Metro East Sun

City of Belleville Police & Fire Committee met March 13

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Committee Chair Alderman Johnnie Anthony called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

Committee Members Present:

Johnnie Anthony

Bryan Whitaker

Shelley Schaefer

Dennis Weygandt

Scott Ferguson

Kara Osthoff

Mary Stiehl

Department Head/Staff:

Treasurer Sarah Biermann

Fire Chief Lloyd Stinson

Excused:

Carmen Duco

Police Chief Matt Eiskant

Guest Alderman:

Kent Randle

Guest:

Michael Hagberg

Minutes: 

Alderwoman Schaefer motioned to accept the minutes of the February 13, 2023, meeting as presented, second by Alderman Ferguson. All members present voted - Aye. Motion passed.

Public Comments: 

Michael Hagberg: Mr. Hagberg stated he heard a rumor, while trying to extinguish the Arcades fire, they suffered from low water flow. He continued by asking when the last time Illinois American Water conducted flow test. Chief Stinson stated that was a false rumor and he would have to investigate the flow testing.

Alderman Randle wanted to know more about the Arcades response. He stated he was told that both Ladder 29 and 49 had broken nozzles and that is why they had to call in Northwest and Signal Hill. Chief Stinson stated that was incorrect. While Ladder 29 was having some line issues, and the COM is not working on Ladder 49, they were still functional to fight the fire. Chief Stinson continued by saying that Northwest and Signal Hill were called in for air tank refills, and through the MABAS agreement, they are called to be on standby in case they would be needed elsewhere.

Alderman Randle asked why there was a nine (9) minute response time to an alarm at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine; was it caused by the responding unit not having an Opticom and being stalled trying to get through traffic at all the traffic signal? Chief Stinson said that there are several vehicles, maybe four (4) or five (5) units, that did not have the Opticom. He said with the new budget those will be purchased and installed.

Alderman Randle asked why they took delivery of the new fire truck with all the missing items and equipment that does not work. Chief Stinson stated that there were a few bugs that needed to be worked out of the new truck and the aftermarket equipment will be installed as soon as the money is available. Alderman Anthony added that firetrucks do not have to wait for a light to change in order to proceed, and going back to the COM issue, all Firefighters have their own radio, the radios in the trucks are a convenience, but he feels that staff vehicles should have radios and Opticoms.

Alderman Weygandt asked why the radio and Opticom were not ordered when the truck was ordered. Chief Stinson stated the vehicle was ordered prior to him coming on board.

Staff Report: 

Fire Department:

1) Chief Stinson requested a motion to approve $15,315.00 (current budget) for upgrading Firehouse contract to ESO database and sundown First Due database.

Alderwoman Stiehl made a motion second by Alderwoman Schaefer to approve the request.

Chief Stinson explained that First Due is unable to migrate the data over without losing part of the data. He stated this was unacceptable due to FOIA requests.

Members voting aye on roll call: Anthony, Whitaker, Stiehl, Weygandt, Ferguson, Osthoff, Schaefer.

Motion carries.

2) Chief Stinson requested a motion to approve $41,147.25 (next fiscal year's budget) for Lexipol.

Alderwoman Schaefer made a motion second by Alderman Ferguson to approve the request.

Chief Stinson explained that Lexipol is a company that will use a legal team to incorporate and update the Standard Operating Procedures with City Ordinances and State and Federal guidelines for the Belleville Fire Department, the Belleville Police Department already uses Lexipol. Alderman Randle stated changes in policy comes with a cost. Chief Stinson agreed, he gave the example that there are no sharps containers at any of the engine houses nor on the trucks and these will run around $100 per required unit. OSHA agreed that some of the policies were a little light.

Members voting aye on roll call: Anthony, Whitaker, Stiehl, Weygandt, Ferguson, Osthoff, Schaefer.

Motion carries.

3) Chief Stinson asked for a three-month extension for him to investigate the lift assist situation.

He presented a handout that showed the number of calls for lift assists, it was 21% of all calls. Alderwoman Schaefer said she understood his need for more time. Alderman Weygandt wanted to know why the city could not sue the homeowner where the last firefighter was injured during a lift assist. Alderman Anthony tried to explain that you cannot sue the homeowner when they did not call the Fire Department, EMS called the Fire Department.

4) Chief Stinson reviewed a few things that OSHA had stated in their recent inspection report. He felt that

most of these items would not have been an issue if there was a Health and Safety Officer in the Fire Department. Right now, these items are bounced between the three main Chief's offices. He feels that there needs to be at least three (3) more Fire Officers in the office to handle the workload. There are reports that are missing or not getting filed, training has been an issue and the reviewing of building plans.

New Business: 

Alderwoman Osthoff asked if there was a way for the Aldermen to be notified when there is a large structure fire in their wards. She is also very concerned about the amount of time that these burned-out businesses will be left before clean-up or tear down in Ward 8.

Old Business: 

None.

Adjournment: 

Alderwoman Stiehl made a motion second by Alderman Weygandt to adjourn the meeting at 6:56 p.m.

All members present voted - Aye. Motion passed.

https://www.belleville.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_03132023-2965