Public Safety Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay. I call order this uh January 28th, 2026 meeting of the public safety committee. Roll call, please. Sims here. Aman Gold here. Awoman Harter here. Blessed here. Have a

Thank you. Uh next item is the approval of the agenda. Does anybody have a chance to look at the Everybody had a chance to look at it. More importantly, does anybody have any changes they want to make? Seeing none, the agenda will stand as submitted. The next item on the agenda are citizen comments. This is our first opportunity in this meeting. For anybody here in the meeting room or online can address this committee with regard to any issue concerning public safety, you'll be given up to three minutes. Please identify yourself by name and address. I don't have anyone online. Thank you. I'll close citizen comments and move on to the reports of the committee. As chairman, I do not have a report. Um, Alderwoman Sims, no report.

Thank you. Alderman Gold, I only report I'd add is just I thank you for everybody um all their efforts clearing streets. I think that and and not only that, the the pathways to the uh Rogers Parkway and our trail system. um with the amount of snow that we received, it's pretty remarkable that within a short period of time we can start seeing some dry pavement um like we are. So, thank you for all that effort. Well said. Uh Alwoman Harter,

um I do have a question for the police. Um, apparently someone was going around taking a picture of a few condos in the front and this woman came down and she said, "Why are you taking a picture in front of my house and she said, "Well," and she kind of flashed a bag and she said, "It's because of an occupancy um permit and to see who lives where or whatever." And she goes, "Well, you can't tell by looking at the the door." So, I just want to bring it to your attention. Um, Brentwood Forest doesn't know about it. Um, Bola said they they weren't aware of it. So, I'm just putting it on your And when that happened? Today. Okay.

So, I don't know. I mean, it could be something that we just don't know about. But, you know what address it happened at? Um, no. Um, wait a minute. I can get with you and check. It's Oreo Place, I I believe. Okay. We'll check. I'll let you know. Okay. But that's that other than that I have no report of them. Thank you for the streets. Thank you. Uh number five is the city administrator's report. There's there's a listing heading but so we will be reporting under the departmental report just on the winter winter storm and the city's response to that. First I thought you said winner. Oh winner. The winner winner. We are winners.

Yes. Absolutely. We're all winners. You get a trophy and you get a trophy. Uh number six out of the department reports. Indeed. The wintertorm report. Um, is that Dan? Is it gonna be or is it I think chief can start and then terrific. We had a snow event. We had two within 24 hours actually.

Uh, which, you know, along with the cold weather, obviously the freezing temperatures, we had backto-back snows storms. Uh, from the policing side during that 48 hour period, we had 48 incidents we responded to and and handled during that period of time. Uh I think it was a bit of a blessing that it happened on Saturday and we got away from the work crowd which helped us a lot as it goes to with regard to traffic. So most people you know I think they were at home. So we didn't see a lot of traffic. We we only handled two accidents. One of which was a very minor accident related to snow. Uh the other one wasn't. So we we in terms of impact on the city uh it was minimal. Obviously, our officers were out in the cold weather running the streets and uh doing what they do. So, um but we had no major issues other than navigating the streets. We were asked by Bola to give updates on a regular basis, which our officers did. And um public works, according to the to the officers that were out on the street, did a fantastic job, and they worked well with our police department as well, uh when they called and asked for particular areas to be hit um that were icy or whatever the case may be. So, I I think um the uh people from public works that were running those trucks did a did a great job for the city.

Did you want me to go into my report now or you want to how you want to do that? You want to do the rest of it with public work? Yes. So, um Ed, you're next. Thanks, Chief.

Probably better than mine. Okay. So, our uh department operations began uh at noon time on Saturday. So, we uh made a decision to hire in two additional personnel to staff our UTV. Uh that was essentially to assist the ambulance in accessing addresses and also to help with patient loading. Additionally, if we would receive a uh non-emergency call that the fire truck would normally run on, and if the UTV was capable, we would send those two folks out and limit the exposure to the humongous fire truck on the slick streets. Um, East Central Dispatch went into emergency operation procedures which automatically limited the number of vehicles that were responding to calls anyway. So, as an example, an automatic alarm would get two engines and a battalion chief that would just got a single engine during emergency response. Life threats were still engine and ambulance as usual. If we were to get a life threat in Brentwood, the ambulance, the engine, and the UTV would go as well. Um, two paramedics on that UTV, so extra set of hands working. Uh, essentially during the 48 hours, we ran eight calls for service. Three of those were assist out to other agencies and we really didn't experience any cause of significance related to the storm with the exception of one and that was a frozen sprinkler pipe down at 533 Hanley Industrial and that was still flowing unbeknownst to us still on Monday. Uh we shut the valve off the domestic water supply split into two. So supplied the fire suppression side and then domestic for you know sinks and toilets. Uh the valve on the uh sprinkler side did not seat correctly although we cranked it down all the way. There was still water flowing through the system. So the drain was flowing out into Hanley Industrial Court. So uh we lay with the public works department. They kept an eye on it

and salted it overnight and then additionally on uh Monday morning. But with that exception, that's all we did. So for a storm of this size, uh, and again with two rounds of snow coming, um, we commend public works for what they were able to do. We had no no issues accessing anything. I think we dodged the bullet with the storm as well. Very much. Very welcome. Any questions? Okay. You're from D. All right. Wish I had like a round of applause or something, but play.

