City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, it being six o'clock, I'm going to call the Kuspay city work session to order. Uh I want to point out that online we have councelor Matthews and President Denovo. Uh councelor Kilmer will be joining us shortly and we're going to start with public comment. Does anyone have any public comment tonight? No public comment. Okay, thanks Christine. Moving on to the review of upcoming city council and URRA board action items. We're going to hear a presentation regarding the future of city timber sales from James.

Yeah, I can I can introduce this is James Kirkpatrick. He's a forester with Stunster Engineering. um he has been assisting the city for several years now conducting um timber sales and providing um his expertise with respect to forestry and the management of our timberlands and so he's going to speak to it way more intelligently than myself so I'll turn over to him but we're here to answer questions.

Yeah. So I'm uh I'm James with Stunster Engineering Forestry. Um you know I've been kind of doing these timber sales for the last 10 years for you guys doing it one every couple of years. Um, and we're kind of getting to the point where we're kind of running out of this uh Merchable timber to harvest. Um, we've got I got one more upcoming after the the current 2025 sale that we're currently doing, which is in red on the map that been passed around and that's up there to the north. And that's kind of the last of that um you know, it's like 80 year old timber that we've been harvesting um over the last 1015 years. And now we're kind of getting into that next rotation of uh younger stands, which is probably going to go into like a 45 to 55 year old rotation. Um if you wanted to keep going the 80-year-old route, it's just going to be longer time periods between these timber sales just cuz we don't or my opin to do timber sales every other year. Um so that's kind of where we're at. And I guess at this point I'll just take questions if you have them. So, um, the city has conducted approximately 14 timber sales, correct?

Yeah. 14 or 15 probably since the early 90s. Yep. And how much revenue does that bring in?

Uh, it's kind of varies. It depends on the market in the period in which. And so, traditionally what happens is we put bids out and the folks bid on that and they're beholden to that bid regardless of what happens in the market. So it really it depends on what the market looks like and it's been several hundred thousands to five or six uh you know through the years when we had some really strong markets uh recently not quite as hefty. It has traditionally paid for larger purchase items that we just don't have you know that cash readily available. It's been a source for our police vehicles, which we know have to be rotated on a regular basis because we use them uh every day at pretty high intensities. Um it has funded building kind of facility projects and things like that over the years. So, it's a significant source for us, but we also want to be really thoughtful about how we're managing that moving forward. We today get to carry some legacy from the folks who made those decisions earlier on. And so we're going to have to maybe rethink that. And so appreciate, you know, some of this kind of opportunity to help this newer team on how to manage, you know, the timber we have in a different way.

Yeah. Right. And I'm newer in my position, too. And I don't, you know, we were the employees before me, too. They had different ideas and different plans. So, it's just Yeah. This is just kind of the situation we're in right now. Um, but I guess yeah, we got I got one we can do in 2027 if the city would like and then the next one won't probably is not going to be ready till 2032 to 2035. Kind of just depending on how it grows. Um, and then after that, I mean, I there's nothing really till I'm looking at like 2042. Um, so we only it's it's really two sales left for the next 15 years is kind of what I'm looking at currently. Um, and then just kind of some long-term thinking after those 15 years, say 2042 to 2045. Um, in order to do a sale every, you know, I'm looking at like every 3, three and a half, four years after that, 2042, 2046. Um, there's a lot of stands out there that are 20 to 25 years of age that kind of need to start be thinking about getting thinned. Um, and that is a cost. there's no revenue from that. But, um, if you want kind of consistent harvest, you know, in the long term after the in the 2040s, 2050s, um, these thinningings are going to help out in a big way to do that.

Um, but if you didn't want to do, I mean, it's not 100% necessary. If you didn't want to do it, um, you're just going to have to wait longer. um that nature will kind of take its course and thin itself out and natural selection and all that, but it's um you're really looking 2530 years down the road kind of at that point and then a harvest every five six years at that point. So it does it just kind of makes a difference in that regard and kind of I guess depends on when you want to see revenue and if you want consistent revenue or if you want to kind of do it all at once later down the road every two you know we can wait till 2045 or something and then do it one every two years at that point. Um but then you're going to run out again. So it's just kind of just going to be this repeated cycle. Um,

how do we maintain the best stewardship of the land and like the I mean, yes, the you're saying that it's there's going to be a cost to thin, which we probably don't have money to do that. Sure.

So, how do we um reduce fire risk um while also preserving what we're going to need down the road for funding? I mean just the lo the general location of the property. It's not a high fire risk area um being this close to the coast. But if kind I mean if we wanted to reduce it without thinning I mean just just having better access into some of these stands overall if we can just open up roads and so we can kind of if we just so we can get equipment in there if something did happen. Um, you know, on the the PCT units map I provided there, there's the two stands I have out on the west side there, like those roads really aren't dryable or accessible at this point. And um, you know, it' be nice to at least open up those roads if something were to happen so we can get equipment in there and kind of react quickly. Um, but kind of without thinning, I mean, the fire risk is just going to be what's going to be. Um

um I want to open it up to other questions and I see that there's quite a bit of overlap obviously with the uh waterboard property. Yes. I'm curious what kind of coordination happens with the water board. They are basically in the loop on every um every piece of operation that we do out there. I I kind of inform Matt, you know, we do maintenance rock or planning or these sales and I got to let them know every time every any operator comes in and out of there and what to expect and what kind of equipment's running in there. So, it's Yeah, he's very in the loop, I'd say. Yeah. Um, anyone online? Welcome. Welcome.

Uh, I had a question. And so I just want to make sure I understand uh what you're saying in the me uh and also reviewing the memo. So we basically have two more cuts uh that we can do uh following the current schedule where we do that every two to three years and then following that you're recommending that we pause for 10 years just because we don't have uh the the trees aged appropriately. And what I'm hearing you also say is if we thin it, then in the future we will have better harvest, but we're just gonna have to wait 10 years until we can go into a cadence of receiving these revenues or doing these cuts every two to three years. Is that correct?

Um mo most most of it it's correct. I would say the um

we have the the 2027 sale will be kind of in line with doing the next two years, but then after that I we can't get there won't be another one for at least five or six years. I'm looking at I'm looking at that 2032 to 2035. So it's going to be a little longer in between that second harvest. Um and then after that um yes I do recommend waiting the 10 years before cutting again but then during that time to do some PCTs to prepare for after those 10 years to do a basically a consistent harvest every 3 four years at that point. I don't think we'll ever really be able to go back to the the 2year every a harvest every two years just because of the amount of acres um that we're kind of working with and the size of the clear cuts in the past. I mean, we there is an option to like reduce the size of the clear cut so we can get more in there, but then you're just the revenues going down and all your costs will bump up because that's going to be extrapolated over a smaller area, just higher cost. Um, and these bigger sales get more contractors interested in it. I mean, they want a good good chunk of work to do. So, um, I don't I mean, we can't the two-year thing would be possible, but then you're just going to hit this same scenario where again, we're have to have another 10-year gap later down the road. It's just gonna be the same cycle.

Yeah.

Thank you very much. I guess my question now is for Nicole. Uh Nicole, knowing this, I would assume the next cut we would just plan to use those dollars for potential thinning. Is that what you and the team have talked about? So the the the first part of this was just to get kind of this general uh refocus of how we maybe might uh handle our timber moving forward in front of uh you folks and then also prior to what we do when we get to budget, right? We've been counting on these dollars. We're just used to this money. We have been talking about what we do as an alternative. Um, and and we've we found some ways to kind of work through that. We're still struggling with a couple of items, but I I think, you know, as we move forward, that is going to be a conversation. How do we keep these dollars to help us better prepare for those future cuts? And and a piece of that is thinning, right? So we have a better selection when it's that time comes around. So, um, these are first conversations uh in preparation for making some really uh maybe change of plans moving forward. Thank you.

Um, councelor Matsus.

Yeah, I was just uh wondering if there is a coordination with the adjacent uh land holders, one being the waterboard, two being probably the tribes that kind of uh u minimizes the investment to access some of these plots. Or um maybe there's I don't know if there's a forest forestry practice that like looks at how to uh harvest timber with regards to adjacent land ownership that makes the most sense for fire danger or for tree growth. I I I don't know if there's is that a way that you end up coordinating with like let's say the water board or or the tribes or is that mostly you just look at specific tracks of land and age and you just go through and take it out and move on from there.

