Public Health, Safety & Environment Subcommittee - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Welcome welcome Wednesday, April 9th, 2025 to the Bloomfield Town Council Subcommittee on Public Health, Safety, Environment Committee. Meeting is called to order. I see councelor Oliver, Council Mahan, myself. I believe the only person missing is councelor Cooper. So, I believe we have a quorum. We'll get started at 601. Thank you so much. Rolling right into the agenda. Uh oh, hi Captain. Hi captain. On behalf of the police department, Captain, would you mind giving the update? Yes. Good evening. Thanks, Councelor Lloyd. Let me u share my screen if I may. Hopefully everybody can see that. For the month of March 2025, uh we had a uh an excellent uh month there. We're down 54% overall for our crime statistics. And uh year to date compared to last year, we're down 39%. So, uh, we did had one reported, uh, sexual assault, one reported robbery, two assault, uh, aggravated assaults, no burglaries, 14 larsenies in total, and seven of those were shopliftings, and I'll break it down a little more into detail. Our our robbery was a classified statutoily. Um it was ju four juveniles involved in a physical altercation and uh it was three against one and they took the uh the victim's phone uh as they left the scene um which it was located so I think they just tossed it to try to prevent him from

calling the police and um they were all u apprehended by the officers and referred to the juvenile court system. So all three went to uh juvenile court. The uh unfortunate sexual assault case was a uh DCF referral to us and it was two related juveniles in a physical contact uh situation that occurred in the summer of 2024 and our detective unit is uh investigating that uh further and the two are separated. One is actually living in Florida at this time. The assaults were uh one was a uh also a DCF referral where a 17-year-old victim was burned with hot water by uh the victim's mother which is also under investigation. Um we are um pursuing an arrest in that case and one was a domestic incident where uh the victim was struck in the heat with it in the head with a dinner plate and officers made an arrest on that one on on the scene. So it was not a uh uh it was a superficial uh injury. So the individual was not hospitalized over that. And our lararsenies uh like I said shoplifting from stop and shop Lowe's and the auto parts stores in town to and two arrests were made and the others uh we don't have much to go on. However, we do have some video and if uh uh those individuals can be identified or or pieced together with some other incidents, maybe we can still get arrests out of those. And the others were just various credit card frauds. We're we're seeing a lot of lately. Um not a lot in this month reporting period. And uh others were unrelated lararseny incidents throughout town. couple of uh car parts and uh couple isolated uh incidents where uh um property was

taken. Uh moving on with our personnel reports, um we currently have five uh vacancies now. We um saw the departure of uh Detective Rodriguez on Friday and unfortunately one of our uh trainees uh submitted his resignation prior to completing his field training. So four of those are police officers opening and with Lieutenant Sup's uh departure, we do have one uh lieutenants opening. Our uh recruits that are we have two in the uh New Britain Academy. They're doing well so far. s very early on and we also have two that graduated their academy and they're just starting their uh field training now. So u so far the reports are all all four are doing very well and they're in and they're assigned dut. We do have a promotional list to fill that vacant lieutenant spot and uh that is established. So um it's a standing list and we'll wait for the okay to go ahead with that and the uh now to backfill for that uh because the lieutenant will be made from the sergeants ranks. So we do have a promotional test in process for the sergeants and their oral phase of the uh examination will be this Friday on the 11th. So we will have uh viable candidates to fill back fill that open sergeant spot as well. Our traffic statistics for the month, we had uh motor vehicle accidents on the public roads, there were 43. We conducted 214 motor vehicle stops for the month. We also made 12 DUI arrests for the month. We put out 195 traffic details and uh we'll go a little deeper into some of those. We had complaints on Maple Avenue and Bur Road for speed. We

did 29 of those details there and it resulted in 12 motor vehicle stops. Wintbury Avenue also for speed. We conducted 15 of those motor vehicle uh details there and resulted in 15 stops. We had 100 battered 100% in that one. And uh Prospect Street also for speed complaints and we did for 13 of the motor vehicle details there and that resulted in 10 motor vehicle stops. We have various speed shields that uh display the uh speed of the drivers in in town. We um actually have um three of them. One is damage and uh we're going to get replacements, but the visible ones are on Maple. uh both the north and the and south uh directions on Maple um there to um in a direct response to a complaint that we're having there which is a continual complaint. Crest View Drive has one and that's one that we got from the state and we does it's in display mode and we can collect uh some limited data off of that one. Our other one, like I said, is uh damaged and uh we have a replacement on order and we expect that to be up and running soon. And we also have two that are in stealth or covert mode that we're gathering uh intricate data off of and those will be they are currently on Mills Lane and Kenwood. So we'll utilize that uh those are uh in direct relation to the um um um committee that we have for um speed in town to address the the speed uh complaints there and uh we're handinhand with the engineering department. So we'll take that data and get some resolution out of those. our embedded me mental health clinician um is again a very nice

partnership that we're um very successful with and she had 23 calls for service that she assisted on us with and all of those uh three were emergency referrals by the officers. Um there were two agency assist referrals that was uh her uh host uh company which is a chair. There were six voluntary committals that she was able to persuade them to go into voluntarily. So we didn't have to do the emergency committals for and of that five were juvenile referrals. Uh six of them were unfounded complaints. So um there wasn't much for her to do on those. And we had one uh mutual aid assist with her as a uh as a our partnership with some of our neighboring uh communities. We do assist on a mutual aid And finally, the Bloomfield Volunteer Ambulance uh report from Ellen White, who is um not going to be here today, but I think uh she has a representative here that can chime in. But uh this is what she came in reporting that um March included a chiropractor as a guest speaker who did an education uh with the members there for proper lifting and moving techniques to help uh alleviate some concerns about uh maybe injuries. uh they continue to offer the CPR training for the last couple of months and they have uh been uh trained 32 people in the last uh groups going through. There is a request for proposal for the paramedic and mutual aid coverage uh that MR AMR currently holds uh that's completed will be posted shortly uh on May 9th for with a deadline for those submissions for uh competing uh ambulance

services. They have five new members added uh each are in various stages of their training going forward. The bianual awards bank would is scheduled for May 17th at Gillette Ridge Golf Course. Um revenues continue to average around $65,000 a month for transports and they were involved with 185 calls for service in March. And that includes concludes our public safety presentation for the month of March. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh C. Um I just had just really just one question about the there was a trainee you said left while they were in training. You know I I know that you know it's a um a long thought process you know to get to to that point. Was there any reason or that you're able to share why they would have left? Well, um this particular individual and we had a debriefing with him on the exit and also uh like I'm pretty sure the town manager also um had an opportunity to speak with him uh to convey the fact that uh he was really a dedicated employee that tried his best. Uh we just had to extend him through the numerous phases of the field training and we essentially had um you know run out of options. Uh we are running out of time frame because by um the standard we

hired him a year ago and his year is going to be up and he has to complete his training and I think it was two more uh two weeks left on there and he pretty much understood that um he wasn't going to be able to successfully complete the mandated training in that time period. So um we had like I said a very nice discussion. I I think he's he was very young and coming in here with a lot of life a lot not a lot of life experience and then um I I believed and we conveyed to him if he gets a little more seasoning and maybe in a lesser kind of a um policing situation and or maybe on a campus on on a security side of things then um that would help develop him and then perhaps in the future he can uh reapply and come on back. We certainly would take him back for the way that uh he conducted himself during the employment. Awesome. Awesome. Right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for sharing, Captain. Um good to hear you. Once again, another fine recruit, but maybe not at this point in his um age group for um Bloomfield. But I'm glad to hear a good person. We always get, you know, very um kind people, people that are competent. So, we wish him the best and hopefully we we want him to come back once he gets a little more uh life experience and skills. I'm going to go to Councelor Oliver. Thank you, Chairwoman Lloyd. Appreciate that. Um yes, it's nice to see that you guys are paying attention and, you know, trying to help redirect people as needed there, Captain. U you know, we want we want to push people uh to better themselves, right, without, you know, deterring them. So, you know, kudos to you on on that. Uh, but my my question is I I I saw that we had five. So, we need to replace five positions, correct? Yes, we have currently have