Um, I try to include a bunch of general things in our report. So, as everyone else has mentioned, you know, the storm came in two waves, you know, Saturday and Sunday. Uh, I know we received probably between nine and 10 inches of snow. I know the official count, I think, was like nine and a half in Richmond Heights. Um, and then we split up in shifts like we always do. So, you've got an A crew and a B crew. They work up to 12 hours and then just alternate. So, we started Saturday around 10:30 before the storm hit and then just kept cycling every 7:00 a.m. 7:00 p.m. all the way through Monday. Uh, Tuesday, yesterday, we returned to normal. So, 7:00 a.m. to 3:30. Um, I'd like to say it was normal, but kind of sort of not uh because we didn't do trash on Monday. So, we did trash uh for Brentwood Forest and recycling on Tuesday. And then we did Ward One recycling, but we had two uh staff out for sanitation. And so we just floated two people from public works. Parks gave us some of their folks. So we're still able to run trucks. Um so listed in here, you know, we have it should be normally 20, but we only had 19. And then those shifts consist of six drivers, a mechanic, and then three sidewalk, and then a support person that floats uh around in case somebody has to come back, take a break. Uh the six drivers are assign assigned specific routes. So we have A B C D and then east west that would do like alleys and smaller areas and then parking lots and sidewalks like around here by the library, post office, that sort of area. And over at the rec center, police, fire. Um I know we've mentioned it before, there's 44 lane miles in uh Brentwood. And then of course we have multiple parking lots uh different buildings to take care of. And then going through our challenges, you know, it's this way all the time, especially with a heavier snowfall. You know, this intensified Sunday and didn't let up until about midday on Sunday. Um,

and they had been running shifts throughout the day clearing snow and then finally when it stops then they're able to make some significant progress instead of having the snow cover roads that were just scraped clean. You know, we were able to push the majority of that over to the sides. Um, some of those challenges of course would be, you know, narrow roads, uh, people parked in the street even though we asked that they move. And then low visibility. I know couple times it was like storming fairly significantly, so it's hard to see, especially at night. Uh, and then of course, as the chief's mentioned, you had the extremely low temperatures. So salt typically doesn't work once it's 15 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, you know. So we just kind of have to wait for the salt to work, which it did help that Monday had some sun. So, between the sun and the salt that we already put down, we were able to chip through most everything. Uh, Tuesday, I know we went through ran all the routes. And then today, we're just picking up piles and moving them and spreading them out so they'll melt. So, I know that crews were out pretty much every street, especially the culde-sac since people have finally moved off street parking and and moved, I guess, either go to work, school, whatever. Um, so that allowed us to clean a lot better. Uh some of the other stuff we did coordination wise, you know, we had a meeting Friday, all the department heads with the city administrator. Then we uh convened again on Sunday around 5 uh p.m. to figure out whether public works would have everything ready, city hall opens, doesn't open, rec center, so on and so forth. Um under finance operations, I just listed even though we're only two square miles, these are the odometer readings from your different trucks. So like your bigger trucks that do pretty big routes like 5753, you know, you've got an odometer reading of several hundred miles just on Saturday, Sunday because of the number of passes that they have to do. Um then I included some pictures of um trucks just I'm sure you saw them out there. I mean, you've got basically a small truck and a big truck. You know, the small

truck I wouldn't consider small. It's at least a one ton. It has salt spreader on the back. It has about a 8 and 1/2t wide plow blade on the front. Bigger truck would be your two-tonon and up. Uh those have a 9 ft blade, a much bigger spreader, bigger payload. And then as way of comparison, I just took a picture of them sitting side by side. So you can see the smaller one is a little bit easier maneuver on some of those uh dead-end streets, whether it's, you know, Mary Kay, Douglas, you know, anything along Salem. Some of the challenges would also be your deadends, you know, whether it's uh Lewis or you know the dead ends of Salem trying to get maneuvered around and then push snow back out. Then of course when we clear snow in the side streets then the county pushes it right back on the side streets and now you got a it's just a big circular movement of snow. Uh we did have a blinker sign. It's that pedestrian flashing sign that was over where County Blue used to be. Somebody hit it and broke the uh solar collector on it. The sign I think is salvageable. Uh the post is completely bent. They did not rip it out of the ground. It bent it completely over. So, it had to be something fairly decent sized. We didn't see any tire tracks or anything. I said, "Well, we'll keep the parts we can." We have an extra one back at the shop. So, I'm not going to do a claim or anything. I'll just keep what we have for parts. And then I included some photos in here. You can kind of see um where I took them yesterday morning. So, like Fawn, you know, his car still parked. It had been there, I'm sure, since Saturday because nothing had been cleaned off. Uh, a lot of these vehicles have since moved, uh, you know, either late yesterday or beginning of today. I know this truck that was pictured on Cecilia, it's moved. So, we're able to clean more snow. And then, uh, surprisingly, like some streets I figured would have a lot of snow just because they're narrow and people usually park on them. But, u, you know, between Mary and Brentwood Boulevard, it was fairly clear as you see in the photo. That was yesterday morning.