Um if that makes any sense. Yeah, I think I get your question. So like we use you know we have a road system agreement with the waterboards. We use a lot of the the the loop road and then we build our own roads to into these these stands that haven't a lot of these stands are kind of backtrack a little bit. A lot of these stands, these 80-year-old stands we're in now don't really have any road access. We've been building new roads into them all as part of the timber sale and the most of them are dirt. Um and they should be there permanently and then we should have a you know kind of a permanent access system at that point. Um but that the loop road through the waterboard is the main access for kind of to uh to access all these timber sales. We haven't really used the tribe or kind of worked with them really. I haven't

you know we can kind of get to all everything we need without going through them. Um not saying that we can't use them in the future. Um but it's just yeah that loop row is kind of the main I guess the main accesses that we'll use. That answers your question partially. That would be like part of it. The other part would be is there any advantageous forestry practices that you harvest in like a certain pattern uh or um you know in relationship to like

adjacent uh land plots or is it mostly just you just look at uh certain sections and they were cut 30 years ago and so you harvest it and is it just like a just a crop rotation kind of thing or is there any kind of I mean I guess this is more forestry sciences probably deeper than we need to go. But I was just wondering if that makes any sense. Yeah. No, I I think I got you there. So, it's um you know, the forest practices act, we're limited to a clearcut size of 120 acres. Um so, we can't we can't exceed that without getting green up. It's called green up around that area. So, the ne the timber sale would be adjacent to the one you'd be cutting has to be four years older or the trees have to be free to grow basically.

So, we kind of move around the waterboard harvesting so that never comes into conflict. So, you know, we've been kind of going to the north end, then going to the south end. So, that 120 acres never really comes into play. And um yeah, so harvesting every two, three years like what we've been doing. Um it's uh and kind of moving around the wershed in that regard. You know, we that's kind of what we think about is that that clearcut size and just kind of we don't want to go we don't want to stick all the clear cuts at once in one spot and then kind of I guess pigeon hole ourselves in the future. So it's yeah, we try to spread them out as much as we can.

Okay, that I appreciate you kind of clarifying that cuz that I'm not in the forestry sciences, but that totally makes sense and kind of helps me understand how the layout of select, you know, the lot parcels are selected. So thank you for explaining that. Yep. Yep. And then at that point too, it's also an age thing. So we we try to take care of the oldest units first and kind of work our down work our way down in age classes. Um, so that's the other criteria I guess to that question.

Got you. Um, I also have one more question that I just thought of. The waterboard. Uh, I'm on the water board myself. Uh, we came under some fire for, you know, some of the slash burning that was happening. Uh, and we had some weird weather patterns that caused uh, you know, there's some wind shifts that brought more smoke into the into the downtown area than was anticipated. And so, uh, those kind of issues are something that's now on my radar. Like, how are we dealing with our slash piles? Do we have like a I don't know. Waterboard started investigating some kind of chipping system. I don't know if that's in part of your purview or not, but um just wondering if we have a management practice for the the residual slash.

Yeah. So, it's, you know, burning's been kind of our go-to. That's kind of all we've ever done. We have to wait for some sort of an east wind generally, but I mean, as you know, it's the wind's swirling. You never get the right, you know, sometimes it'll move west for an hour and you town gets a little smoky. Um, so we can't, it's not always perfect. Um, but there I mean there are other options to get rid of slash if the city or the waterboard want to go that way at that point. It's going to be more expensive. Um, there's there's machines now that kind of I don't I don't know much about them. There's like like a carbonizer deal where you you can load all the slash in that and it burns it at a high heat and it basically just comes out and um you know kind of chips or mulch at that point. Um so that's an option or chipping is another option but all these all these options and not you know if you're not going to burn are going to be more expensive. It's just the way it is. But there I mean we can do them but at a higher cost.

Roughly what percentage of a higher cost? Oh 150 150% more pretty easily. 200% more. Yeah. Yeah. That burning is definitely 50. Yeah. It's it's it's a big jump if you don't burn.

Yeah. And is that mostly due to the labor uh for running that operation or is it the equipment costs? Uh it's lab labor and equipment. So if you're in a chip or you're going to kind of mulch, you got to get all the you know the piles kind of into one spot where you can get that that machine and cuz when you burn when you you know got the piles all spread out across the unit. So some way you know some guy with equipment's got to kind of centralize those piles for the for that equipment. Um and that equipment is not cheap to run too. It's got an hourly cost and rate and yeah, you know, burning you just you just send a crew of 10 guys out there and it's, you know, probably takes about six hours to burn 40 acres. So,

it's it's really it's really efficient, but yeah, I know the smoke isn't always uh ideal, but yeah, it's quite a bit cheaper. Yeah. out.

It's just a question uh you know in terms of uh soil health you know like getting some of that material back into the top soil is something that maybe a value added uh potential I have no idea. I'm not a forestry scientist, but you know, if there was a if there was a strong argument for going that direction for one benefit or the other uh for, you know, the harvestable lands, maybe the waterboard, the city tribes could go in on a piece of equipment together and manage this forest in a totally different way. That would be something I would be interesting interested in talking about. But, you know, if it's a non-starter because of cost, that's that's a thing. But it's it's a question that's on my mind.

Um so Nicole or Jennifer, can you break down the um decision that's going to come before us?

Um I don't we're not necessarily uh asking in the future for a decision. What what is kind of going to grow from this is maybe some additional conversations on how we are going to manage our timber going forward. how we're going to modify our spending habits that are going to maybe shift away from reliance upon this regular revenue that we've had. Um, and that's going to inform us as we walk into the budget this year and in future years as well. Um, we do have some sales. Uh, I think 2024 is going to close out maybe soon and maybe we're looking at a 2025 and so how we're going to think about using those dollars. Do we set aside some money? So we have a thinning account. I think there's there's some more stuff to kind of but I think we need to understand what those opportunities look like first.

Yeah, absolutely. Uh any other questions? James, thank you. That was great. Perfect. Thank you. Okay, Captain Schaefer, introduction of our new codes compliance officer. Good evening.

Hi. Thank you for this opportunity for uh me and the police department to uh introduce you to our newest codes enforcement officer, Juliet Davidson. Um I think we can all agree that uh a healthy municipal code and codes enforcement is uh really critical to a thriving and vibrant city. Um you got to have that. Um so with that in mind and uh with a little history in mind uh you know several years ago uh the codes enforcement officer was with the police department. Uh Lisa McIll was our our last codes enforcement officer that we had that was sat under the police department and um we shifted it away and it went to uh down to uh the other end of the city we call it uh down to the uh public works um area of the city and it and it made sense at the time to do that. Um, but you know, as we uh looked at this over the recent past and I know the chief and uh and uh Jennifer had talked about this and really what we desired out of uh the position um and probably our ability uh as uh police officers and police administration really to work with that position um and maybe give um some different type of support to the position that we thought would be advantageous. just uh we decided to bring the position back under the police department. Uh which kind of brings us forward to this. Um uh we we gave much thought into who would be the right person for a codes enforcement officer and really a face uh of the city. Much like our officers and our firefighters end up being faces, codes enforcement is a very important uh face for the city. Um and so we knew that we had to select the right person. Um there were a couple things that we

had in mind. One, someone who had to be super organized. Uh someone who uh really has the ability to uh take a program that's really coming um although it's been around in some capacity for some time really at kind of an infancy stage back at the police department. We really wanted to um define the scope of the position. uh they had to be a great communicator and really a desire to find a solution or a resolution with the citizens that they're encountering. And uh really you got to be able to work with uh folks um the enforcement part, but also the um how what's the best way to get to this uh resolution and really not anger the the citizenry. Um, and with that in mind, we found uh through our selection process, Juliet, we truly believe that we have found um the right fit for this position. Um, she is all of those things and much much more. Um, I'm going to give her an opportunity so you don't have to listen to me um talk about um her position, but I do want to say that we were very mindful in a few things as we brought this uh position back over. First was the uniform. We felt it was important that she be in a uniform to really um have the ability to present some form of authority. Um I mean because in the end we have to tell people um you know in in some form or fashion how their property needs to be maintained or you know what are their vehicles or things of that nature. So uh certainly wanted it uh a solid uniform. We did a lot of research through other uh municipalities and really looking back historically kind of the uniform that uh Lisa used to wear. Vehicle we thought thought that was important as well. Um and we've um um taken one of

our former vehicles that was just plain and we've um uh striped it and and stickered it and uh really again uh think it does a good job of um displaying uh that authority and professionalism. And then training. Um, uh, we have kind of gone through this together a little bit. I'm not a, you know, codes enforcement is not my realm of expertise, but, uh, we're trying to learn together. And, um, the chief was very mindful and he got on the phone with a couple other municipalities that we thought are doing a really good job in their codes enforcement, one being Medford. And, uh, we sent uh, Juliet down to Medford for a couple days uh, last week. She worked with their livability team because we really think she's going to work closely with our community resource officer once they're back in to their position and also their codes enforcement team. Obviously, that was a huge uh part of it. And uh we believe she got some really good uh training out of that.

