time. 99 00:05:58,840 --> 00:06:03,320 We have three full-time captains that are both sort of that role as firefighters and then 100 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:09,580 and then 15 full-time firefighter paramedics and three full-time firefighter EMTs. 101 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:19,000 There's seven full-time firefighters on shift, and so we have a crew of 21 overall, and then they work 24 hours shifts. 102 00:06:19,060 --> 00:06:26,120 Aveship, B-shift, and C-shift, and that's on a rotational basis, so when they're here, they work some pretty long hours. 103 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:33,020 Our part-time staffing is a pretty consistent now, so we have one part-time captain, the EMT, 104 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:38,500 one part-time captain, Lieutenant, EMT, and then five part-time firefighter, EMTs. 105 00:06:39,660 --> 00:06:41,980 So that is a difference of one since last year. 106 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,420 I know that there's a lot of conversation. 107 00:06:45,740 --> 00:06:49,600 There's a lot of people that want to know what happened on that fatal fire earlier this year. 108 00:06:49,820 --> 00:06:53,120 Obviously there's a very tragic fire that took place on March 21st, 109 00:06:53,120 --> 00:07:00,080 And I wanted everybody to know that we planned the State Fire Marshall's lead investigative agency on this. 110 00:07:00,180 --> 00:07:02,340 We've been involved with them throughout the process. 111 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,560 From the day it happened up until now. 112 00:07:06,380 --> 00:07:09,280 And there's a lot of other agencies that have been involved in this. 113 00:07:10,180 --> 00:07:15,000 But we are going to have a press conference scheduled for 11 a.m. 114 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:22,760 On Thursday, in the morning, to address the public and in state what the cause of the fire was. 115 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:24,900 So it'll be good to have that done. 116 00:07:25,340 --> 00:07:28,040 This has been for our little city. 117 00:07:28,740 --> 00:07:29,280 There are people from... 118 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:37,660 Los Angeles that approached us, wondering because they were aware of it and they said, this is a big deal, now a one this happened. 119 00:07:38,540 --> 00:07:47,460 And so it gives you some idea of the media reach there is today where everybody across this country knows what's going on in their paying attention. 120 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:59,880 So it'll be good to have this to get past that stage and recognize everybody that what happened that day it'll be good to be done with that. 121 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:03,600 So it's very sad, it's a very tragic event. 122 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:07,360 So worst event in the history of our 38 years of existence. 123 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,760 And so it was a bad day. 124 00:08:13,300 --> 00:08:16,280 And so we're glad that we're going to be able to add 125 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:18,500 a little bit of closure to that. 126 00:08:19,620 --> 00:08:22,440 All right, moving on to more uplifting things. 127 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:25,080 So we've had a busy year of training. 128 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,460 Earlier this year, we hosted all has an incident management 129 00:08:28,460 --> 00:08:33,980 training. I serve as the emergency manager for the city. And so I am part of this, what's 130 00:08:33,980 --> 00:08:42,260 called all hazard. Min one team, which is a bunch of professionals that collaborate together 131 00:08:42,260 --> 00:08:47,560 to work on emergencies and when something happens, we get called up and then we'll, as we're 132 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:53,100 available, deploy to an emergency and kind of work together. We practice on a regular basis for 133 00:08:53,100 --> 00:08:59,080 large-scale emergencies and all the paperwork and the logistics and operations and all the 134 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:03,840 different things so that we continue to have some decent skills so that when the real thing 135 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:10,980 happens, we're able to deploy. And so we hosted that earlier this year, it's a Donut Station 2. 136 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:17,500 We also had a very large-scale water rescue drill. Early this spring was early May. It was still cold 137 00:09:17,500 --> 00:09:22,540 and rainy that day. And so the rescue swimmers were hoping the water would be a little bit warmer 138 00:09:22,540 --> 00:09:23,640 but it really wasn't. 139 00:09:24,540 --> 00:09:26,540 So it was a pretty, pretty chilly day 140 00:09:26,540 --> 00:09:28,500 and followed a lot of agencies, 141 00:09:29,020 --> 00:09:31,000 a lot of planning went into this. 142 00:09:31,180 --> 00:09:33,380 It was basically an all day event. 