five vacancies. And so, my my confusion was that there was two in training and two being hired. Are those the same two? There are there are two assigned to the New Britain Police Academy and they are just starting their academics, if you will, and there the other two are starting their field training. So, they have graduated the academy and now they're out with the um our field training officers. So, you'll see a couple of um uh cars going around with two officers in them. One is the new officer that just graduated from the academy. And the other one is that uh field training offers that kind of officer that's kind of showing him the ropes and continuing his training because they technically don't get their certification until they complete their six weeks of field training. And um so that was um like I said kind of uh one of the one of the stickling points with the other one that uh we had lost that we had to extend that field training uh a few times uh again and some regressions and it kept out. But normally if they can get through in six weeks uh which is the minimum standard and we do have um a large amount of candidates that do go through and complete it in the minimum standard. So we do have four altogether. However, they are not the ones that are going to be replacing the vacancies. So those four are not counted. They are counted as hires. So we have four other that are just u or five others in total that we still need to hire. So do do you have dedicated officers that you use spec specifically for training uh the the new oncoming officers? Yes, there we uh have to um get the the

uh training um officers have to go through a u a class and be a certified field trainer to be able to be paired up with our our newer officers just came out of there. So, um yes, I think uh yeah, I just got a reminder. I think I misspoke. Was it's not a uh six weeks training. I'm sorry. It's a 12 weeks of uh of uh field training. Okay. So, all right. So we you said a few seconds ago you said something about another five or altogether five. So we're looking for one lieutenant and and by that yeah there's five vacancies currently right now that we would have to have new hires for and one of those vacancies is a lieutenants position and it will trickle down um obviously. So we'll fill the lieutenant's position with a sergeant. We have the sergeant's test. We'll fill that sergeant's position with an officer and then ultimately to get fully staffed, we would have to make five hires for officers. Okay, just one more thing. I'm sorry I told you here. Um th those two that are in Bloomfield riding around in patrol cars now. Are they considered are they part of that five? So that'd be a total of seven or uh we Yeah. Well, if you want to put it in that manner, yes, there there's a total of um nine vacancies that we're not filling with our patrol force and uh and so and other ancillary uh assignments that we just do not have full right now. So, in total until at this point, yes, we are we are short staffed within the um because they cannot act on alone, they have to be partnered with somebody. So technically we are short staff nine openings but four need to be hired and four are in their training process and as we just experienced there's no guarantees getting through the training process to to come out and be able to be on the

streets alone. So yep thank you captain appreciate you. Thanks council. Thank you councelor Oliver. Good questions. Really good clarification. So we we still need five people including the four who are either in field training or at the academy. So um we have work to do but the good thing is Bloomfield attracts good people. So I feel confident unfortunately with attrition we get them we lose them. Um hopefully with the younger people they'll be willing to come and dig in as they get the new position here and we move forward in building back the force to full compliment. Next we'll go to councelor Mahan. Thank you uh chair Lloyd. Uh and thank you very much for that report cap. Uh good afternoon. I hope you're well today. Um yes sir. I uh I just had a quick question on the statistics. I I believe I heard you say that we had lower uh crime statistics. Um, was that between uh February and and March or uh or were you discussing like a year a year-over-year trend of lower crime? Uh, actually it was both. So, yes, the the March of 2025 was lower than March of 2024. And year to date, so the the first quarter of 2025 is lower than the first quarter was of 2024. That's actually that's amazing news to hear. It sounds like uh Bloomfield is becoming a safer place to be day by day. Even despite us having these big news stories um recently of of different events, it's good to hear that uh crime is going down. Have we seen any declines um over in Kapaco? I know uh you

mentioned quite a few uh lararsenies to which it seems like you know that plaza is always plagued with that. Have we seen a decline in those numbers? That that is the the uh one of the main drivers of that high percentage of lowering the crime. Yes. And in past they have been up uh substantially there with the larsenies from the uh from the retail division like uh March of 2024 there were uh twice as many and um so you know that and that's another trend. So they were down 46% compared to last year and this year it's down 11% compared to last year. So the other big driver that we have seen is uh a drop off in our autothefts. So they are down um 82% from um last year at this time and for the month of March we had none. and year to date so far, we've only had two uh for the first quarter of 2025. So, those are the two significant drivers of of our lowering crime stats. Thank you. Thank you very much, Captain. I'm happy to hear those statistics and I want to thank uh you and uh and everyone at the force for the hard work and commitment that you guys uh have to this community. So, thank you. Thank you, sir. We appreciate that. I will convey that to the uh rank and file. Thank you. Councelor Oliver, is that a legacy hand? No, I have one more question. Have it. Councilwoman? Yes. Um I was just curious. I I heard somebody said that the people that crashed in to steal the ATM machine were caught. Is that Is that true? I I know they were working in

conjunction uh because we weren't the only place where they had um they had uh uh did a similar crime. So I know our detective division was working with them. I I believe arrest was made. I don't know exactly if our arrest particularly uh I know it's been cleared because of that because we identified the people or if that if that went together if they just kind of bundled them all together. I have to check on that and uh and uh report back. Okay. Thanks, Captain. Any other questions? Any other questions? Last call. Thank you, Captain. A fine report and always a good job from the Bloomfield Police Department. Moving on to fire department updates. Center Fire District Chief Bernard, welcome. Good evening, everyone. Thank you. Okay, for the month of March, we responded to 47 calls for service. Uh there were we had two CO calls. Uh we had a an electrical panel fire on Applewood Road, which was a dual response, which brought Blue Hills over to assist us. Um ended up being pretty minor in nature. Um we had a garbage can fire on Skinner Drive. We had seven calls for trees and wires down from a windstorm. And we also had a mutually a tanker task force to the town of Summers for a large commercial structure fire. And also we responded to 285 Terry Plains Road for a drier fire which the resident had removed before our arrival. Um, as far as projects goes, some of the things we're working on are our antique model A, which carries Santa Claus for the holiday parade, unfortunately incurred some motor issues and we took

it to a uh there's a place in Manchester, uh, a guy that we know restores antique fire trucks and unfortunately we had to purchase a new motor um for that truck. So, um, we ended up purchasing a motor out of a place in Pennsylvania and it is currently being installed in the fire truck at the restoration business in Manchester. So, we will have it back for the holiday parade. Um, we had a meeting between the the police department, both the fire districts and the ambulance just to discuss any issues between the groups and to talk about the communications between us. Um the meeting went very well. Um, one of the things we had decided to do was because of the hard time we have communicating with each other as far as because of the different radio systems, we have loaned one of our fire department portables to the police department so their dispatchers can use that radio to listen to what's going on as far as us being on a call um, and Blue Hills and also in the event that if the phone system goes down that they would be able to get a hold of our dispatcher. Um, as far as community involvement, on March 7th, we had an awards dinner at the Riverview Banquet Hall in Simsbury, which was very well attended. Um, over the wintertime, several of our members, we uh we flooded Philly Pond uh quite a few times so the town residents could enjoy ice skating, which um was very it was fantastic to see all the people out there using it. This year, we finally had a cold winter. Um, we attended the Special Olympics at Eversource in Windsor, uh, the Windsor Fire Department and ourselves. We flew the large American flag from both ladder trucks for the opening ceremony. As far as training, uh, we currently have a member attending a safety officer class and another another

member has completed fire one and is currently taking fire two and has now been cleared as an interior firefighter. Uh, also recently we had two officers and one firefighter complete the incident safety officer class and they will be taking the test for that soon. Um, we had our annual gear inspection and we did training on all the various saws that we have. Um, we will also be having uh a flashover simulator trailer training at our Company 3 firehouse at 360 Tungstus Avenue this Saturday on April 12th, which was postponed from last summer due to the open burn ban. That concludes the uh Bloomfield Center fire report. Thank you, Chief. Are there any questions in the room? Yes. Council Cooper. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, hi, Chief. How you doing? Thank you for the report. Good. How are you doing? Well, thank you. I um that is a really good um uh uh thing to bring up about the common communication systems. I've I've heard that in in other areas uh having you know worked uh for for OSHA for a number of years and then you know having a lot of people who were in different uh incidences where communications were were an issue but you know I'm sure that's something that uh RTM may be and you know could discuss with with all the different departments. You know, I know there's there's going to be requirements for, you know, certain radio chatter to probably not be shared, but but in most instances, um, you know, how that's done. I mean, if you guys are independent, right? But within the town, I think it's a safety issue that is