And uh we have plans to uh also send her to Newport and um we may uh go with another city as well if we're uh impressed with their uh codes enforcement. And then also we put her through our in-house training. She was taser certified. She was pepper spray certified. She really liked the pepper spray. You can ask her about that. That's always a lot of fun. Uh but we wanted to give her the tools to be safe out there. We certainly uh want to give her um that uh opportunity. And also um uh you know uh she's done some defensive tactics even and uh and it really has done a great job assimilating into uh you know our culture down here. and she's a great communicator. She's always at briefings and telling everybody what she's got going on. So, with that in mind, I'd like her to uh introduce herself a little bit and uh tell you what she's got going on.

Thank you so much everyone for this opportunity to uh come and meet with you guys tonight. Um I want to thank Captain Schaefer and Chief uh Chapnar for their support. Um, I can't tell you how happy I am to be here. Um, not just with you, but with the city of Kuspay as a whole. Um, I've had some other very fantastic jobs that I loved very deeply and worked on some dynamic teams, but I have to say, and they're not paying me to say this, um, I have not I've not seen such a dynamic, tight-knit group that I've seen here in the police department and then in city hall as well, on the other side of the building. Everybody truthfully has been very supportive of me, my position, um helping me understand where to find the office that I need to speak to, the person that has the answers that I need. And um everyone has been um just a phenomenal support, especially my leadership in the PD. Um Captain Schaefer kind of talked about the the communication, you know, bridging those communications and why they wanted this position to be with the police department. And now having been there, it's been about 10 weeks. I started on December the 15th, so a short time, but I mean 10 weeks. I've got my feet under me at least. Um they set me up with uh some fantastic training, some phenomenal equipment, but the leadership uh genuinely has been excellent. Um anything that I pretty much need, if they don't know, they're helping me find the answers. they're sending me to the places, you know, so that I can see how they're doing it and, you know, so that we can really take this opportunity, you know, the chief's vision and, you know, Captain Schaefer's, you know, leadership to help us design a program that is specific and accessible for Kuzbay. Uh, I've lived here all my life within the county, Northbend, Kuzbay, Coil. Um, this is our home and, uh, I approach every conversation with the citizens with that in mind. Um, yes, my desk in theory is supposed to be kind of a last

desk, you know, it's supposed to be enforcement and compliance. However, um, you know, because someone hadn't been formally seated in this position for a significant period of time, um, there's a lot of little things that I'm easily able to kind of clean up whether or not we decide to have me always doing, you know, those what I would consider like, hey, pick up a cart cuz I'm already on that corner. um whether we decide to have me doing those things or not, the ability to sus that out. Where am I needed? How is this position useful? Um where are we getting that most uh effectiveness out of my time? Um has been fantastic and I'm super thankful for that opportunity. Um it has been it has been wonderful. I did want to briefly briefly talk about a couple of things um that I think you guys might find value in and in future um you know if you decide to have me come and give you another update on what things are happening in codes I I I am curious to know what those things might be so that I can start tracking them. Um, just from a program side, I'd like to kind of take a line in the sand of where it was at and what we're looking at, what would be helpful to you in making your decisions moving forward and what you'd like to see from me and what data we'd like to keep track of because at this time I don't have a lot of information on that. So, I'm just presenting you with what I think you might might like. Um, specifically what I would like to talk to you about is um, everybody is aware I'm I'm assuming about community blight uh, and that keyword. It's, you know, and we have it here as well. Uh, I'm learning. So, keep that in mind. I'm, you know, I'm getting on board with all the, uh, the research across the country. But, um, when I came on, there wasn't a there wasn't a list of these are vacant homes that I could put my fingers on. So, I had to go digging a little bit. there was no one um in my office to help me find that information. I was able to find some data from 16,1 17 and 18 about at that time these

houses had these problems and here's their address and this is what we had going on. And so I took that list and started kind of doing inspections in our different districts um and and going through and saying yes, that information is confirmed or on the flip side, no, it's habitated now and there's a fantastic family in there with no codes violations. And I'm very happy and surprised, happily surprised to present, I'm calling those rehabbed houses. Um from this list, there was about 75 on the list. Um, and from that list, 21 of those I found to be rehabbed. Um, that is an indication according to the research that I've done that occupied residences, um, it's a positive finding and an indicator that the community is slowly regaining those rentals, um, finding places for incoming folks to live when they bring their business to us or for employment is a big deal. Um, and I'm finding that those homes are being repaired and put back out on the market. So, I thought that you'd be interested in that. Um, 21 might not sound like a large number, but when you have multiple homes on the same block that are vacant and occupied by non-residents, um, it can bring the whole neighborhood kind of down to a point. And so, putting new families in there, I I was encouraged by that. Um, more data is needed to fully reflect, um, whether the decrease is a trend. Um and but I'm going to be tracking that for you guys. Um but I think it is a positive indication. Um I'm very thankful for the training that I've received um for the opportunity to go to Medford uh and to see how things are happening over there. As you well know, they had a major um you know difficult difficulty I think they call it the greenway up against their water there. Um and Grants Pass was also involved in in that to a degree. Um they've done some amazing things with some very hard work with some significant support from

the community and their council and funding. Um and you know because of their size we can't implement those type of programs but it's something to shoot for and so their systems their software um some of their forms I I was I'm not stealing but I was borrowing all of those. Met some wonderful people and they'll be assets moving forward. Um really happy to have been there. Um, I went with livability team one day and then the codes the second day. Got to see municipal court, got to see how citations come through the court cycle. Uh, how their officers carry themselves in the field. Uh, it was extremely beneficial and I'm very thankful for that. So, thank you. Um, looking forward to Newport, uh, like Captain Schaefer had mentioned because I want to, uh, and they they suggested it and I completely agree. I would like to see a smaller coastal community. How are they doing it? something that's more aligned to, you know, like like us demographically. Um, and so I'm excited about that. We don't have it on the books yet, but I think we will very soon. Um, I'm also going to be going to a um conference in April for just Oregon codes, so make some more connections and I'm excited about that as well. Um, actively open cases right now. Well, this was as of the 23rd. I opened some today, but um 31 cases that are actively open in one degree or another that I'm working um co closed cases. So, these are things that I have opened, handled, and resolved and documented. That's 28. Um, again, that might not seem like a lot, but keep in mind that these are cases that it's real easy open, close, please trim your hedge to full abatement. Um, we've kind of, you know, I'm slowly working my way through those and navigating it. We talked about the 21 rehab houses. And then, um, properties currently on the list. We talked about that number as well. Um, thank you for the opportunity. Does anybody have any questions for me before I step off of here and out of your out of your meeting?

Okay, that was awesome. Welcome to the city of Pay. We're really happy to have you. That was great. We look forward to hearing from you in the future. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Nice hire. Yes. Okay. Next, we're going to hear uh one of my favorites, presentation from Chief Choppenar on our annual update from the Cuspay Police Department.

Thank you. If you don't mind, I'll come and do it from the podium. I can face you that way. Um and I think Christine is going to pull it up um put it up on the screen as well as uh for online. Um but uh while she's doing that, I'll just uh say thank you for allowing uh me to come tonight and provide you with a brief uh presentation. And um something we've we've started doing the last few years and I think it's really beneficial. Um, it's an opportunity for us to just uh kind of, you know, talk about our department, uh, share some information, but also, you know, just review our calls for service and just some, um, crime stats and and then hopefully answer some questions for you guys if you have any as well. And so, um, I'll just kind of Oh, you already have it up there. Perfect. So, um, so yeah, we're going to cover I'm going to talk about Cuz Bay Police Department and, um, North Cuz 911 and, um, like most organizations, departments, uh, they have mission statements and, uh, we do as well. And so, first thing I'd like to just start off is this is our mission statement. It's to uh efficiently provide quality law enforcement services to our community by promoting a safe environment through a police citizen partnership with an emphasis on mutual trust, integrity, fairness, and professionalism. And we really um we value our mission statement. We we believe, you know, we've looked at it over the years. We've said, "Is it too long? Should we shorten it up? Does it cover what we're really trying to accomplish?" But we always come back that this mission actually is exactly what uh Kuz Bay Police Department is about. And so we reflect on our mission statement a lot and we've had we have it hanging up in our department in a couple different locations and and I really think it just sums up what we do as a