143 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,940 And so that learned a lot of things, 144 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:39,680 here are the different agencies I'm not going to read them to you, 145 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:42,040 but you can see there are all the different entities 146 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:42,940 that work together, 147 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:45,960 figured out some things that, you know, 148 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:48,900 from after-action reports of incidents we've had previously, 149 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:51,700 and we're able to dress that within this training, 150 00:09:51,700 --> 00:09:58,260 So moving forward, we're going to have better operations as we can collectively get together. 151 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:06,360 You can imagine with all these different agencies, all different radio channels and the different ways of doing things and so on. 152 00:10:06,420 --> 00:10:11,320 So this is a really great opportunity that we let the charge on to coordinate it better. 153 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,480 So we're much better prepared than we were before. 154 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:19,400 They also had active shooter training this summer, working with our police partners. 155 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:21,720 This was an even larger drill. 156 00:10:23,020 --> 00:10:28,180 And if I counted right, it's about 21 agencies that were involved in this. 157 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:34,340 And so it was a very hot day when they took the thermal imagery, they pointed out the pavement 158 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:39,580 and right in front of where everybody's standing there and it was 120 degrees on the pavement. 159 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:45,240 And so the school tried to get their conditioning working and got it all the way down to 85. 160 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:52,260 at one point. So it was, it was very sweaty. Lots of volunteers, lots and lots of agencies that 161 00:10:52,260 --> 00:10:59,920 were involved in this, both other fire departments, private EMS, and other police departments 162 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:05,760 all work together. One of the unique things that they did is they had the Anoka SWAT team come in 163 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:12,340 as the bad guys. And so that was a really interesting dynamic because they knew what the police 164 00:11:12,340 --> 00:11:15,980 officers we're going to do and how they were going to approach it, and they weren't very 165 00:11:15,980 --> 00:11:21,760 nice, but it made it very challenging for everybody, and there were a lot of let-lips, and 166 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:28,460 there were a lot of lessons learned from that. So, quite a list of players there. So, again, 167 00:11:28,860 --> 00:11:35,180 foreign bathroom action report, overall things went well, and it really helped us all come together 168 00:11:35,180 --> 00:11:41,540 and work better together. So, it did ever happen, hopefully not, but it did ever does, 169 00:11:41,540 --> 00:11:44,280 So we're going to be better prepared for it. 170 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,520 All right, so there's a lot of people going to listen. 171 00:11:48,860 --> 00:11:51,300 All right, we also held our second Citizens 172 00:11:51,300 --> 00:11:52,000 Fire Academy. 173 00:11:52,300 --> 00:11:55,120 We held the first one in many years ago, 174 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:57,220 they used to hold them and then they stopped for a while, 175 00:11:57,300 --> 00:11:59,140 and then we got back to it again last year. 176 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:00,880 They were only four students last year. 177 00:12:01,140 --> 00:12:02,040 This year we had 22. 178 00:12:03,060 --> 00:12:05,420 And so it took us a little off-car, like, holy cow. 179 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:07,120 Like we did four. 180 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:09,600 We were hoping from 12, we had 22. 181 00:12:10,540 --> 00:12:12,140 And so it was really good. 182 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:13,900 They are very supportive of that. 183 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:16,100 Spend about eight weeks with them. 184 00:12:16,420 --> 00:12:20,180 Many of them weren't up to our interested in a lot 185 00:12:20,180 --> 00:12:21,160 of the physical activities. 186 00:12:21,260 --> 00:12:23,640 So we did a lot of talking, a lot of demoing. 187 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:28,720 But for the few that did, they really enjoyed car extrication, 188 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:30,420 which is why I put that picture up there. 189 00:12:30,620 --> 00:12:32,080 It's always a hit with everybody. 