Yeah. And then, of course, some other cars parked on Pine that were snowed in. And then lastly on the uh match and then Annalie, we pushed uh more snow around but it was still stuck to the pavement. We added a lot more salt to it, let it sit and then a combination of sunlight allowed it to loosen and then we ran three crews kind of like mod where we stagger them and just pushed everything out and then you can see the after shot and that got it right down to the bare pavement. That's pretty much it. If you any questions. Thank you. Anybody in the committee have questions? Yeah.

Question. I I noticed a um a complaint or a post that of I guess maybe a business that had moved a pile onto in the middle of Brentwood Boulevard. Um I saw that today like closer to like the repair place like near Pendleton like where it comes. It looks like they just pushed the whole parking lot out into the center lane into the center lane. And have we had that a problem before? How do we handle that? That's obviously we don't clear Brentwood Boulevard. Yeah, we don't. I mean, we can alert the county of it. I saw today when I drove by because I took a loop through like Brazu, Pendleton, where there were some piles near intersections. We knocked those down. But I thought, well, if that thing freezes, I mean, if somebody doesn't see it and strikes it,

it's about I don't know, would you say two feet high? Yeah. and and like when we clear our parking lot, we stack it in the corners and don't push it out on the Manchester because we wouldn't want that, you know, to do that to MOT out and it would cause an accident anyways. So, I don't know if we if we can identify who who was doing that. Maybe the business doesn't even know that whoever they hide hired did that and then it's also not our jurisdiction to clear Brentwood Boulevard. So, then we have to get the county involved. So, I don't know. Just something to look into for future snowstorms. Yeah, I can at least alert the county given the approximate address and just ask them to clear it, see if they can push that off.

But we'll follow up with the business just to make sure that they know in the future if it's their snowplow, you know, wherever they hire that that did it that they don't do it again, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The only other complaint we got was along Manchester when the state runs their route, they keep pushing it to the right and then it shoots it over the sidewalks and into the driveways. A lot of those businesses are fairly close, right? But we don't have any ability to tell them what to do with it, and I don't know where they're supposed to go with it, honestly. Right. Right. All right. Thank you. Yep. Any other questions? Yes.

Um, this has nothing to do with the snow, but um, right before I came, we had a big water main break on North Swan. I mean, it is flooding like you can't believe. And so, I mean, will the street people come back out and put salt down when the water stops? We can have our folks put salt on it assuming that we're a couple inches. I mean, we had to move the cars and everything. It was going up over the curb and Oh, just want to alert you to the fact that there's What's the approximate address?

North Swan between um Renwood and High School. Okay. Yeah, that's close enough. My house. Yeah, we'll look for the shiny surface because I'm sure there's water. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks,

Chief. I'd like to start with uh a couple recent cases, two of which you uh heard about at the board meeting last week, so I won't go into them at length. I just wanted to hit on them. the uh mobile case from 113 where Corporal Hoppler got a flock hit and uh he and officer Slatterie attempt to stop a vehicle and that car hitler and Slatterie ended up in the front seat of the of the suspect's car with him as he fled out on the Brentwood Boulevard. A lot of bad things could have come out of that case, but uh they didn't. uh that guy's being held on a $100,000 bond for uh the possession of the weapon, the drugs, felony fleeing, and for assaulting a police officer. So, um that was a good case during this time. Uh another case that happened during the last since the last time we met was on 114 of 26 at the YMCA. That was a uh incident where a guy threatened the YMCA employees, the kids, and his prior girlfriend. all uh some of which was recovered by the detectives uh from his phone uh and they had witnesses at the YMCA that were able to provide information to the officers. This this was also an award that was given last week and it was really uh hinged on the fact that officer Husidic who received that call recognized exactly what uh he was dealing with and the bureau guys took that and ran with it did a search warrant at midnight that night and got his gun and got his phone and some other things. He's being held on a $250,000 bond at this point. Um, couple other uh kind of interesting cases in this period. On the 15th of January, we received a complaint uh from a woman who said that her debit card was used at Nordstrom Rack, but she was holding her debit card. So, this is a kind of an unusual case uh for us, but somebody's