police department and a dispatch center. Um one of the things we do as a department um every year we've done for the last uh you know four or five years um we have an annual department meeting and um we generally do that in J the end of January beginning of February um of the um you know following year and uh we utilize that time to meet as a department. Uh we really it's it's pretty special time for us because we actually even get other agencies to come in and handle our calls for service for our patrol. And we have some retired uh dispatchers or dispatchers that are uh no longer with us but come back and do some contract dispatching for us. And we bring them in to also help relieve our dispatchers off the desk. And so we really come into this room and we fill it up and we try to get everybody. We make it an opportunity for everybody to be a part of that meeting. And so it's it's really kind of uh unique, very special um especially in a in a business that is 247 and the calls never stop. And so but we feel like it's extremely important. It's an opportunity for us all to kind of get in the room together. We leave all our rank at the door. Everybody is, you know, just an employee of the police department or the dispatch center and we come in and we and we have an opportunity to to just meet and talk. Um we talk about I mean we do have an agenda. It is it is productive but we do talk about like our previous uh year. We talk about some um crime stats. We we look at what was accomplished, what kind of calls for service uh we handled, and then we always um look at some future uh goals for that year that we are actually sitting in. And um we identify some things that we want to accomplish and um

we uh at at that point too, we also um generally I'll I'll provide some type of of vision for that upcoming year. And so great opportunity um and um well well accepted and um we just you know it's it's a great moment. But so for this year um what my vision kind of was for the the department was um I I'll push it up there if you wouldn't mind just changing. It's um it's it's simple. It's one of the simplest visions I I I think we've put out there as as a department. It's making a difference. And I really kind of sat on that for a little bit and thought, what does that mean to me? And how do how do we really want to take this and adopt this mission and move forward as a department? And it was, and it's very simple, but it means a lot. It's it is really truly making a difference. And how I describe that to our team is you're making a difference in everything you do. It doesn't really matter if it's a call for service, if it's a lobby contact, if it's a phone call, if it's helping somebody, doing something that is not even related to your job. You're still making a difference. You're making a difference in your community. You're making a difference with that person you're having that contact with. And so, I I I mentioned I said it's not just it's making a difference in every moment in time. Um, it's it's not just a single call for service. It's actually a mindset. And so we're really adopting that as a department. I I think we've been making a difference, but we're really focusing on that this year moving forward. Everything we do is going to it it's got to make a difference in in our community. And so we're really driving that home. And I think it was really well accepted. And I think uh it really has charged the team to to go out there and and do just that, make a difference. Um we have uh four core values that we've adopted. Uh and we really adhere to these values. It's honor, integrity,

excellence, and teamwork. And I have them hung up in the administrative area of our of our department. Anybody that comes in to talk with us, we have them up on the wall. And it's it's part of our organization and it's part of what what we are. and it's what helps us keep our vision and then also maintain our our mission and and move towards our our mission. And so those that's a little bit about us and what we you know kind of how we structure our department and and how we kind of set charge to what we're going to do that upcoming year or even in the future. And so um with that I will just kind of provide you a little bit of and this is hard to see and I did make copies for you guys so you could follow along but um this is our organizational uh chart you know uh this is what it kind of looks like in terms of um how we are laid out from an organizational chart perspective. Um, I will point out I've already I already have an error in this chart and uh you guys met Juliet tonight and so Juliet now will be added under the administrative captain. So we'll be adding another box to that. Um, but that position will sit under uh at this point Captain Mike Schaefer. And so that's kind of uh how we look again from an organizational chart. um kind of drilling down a little deeper into that and what makes the department and the 911 center is uh I've kind of got it broke down. So on the sworn side of the house, we have 24 sworn police officers and that is uh one chief, two captains, we have four police sergeants. Uh they're patrol sergeants and they oversee the 12 patrol officers. Now I I need to back up. I need to say this is when we are fully staffed and we're always striving to be fully staffed, but I can tell you that we're not always fully staffed. And so this is

like perfect world. This is we're we've got all of our our folks hired and trained and um so we'd have 12 patrol officers uh partnered up with the four uh police sergeants. So essentially we run four fourerson teams. Uh we have three detectives. Again, in a perfect world, we have one community resource officer, one school resource officer, and we actually only have a quarter time evidence tech at this point. Um, we have one record supervisor and two records clerks. And, um, we now have a code compliance officer. We generally have two to three disabled parking enforcement volunteers. That's something they volunteer their time to run around and enforce the the laws pertaining to disabled parking outstanding folks and and it's main it's it's majority of a education program and we've partnered up with the North Bin as well and so they'll they'll go around to Cousay and North Bin area and provide those services. Um and we have one chaplain. Normally we have police reserves uh and uh we are in the process of trying to recruit for police uh reserve officers but at this time we do not have uh any police reserves. we've hired them all and so um we are in the process of recruiting and we have one police chaplain who is outstanding and just an amazing person and is just uh spends an incredible amount of time at the police department just bonding with the uh officers and dispatchers and and is just always there and ready for a call out and we have a hard message to deliver. um that chaplain's there for us and and um assists us in all of the some of the difficult tasks that we have to do. So um and then we move over to kind of the certified side of the house and that's the dispatchers and we have one telecommunicator uh communication

administrator that's Tessa Cup and I I know you guys have met Tessa before. Outstanding. She's doing an outstanding job. Um, and we have two 911 dispatch supervisors and 17 uh 911 dispatchers. And uh we are in the process of hiring or we will be hiring for one more position. Um we do anticipate and this is part of that forecasting and secession planning that we we try to accomplish is we're we're forecasting some retirements. Um, and so we want to always be try to be ahead of that as much as we can because we're usually down positions as it is. And so we want to get ahead of that curve. So what makes the police department the 911 center is about 52 people. Uh, it really depends on how many reserves we have. That number can go up to 55, but we're we're about 52 to 55 uh people over at the police department. So let's get into reflecting 2025. And I made this slide. This is a page that is a quick reference if you had questions or um you just wanted to refer to a certain ca uh crime or something that caught your attention. So this is kind of just the bullet uh slide. It reflects on 2025, but we are going to actually kind of drill down a little bit deeper into this um and what these numbers mean in relation to previous years. But um reflection on 2025, we we handled about 31,088 cases for uh or calls for service for Kuzbay. And this is just Kuzbay. Um obviously we dispatched for all and we're going to look at the dispatch numbers, but this is just uh Kuzbay calls. Uh we had 3421 case numbers, 1197 arrests and referrals, uh 123 criminal citations. We conducted 2,86

traffic stops. We made 143 DUI arrests. That number is pretty staggering. Um we had uh 1592 violation citations, 189 criminal trespass, 100 criminal mischiefs, 406 thefts, uh 65 burglaries, 30 stolen vehicles, 175 assaults. And those assaults range from assault all the way from a harassment, which is offense of physical contact, all the way up to an assault one, uh, which is a major person crime. And so 175 of those. We had nine domestic assaults, uh, 23 sexreated crimes. We conducted 2,482 patrol checks. We wrote over 60 search warrants. Um, we assisted other agencies over 75 times. We had four major crimes team call out where those are generally homicides or major major crimes. Uh four crash team call outs. Those are generally uh fatalities or something of that um serious. We had uh 25 uh responses from our emergency response team which is a multi- agency SWAT team. It's a our local SWAT team. We have three members uh of that team uh at the Kuzbay Police Department and then it's al obviously made up of other uh officers from other agencies. They had a goal that they they were actually um on non-eployment status for a little bit as they were building their team, their numbers back up and getting their training under under um control and and within the guidelines that is recommended for a SWAT team. and they accomplished that goal and then they became uh deployment ready and they have really just you'll see when we move forward on a couple slides they have really just um uh been used and they're turning into a well uh well organized

team. So we're really happy to see that um we addressed 522 camping violations. um dispatch. Now, this number, we're still working out the We have a program called ECATs, and it grabs all the phone um calls that come into our center, and um it produces the number that you see here, 128,729 calls came through our 911 center. We believe that number is really low because if you took what we had and you'll look at a slide here in the future, what we had before we merged all the centers together, we were running around 90,000 and we had anticipated around the 200,000 maybe 180,000 calls for service. And so we we're still kind of just working out all the kinks of how we're collecting all some of the data that because of the merge um center. So, uh, our evidence technician processed over 2400 pieces of evidence. We had 13 patrol K9 deployments and about 4,100 hours of, uh, training as a department. So, before we move into the last couple slides that I have, and that's where we're really going to kind of look into how do these numbers relate to previous years and what does all this mean. Um, I wanted to just kind of briefly explain a little bit about um, NYBERS. And what NERS is is it's a national incidentbased reporting system and it's used by the FBI to collect uh, detailed crime data. Um, it replaced one of their older systems. It was the the summary report system. They their intention was to improve some accuracy and transparency. It captures incident level details. It it does drill down into like victims, offenders, relationships, locations, weapons, etc. But um and it helps law law enforcement and policy makers make