190 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,080 And so they get to learn a lot about what we do. 191 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:36,780 And they very much appreciate it. 192 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:44,500 This year, at the state fair, the first Friday, the state fair is all we governers fire 193 00:12:44,500 --> 00:12:51,100 prevention day and they have an annual explore competition and many, for many, the post 194 00:12:51,100 --> 00:12:56,680 has been around for over 20 years now and for a while they didn't want to compete by 195 00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:01,320 kept encouraging them to compete and so they did again this year, which I was pretty happy 196 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:01,780 out. 197 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:06,560 So the four students in the middle there, David Peterson, Captain Peterson, a left and an 198 00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:13,280 a divine cheese on the right, they're kind of their two lead explorers, advisors, and they did 199 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:14,120 a phenomenal job. 200 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:15,800 There was just a four of them. 201 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:20,700 They had a whole bunch of different scenarios they had to do, and would just four of them. 202 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:21,660 They never got a break. 203 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:29,020 So other posts had two to three times in a month of people, and out of 12 posts, they finished 204 00:13:29,020 --> 00:13:33,780 fifth, which was remarkable, considering this is the first time competing, and the fact 205 00:13:33,780 --> 00:13:34,740 only had four of them. 206 00:13:34,740 --> 00:13:36,860 So they did a great job, they had a lot of fun. 207 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,580 I think they're pretty excited to do it again next year. 208 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:42,340 That was it did some live fire training recently. 209 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:45,600 So some of the people in the picture, you might recognize, 210 00:13:45,820 --> 00:13:46,440 they might not. 211 00:13:46,540 --> 00:13:48,640 They're not really used to seeing them in all this curve. 212 00:13:49,340 --> 00:13:52,820 But two Saturdays ago now, we did this live fire training 213 00:13:52,820 --> 00:13:54,280 in a house in Delwood. 214 00:13:54,340 --> 00:13:58,040 It was a old vacant farm house as you can see in the background there. 215 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:01,220 And at the beginning of it and some of you have done this already, 216 00:14:01,220 --> 00:14:07,760 is we did the live fire demo so we brought everybody in so they could see what that experience was like and 217 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:14,860 kind of see feel and hear what it's like while keeping them safe and then get everybody back out. 218 00:14:15,260 --> 00:14:18,660 So that was all the participants and here is a list of everybody. 219 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,360 So our two council members here, council member Wes, council member Garola, 220 00:14:23,460 --> 00:14:25,500 we're from the city of Waiber Lake. 221 00:14:25,820 --> 00:14:27,540 The mayor of Berchwood was there. 222 00:14:27,540 --> 00:14:35,700 Mayor of Jambalake was there, councilmember was there, and then councilmember from tellwood was also there, and then 223 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:42,940 One of the doctors from Regency and my supervisor medical direction for us was also there, so it was a it was a great time 224 00:14:42,940 --> 00:14:53,240 By everybody, we had a lot of fun with it and hopefully they enjoyed it. I know some of them were a little bit scared, but that's okay. It is kind of scary, especially in the first time, but 225 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,500 They also felt safe that we were there with them, which is a good thing. 226 00:14:58,260 --> 00:14:59,980 If I mentioned week, it's coming up here and I- 227 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:05,660 October. The first week, October. This year's theme is to charge into fire safety, and what this 228 00:15:05,660 --> 00:15:12,340 really has to do with. And last year was a similar theme about electric appliances and 229 00:15:12,340 --> 00:15:19,320 electric vehicles. It continues as all these products continue to grow and grow and grow. It's part 230 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:24,740 of our world. And for the most part, they work fantastic all the time. But when they go wrong, things 231 00:15:24,740 --> 00:15:30,480 go wrong in a hurry and oftentimes it's things that the public should be aware of that they 232 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:37,340 can do properly to avoid any issues with them. And so I just listed them here real quickly. 233 00:15:37,940 --> 00:15:43,440 So to charge any tools, are there any basically any bigger batteries? Make sure that you charge 234 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:49,440 them outside, or I would in the garage, you're minimally if it's too cold. In the reason for that 235 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:56,420 is because there's so much energy stored inside of them that if they were to do what's called thermal runaway 236 00:15:56,420 --> 00:16:01,260 where they start to heat themselves up and then they just go and go and go and it gets worse and worse and worse. 