City Council - Regular Meeting

The public safety meeting for the City Council Committee on Public Safety, September 15th, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. Clerk, call the roll. Councilor Canuel? Here. Councilor Raposo? Here. Chair Peckham? Pursuant to open meeting, or any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium. Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions are being made, whether perceived or unperceived by those present, and are deemed acknowledged and permissible. First item on agenda is citizens input. Nobody on the list for citizens inpu

And Chris Peckham, Chair. So I believe this was your resolution, correct, Councillor? It was. So if you want to open up with this, that would be fantastic.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this was a resolution that was originally filed by Councillor Kadeem, and it didn't move anywhere. So I had refiled it essentially with a little slight change, and I spoke to the Director of Parks regarding this concern. And this actually came forward from a – a school nurse that also her son plays baseball in one of our local parks. And one of the conversations that came up was, is there an AAD accessible in some way, shape, or form? And it seems like it's inconsistent. So I had talked to Mr. Medeiros about it, and we had come up with some ideas. So essentially I want

Okay. Out of curiosity, so you mentioned Father Kelly and Maplewood. Maplewood, okay. So I know Dumont has an active softball league.

guess i'll defer to the chair but i'm curious if we can have any thoughts from our public safety officials and then the city administration on um how we could possibly move forward with this i'll yield the floor yeah so mike i have a question my question would be is this for the leagues or is this overall for the park for general access So I think the intention of my resolution was to cover essentially all of it. But obviously, I think to Darren's point, I think what I'm looking at in front of me is a phased approach, which makes sense. I think the immediate need would be kids, right? And obvi

When I did my prior job, I was the fire and health and safety officer for the Bridgewater Complex, and my job every morning was to go around to each unit and inspect the AEDs, so it was a morning test. So that's one question I have is... How often are we testing these? Are we doing it daily, which I believe most of the companies recommend, weekly, monthly? And then on the flip side to that is if we buy these and we put them in the little leagues and something goes wrong, are we responsible?

I understand. I think there's many questions that would have to be asked in the logistics of this manpower. Like you said, the ability to house these units in cold weather.

Council. So I guess my question to the EMS and fire chiefs, is this something that if you guys are open to the grants, is this something that we could facilitate through EMS and fire to then support our kiddos in the city?

23. A lot. Yeah, so I think, to my colleague's point, I think...

Could be. I mean, I would say we're obviously shooting for the highest coverage where, in a perfect world, every park has it. It's heated. It's electrified and all that. But I think at the first phase, at minimum, to Darren's point, can we prioritize the leagues, number one, where the kids are? And if it's not an outdoor item, can we look to... assist these leagues because again they're all our kids and they're all taxpayers of the city can we facilitate some sort of way to get aeds for the leagues so i'll turn to the city administrator i mean is that a capital improvement thing we can invest

guess we could we could defer to corporation counsel and get an opinion on it i'm sure i i would imagine though just my thought on it having one versus not having one is two different things i know that i mean the good samaritan law to answer your question does cover anybody who performs cpr uses an ad under the direction of

And the ADs themselves are smart enough now where when you put the pads on somebody, they'll tell you, should we or should we not? Correct. So even the ones I have at school, the three we have, literally, you plug them in, you attach them, and it says yes or no.

Could very well be. I think there are plenty of creative ideas, but if ultimately grants don't fall through and a private-public partnership doesn't work, I would love to see the city invest in our kids and further investment into our parks. in this way, even if it's just to get AEDs where the leagues can have them in excess. Because I think the cost of the AED is steep for the leagues. I would argue that the replacement of pads is probably something they could budget for, but the actual unit itself is a deeper dive. I guess that's my question at this point would be, can we exhaust, can we loo

23. How many leagues are active, Darren? Oh, eight?

Yeah, so would it be possible, if I could, through the chair to the clerk, can we just connect and get a most updated list of what leagues are most active? I'll change that. What leagues are active at this point? So this way then we can kind of... put our heads together and figure out what that possible cost could be.