got the ability obviously to clone debit cards. They obtained her information, her name and her u exact credit card and the our debit card and the it it was a debit card. They're reproducing it and they went in and bought, you know, a couple hundred worth of stuff at Nordstrom and then it got declined as she was leaving. So, we were able to identify her. She was arrested this week. Uh part of an organized group that's doing this throughout the St. Louis area. So, um, I'm going to talk about our overall crime reduction in Brentwood for the year in a minute, but this is an example of the kind of thing that is some of this is why our our retail theft crime is really a challenge for us because these organized groups do a really good job of coming into our stores and um, defrauding the people that um, all of us that that are sitting there with our cards in our hands. um that the uh suspect in that case is being held on a $10,000 bond at county jail as we speak. Um the last one was a case that happened on the 20th and this was a domestic case um that resulted in uh felony warrants being issued for a student down in southwest Missouri State or Missouri State as they call it now. And we had a group of officers that went down there last night. It took him a while to find this this guy, but they located him and arrested him, brought him back to to our area to uh face the warrant that the judge issued on him. So, these cases that, you know, in years gone by, some of these cases where people made threats, while they were taken serious by law enforcement, they weren't they weren't necessarily ending up in in strong prosecutions. That's not the case anymore. Uh these if you're going to go online and make threats against people, um our county, St. County Circuit Court's taking these things very seriously and so are the judges which is a good thing. So, um I was going to move on. If anybody any questions about recent crime, I'll be

happy to answer those. Otherwise, I'll I'd like to talk a minute about a comparison of the 2025 year-end crime as opposed to some years prior. Uh we were down about 21% uh reduction in crime in 2025 over 2024. So for us that represents about 80 offenses less than we had. You guys know that our uh much of our crimes driven by retail theft. So but just to scope that for you, out of 326 crimes, over 250 of them were thefts that occurred in retail areas. So um obviously that's a priority for us for several reasons. Uh one of which is the the tax base that we rely on in this city is right there. So, uh, protecting it is very important, but it's it's also important to protect the stores so that they have viability and us as all of us that shop in these areas so that we don't become victims of their of their fraud as well. We were down 55 larsenies uh even though we had um over 250,000 that was still minus 55 from the year before. So there is some um hope in the in kind of disconnecting some of this. We really kind of got it separated between those that come in and steal their lunch and um those that are in here really with what I would call more of an organized approach to theft. And both of them drive the crime. Um but they are different in that who's doing them and the volume that they're capable of doing and the amount that they steal. So uh but we deal with both both really those kind of thieves. The prosecution uh of chronic thieves is better. Um I think St. Louis County prosecutor's office is doing much a much they're doing a good

job with the stealing forth. So, what that means is if you've got three prior uh convictions for theft in municipal court, they can charge you with a a felony in state court. And they're willing to do that if we can provide the information for them. So, that helps when we start looking at driving down these uh retail theft crimes. The other uh area that I was going to speak to was uh our reduction in car crime. And just to give you a little perspective on that, go back to 2020. Uh so about 5 years ago we had 169 car related crimes in Bruntwood. That's a lot for a town our size. This year or past year in 25 we had 62. Um I was always one of these people when I because I've been doing this a long time with numbers and crime and and explanations of what is going well, what isn't going well. One of the things you got to really look at when you look at any number when it goes to crime is what are you really looking at? Uh just as an example, we had 20 21 stolen cars reported. Some of those were failure to return rentals, some of them were trailers. So there was some, you know, you look at it on face value and you say we had 21 stolen cars, which by the way is very low for a year. Uh but there's still some fudging in the numbers there also if you take a really hard look at the numbers. So, um, the long story short on car crime is we're doing very well, much better, um, than we were a few years ago. Some of that's got to do with our officers and and their ability to be able to run these guys out of town. Some of that's got to do with prosecution, and a lot of it's got to do with the change over in the city with juvenile crime and other things. So, there's there's there's multiple things I think that are are affecting our car crime. uh all of which are positive as we as we go into 26. Uh we're hoping

that it continues to go down. Couple just uh I guess kind of interesting. They were uh me. Uh when does our crime when's our most our crime occur? I would have thought Saturday would be our highlight day because of retail theft. It's actually Tuesday and it's not even been really close. Tuesday and Wednesday are the high days for for crime in Brentwood. That's all crime, but of course we're driven by retail crime. So, um not too surprising between 1 p.m. and 3M are the the highlighted hours. Um we kind of knew this and one of the things that we're doing in 26 is really emphasizing our retail detective be in our retail areas and at those times and in those days. So, um, Amber Hawkins has, uh, been directed to go into to those areas and stay in those areas during those high crime days and high crime hours. So, um, she will have a visibility there consistently going forward. Um, in 2025 when we looked at our flock alerts and again, you start looking at what has helped us with crime, these flock cameras definitely are an assist to us. Um, first of all, the bad guys know about them now. They're pretty pretty well known amongst them as they as they move around to try and do the things that they do. Well, that's helpful to us. You know, when they know our area is saturated with flock cameras, makes it more of a challenge for the bad guys to come in and do what they do. Um, out of the uh 123 flock hits that we had last year, the lion share of them were for felony wanteds. So things like felony fleeings, thefts, things like that, and stolen autos. So, um it's particularly good on fresh stolen autos. Sometimes they'll switch the plates after they've had the car for a couple days, but on a day or two out,

