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Home My WebLink About10 30 08 CSAC MinutesCommunity Safety Advisory Commit tee (CSAC) December 11, 2008 Draft Meeting Minutes Present : Members Janine Alcorn, Gina Gertner, Betsy Jader, Woody Spitzmueller, Susan Hadley, Councilor Hedberg, Asst. City Manager Meyer , Police Chief O’Rourke. Guests Savage Police Captain Muelken, Savage Police Officer and School Resou rce Officer Kyle Klapbrick , PLHS Principal David Lund. Chair Spitzmueller called the meeting to order at 4:10pm. Approval of Agenda MOTION BY JADER, SECOND BY GERTNER, TO APPROVE AGENDA AS SUBMITTED. No Discussion VOTE: Ayes by ALCORN, GERNER, HADLEY, JA DER AND SPITZMUELLER, MOTION CARRIED. Minutes MOTION BY JADER, SECOND BY SPITZMUELLER TO APPROVE OCTOBER 30 , 2008 MEETING MINUTES. No discussion. AYES BY ALCORN, GERTNER, HADLEY, JADER, AND SPITZMUELLER. MOTION CARRIED. Presentation: Presentation Rega rding Bomb Threat at PLHS Spitzmueller: Provided the background for the purpose of the presentation. Made introduction s . Alcorn: Discussed her concerns and frustrations as a parent as well as a CSAC member primarily related to awareness of the procedure s and protocol used by the school in this circumstance , and communication to the parents, students and community. Asked what parents can do to discourage future threats and dissuade fear in the children . Lund: Discussed the October 2008 bomb threat in a general sense. Commented that this school district has the most extensive crisis management plan of any of the five where he has been employed. Further discussed the action plan for securing the building and communicating to students, as well as the follo w - up procedures. Advised that the school district staff call in the police right from the beginning because they are the ones trained to make decisions in these circumstances. Does not believe there is more to do except tell the kids it’s not funny, restri ct privileges/movement within the high school campus. Hadley: Asked the consequences for the offender. Clapbrick: Advised that the offender had not been identified, but that, if the juvenile is certified as an adult (12 years or older can be certified as an adult), the penalties include a felony record, minimum of 1 year and 1 day in jail, and up to a $10,000 fine. 1 Community Safety Advisory Commit tee (CSAC) December 11, 2008 Draft Lund: Added that the penalty from the school perspective is a one year expulsion. Jader: Asked how the consequences are communicated to th e student body. Lund: List serv/rapid cal to parents, newspaper coverage, email to students, web site. Law enforcement is very supportive. O’Rourke: Advised that it is unrealistic to expect that you have to tell everyone the consequences/impacts. This in stance was common as far as the evacuation process. Tea chers need to be responsible for checking classrooms just like you need to check your office. Restricting privileges is effective. Gertner: Asked if a number of students stayed home the following d ay. Lund: Advised that 10 - 12% stayed home, but out of a desire for a day off rather than a real fear. Muelken: Advised that the investigation is on - going. It is usually most effective to offer a reward and develop relationships like Officer Clapbrick doe s with the students. Eventually, someone says something. Clapbrick: Noted that many, many of the students were appreciative of the school’s actions and the police response. Gertner: Asked if the number of incidents of this type are increasing. Lund: Advised that in the last decade the number of incidents probably hasn’t changed, but the transparency by schools has changed. Alcorn: Commented that she believed the atmosphere for these types of threats, and the awareness of students has changed as well. Gertner: Asked if parents are recommended to send their kids to school. Lund: Advised that if the kids don’t feel safe, they should not go. But kids have more risk driving a car. Alcorn: Encouraged the school to not let parents become desensitized to t he issue. Hedberg: Commented that there may be tools such as Listserv and Autocall that could be effective or encouraged for the City, other businesses or organizations, or churches. The question for him is what role can this committee play in encouragin g others to have a plan. Hadley: Suggested adding this as a discussion related to the committee’s communication plan. 2 Community Safety Advisory Commit tee (CSAC) December 11, 2008 Draft Gertner: Asked what the school and police thought this committee could do to help. Lund: Did not believe any further action was necessa ry related to this issue. Commented that to require businesses or organizations to develop a crisis management plan would be a far - reaching and costly project. Developing the school’s plan involved quite a number of people and resources. O’Rourke: Advis ed that the committee can not require businesses and organizations to have a crisis management plan. If it determined it a priority, the committee could encourage parents, businesses, churches and other organizations to have a plan. Alcorn: Thanked the p rincipal and officers for the presentation and the clarifications provided. Commented that she is interested how this could become part of a communications plan. New Business Role of the Committee O’Rourke: Commented that the previous discussion leads us to this agenda item clarifying the role of the committee. The committee is advisory in nature and provides recommendations and research to the City Council for formal action. It is important to not be reactionary to situations even though they can be a t the forefront. Hedberg: Added that the committee needs to take a big picture perspective on how to use the best practices to address community needs, and then be the watchdog that moves the initiatives forward. Meyer: Added that the committee directi on comes from the City Council through approval of the annual objectives, or by a specific direction given at a Council meeting. The committee can certainly make recommendations to revise its objectives if there are outside influences or situations that w arrant attention, but the formal approval comes from the City Council. O’Rourke: Added that the hardest thing for the committee will be to prioritize and be aware of its objectives. Reminded the committee that the Task Force has a list of number of other objectives that didn’t make the “first priority” list, but that also need to be revisit when the committee considers where it will put its energy. Also advised that this presentation provided a lot of information and continuing to education ourselves on the issues would have value for the committee moving forward. NO ACTION REQUIRED. Old Business Bylaws 3 Community Safety Advisory Commit tee (CSAC) December 11, 2008 Draft Meyer: Advised that the bylaws had been adopted. Noted that the recommendation of the committee to change the term to one year rather than three was no t approved in order to maintain consistency across all advisory committees . The other changes included extending the number of the committee from 5 to a potential 7 members, and increasing the term limit to 9 years. NO ACTION REQUIRED. Social Host Ordina nce Spritzmueller: Advised that the City Council would be conducting a public hearing to consider adoption of a Social Host ordinance at its December 15, 2008 meeting. Hedberg : Advised that the committee is invited to comment before the public hearing. I t would be valuable for the Council to hear the concerns of the committee. Commented that he is personally struggling with the obvious social benefit versus relinquishing personal rights. O’Rourke : Advised that the County Attorney and Scott County Sherif f will also be in attendance. At a recent Scott County Chief’s meeting, he was advised that no other City Council had considered a social host ordinance, but that the Chiefs would support the initiative. Their comment was that it would be more effective i t is was applied County wide versus city by city. However, the only time line Prior Lake can control is the one for the Prior Lake community. We don’t know how long a County - wide or State - wide initiative might take, or if it would be successful. Added th at use and abuse of drugs/alcohol was a high priority for the Task Force. Committee members agreed that Chair Spitzmueller would prepare comments for the public hearing. NO FURTHER ACTION REQUIRED. New Business Background Checks for Renters This item wa s deferred to a future meeting due to time constraints. Next meeting A regular meeting date on the 2 Thursday of every month at 4pm at City Hall was agreed nd upon. January 8, 2009. Adjourned at 5: 53 p.m. 4