237 00:16:02,380 --> 00:16:07,120 Then that at least it's outside of your home, so that's what we're encouraging everybody to do. 238 00:16:07,740 --> 00:16:13,460 Don't use cheap chargers, so you can easily go online, get a cheap core, get a cheap charger, 239 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:18,460 don't do that. Make sure you buy the one that was designed for the product that it came with 240 00:16:18,460 --> 00:16:22,160 And because that is oftentimes where where things go wrong, 241 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,880 if it gets too hot, stop using it, stop charging it, 242 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:27,280 put it somewhere else. 243 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:29,760 Once it's fully charged, unplug it. 244 00:16:30,100 --> 00:16:32,720 And most devices kind of self-regulate themselves. 245 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,440 You know, we all have laptops that are plugged in all the time. 246 00:16:35,820 --> 00:16:37,580 But a lot of the mobility devices, 247 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:40,400 they don't necessarily have the same quality standards. 248 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:43,820 So once it's charged, unplug it, 249 00:16:43,820 --> 00:16:46,780 and then don't charge things on soft surfaces. 250 00:16:46,780 --> 00:16:54,540 You know what do you mean by that? Well, don't charge your any device like on bedding or pillows or anything like that. 251 00:16:54,640 --> 00:17:01,240 The reason is is that just acts like an insulation brain kit and it just gets the device hotter and hotter and hotter 252 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:09,600 and versus if you put it on a hard surface like this table, it'll dissipate and kind of be absorbed without radiating the heat back into the battery. 253 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:12,720 So, there's some things to be aware of there. 254 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:17,040 Our open house is coming up on October 6th down at the South Station. 255 00:17:18,100 --> 00:17:20,780 I mean, so we invite everybody to come to that starting at 6 o'clock. 256 00:17:21,420 --> 00:17:22,260 It should be a lot of fun. 257 00:17:22,380 --> 00:17:23,480 It is every year. 258 00:17:24,100 --> 00:17:27,480 And then the last thing I went into mentioned so earlier this year, 259 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:30,980 the council approved the acceptance of a donation. 260 00:17:31,740 --> 00:17:35,360 And so, Katie was one of the major manufacturers of 261 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:41,820 smoke alarms and CO alarms, they gave us 1,500 smoke alarms and CO alarms for free, which is 262 00:17:41,820 --> 00:17:48,620 phenomenal. And we are going to give them out to the public starting at the open house. 263 00:17:49,180 --> 00:17:55,440 And so, anybody that shows up will have them available. It's a huge pallet for them. And we'll 264 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:59,360 make sure they're available and get them out to the public where they're going to be used and hopefully 265 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:04,860 save a life. And they have a battery operated, so there's no wiring involved, and they have 266 00:18:04,860 --> 00:18:10,500 your bad real life, so it works out pretty good. So that's what I have for you tonight. 267 00:18:11,140 --> 00:18:17,200 I'll stand for any questions. Excellent. Thank you. I'm wondering if people can't make it 268 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:22,740 to the open house, how could they get the smoke detector if they need one? Can they just come to the 269 00:18:22,740 --> 00:18:31,120 see hall or the police and fire entrance and ask for one? We can get one from. Excellent. 270 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:35,580 excellent. Does anybody else have any questions or comments? 271 00:18:39,610 --> 00:18:43,710 Mayor, I remember the counselors have a quick comment. In addition to all of this stuff, 272 00:18:43,890 --> 00:18:51,310 and leading the department, Chief is also the president of the Minnesota Chief's Association, 273 00:18:51,590 --> 00:18:53,590 I almost said police, that would be terrible. 274 00:18:56,210 --> 00:18:59,370 So I just wanted to point that out that he's also 275 00:18:59,370 --> 00:19:03,950 doing all of this, but he's also been kind of the leader in the state last year and that 276 00:19:03,950 --> 00:19:08,390 So good job all that and you're doing a good job juggling it all. Thank you. 277 00:19:08,390 --> 00:19:16,990 Excellent. I also have another question about the Citizens Fire Academy for the public. I'm wondering if anyone can do this and how they find out about it. 278 00:19:17,890 --> 00:19:22,330 So yes, anybody can do it and we'll post it again in early spring. 279 00:19:23,210 --> 00:19:30,850 And we typically start at the beginning of April is when we start it. So we'll get it out a few weeks ahead of time and then they can sign up. 280 00:19:30,850 --> 00:19:34,470 have a form that they can fill out and sign up and we'll get them into class. 281 00:19:34,790 --> 00:19:38,570 And that's posted on social media and maybe website or website. 