data-driven decisions for crime prevention and resource allocation. The FBI um transitioned from, you might have heard of uh uniform crime reporting, UCRs. They transitioned from UCRs to NYERS in 2021. And then they also required all agencies of certain sizes and population to report to uh neighbors. Why I bring this up and why I think it's important for this is what we'll see sometimes like on maybe a social media post or uh some type of crime data and we wonder where did they get that crime data? It's oftent times from neighbors and that's a national database. And so, uh, my next slide, um, what I, what I put in here is the question that I get a lot is why does neighbors statistics differ so much from like local, uh, crime database reports and and, um, statistical information that like I'm going to provide to you tonight. And so, uh, we could talk about this for hours. I mean, this could this could draw, but I really just kind of highlighted some of the points of why it's such a a difference at times. And um I'll give you just a couple examples, but one of the main reasons the different uh reporting standards neighbors uh follow strict national guidelines set by FBI. There's a hierarchy rule differences. Some of the older systems when they were using um UCRs, there was a certain way that they categorized crime that's different than local. Um data submission timing, that's one of the biggest things. Generally neighbors is running a year or two years behind where what I'm going to provide to you tonight and what I've provided already is real live time. I mean it's it's true data from our area and it's real um you know it's within the 25 um year 25 time frame. So um and then data

clean uh cleaning and validation. FBI reviews the standardized submitted data which um can result in reclassification or even removal. And I think that one and the last one that I brought up is jurisdictional coverage. Not all agencies submit full neighbors data consistently leading to differences between local totals and federal reports. Those are probably the two main reasons why you're going to see a lot of like um just differing types of data reports and and I'll give you a couple examples. So neighbors then is a national then Oregon now also has what they call O neighbors which is Oregon neighbors. We are to report to Oregon neighbors and then national um neighbors actually pulls the information from what Oregon reports and then they put it in their national database. So we have a state database and a national database um in like NYERS uh if we report so all of our data is based off of RS or or Oregon revised statutes. They're actual crimes that we're we're um logging and we are keeping stats on. when it goes into the national database, sometimes those will now get lumped together and they'll get changed under a national type of of crime title. For instance, if you have a department store, I'm going to use Walmart as an example. Walmart's a big uh big box store. There's a lot of people coming and going and they have call a lot of calls for service. And so, um, if we go there and we arrest somebody for a theft and in the process of us processing that person, we realize that they also have been, uh, previously trespassed from that location. What that person more likely than not would be charged with is a theft and criminal trespass. When we report that to neighbors, they will actually take that and because they've been previously trespassed, they entered a dwelling or a

building with an intent to um commit a a theft, whether they committed it or not, the intent to commit a theft. That's actually the definition of a burglary. So, it gets transferred over to neighbors as a burglary. So, state side, it would be two independent um crimes that we would categorize differently. and in neighbors it gets lumped together. The same happens for like identity theft. It all gets categorized as uh fraud. So you can kind of see the differences and I I bring all that I thought it was worth spending a couple minutes on that just so that way uh we can kind of sometimes understand well why does you know we saw this post that said you know this about Kuz Bay or this about the crime stats which is completely inconsistent to what I just heard the the chief uh provide us the other day. And so that's sometimes the discrepancy. Um neither are wrong per se, but they're just they're completely different. It's not an apples for apples comparison. So now let's uh move into uh how these 20 25 um stats compare to previous years and what what do they really mean. So again, I said the total calls for services 31,088. If you look at this uh number with the percents, all I did was basic it's not over the full five years. I just compared that number to the previous year, but I did provide you with the numbers of all five years so you can kind of see the trend. Um it looks like we uh decreased on calls for service about u you know about 7.9%. case numbers. Uh we had 3,427 case numbers u which is a slight decline of of about 9.4%. Uh our arrests our total arrests are down about 9.5% uh from 12 1 to um 1,092. And um the DA referrals is uh we

actually increased on our on our referrals to the DA's office. uh went from 75 to 105. Criminal citations were we were sitting at about 123 which is a you know a decline of about 26%. Traffic stops um we uh had a decline in traffic stops and that's something that is a little more uh you know it's not that we didn't have probably the the violators out there and the need for the traffic stop whether it's a citation or education. It was really sometimes some of these numbers are based off of your staffing levels too. One of our officers that uh does a lot of traffic uh enforcement also is our motor cycle officer. He was injured and out for an extended period of time. So some of those traffic stops we just weren't able to do because we had at one point we had six uh members from our police department out and we had four uh three retirements. One officer left us and we had two injuries. So, we had six down. Um, but uh, okay, moving along. We our traffic crashes. I don't have I looked at this and why did we go up 45%, we went from 188 traffic crashes to 273. I don't I don't know. Um, we'll have to watch that trend. I mean, that is the highest it's been in 5 years. Uh, I was telling the captains, I think maybe it's just everybody's in a hurry and everybody's got the next meeting they got to get to or this or that and everybody's life is just uh uh moving pretty fast to where um we're maybe not slowing down like we should and really paying attention to our driving because we did see an increase in crashes.

Um we didn't have that guy writing citations.

Yeah, maybe maybe we need to get Yeah. um the DUI arrests that so in 2023 I didn't really necessarily challenge but I but I looked at our DUI arrests and I said 75 arrests I mean that's that's a lot especially for a crime that's so avoidable but I felt like there was probably more out there and um so the officers you know I I I basically said you know we need to make sure that we're taking the impaired um drivers off the road if if if that is if that number is increased and there was 104 um this year 143 I just you know I don't know what's causing that u but we you know that's a 37 12% increase in DUI arrest and so um hopefully we can uh figure that out and uh get that uh that number to come back down violation citations um 1592 it's down obviously less traffic stops probably less violation citations ations um criminal trespass. So, we're down on the ter criminal trespass and I I want to say a lot of this might also contribute to um although we could all agree our our jail's probably nowhere where we would like it to be as a county. And I know the sheriff uh would would love to open up uh additional capacity and bed space and and the ability to to um have a more functioning jail. There's no doubt about that. 49 beds is not enough beds for our our county. Uh but I will say that there is still a booking process and um what we are seeing is we are not seeing as much of the repeat offenders within the same day or uh you know there was times where multiple um times we were dealing with the same person and issuing citations or bringing them to the station and citing releasing them

because that was our only option. So the jail is such a a necessity for uh you know our community and to kind of help combat some of the crime. You can also see the criminal mischief. The same those are kind of those low uh level misdemeanor crimes that um often affect livability, affect businesses within our you know our our community. And those are the things that I'm really happy to see a downturn on because those are the things that really impact everybody. And a lot of that was just due to the the repeat offenders that we were dealing with. And so, you know, that's that's one theory. We could probably give you several others, but I but I know that to be true. Um, when our jail is not functioning, we can see our numbers um increase. It's just it's just the way it is. Um, yes.

Just a question. um for a county our size and the population we have here, what capacity should that jail be operating at?

Well, you know, I I don't I don't operate a jail. I don't run a jail, but I I will say based off of my experience here, I do remember when we had over 200 beds open in an operation and it was a well functioning. But I really think, you know, I obviously money dictates and it it costs a lot to run that jail. But I mean, we shouldn't be under 100 beds. I would say 150 beds, it would be probably a little more adequate for our size. But but again, and I'm not trying to speak for the sheriff. I I I don't know what he would say. I'm sure he have would have a great answer for that, but I just 49 beds is just that's very very small.

And then a follow-up question. When you look at some of these numbers, um you know, total calls, uh case numbers, um criminal trespass, criminal mischief that have seen quite significant reductions. Are those um are you seeing fewer connections when you talk about repeat offenders that you're not having to contact with? Are we are we talking about an unhoused population or transient um folks in the area or is it just is it can you track it at all?

You know, it it's hard to to track and with with any degree of like certainty on a number. So, I would be really hesitant to say, oh yeah, we've seen a 10% reduction or you know that to try to answer that question. But well, what I will say is um we are seeing less obviously of those types of crimes and the criminal trespass crimes a lot of times were um the un unhoused folks and I think what they are also realizing is there is um first of all there is consequences for behavior but also there's other avenues other resources within the community that they can turn to. So, um, we're not seeing as much. I mean, it's still, you know, those numbers are still 189 times we've had criminal trespass, but if you look at the previous years, I mean, in 2022, we had 328 and we're down to 189. I think we're moving in the right direction.

Can you track it by area of the city?