something that uh probably needs to be looked at dur a command and control system uh where you all are able to to to communicate whether you know maybe through the dispatchers. Yes. But I'm thinking as you know as an on scene sort of thing or to a scene there probably needs to be something like that. So appreciate the idea of enrolling a radio, right? But but how do you expand on that? That was just a thought that I had and so you know just to put a bug in everyone's ear. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. And yeah, it is we're definitely looking into it. Any other questions in the room? Council Han. Thank you, Chairwoman Lloyd. Um just a quick question first. How are you, Chief? Good. How are you? I'm well, thank you. Um the I so just piggybacking off of the uh uh statement that you made regarding the um awards ceremony rather uh that you had in Simsbury. Um I was wondering how can how can we as the council get involved uh with some of those because I I've I've you know we always love getting involved with all the different facets of our town. um uh is that something that you'd be open to and if so, how can we possibly uh be involved for the for the next time around? Yeah, I I would certainly uh not have an issue with you guys being involved. Uh this was u we tried to plan one a couple years ago and it didn't work out. Um this is very new to us. We've never actually done this before. So it it took a lot of planning and um you know, like I said, very very new to us. So, um, we will definitely I'll take that into consideration. I will let the committee members know and, um, I don't see why that that wouldn't be an issue at all.

Um, and we could certainly look into that for the next time we have one. Definitely. Thank you very much. I, you know, we just, um, we love being able to, of course, support, I said, the different departments in our town. So um and going to attending those events and and even offering uh some of our assistance are you know different ways in which we can show support to our department. So thank you very much for considering it. Absolutely. Thank you. Appreciate it. Councelor Oliver. Thank you Chairwoman. Uh yes I I I have a question. My question is that I know like let's say like power went out and or cell phone towers uh went out. Do you guys have like something like I know there's the rapid radio now. Um just you know thinking about communication if cell phones were to go down. How how would volunteers uh be contacted? Is there I know I know that's going to be a difficult thing to answer obviously. It's just something that came to mind. Yeah. So depending on the severity of the storm, um it depends on if there's any communications left available to us at all. Uh we do have a backup system for the um for our dispatch center that if something major ever happened in the center of town. Our dispatchers have a to- go bag with a portable radio, a laptop, a cell phone, and they can leave the center of town and go up to the new firehouse at 360 Tungstus Avenue, and they can set up and dispatch from that area. Um, but if we get to the point where we lose um our radio towers and our cell phones, um I I I don't I'm not really sure what we would do. There's really once everything is down, you're you're you're I think everything is kind of dead in the water. You're not going to be able to communicate with anybody. So, that's

a very good question. Thank you, Chief. Appreciate that. Just a curious one. Thank you. Thank you so much for the report, Chief. Thank you guys for your questions. Um, our manager Schwab is on the line. So, do do believe that he is taking note and listening very intently as it relates to any potential safety hazards or issues that we may have here in town and probably already working on solutions as we speak. So, thank you guys for that input as well as the questions. And as always, Blue Hills and Center Fire, thank you so much for your dedication. Um, we love the PD. Uh, but you guys in my mind are um as equally dedicated and worth commending because they're volunteers and that takes a lot. I mean, I I volunteer here as a counselor, but to volunteer to run into a burning building. I I Hey, hats off at all times. Hats off. So, thank you all. We'll be moving on now to the EMS report. Miss Oh, I'm sorry, Chief. So sorry, chief. Right. I'm clock watching. I'm not trying to rush you guys, but thank you, Chief. Okay. Good evening, everyone. For the month of March, uh the Blue Hills Fire Department responded to 46 calls for service. Uh there were no major incidents in the district. The vast majority of the cause were uh smoke detectors that were activated unintentionally, motor vehicle accidents with uh with injuries and/or fluids and incidents involving power lines. We did have a an accident that required a person to be extricated from a vehicle. Uh the Blue Hills Fire Department responded over to Windsor Fire on five different occasions for station coverage or to assist with mutual aid. on uh their fire scenes and the Blue Hills Fire

Department responded to center fire three times either on mutual aid calls or dual response calls. Uh our membership for the volunteer firefighters is continuously uh increasing and which we're proud of. Uh several people have signed up for the next fire one class and two of our volunteer firefighters have successfully completed and pass their fire two class and they've received their certificates. Our training is always ongoing. uh we uh train on Monday evenings and for the month of March uh March 1st we did uh company ops which all our members uh came together to uh look at the equipment and the apparatus to make sure that they were in proper order. On March 10th, we invited uh a training instructor, Deputy Chief Mark Waters of the New London Fire Department where he did a presentation on initial operations and core values. This was a 2-hour training class. March 17th, we invited the training instructor Mark Waters uh back again from the London Fire Department. did a presentation on officer development and leadership and going from the back seat to the front seat in another two-hour class. Uh March 24th, the fire department hosted a basement fire uh class. Our speaker was uh training instructor Deputy Chief James York from the Harford Fire Department. And this was a two-hour presentation as well that uh representatives from Center Fire and South Windsor Fire Department uh also uh were in attendance and we wanted to thank everyone that attended. Community outreach for the month of

March. Uh there was really nothing going on but we were still in the planning process of the uh Junth event which will be held uh June 20th, 21st and 22nd. And that concludes my report. Again, my apologies, Chief. Thank you so much for that report. I'm pleased to see that you still have uh so many people volunteering uh wanting to volunteer, signing up. Uh we have an incredible community um for people that would continue to put themselves on the line to volunteer for their fellow man and what I call the 22,000 um our neighbors here in Bloomfield. Any questions online? Councelor Oliver. Thank you, Chairwoman Lloyd. Uh yes, definitely the same as uh Chairwoman Lloyd said, you know, you you guys run into burning buildings and you know, not not just the average person can do that. So, uh you know, big thanks to you guys. Um I know it's a dangerous career. Um and I know a lot of people are volunteering. Um I my question was uh for the five uh respond coverages for Windsor that um that the Blue Hills District did, how many of those were coverage and how many of them were to assist? Uh most of them were for coverage. I think two of them were for uh assists at the scene. Okay. Um and then I have one more question. um do these trainings that we have that you you had the three trainings um in a couple days there um h how often do those trainings occur? They do they occur every month? I mean obviously I I should probably know that information because I sit on the committee. Um but off the top of my head I'm not sure. Uh do these happen monthly um by you know

every six months with Oh, we train every week. Every week. Okay. Yeah. various different uh trainings. And just for clarification, how many full-time firefighters do we have? Paid paid firefighters. There's six. And we have two uh paid fire marshals. So there's there's a total of eight. Eight on a day-to-day basis. How many volunteers do we have? Uh approximately 25 and growing. 25. That's awesome. Okay. Uh, I appreciate that. Thank you very much, Chief. Thank you. Thank you. Mo, Council M. All right. Thank you, uh, Chief Jones. And, um, and also, thank you, Council Oliver, for beginning to ask those questions. I was actually going to go along that track. Um, first, but before we get there, I just want to say I'm very happy to hear that the Junth planning um, is still moving forward. um our residents, that's that's one event that our residents look forward to each year, every day um of those events. So, I'm happy to hear that's moving forward. Um with everything that's going on, those spots of sunshine can help to break up some of the clouds. Um so, thank you very much for continuing on with that training um or with that uh planning rather. Thank you. Um, like I said, I'm very uh happy to hear the the questions that council Oliver was moving along because as you know, Chief, um the the council uh voted to move forward with uh investigation into safety concerns regarding uh Blue Hills Fire and just looking into the um uh whether those claims are substantiated uh or not. Um, so I I'm happy to hear one one of the things that was, you