282 00:19:41,230 --> 00:19:46,530 And thank you for all you do and Council Member West. 283 00:19:47,450 --> 00:19:47,590 Yep. 284 00:19:47,790 --> 00:19:48,790 Thank you, Mayor. 285 00:19:50,390 --> 00:19:59,370 Chief, I just, I wanted to express my appreciation for all the work that you and all of the 286 00:19:59,370 --> 00:20:08,750 people at the fire department do, I mean, I have always appreciated your work, but doing 287 00:20:08,750 --> 00:20:18,990 the live fire training gives a whole another perspective on what it's like in just a very 288 00:20:18,990 --> 00:20:26,970 itty, bitty, little period of time, what it's like to wear all the things that you have 289 00:20:26,970 --> 00:20:35,110 to wear. I mean, 50 to 60 pounds minimum and this is better than it was years ago as you 290 00:20:35,110 --> 00:20:44,530 were explaining along with all of the things that you have to put to keep all parts of your body 291 00:20:44,530 --> 00:20:49,270 safe. The boots are incredibly heavy. 292 00:20:53,090 --> 00:20:58,030 And being in there when the fire is going up the wall 293 00:20:58,030 --> 00:21:05,630 and onto the ceiling is something way to extraordinary and yeah, a little scary. I did feel 294 00:21:05,630 --> 00:21:13,350 safe but also was scared. And not being able to see also is like like I didn't quite get, 295 00:21:13,630 --> 00:21:21,070 I mean I should have because you know smoke. But I have a different sense of urgency for 296 00:21:22,090 --> 00:21:28,690 what a plan for the safety for my family and getting out of the house and how quick I have to do that 297 00:21:28,690 --> 00:21:36,450 is after that experience. So I just I appreciate everything that you do and you know you're always 298 00:21:36,450 --> 00:21:43,870 just really willing to get out in the community and talk to people and do what needs to be done. 299 00:21:44,570 --> 00:21:46,410 Thank you very much. Thank you. 300 00:21:48,230 --> 00:21:55,150 Consmember Ed Burke. Thank you, Mayor. Chief, touching based on a couple of data points. 301 00:21:56,210 --> 00:22:03,430 You said we've got a 2% increase in total calls, is that shifting the share, the relative 302 00:22:03,430 --> 00:22:11,010 proportion between fire calls and EMT, medical moves, that type of thing, what's happening 303 00:22:11,010 --> 00:22:14,450 with the dynamics of what kinds of calls we're getting. 304 00:22:14,890 --> 00:22:23,350 And is there any impact on our response time, which is already really good, but what's that 305 00:22:24,490 --> 00:22:29,970 So, no, the change is still about 28 percent, 70 percent. 306 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:38,500 2% in that range, split between fire and EMS. That remains almost exactly the same from your year to year. It might 307 00:22:38,500 --> 00:22:43,820 shift a little bit here and there, but for the most part, it's remains the same. In terms of 308 00:22:43,820 --> 00:22:51,540 response, just as the call volume continues to go up, availability of the crews is what 309 00:22:51,540 --> 00:22:55,100 becomes the issue, which then affects the response time. 310 00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,960 There are periods of time where there 311 00:22:59,960 --> 00:23:06,420 not much going on but then unfortunately things change and there's lot going on and so we have 312 00:23:06,420 --> 00:23:13,040 no way we can see overall trends of when that is which is usually about eight nine o'clock 313 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:20,540 in the morning to about 10 o'clock at night it's fairly busy and then it you know bleeds off a little 314 00:23:20,540 --> 00:23:25,500 bit and then it gets a little busy after bars closed and then it slows down a little bit and then 315 00:23:25,500 --> 00:23:27,140 start that cycle over again. 316 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:29,960 And so generically, that is pretty much the same. 317 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,820 But those stretches in between those times 318 00:23:33,820 --> 00:23:37,000 are becoming one more dense in terms of call volume. 319 00:23:37,060 --> 00:23:39,120 There's more and more of it. 320 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:41,360 Thank you. 321 00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:44,280 So growing up in this community, 322 00:23:46,020 --> 00:23:49,580 we had the old fashion model of mostly a pedo 323 00:23:49,580 --> 00:23:53,300 and called volunteer force with a smaller number, 324 00:23:53,300 --> 00:24:02,100 smaller number of full-time or, you know, totally available staff. And like many others, 325 00:24:02,340 --> 00:24:08,680 we found that that model started breaking down 10, 15, 20 years ago and we've been shifting 326 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:16,340 intentionally over the last 10 years to more of a staffed, fully staffed call, less reliance 327 00:24:16,340 --> 00:24:17,900 on paid on call. 328 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:24,000 We have, so you mentioned we have seven employees per shift, 329 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,180 manning, I'm assuming, two stations at our last 330 00:24:28,180 --> 00:24:31,580 council meeting for the coming year, and this builds on 331 00:24:31,580 --> 00:24:34,120 other conversations we've had over the last couple of years. 