Um, I I probably could. We We haven't We do have districts that we respond to. I I I would say um your criminal trespass and your criminal mischief, the larger uh response area is going to be the downtown um what we call district 1 because that's the majority of the businesses and that's the majority of the businesses that are going to be calling in during the day daytime hours for folks that have been trespassed and now back on their property. FredMyer, um Walmart, uh you know, Safeway, some of the larger, um stores that, uh that have lost prevention and that can monitor some of the uh folks that are returning back to the property that they shouldn't be. So, I don't know if that answered your question, but okay. Um thefts, we had 406. Uh it's down, which is good. um burglaries. I mean that that number's down 20% um from 82 to 65, which is which is great. I mean that's that's our our community, their houses getting broken into or um their shops. Um stolen vehicles, uh 51% decrease from 62 to 30. That's great. Our assaults went up. Um crime stats are weird. Uh you know, why why did our assaults go up? I'm I'm not real sure, but uh they went up 62% from 108 to 175. Domestic assaults, they stayed about the same. We went from 10 to 9 and those kind of bounced around, but overall we have seen a reduction in that even. Um our sex crimes have went down um 23 down 41%. and our patrol checks. This is something that I've really been hitting hard on and we really want uh our officers out there and we want them checking areas and checking the the parks and the trails and stuff. You will see a

reduction. Um I will say that is truly due not not with an excuse, but that is truly due to the reduction in staff. And um like I said, at one point we had six officers that were out and they're going to be handling other things and not be able to get out as much on the patrol checks. I'm still pretty proud of that number. It's still significantly increased from 2021. We wrote over 60 search warrants. This this category is getting harder and harder to track because almost everything nowadays requires a search warrant. So, uh, example, if we arrest a DUI and we have to write a search warrant for blood or urine, that that crime is still going to be classified as a DUI. And so, we sometimes are hard to track that that search warrant. Um, the same might apply for a drug case that we do a search warrant on, but we've um we've charged somebody with possession of controlled substance. And so, there's a PCS charge. It doesn't necessarily capture the search warrant. So, we're looking at ways to maybe capture that because a search warrant is a a huge um amount of time that involves the officers and we have to write those so often these days. Our overdose rate um down 51%. I'd like to say that was because uh we're not seeing as much uh you know fentanyl use and opioid use in our community. I I don't think I'm I'm confident enough to say that at this point. I will say there's a couple things that I believe have contributed to that. I think the the the accessibility to Narcan is and and the education that has been put out about Narcan has really I think started to take effect and reduce those numbers. Um maybe they're a little safer at at their drug use. Um and then also I think the the reform of ballot measure 110 had a had a huge effect. um the 40002 I think has really helped reduce some of those

numbers. Again, there's there is some consequences. There is some options too for treatment, but there's also some consequences if you you know if you choose not to um receive some treatment as well. So, I think we've seen those numbers come down. Do you think we could also attribute that just to the the large amount of burn funding that our substance use disorder agencies have received and the work that they're doing?

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Um, major crimes, uh, we had four, like I discussed, um, and crash teams, four and our team that I had mentioned, we had 25 deployments. Um, I can't wait to be able to provide you CRO contacts again, and we are working hard to get that position back up. I'm hoping, um, early spring we will have our CRO back up and up and running. And, um, one last thing, you don't have this in your packet. I just threw this up there. Um it's my own my own slide, but I thought you might be interested. So, a year ago, we implemented an online reporting um system called PD Connect. And then uh a few months after that, we actually citywide we all got on board with this online reporting and we categorized different types of uh uh offenses that you'd be reporting even sidewalk to um you know code violations to to thefts and and whatnot. So it kind of reaches a wide um spread and uh it's been wellreceived. Um there there's obviously always challenges to certain new programs you implement, but I thought you guys might like to know um so over the course of last year from January to December, we had 396 online reports and um so obviously it's taken off and people are are utilizing it and um our number one report that people utilize our this online system for was crime tips. And so some of those crime tips have led to some good good cases. Some of them are not, but but um and then we've had 39 abandoned vehicles. We've had um 37 drug tips.

Uh we've had 22 damaged property. Um some identity thefts been reported, theft of bicycles. We had 59 just general theft calls that came in through the um system. And what we do is just so everyone knows that's listening online too. We we treat those like you know they're they're a regular call for service. So, what we end up doing is we convert those over to a log number and if there's follow-up that needs to be done, we assign it out to an officer and they'll do the followup or if it's codes, we'll assign it to codes or um uh public works has been outstanding in participating in this. If it's a public works matter, they're handling it. And so, I think it's really working well and it's kind of meeting um kind of maybe all of our our needs and the community needs. And so, but they are looked into. Each one of them is reviewed and there's notes and there's response that go back to the reporting party. And so, it's it's a pretty good system and we're pretty happy with it. And with that, I think I've taken enough of your guys' time tonight, but if I I'm happy to answer questions.

I have just a quick question. Um, how many current vacant positions do you have open? I have two police officer positions open and I have two dispatch um positions open. However, one of the dispatch um positions we have a um an applicant that is almost completely through the process and looks um like uh we have you know working on a hiring date and moving forward on that. So that'll put me down at with one dispatcher and two police. So, and we have um concluded our hiring process for police and we have two applicants that we're going to be moving into background. So, but I think I've mentioned to you guys before generally that process from the time we post for hiring position to the time we actually have that officer seated in the car on their own and handling calls for services 9 to 12 months. So, we're always feel like we're

kind of playing catchup. Thank you. Other questions um from anyone? Yes, Jacob.

Yeah. Um, I've got two. One is kind of a general question on like PSA billboards or like signs. I know in other cities I've seen like don't drink and drive signs either produced by the city or they were billboards. And I'm curious if we've ever done that as a city. So most of those signs most of the time is through ODOT or um Oregon impact and we are obviously we that's who also provides us with a lot of our um traffic grants, DUI grants and so we are always in um direct communication with Oregon Impact. Um, I will actually ask uh one of the uh folks that work there. She actually comes to our chief's meeting monthly. Um, she doesn't make it all the time, but a lot of times she'll make and I'll I'll ask if we can get something like that, but I think those are generally provided through Oregon Impact. Um, the other thing that we're working on is we are working on trying to get um some some trailers that we can actually put different messages, speed trailers, and that will actually have messaging capabilities where if we have a special event, we can program to say special event or if we want to do a DUI um campaign, we can we can put those um that that signage out. So, we're working on that. Okay,

cool. And then uh the other question I had uh was on data. One of the things you mentioned was that the um like the local data versus the O neighbors or the neighbors right now it's not very easy to make it an applesto apples comparison and I'm curious uh are there initiatives in the works that would make it easier to compare those data sets or is that sort of

well I think there's two different missions um So the national database basically they have a mission and they're trying to again track certain types of offenses and very specific type of um you know details that they're wanting. I don't know if the national database will ever align um with like the state database because or our local database because we're going to apply um Oregon revised statutes and crimes that we are actually going to charge a person with. And when it goes to the national database, we all know that different uh states have different laws and and and they categorize things differently. We call it theft, some call it lararseny, you know, and there's there's those. And so as a national database, you're trying to figure out how you're going to capitalize and capture all of everybody's stats and put it into something that makes sense that helps lawmakers and, you know, decision makers uh or allocate resources. And so I don't know. I again, I don't think either one of them are wrong. I just really think that they have different missions and I don't know if we'll ever get them to completely align. Thank you,

Councelor Kimmel. Uh, I just wanted to thank you for the information. Um, I appreciate the, um, the breakouts by year. Um, it gives us a good thing that we can talk about. Um, also appreciate the online reporting and the the information that you provided on that. Some I I have had a number of conversations with people. They're they're like, I don't, you know, I don't want to just I feel like I'm being a nuisance contacting um through the phone line. And I said, well, then use the online reporting. and for a variety there was um some issues probably that Jennifer had to deal with but I appreciate that um I think we had talked about it years ago

and I appreciate that being implemented but again it's good to see um where there's work to do but also it's uh tremendous the work that's already been done and you do it 247 and we appreciate or I appreciate all the work that that y'all are doing. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Any other questions for the chief? Lucinda, uh I I too agree with Stephanie with just uh all the the great work that that is being done and um was it 128,000 calls uh through the dispatch center. Is that right, Chief? That is correct. Yeah.

Yeah. That that is just phenomenal. And I can tell you firsthand. I've called a few times this last year and um uh the the wait time, the time that the officer has been to the house is so quick and I've been so incredibly impressed. So my um my sincere appreciation and thanks for all the work your department does um with limited resources. is I know we're still trying to get uh completely um uh uh have you know an entire department with all of the positions filled, but I'm just so grateful to your leadership and uh the team's leadership for um um all the work that they do. Thanks.

Thank you. Well said uh President Denovo and a great been a few I've been a few of those calls too. Uh thank you very much.