know, a chief concern was staffing levels. Um, but it looks like you have, as you said, 25 volunteers and growing. Um, you even stated that there's more that came out of training recently to that. Um, uh, can you can you speak again on to on those folks that are in training will be um will be added to those 25 volunteers? And are those are those folks that you spoke about in training, are those included in the 25 volunteers or are they in in addition to they're included uh some of them are included in that number? Um you know and it there's a process uh that you have to go through to uh you know be able to do certain things. So you know that's pretty much what it is. Yeah. I I I do appreciate that you guys are going through um that you guys are making sure that our uh volunteer firefighters, all firefighters are properly trained. The fact that you guys do weekly training as well um is is phenomenal to hear. Um for those that that don't know that may be listening to this meeting or may tune in to this meeting later um what is a you mentioned that there was a mutual aid response to uh to Windsor. Uh can you uh talk a bit more about what a mutual aid agreement is um and what towns we have that mutual agreement agreement with? Sure. I mean, mutual aid is something common in the fire service. Um, every department has a mutual aid um response protocol. Um, the towns involved, we closely work with Bloomfield Center Fire and Windsor Fire. So in those cases where they need additional manpower or station coverage

or whatever they may need, you know, we would gladly provide them with what it is that they need. It's just something that's been going on for many, many, many years. And like I say, most all departments, even city departments, whether it's Harford, East Harford, Manchester, full career departments will utilize the mutual aid plan. Um, we also have a a task force which comprises of several towns. Um, you know, Windsor Bloomfield's in it, Windsor Locks, uh, Bradley International Airport's in it, Air Guard fire, uh, South Winders just came aboard. So, you know, there's always, depending on the incident, there's always there's always help. There's always, you know, no call goes unanswered. So, I I just can't reiterate that enough. Um, you know, we're we're always ready to go. I I do appreciate that as well. Um, so it's it's not uncommon to cover for another station or um to respond to um an incident um with another station, right? Not not uncommon at all. Uh, as a matter of fact, it was a couple of weeks ago, I believe, that we got a call to go to uh I 91 exit 34 for a problem that Windsor had, you know, directly to the scene. So, it's not uncommon to, you know, have these such incidents. And then um with that I I was actually going to ask you a bit about that was uh I think that was March 27th I believe is when at least it came to my attention I

believe on that date and the the council's attention. Um, is the is uh the fire department ever left um unattended or um unattended during those times or what does staffing look like when you are responding to a mutual aid? Um well, whatever whatever volunteers are around would man the stations until you know this crew of three came back. okay, you know, into town. So, it's not I mean that particular day it was myself and another firefighter. We were ready to go along with Bloomfield Center if needed. Um, you know, if the call warranted that. So, it it wasn't like no one was around. It was we we have certain protocols in place, you know, depending on the nature of the call. Okay. And uh I guess my and I appreciate you answering these line of couple questions because and because you know with the with the council deciding to go into um or to begin an investigation um into uh safety concerns with Blue Hills Fire District. Of course, many of our residents had concerns um and had a lot of these questions as to, you know, um what what you know capacity um does Blue Fire have to ensure that um the town is safe, especially the east side of town, which um it's still very strange for me to even use like east and west side town because growing up I never I never grew up with any of those terms and I'm born and raised here in Bloomfield. I've never grew up with East Side. Westside's always been one Bloomfield. I It's always been one Bloomfield. Me growing up, I've just I

never heard that growing up. Um but um you know, so so I'm I'm happy to hear a few things. One, looks like there's there's quite a bit of quite a bit of volunteers. Um it looks like you have uh good staffing. I of course I want to compare that to stats from from other towns, but I mean 25 plus uh you know plus the eight paid um firefighters seems like uh quite a bit. Um and I mean I I mean I I I don't mean to interrupt you, but most towns don't even have that as far as career firefighters. I mean most towns are just run strictly by volunteers. I mean, we do have eight people that are on a payroll that are ready to go. I mean, I I just, you know, and I'm kind of taken back by, you know, a lot of things that I'm hearing, you know, no one ever came to us, you know, came to me asking, you know, how it is that we operate. And it's, you know, it was kind of, you know, I was just kind of shocked by it all. You know, I, you know, all the information is there. My door is always open. Um, you know, I can provide stats, training records, whatever it is that anyone was wanted to know. I mean, I I just I don't know. I don't I don't know why this whole thing occurred. Well, you know, I um of course with the council when when concerns uh do come to the council, we have to do our due diligence to to ensure that um we're making sure that our our residents um our residents are safe. But I I do see the point of um the fact that, you know, this is a partnership that we have uh with the the town, our our fire

department. It's a partnership and and a partnership looks just like this. Um I have concerns. I'm asking you the question as to you know hey what does your staffing look like? What does uh you know I we had there was a concern that uh you may not have had coverage. What did that look like on that particular day? That that's what the partnership looks like. So I appreciate you answering those questions. Um and I think uh right now we're paving a new path of what you know communication should be between uh the two bodies to ensure that everyone is is whole in the situation and that our residents ultimately are are getting the best service not only from the fire department but us as a as uh the council. Um the last question that I have sir and I'll and then I'll um I'll stop here is what is around your what's your average response times? Do you have any any stats on that? I don't currently have them probably more like uh a lot of a lot of times it's under five minutes. Uh certain times it's it could be a little bit more than five minutes. Um depends on the nature of the call. Some calls are cold response calls where, you know, they're non-emergency calls and, you know, calls with active fires are hot calls. So, you know, the times would uh decrease in those. Okay. Okay. Would you be willing to um uh share a log with with those times? I don't know if if that's too cumbersome, please. No. No. I can I can share I I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry to interrupt. We're getting a little too deep dive in particular because there's an investigation going on and I think that some of the questions that Council Mahan asked are good, Chief, but they'll probably be asked in the venue that the

council approved as it relates to the inquiry. So, I'm not I'm I'm not If you'd be willing to share that information, I'd greatly appreciate it. Yeah, I don't mind you sharing it with him at all, but I also want to be judicious and cautious that there is an inquiry and I don't want information put out here to create a problem with the investigation. So like with the police department, we get certain information as counselors, but we don't get all the information because sometimes releasing of that information could actually jeopardize the investigation. So I don't want anything here. And I let it go on for a while. Even some of the questions that were asked by any of the parties were actually specific questions that came out in executive session. They were not on the public documents, but I let it ride. But at this point, I don't want for your safe chief for anything to be asked or disclosed here that maybe shouldn't be. Okay. I Yeah, I def I appreciate uh your cander. And one thing I will say is that I've been in this town my entire life, so I'm very familiar with Blue Hills. I've I grew up on the east side, so I know east side, west side. Um, and I've always known um the responsiveness of Blue Hills Fire. Always always. I used to hear the siren cuz I live not too far away on West Egleston. So, there's many mechanisms in which to call out the volunteers who compared to even some city paid fire departments have equally a short response time. So, I do feel confident that the inquiry will come out um and the fire department will farewell. I feel confident that our residents are safe. Um I say every month that the volunteers are incredible. The training is great. So, I'm happy to see that we're still moving in that direction and in that um same uh energy because we do have an amazing bunch of volunteers as well as paid police, fire, as well as

EMS volunteers. So, I just don't want anything to be jeopardized as it relates to you guys, but I know you have nothing to hide. No, not nothing at all. I know. I know. And so, sadly, let me but let me say this. Um, and I spoke with Council Mahan and I said, "We live in a community where anybody can complain about anything. I had a personal experience where somebody put a lean on a property I had and the judge literally threw the guy out on his ear. It was ludicrous. But unfortunately, they can make a complaint about anything as well. And so, it is fair and reasonable for us to look into it for the benefit of the 22,000 that we can assure their safety and that there's nothing there. So, sadly, we live in a society where anybody can say anything. But the good thing was I think we all kind of felt confident that it may not probably amount to much, but it is an exercise that we have to undertake. So, um, councelor Oliver, did you have anything? I just may I just thank the chief for Yeah. Thank you very much, Chief, for answering the questions. As uh if you two decide to exchange information on your own, hey, I'm out of that. But as it relates to specific investigative questions, I would say we should tread lightly here. Okay? And I know the public is interested and as the investigation or inquiry continues certainly results are available publicly because everything we do is uh available for foyer request if we have to even go that far. Normally it's an ask and you receive information. Sometimes it's a foyer but it is public information that will be um disclosed as we um get to the end of the inquiry. So I feel confident that everything's going to turn out fine. We've been operating wonderful for decades that I've been around this place. So, um, councelor Oliver. Yes. Thank you. Questions? Thank you, Chairman. Uh, you know, if I stood on my roof, I could probably see Blue Hills Fire Department. So, knowing that