332 00:24:34,300 --> 00:24:39,340 We've been saying, we think that there is a reason for us 333 00:24:39,340 --> 00:24:46,320 to continuing making this transition until we get to, in the 334 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:55,400 staff to staff our two stations for the full full 24 hour period. So that would be 335 00:24:55,400 --> 00:25:04,320 eight and we're at seven now. Can you just talk a little bit about what's the driving force? 336 00:25:04,380 --> 00:25:10,380 What makes eight per shift the right number or a reasonable or a better number? 337 00:25:11,700 --> 00:25:18,200 And can you talk about what the, what the, what the residents would see if we continue in this path? 338 00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:25,980 I mean theoretically we're on a path to do this over several years, one or two additional staff members for a year for the next couple of three years, 339 00:25:26,060 --> 00:25:26,300 etc. 340 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:35,100 Until we get to our 24, but what's the dynamic of that look like, because as some of us said, 341 00:25:35,100 --> 00:25:40,860 we're considering and thinking about how do we space out this decision? How do we 342 00:25:40,860 --> 00:25:44,400 bring staffing on in a reasonable way, 343 00:25:46,910 --> 00:25:49,590 educate or remind what's going on in that 344 00:25:49,590 --> 00:25:55,810 whole conversation? Sure. So I'll start with the question you asked, so what the customer 345 00:25:55,810 --> 00:26:01,650 was, we'll see, and so which is what we're here for, you know, we're here to serve the people. 346 00:26:01,650 --> 00:26:09,210 And the main thing that they'll see is our ability to handle multiple calls on a regular basis. 347 00:26:10,010 --> 00:26:14,950 There are still times that we are out of staff in the area. 348 00:26:15,610 --> 00:26:20,830 Doesn't happen a whole lot, but once in a while, there's nobody left in our department. 349 00:26:21,170 --> 00:26:22,290 They're all out on calls. 350 00:26:22,930 --> 00:26:26,530 And so we kind of cross our fingers right now when that happens. 351 00:26:27,110 --> 00:26:30,030 Hoping that not another significant call come in. 352 00:26:30,030 --> 00:26:33,710 We can call for help, we can call their agencies, we can do those things. 353 00:26:34,430 --> 00:26:37,930 But the busier we get, the more often that happens. 354 00:26:38,710 --> 00:26:41,250 And so that is part of it. 355 00:26:41,510 --> 00:26:44,830 Another piece of it is safety for the crews themselves. 356 00:26:45,570 --> 00:26:51,850 Being there right now, it is not uncommon for both the ambulance us to be out and then there 357 00:26:51,850 --> 00:26:57,090 be one person on the fire engine and it's a one person trying to do everything, trying to 358 00:26:57,090 --> 00:27:03,290 drive, communicate, watch the CAD, do all these things by themselves, and that isn't an ideal 359 00:27:03,290 --> 00:27:03,950 situation. 360 00:27:05,190 --> 00:27:08,770 And so that isn't entirely an uncommon thing. 361 00:27:09,410 --> 00:27:14,950 And so that that bench strength, if you will, is very, very important, both to the people 362 00:27:14,950 --> 00:27:20,290 that we serve and to the firefighters and their safety to both of those. 363 00:27:21,190 --> 00:27:26,610 And so the ability to, when we get there, is we'll also then be able to better staff the 364 00:27:26,610 --> 00:27:32,150 station, because while the indoor station is busy here, right now we only have two people 365 00:27:32,150 --> 00:27:36,470 out the south station. So as soon as one call comes out in that response area, there are 366 00:27:36,470 --> 00:27:41,610 out of, there's nobody down in that part of the town. And that is just simply a numbers 367 00:27:41,610 --> 00:27:48,570 game where at seven, so we can't split that up evenly. And so that is also part of it. 368 00:27:48,690 --> 00:27:55,530 And so, you know, with all of those factors, overall it will help to address all of those 369 00:27:55,530 --> 00:27:58,330 concerns and ultimately make things better. 370 00:27:58,690 --> 00:28:03,990 When we get a fire, having people there, a number of people there, the two of you were there, 371 00:28:04,130 --> 00:28:06,890 the other day, you saw how many people were involved in that. 372 00:28:07,210 --> 00:28:10,690 And that was kind of a bare minimum to do what we were doing. 373 00:28:11,470 --> 00:28:13,890 And it was a small fire there that were involved in. 374 00:28:13,890 --> 00:28:17,630 You can imagine what it's like when you have a bigger fire. 375 00:28:18,710 --> 00:28:23,590 And so our ability to do all of those things and do them safely is affected by our staff 376 00:28:23,590 --> 00:28:23,990 and all. 377 00:28:25,370 --> 00:28:45,270 So, when we get to 24 at some point, time unknown, what comes after that, does that, is that a stable staffing number for a reasonably foreseeable future or is it immediately obsolete as soon as we get there? 378 00:28:45,270 --> 00:28:53,870 what's the thinking around adequacy? We started this process, I don't know, 10 years ago, 379 00:28:53,950 --> 00:29:01,290 eight years ago, something like that. And I don't have any regrets for any of it, but I'm also 380 00:29:01,290 --> 00:29:07,230 trying to imagine, okay, this is a big shift. Public safety is a big expense for the city. 381 00:29:07,710 --> 00:29:10,590 How do we think about that from a budget standpoint? 382 00:29:11,330 --> 00:29:16,250 You know, I acknowledge that it's a lot for the budget. 