Thank you. Okay. Next, we're going to hear from Chief Atkins to review a proposed ordinance establishing and implementing a program to change mitigation rates for deployment of emergency and non-emergency services by the fire department uh that are rendered by or for the fire department. Thank you. Good evening. Um, so before we get into the discussion of the mitigation rate ordinance, uh, proposal, I was just going to give you a quick overview of 2025 for the fire department and then kind of looking ahead for 2026. They'll kind of tie into why we're proposing this. So, uh, so I did provide with you all with a 2025, uh, annual report that goes a lot more in depth, but for this discussion, I'm just really abbreviating it for you. So in 2025, we did have new staffing. So we are full. Uh with Chief Anderson's retirement, my promotion to uh fire chief, that left my position vacant. So we hired Justin Farren who was the police or I'm sorry, fire chief from Killil Fire Department uh came to us in uh June. And then we also had a few other openings that came up. So, we were able to hire three additional firefighter engineers uh to fill those spots. One of them was Ashton Galloway, who had previously started in January with us as one of our apprentices. Uh so, already being able to show the success of that apprentice program. Uh here's a picture of the apprentices we currently have. uh that that is a two-year program that allows uh people to get into the fire service through, you know, without reducing some of the

barriers that they may otherwise face. So again, it was a a $1.6 million grant that we were awarded through Bullley in partnership with the Oregon State Firefires Council. Um and we have renewed that uh applied for renewing for three more positions um for this current cycle which would hopefully go into effect and where we could bring them on in October. So we would have a little bit of an overlap from the time that this two-year cycle goes away um and then the new ones would start. So we shouldn't see any real reduction in services for that. So our call response uh is quite a bit different than what is happens at the police department. Uh but we had a total of 4,33 calls uh for service last year. Of that 2739 were medical related. 818 were public assist. So that's anywhere from a lift assist to agency assist like assisting the police department or some other agency. uh 321 fire related calls. So that includes the 29 structure fires we had or fires inside of buildings. Also includes medical or vehicle fires, uh mutual aid fires to other fire districts and departments primarily Charleston, Central Cous, which is Millington and Sar and North Bend. And then 155, they're considered hazardous conditions. So that could be a true hazardous material call like uh release or spill of fluids or it could be down power lines or something that is not typically categorized in one of the other locations of fire. So this is a call trend for us. Uh this starts from 2000. In 2000, we had uh 1494

calls and then up to every five years, we've had increases and that's been fairly steady. As you can see, from 2010 to 2020, uh we went from 2017 calls to 4,020 calls. And then from there, we've been fairly consistent around that 4,000 to 4,400 call mark. Uh ending 2025 with 4,33 calls. So that is down a little bit, but that also reflects a new policy that we started in 2025 that we call code Charlie. And code Charlie is what we do to let our dispatch center know that they can clear us from a call that came out uh where an ambulance is already going to be responding for a low acuity call. So, uh, toe pain or someone that's been sick for a few days, they just want to go to the hospital or a a transport from Northman Medical Center or one of the clinics or care facilities over to a hospital just for follow-ups. Um, we just don't feel like it's really warranted to send out an a fire engine and staff uh when we do have an ambulance still responding. So, uh, patient care is not being neglected. There's still someone responding. uh it's just not the fire department. So that's 332 calls that are less that less wear and tear on our vehicles, less wear and tear on our staff, as well as less potential exposures and risks to our staff as well. So for 2026, uh a couple things that we're pretty proud of. Um this is also our 135th year of providing service to the community. So Marshfield Fire Department was organized in 1891 and so we are still here today just under Sakusa Bay uh but still been

continuously providing service uh to the citizens. So definitely something we wanted to make sure uh we note. Another thing that we're really proud of is what when council approved a couple months ago for us to be able to purchase the 100 foot platform ladder truck uh that is at our station now. anyone's free to come by and take a look at it. If you're really nice, we could always run you up to the top 94 ft up in the air inside the bucket. So, um, so it's still not quite in service yet. We originally we originally hoping to have it in service uh first part of February. Uh, but then when we got here, we started realizing like it's a lot bigger. It's 47 feet from the front to the back. Um, so we just want to make sure that all of our staff are accurately trained. Um, because it is a very large piece of equipment and also a specialized piece of equipment. So, um, it can be used, but just for a very select people currently until the rest of them get trained in how to use it. Um, that's also 82,000 pounds, which is really more than what most semi-truckss would be driving down the roadway. Uh you may remember that a couple years ago we were awarded a seismic retrofit grant for East Side Fire Station. Uh unfortunately when we went out to bid for that um two different times all the estimates or all the bids came in higher than what the architect estimates were. So we ended up turning the grant down um and we reapplied. So that's been done. So, we're hopeful that that'll come out and that should be in the next few months if they award it. So, if that's the case, then we should be able to go almost directly the bid because all the ground work has already been done on the design. So, so for 2026 uh with 2025 was really

kind of geared towards um not rebuilding but like continuing the foundation. we had redevelopment of our staff, getting our staff numbers back up, uh getting our apprentice program off the ground. So 2026 is kind of a systems uh refinement of what we do. So everywhere from our policies and procedures of what we do and then also expand Code Charlie. Um said that was 332 responses that we did not have to go on. Uh but our staff are still very leerary of not wanting to go because we've always when someone calls we go and help and so trying to get that get them more comfortable with that. So this year I anticipate that number being higher um and so instead of having an 8% reduction in calls which is what we had in 2025 I'm hopeful that that number is closer to the 10%. So, and then the other thing is the billing recovery, which is main reason why we're here tonight. Um, so the ordinance would allow us to be able to bill for recovery services for uh both emergency and non-emergency responses that we go on. Um, and in the original packet you were sent uh several weeks ago, I believe that had the ordinance or draft ordinance and then also an appendix. uh in the appendix it listed all the different types of calls and at the end of the day what we're asking for is um not really to do revenue but to enhance uh or cover our expenses we had and primarily it's shifting the burden of uh expense not to the taxpayers who's already paying for our readiness and the stations and equipment and salaries but to actually who is using our services as much as possible and so you know we're billing the idea would be we'd bill insurance first and then if there was no insurance or if insurance denied the claim for residents we would just close

the case and so they would never see a bill. Uh but for non-residents, people traveling through commercial businesses coming through, uh that's where we would bill. And again, if they were non-residents, if they did not get a bill or if they did not have insurance, then they would seek a bill for that. Uh anticipated revenue is very conservative, but we would be kind of guesstimating uh in the 15 to $20,000 range per year uh based on the calls that we've had uh for 2025 and then what the recovery rate is for the third party biller that we've not necessarily selected but that we are really looking at. Um, so and then also knowing that not everyone has insurance. So there would be a portion that would not be build. So

just confirming the amount you said 15 to $20,000. Yes. Yeah. 15,000 to 20,000. So I'm curious about the administration behind that and the administrative load of billing versus the benefit.

Uh, so the we would be trying to utilize a third party billing company. Uh so majority of the data we already collect already um and they are able to pull that information out and then submit the bills from there. Uh so we would set the parameters of what they would bill for and then they would be able to bill from that point. So like I said most of the data is already there for them. Uh so it's just a little bit more data we would have to collect but that's easy enough for us to do.

And then they would take a percentage or something. They do. They charge the one company we were looking at. It's 22%. So, but that's a lot less than us. That's one of the barriers we've had in the past is we don't have administrative people in the fire department to be able to bill. Uh, so that would be a lot more administrative headache for us. But locating this third party billing that reduces that that burden. Does that eat into that 15 to 20k?

No, that would be the net would be the 15 to 20 after all that would come out. So, and just last year, we responded to 96 motor vehicle accidents or crashes where we would be able to bill uh the 29 structure fires and then um we had 52 illegal burns, 25 of which were repeat offenders. Um and so those are just that's just one small little segment of people that we could bill. Uh a few of those we would actually bill the party directly. So someone that's burning illegally, they were warned the first time, they know the regulations. The idea would be there's no insurance for us to bill. So we would have to bill them directly for that. Um and it's what we're looking for is just recovery of the cost. So our time for our staff and equipment to go out, that's what we're we're looking for. So,

I'm curious, are there other cities uh near us or in the region that uh also There we go. Yes. Sorry, I paused. Uh yeah, so here's just a list of a few cities that are similar demographic to us either in location or type of department. Um as well as on the top to the right is Twin Valley Fire District. uh they are in the top three largest fire departments, fire districts in the state of Oregon and they also bill for services. So not necessarily to compare with them but to show that this is kind becoming an industry standard and a lot more agencies are doing this. So

a lot of people that you have up there though are volunteer departments

uh or combination so combination of fire and or career and volunteers. Uh but yeah, similar location here is Charleston, uh Sumar Millington, which is Central Cous, uh Green Acres, Merl Point just passed resolution or an ordinance uh last week or last month, whatever, um to do the same thing. So, it is becoming more and more the norm just because we all know expenses are outpacing the general fund tax dollars. So, and we constantly try looking for grants and other creative ways to uh stretch our services, but that's kind of at the end of the day. We want to make sure we don't have to reduce our services um because of budget limitations. And so, we've been very uh pro sourcing additional revenue streams or cost recoveries. So, we've deployed the last couple years, which has provided a good amount of revenue for the city, which also helps us to pay for things such as our aerial that we just purchased, uh, as well as portions of our last firet truck, some other things.

Uh, President Novo.