there's 25 volunteers on top of the eight, you know, that that makes me feel a little bit better than, you know, than I might have felt. But I I just have one question. Out of out of those 25 volunteers, how many of them are level or sorry, firefighter one or firefighter two? Or do they not because they're not they're volunteers? Is that only for paid? No, you you have to be a firefighter one to in order to enter a burning building. Um I don't have the exact numbers here but uh you know I I would say probably more than half are uh you know fire one or above and then um you know the rest of them are getting ready to enter the academy. So I I I don't have exact numbers off the top of my head but that's pretty much what we what we're up against. Appreciate it. Thank you chief. Yep. You're welcome. Any other questions in the room? Sorry. Okay. I have to kind of keep going back and forth. My apologies, Councelor Cooper. All right. No, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm I have a lot of patience. Um uh Chief, first of all, thank you so much for your report. I I really appreciate it. And I also, you know, want to um uh reiterate what my uh fellow counselors have said about, you know, keeping this town safe. right? Uh you guys do it and and you do it very well and that's all that that folks can ask for. Um you know and I I would want to want to just you know in in that vein I just want to say that you know when sometimes you know there is a perception of something having happened because people do their job so well right that people don't know you know that it's being done and so then one day you see

something and there's this oh well wait a minute you know and and and folks who may not really know you know they springing action because it's something that for them it's out of the ordinary. They have no idea and they bring it to an authority who says, "Hey, okay, and you have to you have to look at it." Right. Right. No, no, there's there's just no. So, you know, um I know it's not a I think in the in the vein of of as councelor Lloyd says, doing it because it's what's right to do, right? coming to a conclusion, looking at the facts, then saying, "Hey, you know, this was this or it was this or it was nothing, you know, and we do that and we move on." But we still continue to, you know, be professional, do our jobs and things that of that nature. So, I don't I um I don't know. I would just I would just say to while I'm here with you on the days, I would just say to our fellow residents that um this is merely the business of the town being done to ensure your safety, right? and to give the uh uh the uh department an opportunity to um communicate and cooperate with whatever it is that you know has been um you know has been asked you know and then we move on right going back to uh the community that we live in and I just um uh I'm I'm just going to leave it with that. Right. And certainly thank you so much for the sorry thank you so much for uh just keeping us safe and and and much appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. Hey town manager Schwap. My apologies. It's hard to see the yellow hand on the white background. No no no words madam chair. Thank you

for opportunity to speak. Uh good evening counselors. Um good evening public. Good evening all colleagues on the line and in attendance and um I'm a little bit bit disappointed and I'm disappointed because uh I've known uh Chief William Jones for for decades. The man impacted me while I was a young man and um and I just don't feel it's appropriate nor fair that uh he be subjected to an inquiry in in such a public form. Um that's why we do not discuss investigations until they have concluded. Uh we have two uh fire districts on the line and we haven't asked one question that may have given anyone who's new to Bloomfield or just watching casually um about uh anything pertaining to a center fire district. But it looks like an inordinate amount of time and effort has been spent on something uh alluding to uh a belief, a presumption that there's something going on with Blue Hills Fire District. And I think that's unfair because um there is an investigation that was voted on by council. Council knows who's going to do the investigation. That investigation should be conducted in the the appropriate venue for that. and then through the light of day that information be shared with the public. But uh but right now I I just feel like it's it's unfair to to Chief Jones and it's unfair to the Blue Hills Fire District. So I would respectfully ask that when there are investigations in the future that we refrain from conducting our own investigations in a public form. It's inappropriate and um and it does no one any good. And um and that's what I wanted to say. and and I hope I heard loud and clear. Not trying to be disparaging or disrespectful to anyone, but definitely trying to be

respectful to Chief Jones and the members of Blue Hills Fire District. And that's all I have to say, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Tom Mary. Please do not please do not. Madam Chairwoman, if I may, we are moving on. You can give a I will ask whatever questions necessary. Well, you're not been recognized. So, we're not going to do this here. Um, and I don't need two people anyone to advise me on what questions to ask. Two people we everyone has had a bite at the apple. And so, what we don't really do well in Bloomfield is Robert's rules of order. And so, because we're not taking action on anything is a sidebar, but everyone has had an opportunity to speak. Um, anyone here that has further concern and you want to um, address Chief Jones or anyone else on the dis or on the agenda, I welcome you to do so. We're going to move on at this point and thank you again, Chief Jones. Um, nobody wants you to feel put on the spot, but since Council Han um, and Oliver, they opened up with some questions. I appreciate your wholehearted cander and putting the information out there, but I think we need to close it in as I mentioned because it is an inquiry that is ongoing. So, we're going to move on to the EMS report. Lou uh Bloommanfeld, chair of the um EMS EMS. Thank you. Um I guess up on the screen is the written report that we provided. Um in keeping with my usual practice, I'm not going to read it. Um but I would make a few comments about it. Um, as can be seen from the written report, the last

EMS committee meeting on March 17th focused on the contract with AMR ambulance uh, for paramedics and backup services uh, which expires the end of June. Our town manager was kind enough to attend the early part of the EMS committee meeting and explain the status of the contract and the plan to put it out to bid. As in our written report, the EMS committee uh after a substantial discussion is concerned about the plan to bid the contract in view of the fine rapport with and service from AMR ambulance for many years and the uh the team that has developed uh from that. Although there is some doubt that there really are other ambulance services that can provide what BVA needs, there's a concern that if another provider were to win the bid, it could cause a major disruption, which might result in poorer service, less volunteer involvement, ultimately less income. Uh while the committee is well aware of the benefits of open bidding and certainly respects the uh interests and the views of the town manager, the uniform view of the committee was that this situation is not one where bidding is in the best interest of the town. Accordingly, the committees of the view that this is a situation that is in fact contemplated by the town charter where the town council can and should wave the bidding requirement and proceed to attempt to negotiate a new contract with AMR uh as that has been done in the past. Uh we certainly would like support from this subcommittee about the waiver and from the council. uh it would take the

council to not bid as we see it. Um other than that, the EMS committee meeting really didn't involve much uh out of the ordinary. We have nothing further of significance to report. Our next meeting is May 12th. Thank you. Thank you so much. And um if I'm mistaken, I do believe um your point is well taken. If I remember correctly, we waved going out to bed to extend our um trash service contract. So, I will definitely um touch base with um with the town manager regarding that concern and kind of try to get a better idea of the direction of where that's going and if the council has any um input on that. Okay. So, thank you for sharing that. Thank you. Any questions online? Okay, seeing none, Council Mahan. Thank you. Um, I I do want to um thank you um uh Lou for for bringing this uh report and and for bringing this um item to the table as well. Um you know, this this is very important. you're what you're discussing here is how um you'll be able to continue your services and at the level uh that you've uh that you guys have been um uh uh conducting your services over over many years. I I do think that if there's um any expertise that that the council should yield to um it regarding EMS concerns should be EMS. Um so I I would be I would be happy to and I and I'll I'll put that, you know, on the record

today. I'd be more than happy to support you uh and support you guys in this effort to um for us to uh forego the uh the bidding process if this is what you I mean you you laid out an a great argument here um and I'd be happy to support you in that if this is what you believe is necessary to ensure that um you continue your services um at a at a high level then you know I'm sure that's even something that the town manager can get behind because he's always talking about um putting out services at a high level. Um if he truly believes that, I think that he should be able to support you guys in that effort as well. So, I'm hoping that he will also get behind um get behind that with you. And uh like I said, I would be more than happy to extend support on that item and on the record today. Thank you, Council Han. And please do take note um Mr. Mr. Bloomfeld said that the contract expires in June of this year. So that is a very short window um to figure out what we're going to do um how we will move. And so uh Mr. Tom manager with that information in mind, the contract expiring in June. Maybe you might speak to the RFP process that I believe is underway and some timing on it or is it being planned? I believe it's underway. Correct. Yeah, Madam Chair. Uh, yeah, if I can just speak to this. I will not support violating the charter. Um, I have profound respect for AMR. I I worked alongside AMR for an entire career. Uh, AMR responded and and and actually assisted uh when a a close family member of mine um had a heart attack. So, but this is not about emotions. This is about the business of Bloomfield and