It's the same thing. So I would say leagues that are active, both children and adults. And then if we can get that information, which I'm sure you can share with the committee, We can then kind of put our heads together, figure out what that cost would be, and then essentially take it to the next step and see, are there grants, are there not? Can we look at a capital improvement? And we can have a conversation with the mayor and see if he's in support of that. I'll yield, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

So I'll make that in the form of a motion, because I failed to actually make the motion at that point. So I'll make a motion to request information from the Parks Director on the current number of active leagues that are both children and adults, as well as... opinion from Corporation Council in regards to the litigants piece regarding a DS in in the parks in terms of use if it's purchased with city funds in the form of motion made in second it all those unfit by motion to table promotion the tables were made and second all those unfit

Motion to list item four from the table. Second. Motion to list item number four from the table as it may be seconded. Item number four is a resolution to convene with the administration, police chief, chief of emergency medical services, chief of emergency management agency. the Administrator of Community Utilities, the Interim Director of the Department of Community Maintenance, the Director of City Operations, and the Director of Traffic and Parking to discuss the development of a strategic emergency response plan, Tables 429 of 26. And go around the table. She's done with you.

Ian O'Neill-Sousa, city administrator. So I know that last time we sat and discussed this topic, I just asked maybe to run a list, keep a running list of things, ideas maybe, as to what we could put in this room, what this room needs. maybe a list of upgrades. If you don't have that, I was supposed to send an email as a reminder, so I apologize for that. I forgot to. But if we can go around the table, if this idea is for this room, I'd love to hear them, jot them down, get a running list, and then maybe chop away at this little by little. You know, there's no money up front to take care of thi

right yeah um so with that phone i know it's completely separate my biggest push for up here and i know we've had conversations was a second dispatch location so god forbid something happened at the police station we'd have a backup you know we could send our dispatches um do you think that would be a large feat in itself that'd be a question for you chris i think right yeah i think that would be

I laugh every time. So New Bedford is still a lot back up? Yes. That was insanity to me back then.

thank you yeah it just to the chief's point in this whole idea now that we have the mobile trailer for emergency situations how would the trailer play if any it let's say hypothetically speaking we had another blizzard like we did before would would that be deployed here would it be deployed somewhere else what would be practical use of that trailer in conjunction with an emergency center here

Yeah, the only reason, and I agree with you, I was curious if there was any practical use of the mobile trailer in conjunction with a setup here. If there's something that you can't do in this room, but that trailer could then provide to you if you were essentially were to park it next to the building.

Yeah, because if you, you know, like in that situation, having that deployed there at Conley where all the plows were, you guys are all here, that actually works. So that's good. I'm just, again, just trying to throw out an idea that the idea of having another space is helpful.

Mr. Hathaway, do you have something to say?

Now, that was a question I was going to ask. As far as an SOP, an SOP for who? So is it an SOP for the emergency response for public safety as a whole within the city, or is it just for the fire department?

INTERVENING FOR JUST ONE SECOND. NOW, WITH THE BLIZZARD OR ANY TYPE OF NATURAL DISASTER, LET'S SAY, WHAT'S THE MAYOR'S PROTOCOL? SO DOES THE MAYOR CALL EACH CHIEF?

So I know the first one you had in regards to this. My biggest push was during that, because nobody was in the same room. IT WAS ATROCIOUS, THE COMMUNICATION, JUST BECAUSE THERE WAS NO PLAN. THAT'S WHY I HAD ASKED. I KNOW MYSELF AND CHIEF HUNTS SPOKE A LOT DURING THAT STORM, AND I WANT TO GET IT TO WHERE WE HAVE A PROTOCOL. THERE'S A STATE OF EMERGENCY, AND I'M NOT TELLING THE MAYOR'S OFFICE WHAT TO DO, BUT JUST MAYBE A RECOMMENDATION THAT EVERYBODY GETS, AND I THINK I MENTIONED THIS IN THE FIRST MEETING, EITHER YOURSELF OR YOUR DESIGNEE, HAS TO RESPOND HERE. You can't do it from home. You can

I just think being in the same room and just having that mandate, if it is what it is, if you're the leader of a department, right? And there's a state of emergency, you should be there. So I think that may be entertaining that as a mandate for the chiefs of our public safety agencies. Not so much DCM has their own job that they do there. I'm talking about the public safety agencies. I'm going to be here, meet with MEMA. And obviously they would want to speak to Mr. Hathaway, but he's a phone call away. I'm speaking of the public safety chiefs in one room. And that way, I was with Chief Fonce

Yeah, and not to interject again, my issue isn't so much, and obviously everybody knows their roles, it's the kickoff. The kickoff. Everybody just go, and then do your roles. You know, it's that initial communication, and everybody get to one place.