Yeah, I I I appreciate the work that you've done on this. I I have a I um I have a few questions. Uh the first question is um an incident happens at the home uh that um you're required to come out uh for a call. Uh nothing uh you get there and there's nothing uh that really you needed to do. You just came out for the call. So my question is there is no insurance to bill in those issues. So what does that look like? Uh so thank you. Uh so medical calls would not be build at this time. Uh there's really no other departments in Oregon that are billing for medical calls. The only calls that we would be billing for are the calls where we actually do provide a service. So um even in like the appendix, uh one of the proposals would be to uh provide uh bills for a lift assist. So, say an elderly person fell down, can't get up. We go out often times um about 600 times last year uh to help people up off the ground, get them into a chair. If they're not injured, we leave and we cancel the ambulance. Uh or vice versa, the ambulance will cancel us if they get there sooner. Uh but there are some that we have that it's the same person calling over and over and over. So, at the third bill or the third time that we would respond to that location in a calendar year, then we would send a bill for $75 to that resident. Um, and initially it's education. We always try to see if there's other people or other arrangements that they can do to be able to get help. Um, but uh it's usually it just becomes a problem. We had one, for instance, that ended a couple years ago,

but over a two-year time period, I think we were there 84 times in two years. Um, and it just it creates a ton of uh impact to our staff, potential back injuries and everything else. So, uh trying to reduce that as much as possible, but at the same time recover that cost of us going there. So, if that answered your question,

it did. I I um you know have an opinion about this too. So I I can I can see the direction you're going and um I I see a lot of strengths to it. I struggle with the medical piece. Um I really do. Uh and I feel like three strikes and you're out is is a little too much. like with the most recent example you just used, we have an aging community and um and so um I wouldn't want to put that wouldn't want to put that burden on them, but there is a balance and I recognize that. Um the Toalatin Valley Fire District we're talking about that's uh that's in the BBS, Beaverton, Aloa, Hillsboro. Correct.

Correct. Okay. My question to you is the the um and and all of these other uh fire um departments um are doing uh very similar things that you propose in the index. Is that correct?

Uh correct in some fashion or another. Not all of them would do all of what we're requesting. Uh some of them do some, others do others. So it's kind of a mix around the board. Um, and this is just a partial list. Like I said, this was the one company I asked them if they could provide me a quick list um, a couple days ago to include um, and that's what they sent me. So, just a they have 42 uh, agencies in Oregon that they provide billing services for. Okay. But the document I'm looking at, the draft billing ordinance, this is this is ours. This is what you are proposing and the staff is proposing that we uh we charge. Is that correct?

Um not what we charge. I'm not sure if you're seeing the Sorry, I'm looking at mitig exhibit A mitigation rates based on per hour. Is that that's what we're talking about? Uh that might be there was two different ones that you may have been sent. one was from um a different company and it actually had rates in there. So on the first page, does it say motor vehicle instance level one, level two? Yep, that's exactly what I'm looking at.

Okay, so that is one billing company's suggested rates. Uh the one that we are looking at really wanting to go to is a um a true billing for recovery. So it would be actual costs for our vehicles and personnel responding and by the quarter hour. So it's a lot less than what these rates are. Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry I got confused. I appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah. L said we're just uh taking a look at an email version that was sent to us a little bit ago. Yeah, you were ahead of us.

Sorry guys. Yeah, that's what I was looking at was the email version. So, um and looking at those those rates. So, sorry for the confusion. Yeah, I was just going to get to that, too. That was one of the things that one of the companies does. Um, I just don't think there's as much oversight cuz you're just blanket putting a a value on there. Um, and so the other company that we are more inclined to use, uh, they suggest we do true billing costs and it's more received with insurance uh, agencies.

So, and we know 100% that we can charge the insurance company and the insurance company will pay it. Is there like a I mean they give you any stats like 95% of the time the insurance company will pay the the fee. Um so their recovery rates are 87% of what they bill for. Um I don't have statistics on what insurance pay insurance uh pays uh directly.

Um but yeah we do have legal authority. There's two different OS uh 473 478 I believe. Uh don't hold me to those. Uh but couple different statutes that gives us the ability to bill for recovery services. So um again, we're we're not really we're not trying to bill the individual. So the taxpayer themselves should see very limited uh impact to this. um if any we are billing the insurance companies and then if they're non-residents that's who we're billing so

okay so that's what I want you to lead with if we talk about this again it's not it's not going to really impact the citizens but let me ask you this I am a visitor to this community uh I get in a car accident the fire department uh comes out because they have to disting um extinguish a fire and uh the fire department then will bill the insurance company. If the insurance company doesn't pay, what are you proposing?

So, what would be proposed in that circumstance? Someone that's a non-resident um insurance does not pay then we would send them a bill uh directly and if that doesn't happen then the company we would be using for that third party uh would go after collections to them. That's the one place I struggle uh as a as someone who is in the tourism industry. I feel like welcome to our community. Um uh but if you get in an accident um uh and your insurance doesn't cover it, we're going to bill you. That's the only place that I find um I'm challenged with. Chief Okay. The one thing I could say

15,000 dollars were sending a pretty strong message. Um, and to say that, you know, residents are not going to be impacted is I think is also a fallacy because it does affect it. It it will affect them. I mean, they're already going to be affected because they've had a loss and um and and now they have one more more thing they have to worry about.

Yeah. Yeah. And I would just say to the first comment about um out of town people, I mean I could liken it to going to a motel out of town and you pay like transient lodging tax. There might be a little bit of difference there of course, but I mean when you come into the area and staying you are kind of contributing to the community. Um and it's again shifting that from the taxpayer to the user is what we're trying to go for. So if if I can just clarify. So if I go to Mcmminville and I get in a car accident, I would get build and we're proposing that if that happened here, it would be the same process. Yes. Yes. Okay.

And I I would just kind of add uh I I think Lakeside could probably be on this list. Historically, I know they used to do the same thing from my old job. We did the accounting there. So, in the section of 101 that travels through Lakeside if you have an accident there and they're responsive to that, they bill out for their service event, some of those bills are, you know, 14 $15,000 depending on the size of the accident. So, uh, Charleston is going to have the same thing out on their stretch of the roadway that they're responsive to. So, it's not intended to necessarily capture costs related to living in this city, but for folks who are coming here and using the services that pull away the services from our community, it's a way to kind of recapture some of that.

And and you use Lakeside as an example. They're in a very different situation. They're absolutely I just wanted zero tax base. Yeah. So

fair and and I would say you know our tax base seven let's just say our base is flat at 7 million uh it doesn't cover police and fire. So we get almost to a zero tax base when we're trying to you know talk about cost of service. And this isn't to say this is what works for us but it's just a a system that's out there. And so when we look at trying to balance our budget, we're trying to look at as many opportunities that exist that are models that are already there without recreating something. Maybe it doesn't work here, but it's this is what staff's kind of working on on a regular B. What do we see happening out there? Can we look at something that might work here? And I would just say from a person that did billing and collections for years, you know, I I think you also have to consider the uncollectible rate and how that impacts us. But again, I think the optics of it are not worth what what we think we're going to gain if we collect 100%. And there's going to be a percentage we're not going to collect.

You said 87% was the estimate. I think that's uh that's what they are. Their collection rate is typically 87%. Yeah. And of course, my numbers were very conservative. I figured um roughly I just did some quick math on the three different categories I looked at. It's about $50,000 that would be able to be build and that was just a a very small fee. So that could be definitely a lot more than that. But um I just didn't want overpromise at all. So 15 to 20,000 I feel is very conservative as far as what would be brought in. But

I do think that that there is value in the repeat offender and I'm thinking specifically about the the repeat fire uh uh example that you provided. Yeah. And the lift assist. I think that those are are good examples. But I I I am curious about the uh the cost benefit ratio here. Um uh President Denovo, you're off mute.

Oh, yeah. Thank you. Um Councelor Stevens, I um I again will say I appreciate um you looking for opportunities. Um as we all know, costs are continuing to go up and um the taxes aren't covering it. um property taxes aren't I I'm sure we'll have a conversation again about this. I can get behind billing insurance companies. I can't get behind billing, you know, the the individual um if the insurance company doesn't pay. uh for someone who has uh specifically like an accident in this community or even an a citizen who has an accident in this community. Um I I just feel like putting that burden on someone um to to counselor Kilmer's point for 20,000 30,000 um I don't know if it's worth it and uh um but I appreciate that there are expenses associated with it and we're trying just to make sure to cover those expenses as best we can. And I think it's very responsible. I just don't like the thought of billing someone and then going after, you know, if they don't pay, we send them to collections. I don't like that message at all. Sorry, that was my last comment.

Okay, thank you. Thank you very much for the presentation. Okay, we are at the end of our agenda. I'm going to call this meeting to a close. Thank you.