um they're usually too lazy to switch the plates, so we get a crack at them uh pretty pretty uh frequently with the stolen cars. So that that flock program generally that the city spent money on um at the police department's request is really it's helped us a lot. It's been successful. Uh give you a little idea of the 2025 traffic detail uh numbers. So we had Corporal Hoppler started in September uh and he was dedicated. Uh we asked Bola to promote an additional corporal which he approved. Brian took that over. He's got parks and traffic. So, every day he's in our parks and every day he's on the streets running traffic. So, it's really helped us, especially having a supervisor that that um we can form things out to as you guys bring us issues in your neighborhoods. Brian's a really good resource to be able to help us with traffic issues and things like that. Last year, um total tickets written were 1,287 uh moving violations. So uh just to give you a little perspective on that in 2024 we had 596 tickets written. So better than u double the number with Hoppler driving that and that was really only in about a fivemon period. Um but included in that was also 572 warnings that were given by him and other officers. So there's still discretion built into this process. So, we're we're really happy with the direction that uh Brian's taken, what we're uh expectations were for traffic. Um we had a vehicle purchase that you guys saw. I was on the board meeting last week. Um Major Sullivan, who you probably hear from a little later, is responsible for that as our administrative major. Uh this year, uh he opted and I approved a purchase of a 2026 Ford F-150 pickup truck. Uh, it's

police rated, it's pursuit rated vehicle, but it also gives us an opportunity to use that vehicle during the year for different things like moving signs around, doing our officer safety program. There's there's things that we uh will be able to use a pickup truck for. Uh, inclement weather would be another one. So, um, that'll be the the sole vehicle that we purchase. And then we're getting rid of an old patrol car here soon. Uh, quick update on the the electric vehicle that was placed into service. Brian Hoppler, the traffic guy, has been driving that car exclusively. We wanted to see how it worked with Brian driving it, pushing it eight hours a day, every day. Um, overall, he's happy with the car. Loves the performance of it, how it drives. We did have some issues with this cold weather, though. Uh, charging it was a challenge. So, I really think that it's um as the city of Brenwood looks at electric vehicles and their their potential for use, um I think it's important that we look at what effect that super cold weather had on that car. Um I can share the memo um I gave at Bola. Uh one night it only charged 16 up to 16% when on one really cold night. Uh so that that's a challenge especially if you if you had all patrol vehicles were electric cars. You can imagine we might be riding bikes that next day. So especially when it's 3°. So um it'll be interesting to see the the dead heat of summer how it affects that car as well. I I don't know. They say the heat can affect the battery performance as well. Overall the car has been uh successful and it's you know it's a really good car. It's maneuverable. It's great for what he does in his traffic job. Um I am a little concerned going forward looking at that cold weather because it's uh it's something we deal with. So

that report will be uploaded to the agenda so you can refresh and you'll have access to it.

Great. Thank you. Our kitchen update uh was approved. As you know, we used half of it was asked the forfeiture. The other half um came out of Dan's budget for our kitchen. It's completed new counters and cabinets that were 25 years old. So, uh it's nice to have something fresh in the the kitchen where everybody eats every day. So, um just a quick update on the area task force. You know, uh Brentwood is part of a multi- agency task force. There's probably 30 or 40 cities in it now. Uh they go out six just to eight times a year depending on weather. This one got cancelled. They had one scheduled this week that's canled now. So um we typically send out a a two twoman car, two officer car to be part of the process of and they they ride the entire St. Louis County area. Uh St. Louis County police do the supervision of it and it's uh all of the dispatching comes out of St. Louis County. So they're part of that task force on a regular basis. Uh, what else did I have for you? I think that's it. If anybody had any questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you. Try to

Thank you, Chief.