383 00:29:16,530 --> 00:29:24,770 You know, it's a big ask I understand that and you know, moving forward with it. 384 00:29:25,170 --> 00:29:28,790 If we get there, if we get to 20, we're just going to be a lot better off for all the things 385 00:29:28,790 --> 00:29:29,390 I explained. 386 00:29:29,890 --> 00:29:34,670 Another dynamic that I didn't bring up yet is we have one firefighter on a medical 387 00:29:34,670 --> 00:29:43,070 Now, we have one that's out for paternal leave now, and they can take up to 12 weeks off, and I think a lot of them will be. 388 00:29:43,890 --> 00:29:43,990 Two? 389 00:29:43,990 --> 00:29:44,670 Two are out. 390 00:29:45,330 --> 00:29:45,530 What? 391 00:29:46,570 --> 00:29:47,850 Soon to be. 392 00:29:49,570 --> 00:29:52,350 And so, yes, there's, and I was going to say that next. 393 00:29:52,530 --> 00:29:55,150 So we believe there's going to be another one very soon. 394 00:29:55,550 --> 00:29:56,370 The due day was today. 395 00:29:58,130 --> 00:29:59,450 Just haven't heard from them yet. 396 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:13,140 So, you know, now we have 21, we're down to 18, and so that you can see how quickly we're affected by that, and if we get an injury, now we're down again. 397 00:30:13,420 --> 00:30:24,780 And so it's, you know, I don't know that forever, you know, it won't need to be addressed, but the, as long as we see slight increases, I think we're going to be okay for a while. 398 00:30:24,780 --> 00:30:31,120 If we have for, and it's not really foreseen, I don't know what would change that, but if 399 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:35,960 suddenly, you know, things get really crazy on the call volume side, then we're going to 400 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:36,360 have issues. 401 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:40,100 But I don't anticipate that, you know, it's an educated guess. 402 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:41,780 I think we'll be good. 403 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:43,700 Thank you. 404 00:30:44,620 --> 00:30:44,880 Mm-hmm. 405 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:46,400 It comes in a big roll. 406 00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:48,140 Yeah. 407 00:30:48,140 --> 00:30:48,920 Thank you. 408 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:52,460 I just had a comment and then question. 409 00:30:53,100 --> 00:30:53,600 I think comment. 410 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:58,320 I appreciate you addressing kind of the call volume and data, and I agree. 411 00:30:58,380 --> 00:31:02,280 I think it can be kind of tricky because you can't schedule an emergency. 412 00:31:02,420 --> 00:31:12,800 I got to participate in fire ops 101 that is hosted by the Union and multiple representatives 413 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:17,980 from cities across the area, can attend and, you know, we put on all the gear and they 414 00:31:17,980 --> 00:31:21,420 have you go up and kind of do these different scenarios and after you've climbed all these 415 00:31:21,420 --> 00:31:26,040 with all this heavy gear that comes from number west and I put on the other day which is heavy 416 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:30,000 just to stand in and they're like okay now go put out this car fire okay now go to this 417 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:36,260 and they're like sometimes that's how it happens back to back to back and I was like oh my gosh 418 00:31:36,260 --> 00:31:41,900 I'm not even hurrying and going and doing you know these things so when you see oh okay it was 419 00:31:41,900 --> 00:31:48,340 a shift and we only had this many calls but if those calls are back to back like I was there 420 00:31:48,340 --> 00:32:06,160 It's hard, and I understand, like the physical, it's so physical, the impact it can have, and when you're having to do those things in that mode, I appreciate it, even though I was very tired and why you're making us do this, I did appreciate it because I said sometimes this is how it is you're going from thing to thing. 421 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:16,820 My kind of main question, I've always been really impressed with all my interactions with the quality of our firefighters, both our full time and part time. 422 00:32:16,820 --> 00:32:20,120 Um, you have lots of experience in the field. 423 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:26,200 I know it changes over time, but I was kind of wondering in your opinion what it's like recruiting 424 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:28,400 right now compared to your prior. 425 00:32:29,820 --> 00:32:36,100 So recruiting was, it's still difficult, but the reason it's difficult is because of competition. 426 00:32:37,140 --> 00:32:41,520 Um, and so for a while there were less and less people interested in the field, 427 00:32:41,860 --> 00:32:44,880 I actually see an uptick and interested in the field now, which is great. 428 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:52,760 There's a lot more students coming through both firefighters and paramedics, and so that is improving, 429 00:32:53,320 --> 00:33:00,760 but we're forever going to be competing, just like the police department, is forever going to be competing with other departments. 