that's what I'm charged with doing. And uh as great as AMR is, uh AMR is not in um every municipality in this country. So the what we're trying to make certain at the end of the day is that the taxpayers of Bloomfield get the most bang for their tax dollars, which we all know are very scarce at this time. And now don't quote me exactly on the amount of years but it's been at least 20 years I believe that we have not been put out to bid to understand what the competition may be to ensure that the taxpayers of Bloomfield are getting the most bang for their buck. We may go through this process or we're going to go through this process that that's not anything that's up for uh any discussion right now unless the council tells me otherwise. We're going through this process per the charter and we are going to ensure at the end of this process that we have the best services for the town of Bloomfield. If that's AMR, God bless us. We are on right track with the services and the value that our citizens deserve. If it's not in terms of price, then we still can make a decision based on the services and familiarity. But right now, we just don't know what we don't know. We could have a savings of $2 or we can have a savings of $2 million. I don't know. But I owe it to this council that hired me to manage this town to find out the answer for a question that has not been asked in decades. And the fact that it hasn't been asked in decades was in violation of the charter. So if if my direction is to violate the charter, I'll do as the count the council wants me to do. But in terms of exceptionalism and service, I'm not compromising that. But I think we can have that at the best cost to the citizens of Bloomfield, and

that's what I'm charged to do. Thank you, sir. And now you guys have given me homework to go back and check the charter. But I did just hear that we actually as a council can circumvent or there's a caveat where we can uh circumvent RFP process. So, we can't circumvent the charter, but it sounds like we can um forego the bid process, but regardless, that would be a full council decision. Secondly, um it may be a possibility of something that needs to go to admin. So, I don't know that it has been there. Um am I a member? I'm not a member of admin. I think it's the only only subcommittee I'm not a member of. So, we certainly um I think it's worth taking a look into and I'll I'll shoot you an email town manager swap just to kind of uh after I do my homework and know what the charter says and then address the issue there. And so it may be an issue to go to admin um before it gets bumped up or a final decision gets made. Thank you. Um so, um one thank you thank you once again Lou. I do find it very funny that we're bringing up the violating charter thing because we violated the charter in order to get an out of town town manager, but that's I guess neither here nor there in this situation. Um uh Lou, I do want to know uh if you can provide us with some information. It doesn't have to be right now because um as the town manager said earlier, I don't want to put anybody else on the spot. um if you can provide us some information uh regarding uh some of the uh some of the other um folks that are are out there that we can that we could potentially look into so that we have our full homework. Uh we have as many uh resources as possible to do our homework

on this issue and make an informed decision. I do uh want to also uh uh motion, madame mayor, sorry, madame uh chairwoman, for us to add this item to next month's agenda discussion and possible action on this for us to refer it to the council um uh for a for a full decision. I know we are coming up on that timeline, but I think we have a little bit of time where we can make this decision before June. So I um I would like to make that motion. Um okay. So the process is subcommittee and then out of subcommittee to full counsel. So we wouldn't jump over to Monday's meeting which is or Tuesday holiday, sorry. Uh it wouldn't jump on to Tuesday's meeting cuz council you committee. Yeah. What I'm saying is I wanted to for discussion possible action at our next subcommittee meeting for referral up to council. No, we're going to send it over to admin where it belongs because it entails a contract, a service or good that comes through contracts. So, we don't do that here, but it's absolutely something that gets addressed in admin. So, that's the best place for it. Not trying to pass anything even with them reporting to the public safety committee. Correct. Because they provide a public safety service, but when it comes to contracts, bids, money's being exchanged, we don't do that here. But that's certainly what those overlaps. Okay. Right. So, there's that. And then second, Lou, I hate to cut you off, but when we talk about the myriad of companies in the local um area that may be able to provide those services may have nothing to do with whom we might engage because they might not put in an RFP. So, I think we need to wait for that information if that is the direction that the town goes in. That make sense cuz otherwise he's just rattling off stuff where he knows about a company, right? And it's his opinion. So, I don't think that's fair. Who would who would we get who would we get that information from? Uh, I think you wait for the RFP process for those that put

in the application and then we would have an opportunity at that point to know who put in a bid for those services and then those would be companies that you vet. But if we're planning on we have the potential to just forego that process. Um, so well this is this is a recommendation from EMS um to forego that process if we have the opportunity to and we have done it before. reports. This isn't something that's unique or it's going to be unique to EMS. What I'm asking is that hopefully, and I'm not asking for right now because as you guys have stated, we don't want to put anyone uh on the spot. So, I I don't want to do that. If we can be provided that information so that we can make an informed decision on whether to forego RFP or to pursue RFP is all I'm asking. Is that is that acceptable for uh Mr. Bloomfield? But I think he could provide an informal opinion on those companies. And I think if he would I'm not asking for anything right now. No, I know. Let me finish the sentence. I'm the chair. I'm the chair. If he's willing to provide that information, then wonderful. Um because certainly your experience over many, many decades is going to tell us um kind of who's who in the area and you're familiar with their services. And just so the public knows, there's not that many companies. Um but as it relates to whom we would consider that would come through the RFP process. If we forego then we forego and so we've if we forgo as a council then we've already said hey you know what we like the service provided by AMR. We're going to forego the RFP or bid process and we're going to sign back on a contract with AMR the way we kind of in a tight spot right short time frame short window we did with the trash collection. So we have a few months I think um Mr. Mr. Bloomfeld, if you wouldn't mind giving us kind of your informal on who's who in the area, but certainly um anyone is able to do their own due diligence to go

online and see the companies that exist and people are rated, they're yelped, they have professional organizations that rate them as well. I think we're able to find that information out. Um I would ask the chair, did you have anything else that you maybe want to add before we go on? Well, I just would note that there is one requirement at least of uh of the provider for this kind backup is that they have to be close enough or able to have ambulances here on backup when our ambulance is out. Um to do that, they've got to be located pretty close. Um, so it's going to limit the the potential providers. Um, and then they've got to have the ability to have paramedics here 24/7. Um, which is part of the contract. So, I mean, I could I don't know as I'd want to start naming names right now. No need. But it's it's I think a very limited group. Okay. And um whether anybody really wants it is another question if they think they can do it. We don't know the answer to that either. Um it's it's really from our perspective more that this isn't really about dollars. It's about having good service and uh and we have somebody that gives good service and somebody else might look like they can and can't. And you won't know that until they don't. Mhm. So that that's part of our concern. That's true. I I love that last statement. That is very true. Um and and I would invite you, Lou, if you could reach out to Mr. Town Manager. Um because something you just said, one of the caveats of um the requirement is that they have to have a rig, you know, within a certain uh parameter of the town, right? So they

can get here quickly. So I don't know if that information is known as it relates to the bid process. So, I'm I'm pretty sure it's in the RFP. I haven't seen it, but I've heard of it. I haven't seen it either. So, if if if you mind if you take a peek because certainly we rely on your expertise and if you see that something may not be in there as it relates to a requirement um for service from an ambulance company, then certainly I know Mr. Town Manager would would want to know that. Ju just to be clear that that the town manager has been thorough on this. the uh okay the the RFP was I believe drafted initially by uh coordinator White who is obviously about as good about any of this stuff as anybody. So absolutely it's unlikely that there's an RFP with out the details of what we really need. Okay. So it's not criticism of what's how it's being done. It's the question about whether it should be right. And also understand that doing the due diligence for the town does not mean low bid. Okay, that bears stating. It doesn't mean low bid. We are not beholden to a low bid policy. So, I'm pretty sure the people I know who would be in the room making those decisions are not only going to go with someone who may provide us uh to to make a quote the best bang for the buck, but who as well is going to provide the best service. And sometimes that's not the lowest bid. So, we we do have the capacity to have discernment and use good judgment um in the event the RFP comes to fruition and it goes through the full vetting process. So, I think I see another yellow hand up there, Mr. Schwab. Yeah. Um you're absolutely right, Madam Chair. Um as has been stated before, it's best service for the dollar, right? So, we're not going to compromise um safety and service for a dollar that