Good evening. Pleasure to present in person this month instead of over the phone in the lobby of the hotel in Florida. Uh so first the monthly update um the uh vacancies that uh former Chief Katrol and the resignation of uh firefighter paramedic Cosmos created those have all been filled now. So obviously you appointed me as a fire chief. Uh I have assist newly appointed assistant chief Herman with me here this evening. And then to fill his spot uh Seth Kerry was promoted from our eligible lieutenants list to that. So now we just have two firefighter openings which we are actively uh testing for which is part two here. We uh we tested 14 individuals uh last Thursday and Saturday morning. Uh we got the last test group out just as the snowflake started falling. Uh so 14 out of 16 tested. One took a job uh before they even tested and another one got called in to work for the snow event. doesn't work around here, but um so they were not able to test as well. The results were still are pending. Um we had to send them up to Chicago. So the standardized testing, we're still awaiting results from that. Assistant Chief Herman graded the uh paramedic test. So uh Tangela has those in the spreadsheet and we're just awaiting results and then we'll start moving forward. There is uh one other phase to this and it's an oral interview and a medical practical and we anticipate running that in one day and hopefully to have a conditional offer by the end of the month. So that we're we're moving pretty quick on that. Uh based off of our experience from last time, we lost four or five candidates off of our hiring list because our process was taking a little bit too long. So we Ronnie and I condensed it last time. So, we're able to run 13 through in a day and we can uh we can get offers before we lose the talent someplace else. Uh for training update, uh Lieutenant

Chavez and BC Hildebrandt drove up to uh the Chicago area on Friday to uh see the um modular components for the uh for the training tower. So, those look good. Uh as I reported at the W3 meeting last night, there was one issue with uh the door frames and the doors. Uh those numbers were reversed. um they'll be on reverse by the time we get our stuff delivered. Uh we are still on track uh for uh probably a late March uh delivery. Uh assembly components will go pretty quick and we'll probably be in that tower by April towards the end of April, first part of May. So uh once we get that up and running, we'll we'll have a uh have an event, invite everybody down and take a walk through. It's it's going to be uh it's going to be good for all for all the agencies. Uh the fire engine update. Uh we're going to be going up to Appleton, Wisconsin, February 8th through 10th to do the final inspection on the truck. Uh then we'll authorize it for release. Pierce will drive it down to the St. Louis area to the local Pierce uh vendor, which is McQueen. Uh they'll do a couple of inspections, final detailing, install the uh radio and the computer, and then uh we'll go through internal training. Hopefully maybe by um end of March, first week of April, we should have that truck in service. Um that's the goal. We'll see what happens. Um as reported earlier, our winter storm operations um for the amount of snow we had, we didn't do that much and uh no damages to any equipment. Uh also in included at your positions is the are the uh monthly stats um that we give bullet in the weekly report. We've had there was probably about a 6% increase in predicted calls that we should have run for 25 to what we actually ran and we're running right at about 60% of those being EMS related. Um and I know in the previous weekly reports I've told

you we are going through a new FEMA uh nearest reporting platform. that thing is still they're still working some of the bugs out of it. Uh particularly with our ESL stuff. So I promise you once I'm able to download a CSV with raw call data, I will get you the performance measures that you're used to seeing. But uh so far so good. Everything's getting transferred just not able to manipulate the data like I'm used to do it in the old side. So that's the monthly update from the fire department. I'll be more than happy to entertain any questions. Have any questions from the committee? Thank you very much, Chief. Perfect. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Dan, do you have more to report?

Okay. Uh, regarding the, uh, street lights, there's several different locations that we're aware that we have issues. Um, I know the electrician looked at the cabinet that's on the north side of Manchester near Dorothy. Uh, the total cabinet has to be replaced. We routed the CRA for approval. Um, and he said the lead time is around 5 months. So, whenever we get that, it'll be fully rebuilt and we'll be able to pull the wires and get that thing restored so that those decorative lights work again on that north side. Uh, there's four lights that are close to what used to be the Circle K gas station on the north side of Manchester.

Uh, that actually needs new conduit and wiring. Someone severed the underground feed to the lights and he said rather than try to find the break in it, it's easier just to go ahead put a new conduit in, wire it back up. Uh we'll have to wait for the uh demolition contractor, the Circle K. I know the canopy and that they're doing demolition on. So it's basically in the same footprint we need to be. Um but I don't think that's going to take too long. So sometime in February, I'm hoping to get them back out there. And then there was a a street light. It was the bulb on one on the south side of Strawner near what used to be the switching post. Uh that one's restored. It's close to the Metro Link. Uh it's probably like a 20 foot tall light. And then Mcnite, we were given an update from TAPco. It looks like everything should ship on February 12th. Whenever we get that confirmation, then we'll u rent a lift or a bucket truck. Either one is fine. So we can do that work over Mcnite. Uh we still need to hand out those postcards for the solar light survey. That would be at Mary Kay and Douglas. Uh originally those were supposed to be like an amarind light, but I think the solar is the way to go. We just have to see if the folks approve it. uh sidewalk cutting. They got quite a bit done in Brentwood Forest, but then the weather turned on us. Uh they're expecting mid to late February the snow has to clear. Uh but I know that they did do work on several streets, you know, Renwood and Swan Circle. And then uh the last one, the no turn on red, it was brought to our attention that table 7A where right turns on red are prohibited. There's some references that were the previous I64. If you recall, I don't know when it was, somewhere, I'm guessing 0708 to maybe 2010, I64 was reconfigured. So like these references of like Highway 40 eastbound off-ramp on the Eager Road, that doesn't exist. Uh Highway 40 eastbound off-ramp on the Hanley Road and uh the other reference there at Hanley Road southbound on the Eager. Um so we need to get those