430 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:10,780 And so we have a good reputation and people are interested, but that will always be something that will have to keep an eye on. 431 00:33:12,030 --> 00:33:22,010 Thank you. And thank you for your commitment to training other firefighters. I know many firefighters who you have trained or have taken your classes, including my own style. 432 00:33:22,170 --> 00:33:29,210 I think you've done for him. So thank you for all of your dedication as well to not just our department, but the field in general. 433 00:33:29,570 --> 00:33:30,170 That's my pleasure. 434 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:34,740 Any other questions? 435 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:44,880 comments. Okay, thank you so much, Chase, for all you do and for all your firefighters and we're just so appreciative. Thank you. 436 00:33:50,670 --> 00:33:58,850 All right, moving on, item six, public hearings, nothing is scheduled. Unfinished business, nothing is scheduled. 437 00:33:59,630 --> 00:34:04,290 New business, nothing is scheduled, discussion, item nine, nothing scheduled. 438 00:34:05,150 --> 00:34:08,490 Item 10, communications from the City Manager, Miss Crawford. 439 00:34:08,490 --> 00:34:10,570 Thank you, Mayor, members of the council. 440 00:34:11,310 --> 00:34:16,370 I don't have a copy with me and I didn't have time to make slides, but the latest edition 441 00:34:16,370 --> 00:34:22,330 of the newsletter is complete and out in the mail and here copies are here at City Hall. 442 00:34:22,930 --> 00:34:26,490 For anyone who's interested, it's full of, again, really good information. 443 00:34:27,530 --> 00:34:32,430 We kind of publicly launched our mission and vision statement that we, the council and leadership 444 00:34:32,430 --> 00:34:37,890 team came up with, there's the introduction to the new police chief in there and just tons 445 00:34:37,890 --> 00:34:38,810 of good information. 446 00:34:40,050 --> 00:34:46,970 This Saturday is trashed to treasure day, which I think is a white bear holiday with the 447 00:34:46,970 --> 00:34:53,850 township, as well new this year, Badness Heights, joined to be the same day, so that's really 448 00:34:53,850 --> 00:34:54,330 exciting. 449 00:34:54,990 --> 00:35:01,770 And then I just wanted to say there's a lot of work going on on Highway 61 right now, a couple 450 00:35:01,770 --> 00:35:10,290 of different projects that are both mid-DOT and also Ramsey County led, but nonetheless they're 451 00:35:10,290 --> 00:35:10,890 in Weiper Lake. 452 00:35:11,130 --> 00:35:15,310 So we are getting a lot of calls and comments and frustration on them. 453 00:35:15,390 --> 00:35:17,390 I just wanted to thank everybody for their patience. 454 00:35:18,510 --> 00:35:23,030 Hoffman Road at Highway 61 in Weiper Avenue will be closed. 455 00:35:24,170 --> 00:35:30,170 As you're heading southbound, you will not be able to turn West on to Hoffman or 456 00:35:30,170 --> 00:35:37,910 I already can't for the next six weeks, but I just want to say that Kevin 61 is open. 457 00:35:38,490 --> 00:35:39,990 So people should go visit. 458 00:35:40,770 --> 00:35:45,110 Kevin 61, they are open and we're working with Ramsey County to get some signs, just 459 00:35:45,110 --> 00:35:49,910 to acknowledge that that business is still open, but that closure is due to the brusmental 460 00:35:49,910 --> 00:35:54,710 trail construction and we're all feeling that including police and fire, also trying to 461 00:35:54,710 --> 00:35:57,770 get places in a timely manner and we're all backed up. 462 00:35:57,770 --> 00:36:04,470 I understand the frustration but bear with us and I think that's what I have for tonight 463 00:36:04,470 --> 00:36:13,510 Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Does anybody else have any updates or I had a productive coffee and 464 00:36:13,510 --> 00:36:19,590 conversation on Saturday? It was cold and chilly and rainy but we still had some people 465 00:36:19,590 --> 00:36:21,610 up and had some great discussions. 466 00:36:23,050 --> 00:36:28,650 So our next one coming up in October at Podvin. 467 00:36:30,130 --> 00:36:32,970 So all right, anybody else? 468 00:36:35,260 --> 00:36:36,380 OK, council member West. 469 00:36:38,140 --> 00:36:43,360 I attended a Valamo Badness Lake Area Water Management 470 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:48,740 tour project tour this week. 471 00:36:48,740 --> 00:36:52,980 And we went to two different places in Waipur Lake. 472 00:36:54,140 --> 00:36:56,540 One was a curb cut rain garden, 473 00:36:56,540 --> 00:37:02,980 and one was an individual house that had a, 474 00:37:04,500 --> 00:37:10,240 they were able to get some funding through Filamo, 475 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:15,660 and they have changed their yard into like Fescu, 476 00:37:15,660 --> 00:37:22,720 and creeping time instead of, instead of grass and just lots and lots of flowers and 477 00:37:22,720 --> 00:37:28,540 vegetables and it was it was really wonderful to see in person some of the activities 478 00:37:28,540 --> 00:37:29,680 that get completed. 479 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:44,450 So thank you. Thank you for all in did that. Yeah, it's super interesting. All right. All right. So now we need to go into a closed session.