will not give our our our our citizens uh the deserved quality of life and expectations that they they've gotten for decades. But um in terms of the RFP itself uh that was created as was already stated uh by uh Miss Ellen White and I had even given the the uh EMS committee um my my thoughts about them uh looking over the RFP and and adding to it or or editing or or doing whatever they needed to do to make certain that it it definitely uh had the proper scope of services that uh that we are presently providing so that there will be absolutely no gaps in in the um expectations or the services that uh everyone is um to know as as our standard. Okay. So um I I I did not put one word in that RP nor did our our um procurement manager put any any words in there that came straight from EMS themselves. and uh they have a number of uh dedicated professionals uh with expertise in this area. I rely upon them to put together an RFP uh which we accepted and have put out the bid. So, um I I just wanted to uh make sure that I I double tapped on that so that everyone will understand that uh a lot of effort went into this from the people who know it best and uh we are just trying to be in alignment with our charter and um and where we go from here is the direction I'll take. But um but for decades we we have not been in compliance and right now we just don't know if we're getting the best value for our our taxpayers or not. and we very well may be but uh we may find out we are not. So we won't know until the the the bids come back. Thank you for the clarification. The

double tap on Mr. Bloomfeld's um input as well. If there's no other hands in the room. Okay. Got to tap me. You got to tap me because I you have my back. My apologies. Councelor Cooper, please proceed. Yes. Thank you. Uh thank you, Madam Chair. And you know, Mr. Bloomfield, I um I I certainly understand that, you know, you you um and the folks at uh Bloomfield uh EMS believe that, you know, we're getting the best bang for the buck and and you know, you know better than most anybody here, right? Because you you were close. And so, um you know, with that, I I can I can agree with you. Um my um uh may just my concern only is the um two things. the duty uh of this council uh you know in the in the town manager and his staff is to uh 20 years normal you know in in the spaces that I work in the normal uh uh life of a contract is a three-year contract made with two years extensions um and to have it for 20 years you know that probably is a good reason why the uh the relationship is what But it is uh and I'm glad to hear that some of those things that you pointed out have uh such as a uh you know a backup ambulance, a 24/7 uh service uh you know and those type of things are written in the contract. Those should definitely be in there. I um you know would even say go far as to say that you know some of those extra things that have been um made because of the bond you know be included uh in the

contract but uh you know after so long as you said 20 years is a long time. I think if it was done even at just at a minimum for nothing else, um we want to ensure that um we follow the rules. And you know, the one other piece I noticed that I would um look at is uh for a contract or any contract that um you would have the council um or ask the council to uh bypass the uh the charter rules concerning uh bidding and purchasing. Um that would normal normally come under some kind of exigent or or emergency circumstance, right? So, um, we I don't think I don't think that the contract it doesn't wouldn't seem to me that it is an an emergency circumstance, say in a sort of a natural disaster or something of that nature. Uh, and so I think that, you know, we probably should look at it in the way of um of of how do we how do we normalize um what uh uh the the rules are just to look at it. And I don't think that that's a bad thing. And and certainly I don't think as everyone has already said that, you know, less money is always going to be best money. Uh what we want is we want the best service for the town of Bloomfield that we're able to get. Um this is about a safety matter and a health and safety matter uh for our citizens and neighbors and we want to ensure that they will always have those services available for them. You know, I going I'm going to stop with this, but I personally trust your your judgment and uh and I thank you um for for weighing in uh on this matter. Chair, can I can I clarify one thing? Yes, but

your mic is on. Uh, no talk. Yes, thank you. Um, it it's a little bit I think misleading to think of this as not having been negotiated at all within 20 years. Mhm. The contract is something that renews I think it's about every three years and it's renegotiated every three years. It's it's done by the town. It's been done by various town managers. Uh this is something that's run through the police department because they're the actual providers of service. Mhm. So that roughly every 3 years I think. Okay. Uh it's been renegotiated. The committee is not involved in that. Uh we're told about it. Mhm. So it it's been done I sure it's been done with approval and discussion with the with town council co um in prior years and um whether it has or hasn't been in accord with the charter which does at the same time it says if things are to be bid also says that it can be waved. if it's in the best interest of the town. So, they're not mutually exclusive as I read it. Um, it it's something that's been ongoing. Um, I I certainly understand the desire to bid it. Um, if it were some different type of thing, um, I I think I' I'd be standing behind it. Um, personally, I'm not now speaking for the committee on that, but but the committee and I uh think that it it may be something, at least in our view, is something that is more important to get

right than to save every dollar. Um, because it's not going to be a budget significant amount. Uh, I think we can be pretty sure of that. I mean, the whole contract is somewhere around $600,000. That includes 247 paramedics and things that are pretty costly overall. And and if everybody's been watching the papers, the uh the emergency services providers are are very concerned about their ability to cover their expenses as is. So, uh we could end up with bids and we could end up with a higher contract. So, um, but that's not the issue. The issue is making sure we get it right. That's all. Um, Madam Chair, if I just I just want to clarify, Mr. Bfeld, I I you know, and I don't know that, right? and you know if the contract has it may have gone out um and and we don't know but certainly I can I will do a due diligence and go back and look uh to see whether the council the previous councils were um either advised uh and whether they gave that consent for those things to happen. Um, you know, I am I'm just of the opinion, and this is certainly nothing to to anybody here in the present space, but I am just of the the opinion that that some of our uh opinions uh and advisements um that were previously provided by um CO may not have um risen to the level of the professional uh standards that we would expect them to be. And so, um, I will just put it out there that let's I'd rather see it done right, um, for this time and that we move forward with it being done right than to just continue on down the path. And it's not

anything about for me, it's not anything about it's about the the process. I am one of those people who I want to see it done right and then we we just move on, you know, because um we can do it wrong for a thousand years, but if you do it right one time, there's an aha moment. And uh you know, whether it saves money or not, if someone comes back and they say, "Well, how did you do it?" And we you you when you're audited, you an auditor audits what you said you're going to do. If our charter and our policy say that that's what we're going to do, that's what we're going to do. And I I just want to stand by that. Uh no no ill will or intent or anything like that. I just I want to stand by what we said we're going to do. Right. And and uh thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. Any other questions? Seeing none. I don't know if we have Chair Jones online. That's all right. I haven't. No. Do highlights. This one. Oh, okay. Then if you'd like to go over the shorter one. I was just going to extract from this one. Okay. All right. So, sorry about that everybody. So uh Paula Jones our chair for conservation energy and environment committee is not on the line tonight. So I will high level the report that was submitted and the full report is available online. So February and March highlights trees for Bloomfield and Tree City USA designation update. Bloomfield's application for Tree City USA was approved by the Arbor Day Foundation in March. We'll celebrate our first Arbor Day as Tree City on April 27th at the grand opening of the Hawk Hill Farm Tree

Trail. There is a link online uh along with this report so you can get more information on that event. The CEC supported DPW successful application to the Connecticut Urban Forestry Council for a $30,000 rightway tree inventory grant. Dan Carter is currently working with the EP to refine the parameters of the application. Sharon man from the Bluefield Beautifification Committee secured funding through Arbor Day Foundation and local businesses. Um Cummins to remove invasive bittersweet vines from Lassellet Park this month and to provide another trees for free giveaway program. Sign up will be in June. That was a wonderful wonderful program. Keep your eyes out for that. You can get a tree or so for your yard. Um it's been going on for several years. A really beautiful program. Extreme heat um crog hazard mitigation climate action plan. They are planning a webinar on June 17th with um cooperation with Bloomfield Public Library about the dangers of heat. Please look out for that as the warmer weather is right around the corner. Yay. Lights out CT pledge bird migration season. Um keep your eyes out for information on this in your email if you're signed up. I did receive something um really detailed information from CEC who's doing a good job working um on light pollution and the impact it has to migrating birds and species locally as well. It's pretty interesting stuff. I never thought I'd be so interested, but really it is and especially learning about the impact to our environment. So, please do go take a look at that. Upcoming events April 22nd with Balloonfield Public Library. Big Reed discussion about the bear. Well, that's another important topic. As we know, Bloomfield has their share of brown and black bears, and they shall be coming out to visit a garbage can near you soon. So, please do tune in um to that because I mean, they're scary. I'm the foolish one who goes out with the