removed from the code. The other ones are still fine. I'll just have to work with the city attorney and bring that back to the board. Okay, any questions? Thank you, Dean. Thanks. Next item on the agenda is number seven. I believe it's the consent agenda. It contains the uh minutes from the meeting January 7th. Uh can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Been moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Roll call, please. Honor woman. Yes. Ottoman G. Yes. Harter, yes. Ottoman Pla,

yes. Thank you. Under old business number eight, we have the ebike, minibikes, motorized scooters, and the motorized um the ordinance that's been proposed. Um, I was thinking that what we should do is go through um just the general categories and see where people have questions or recommendations and then we can see what what what there are specific questions about or specific um concerns. had it broken down as to in the categories of change as being the age and license restrictions. Uh penalty to parents is a new thing. Um and then really the third thing I had not for is time and place restrictions uh for the various things that have been defined. Um, as the committee, anybody going through the com through the ordinance as it's being proposed, do they have any questions or concerns regarding the age and license restrictions?

I don't have a I don't have a question. I just wanted to comment. I appreciated the memo and the, you know, the diagram that really helped me with my comprehension of that ordinance. So, and I can tell a lot of work went into that. So, thank you.

You bet. I can agree 100%. Um, and then with regard to the notion of penalty of parents, as I understand it, and officer Sullivan, can you I mean, as I understand it, the way it's written, it is an option of the officer comes across an underage uh operator that the parents can be cited, but that the citation is nothing more than a cite is it is a citation. It is It is just for the purposes of if it happens more than once, it can be what? Accumulated. My understanding of it was a summon to court. Okay.

As a traffic v essentially to Brentwood court summoned to court for vi allowing a juvenile to violate this ordinance. Okay. Okay. Does anybody I just didn't know if anybody had any I know since that was new. So, I just wanted to bring it up as as a topic and whether anybody had any concerns about it or questions about it.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't I don't have I mean I I uh I personally am fine with it, but I I just wanted to make sure we brought it up as a topic of conversation. The um the last and the one that I think is going to have we're going to have some conversation about has to do with the time and place restrictions. There's this chart which I agree is really helpful. I I have I have a couple of concerns. So I'll just start this off and then we'll we can talk about it more. So section 375.090 090 subsection D talks about the the use of bicycles and electric bikes on paved sidewalks and it was my understanding that electric bikes one and two electric MTDs and EPAMDs and non-motorized alternative vehicles can be operated on the sidewalks but not classification three of the ebikes.

Correct. And not only class three of the ebikes. Yeah. Classified and also anything classified under motorized alternative vehicle because it's not included right in D. No, I understand that. But do you think that there should be added after it says electric bicycles, should it be in parenthesis one and two because it it it sort of suggests that all electric bikes. Okay. Because then class 3 is not allowed on your sidewalks. Right. Right. So that one and two may be operated on paved sidewalks, but that three cannot. Okay.

That was my understanding as the intent and I don't I just didn't I just thought it was ambiguous the way it was written as to whether it meant electric bikes. It meant all classifications of electric bikes. And the only other um the only other thing that I saw in here that I caused me some question has to do with the chart actually and I don't know whether the chart is actually synced up to the ordinance itself but I will tell you I I find it useful and I was thinking is there a way that we can make this an appendix or some kind of an attachment to to the ordinance right for I think there is

okay I mean I I would like to and the The only one I had a question about was the classification of motorized alternative vehicles operated with a valid driver's license. This chart seems to say that those are okay on sidewalks, but I don't think that's the intention. Correct. I agree. I'm not sure because even my chart was a little different from yours because I had blank spaces in mine. Right. Right. I saw that. Um, and then the the Razer Minibike, pocket motorbikes, electric, they're also looking like they're allowed on sidewalks and I think that's was not intended, right? Um, but I was my mine looks like it there's blank blank spaces. So right like that was

like is that just to the discretion of the officer at that point or No, if if I want to speak for Jim, I think he may have left those blank to have that open for discussion on what if we were going to change this ordinance at all through the legislative process. I tried to give him a call. I know he's in Wville tonight. Um

I was not able to get through to him, so I don't know what that meant either. Um but I Does anybody else have any other comments or questions. I overall I was really happy with how thorough this whole thing is and um I also really I I like personally the the flexibility of it. I mean it it it says may quite a bit which I like. I mean I I would rather give officers who are enforcing this. I'd rather give them some power and control to be able to assess a situation and decide how to how to, you know, how to conduct themselves rather than shall or, you know, us sort of dictating to them how they should respond. um if it would there be some way that you could um talk to Jim just about the chart itself and about that that one section with regard to the one and two because beyond that I'm I'm prepared to hear a motion that we present this to the whole board for consideration.