If there's one thing I don't doubt, IT'S YOUR PACKETS AND YOUR THUMB DRIVES. EVERY TIME I COME HERE, I GOT A PACKET AND A THUMB DRIVE. AND THEY'RE ALWAYS SPOT ON. SO I TRUST THAT THAT IS AN IMMACULATE ORDER, I DO. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO TAKING A LOOK AT IT. DEPUTY, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING?

So I was obviously here for the blizzard and so we were both here. and you answered a lot of phone calls.

I think something like the blizzard, there should be something, and if it's not already, Chief... I think it should be an EMT or somebody that can come in and I don't like that people are gonna call and they'll have to leave a message during an emergency. If we had a few people answering the phone that were mandated to come in along with this protocol, other city employees, I don't care if they're clerks, dispatchers, whatever the case may be, I know there's union issues there, but it would be a good thing to reach out to a few civilian hands during a state of emergency and have them come in t

No, it was definitely one for the record books, that's for sure. Do you have anything, counsel?

All right, with that being said, Maybe a motion to table. So made. Second. Motion to table has been made and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. No nays. Thank you very much. Motion with item five from the table. Motion with item five has been made and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Item number five, resolution convene quarterly. Convene quarterly. This was tabled in June number 16, 2026. Oh, is that right? You got somewhere to be?

You don't have to if you don't want to. So, these are good, and I'm going to... Yeah, just don't worry. Tell me about that. No worries. I'm going to start with Chief Hoare. I know you had a large operation roughly a few weeks ago now, and Corky Road area, 40 arrests.

Yeah, so related but unrelated. So we're talking about the nuisance ordinance, and I think as the Chairman of Ordinance, I have to ask this question. My personal opinion is that the nuisance ordinance is too weak as far as, you know, I think you mentioned, what did you say? It was loosely enforced? Is that the wording?

Yeah, because I think when I look at what the definition of a nuisance ordinance, what a nuisance property is and the ordinances, It is, I think, very vague in the sense of what can fall under that classification. So I think it needs to actually be strengthened, and I think to the Chief's point, not necessarily in the sense, the fines, I guess when you hit the pocket in this sense, there's going to be situations where clearly it's classified as a nuisance situation, and there needs to be a fine attached to it to get it remedied. Because if not, if there's no penalty to the crime or the violati

So just for clarification, the ordinance itself, there is no penalty attached to the ordinance?

Yeah. Thank you very much. Councilor Pozo.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To the fire chief, I want to make a comment and then a question. So you had sent to me that video that was produced actually right outside here of the training, you know, the Gabriel House post-training and the effect on fire. So I want to first say it was excellent. It was very eye-opening to actually see, you know, as a person who didn't experience it, how quick A suppression system can take it out. And what happens when a suppression system doesn't exist? So I appreciate you sending that. And I think, you know, unfortunately in tragedy, there's always things we learn f

Yeah, and it's great. It's credit to your agency and credit to your people, so kudos to all of you. The last question I have, and we've been talking about it, where do we stand on the replacement of the PFAS-free equipment? Any new updates since we've last spoken?

Is that it, Chief? That's all I got. Fantastic. Thank you. Chief Agate.

The one thing I have is, so obviously we got that emergency operations trailer done in record time. And there was no plan for the events coming up. There was nothing written down because everything was just so fast in the process. So going into next spring, and we'll have meetings before then, but I'll throw it out there now. maybe start to come up with a list of, you know, the events that we know are definitely going to happen for next year and get that EHUC on the, you know, have it go to each event, but we'll have a structured list as to who's bringing it and whatnot. And the fact that it d

driven somewhere for a myriad of different reasons you know uh gabriel house obviously is a major incident but major fires get it there uh can be used by all three uh all four agencies in the city so that we can um i know the mayor is pro that idea as well because when i sat with him for the first time about this he said well i much prefer a mobile command center um and obviously we got this done for very short money it was all um done in-house so it's good for now but i am I am looking forward to entertaining that conversation just because it is something that we could use in a city our size

Nothing else? Go ahead, counsel. Just two quick questions to Chief Fonts. When you mentioned the three ambulances that were hit, I'm assuming those were non-fault on our ends?

Okay, so I'm assuming at some point, if they're totaled or not, there's going to be some sort of reimbursement through insurance to cover those?

Okay. Scout's getting antsy. That's actually all I have, so I yield. Thank you.

No, no, I don't. Not right now, I don't. Okay. Motion to table. Yeah, motion to table has been made. Seconded. All those in favor?

Aye. Second. Motion to adjourn has been made and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. No nays. Have a good night, everybody.