camera, but I don't get too close. I always have a barrier, but um you know, they they do become um very active in this season as they come out of hibernation. So, please do be careful. Um, and that information is April 22nd, the 27th, 1 to 2:30, Hawill Farm Tree Trail Grand Open, and May 17th, 9:00 a.m. to noon is our ever so popular shred and small electronics recycling day at Bloomfield High. Please, if you can, bring a non-p perishable food item for the Bloomfield Food Bank as we continue to try to support their efforts to support our neighbors. June 17th with Bloomfield Public Library webinar, Dangers of Heat. what to know about heat and how to stay safe. So do go online public library a wealth of knowledge and information. Um all the webinars are posted on their website and the CEC meets the second Thursday of each month from 4:30 to 6 p.m. via hybrid meeting format and in person at town hall conference room 5. The next meeting is April 10th, 2025. Any questions in the room? Any questions online? Okay. And I do see Director Krauss on there for the West Harford Bloomfield Public Health Department with some updates. Thank you. Um so just to start off, um the health district's been monitoring the measles outbreak um that is currently occurring in Texas. Um, for those that aren't aware, um, there's been, uh, roughly 70 hospitalized, two deaths linked, one confirmed as of this writing. There was one still under investigation and then, um, they've moved that now into one conf another confirmed. So, a total of two confirmed. Um, 20 states have reported cases. Connecticut has not officially reported. However, it is just like COVID was all

around um, us. Um, so we've been watching this very closely uh alongside the Department of Public Health. Um, what I listed in the box was just the breakdown of the 483 cases um that have been reported in that Texas outbreak. Um, again being linked to unvaccinated um status. So you can see that there in that box. Um, a lot of questions have come in regarding should I be getting another dose? Um and so what we are trying to be consistent with is to reach out to your provider. Um there are records um there's blood tighters that can be done to determine um whether or not you um would need an MMR vaccine. Um we do have them available for both children and adults. So you can reach out to the health district. Um the worst of the flu and neurovirus season is behind us. Um, thank God rates of Norvice are still higher than what they were compared to last year, but they are trending in the right direction and decreasing um throughout throughout the United States, which is great news. Um, just some updates. We just did we did have the sugar rush program and fat attack program um again at the Bloomfield Community Center. Um, Americanore did come back and offer the healthy living program um where we discuss where they discussed information for free lowcost health insurance tips for taking for talking with medical providers and managing chronic disease. Um, we held an H5N1, also known as the bird fluformational um session with the Department of Public Works um and looking ahead what would you need to do um if you found a flock of dead birds on town property? um how would you dispose of that? What per you know personal protective equipment would you wear? So we did hold that training session um last month. We are continuing to collaborate with social services and

youth services and planning the youth summit which is May 10th and we will be doing the drug takeback day for both towns West Harford and Bloomfield. That is Saturday, April 26, a drive-thru from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Um, again, under, let's see, Monday, April 28th at 11:30 at the Bloomfield Senior Center, we're going to be offering a medication safety presentation where we're having pharmacists come in from Yukon. You bring your um brown bag of medications and the pharmacist reviews those with you to make sure um, you know, medications um, can be taken together. Um and so that will be there will be a sign up for that, but that's coming up again Monday, April 28th in partnership with the School of Pharmacy at Yukon. Um Saturday, May 10th at 8:45 to 3:00 p.m. again, Bloomfield Community Center. Um we're having the uh Bloomfield and Windsor Youth Summit. Um and then we're still doing our strengthening and balancing program with the community center. that's held Monday, May 12th at 11:30 to 12:30 p.m. And um with our library again, we'll be holding the American uh Americanore healthy living education workshop again um for Wednesday, May 14th. We still have radon test kits available for our residents of Bloomfield in West Harford. You can pick those up at the health district. Um and we're still offering our free diabetes workshop for those that are interested in that. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you so much. Any questions online? Any questions in the room? Uh, Mr. Town Manager. Yes. I apologize. Uh, good evening. Good evening, Amy. um apologize if I got a bit distracted with your presentation, but I know we had some um some communication between uh from you to the the rest of the the West

Hartford Bloomfield uh district board and myself as uh some of the um uh impacts of President Trump's cuts would be anticipated to uh uh affect us here in in Bloomfield. I apologize if you touched on any of those. Did you get the opportunity? No, I did not bring that up at at this session. Um, and I can just briefly what um the town manager is referring to is the health district um received uh roughly I think a little bit over $130,000 cut from grants through the CDC and Department of Public Health. Um and so we um again communicated that with the board. we had to turn in a bunch of reports um you know received a stop work order notice um to not continue any further work on those grants. Um so there was that notification that went out. Um we were also looking at a proposed 10% cut to our uh state per capita through the governor's um budget as well. Um, so the health district and other local health departments here in Connecticut were taking a a hard hit the last couple weeks regarding funding cuts. Um, but we're in a good spot. Um, I feel comfortable with our budget that I presented to again to both towns and to our board. Um, we came in at 0% increase to the to the two towns. Um, so thank you town manager for your support. Thank you, Amy. Thank you for the 0% increase and your continued hard work at the health district. So, a lot of robust um programming coming through. Thank you guys for continuing on top of these vaccinations and the update with um things that are going on healthwise near

Anfar. Um it it was kind of not good to see but um interesting to see and and probably um confirmation to see that 97% of the cases were unvaccinated. And I think you brought up a good point Amy about people calling and asking do they need a booster? Um I didn't even really know there was a booster after you received your required amount of shots in MMR. So those are very good questions from public that called in and if anyone does have any further questions at this point I recommend that you do call them um because measles is really nothing to play with. So thank you so much for the update. Last call for questions in the room for the health department. Okay. Well we move along at this point to any other public safety concerns. No. Okay. I do want this was uh an unusual meeting where he had a couple of issues uh a little off of the norm for discussion, but I do thank those parties that brought those issues out um and to the extent of the conversation we were able to have um regarding some concerns in town. We need to express our concerns, collaborative thought and conversations are what bring us to a really good resolve as a town. So, we need to have open communication and speak with each other and make the issues known so that we can all collaboratively work together for the best interest of our residents. Um, looking for approval on the minutes. I believe we still have quorum here with three of us. Oh, Council Cooper is still on the line. So, so moved. Thank you. I have a second. Second. Thank you, Councelor Cooper. All right. Um, all in favor of approving the minutes from February 12th, 2025. I I nays abstensions. You said

nay. Oh. Oh. Okay. Shocker. No, not me. Shocker. Okay. Thank you so much. Motion. Motion carries. Thank you so much. Um Um Thank you so much for the reminder as well. Um I missed public comment. I don't see any hands online, but I'll announce. Is there anyone from the public? Um, I did have a couple of people that said they were coming through. They did not. So, I'll reach out to them for another opportunity for public counsel or public comment. Anybody else on the line? There may be more people. Um, I just can't see cuz I can only see the people here. So, if I miss a hand, no, we're all set with the hands. Okay. So, no public comment. Mr. Town Manager. Yeah, we got we got to paint that wall on the side so we can see your hand. My apologies again. No worries. No worries. I I just want to um let everybody know that um who's going on a trip tomorrow. We we have a boss lift. the the Connecticut Guard has been very generous in their efforts to um include the town of Bloomfield and a boss lift, which is basically an opportunity for leadership uh within the town uh amongst the council and amongst the the the town's leadership and on staff to go on a helicopter ride and um and and and see some of the um military facilities across the state. So, uh, we're going to be sending about, uh, six, uh, seven, uh, out the door tomorrow. I'll be there, uh, to meet them as they, as they take off at 07:30. And, um, looking forward to them having that experience. And, um, I know Captain Haidash will be there. I I know you yourself, Councelor Lloyd will be there. We did arrange to have you in the um, in the cockpit, so you will be assisting flying as you requested. And uh I know it's going to be a great time by all. So uh I just want uh the public to know of

of the incredible incredible opportunities afforded to our our deserving leadership in town to to just get to learn uh some of the things that uh that keep us safe as a nation. And um and since we do have military person uh personnel in our ranks uh to to have that support of of them and and learn a little bit more about their their capacities I think uh does us all better to understand why it's so important to to support our our our service members. So I I thank all of you uh who have uh accepted the the um opportunity and uh and hopefully it'll be a good experience for all and and we'll uh continue to provide uh some more opportunities in the future. Thank you very much Mr. Town Manager. Um if there are no other comments or questions, Miss Rogers, last call. No. Okay. Thank you guys on the dis in the room. Thank you everyone for tuning in. Motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Moved by council Mah. Second by council Cooper. All in favor? I I