Okay. Yeah. We can also ask Jim about I I was with you on that citation term that's in there. Uh that could mean different things. I would prefer that be a summon. Okay. In the ordinance. That way we we were clear that the parent could get a summon. And and the other thing and this isn't necessarily something we need to bring up tonight or talk about or or decide tonight. But it seems to me as it goes to the full board for consideration, one of the things we're going to have to do that assuming this passes, we're going to have to do something with regard to getting the word out. And I don't know what exactly that would be, but maybe that's something the communications committee can help us with in terms of putting together brochure information, signage, you know, whatever.

School district, right? Because we're going to have to notify schools, right? I I think in preparation for a conversation at at at the um board level, maybe maybe Michelle can put together a strategy to Absolutely. I mean, I don't know that it's not a policy discussion, but it's a so I don't know that it needs to go to the communications committee. I I I think she can handle it and it will be part of and she'll talk to the police department and we've already had some conversations around the SRO being infused in that process. Great. She'll bring something forward signs on there. No ebikes. Oh, already they do. Okay. Yeah, I will convey that to her.

Okay. All right. Well, with that in mind, um I would entertain a motion to um recommend uh this ordinance uh or bill to be considered by the full board of alderman. So moved.

Thank you. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion? The only thing I would add is in this chart, you know, that we've got the stand-on motorized scooters. Does that column or does that row include like the one wheel and the the motorized uh skateboards, you know, those type of things? Because again, I don't know. I we we see people riding them around on the trails and in the parks and I don't know that I have an issue with that um on principle. It's kind of where they should be um allowed uh it's just the it's the major streets and intersections that become concerning. So I just I would want to make sure that again in the chart or in the ordinance that that's clarified.

Okay. Yeah, that's a good point. And I I do think by my read of it, I think it would include what you described. I think so too, but I just make sure. Okay. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Awoman SS. Yes. W. Yes. Autowoman Harter. Yes. Per. Yes. P. Thank you very much. Uh, we have new business in front of us having to do with participation in the Missouri ground emergency. What is that? It cuts off at the end. I don't know. Yeah. Ground emergency medical transport. Medical transport. Right.

So, this is essentially this is a new update to uh the contract that we signed earlier in the year uh before I took over in 25. I believe uh GMT asked us to do an audit. We went through a bunch of data for them and then we resigned the contract since that time. Um the percentage of collections has changed. So there's an amendment uh at your positions the unexecuted which uh outlines this. So essentially we've been participating in GMT since 2019 and this essentially provides some um payback from the state for Medicaid patients that we transport right now. Before this it was a 15% off the top for every call. So if you had medical insurance, if you were a resident and you got a we took you to the hospital, we would build the insurance company and we would take whatever the reimbursement was right off the rest. If you were a non-resident, we would collect what we could from the insurance and then uh for the administration fees for all of that, for both sides of the program, it was 15%. Now with the changes in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, now they have reduced the collection percentage to 12% for fee for service runs. And then they've added a 9% collection for managed care organizations, which is Medicaid and potentially managed care, Medicare. Um, it's very convoluted and complicated.

Does that change in the percentage collection doesn't cause you to want to change our participation in the program? No, they're just notifying us that, hey, right, we are going to be collecting less on fee for service.

Based off the conversation I had with the previous chief, we think it's going to be a wash because we're not being charged as much on the 12% side, but then we're going to turn around and probably give some of it back on the 9% side from the managed care organizations. Um, Chief Herman, who is our medical officer, is on top of that. So until we start actually getting some collections and seeing where the break is right now, we we can't give you a projection of what it will or won't be. We just know that we're continuing with the program and we will get reimbured for the cause is just the fee that they charge us to do that will change and that's essentially what the unexecuted um resolution and the contract as the amendment is to say yes, we're going to change the percentage.

Okay. Does anybody have any questions for chief? With that in mind, can I get a motion to continue participation in the Missouri Ground Emergency Medical Transportation Reimbursement Program for the year 2025 and authorize the updated fee schedules as noted in the amended agreement? So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Sims, yes. Aman Gold, yes. Harter, yes. Pleka, yes. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Come to the uh last opportunity for citizen comments. Thank you, Chief. You didn't have anything else, did you? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off. There's a resolution attached that I don't know how

it'll be presented to the board. Yeah. Right. So, we'll chat again. Okay. Thank you, Chief. Um this is our second and final opportunity in this meeting for the citizens who wish to make a comment to this committee on any issue involving public safety. If you come forward either in the room here or electronically, you'll be recognized for up to three minutes. Please identify yourselves with your name and your address. I don't have anyone online. That's disappointing. Uh with that, I will close citizen comments. And seeing no other items on the agenda, I will tell you that this meeting is adjourned.