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HomeMy WebLinkAboutE-911 Minutes 4.17.2025 East Central Communications Council (E-911) Meeting Minutes Thurs, Apr 17, 2025 - 8:30 AM – Rm 300 in City/County Building Members Present: Assistant to City Manager Samantha Beckman, County Commissioner Chairman Larry Jensen. Others present: Brookings Police Dept (BPD) Lt Drew Garry, Sgt Shawn Peterson, & Admin Assistant Ronda May; Brookings County Fire Association Pres Dave Jacobson; Brookings County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) rep Dave Biteler; Brookings County Commission Dept Dir Stacy Steffensen; & Brookings County Emergency Management Dir Bob Hill. Absent: Brookings Police Dept Chief Michael Drake, County Commissioner Kelly VanderWal, Brookings Fire Chief Pete Bolzer, & BCSO Sheriff Marty Stanwick. 1. Call to Order: Commissioner Chairman Jensen called meeting to order at 8:32 AM. 2. Approval of Agenda: Motion by Assistant to City Manager Beckman, 2nd by Lt Garry to approve agenda; motion carried. 3. Approval of Minutes: Motion by Assistant to City Manager Beckman, 2nd by Lt Garry to approve the minutes; motion carried. 4. Approval of Bills: Lt Garry presented as submitted. Motion to approve bills as is by Assistant to City Manager Beckman, 2nd by Lt Garry; motion carried. Beckman asked about the trainings & Lt Garry explained as we’re fully staffed, have more time to attend trainings. 5. Quarterly Numbers: Lt Garry presented as submitted. Year-to-date numbers are up a fair amount. 6. Old Business: A. Update on Staffing: Sgt Peterson said we’re fully staffed, brought former Dispatcher back so took very little training, about 2 weeks, with 1 new hire-in-training through Aug-Sept. Once done, fully staffed. 7. New Business: none 8. Other Items & Reports: Brookings Co Emerg Mgm’t Dir Hill: latest Township Board mtg, 2 Townships changed boundaries – Eureka & Estelline, making some changes affecting City of Brookings. Sterling gave theirs to Bruce. Jacobson said this wasn’t discussed so asked how many sections of Sterling with Bruce? Hill said all 36 now in Bruce. Jensen asked if Interstate causing this? Hill said BFD Chief Bolzer wasn’t aware of this either. Townships can decide. Jacobson thinks township thing more than anything & thinks we all charge about same amount to cover in the County. Brookings Co Fire Association Pres Jacobson asked other than social media post which they discussed at their meeting last week, for those who don’t have social media how will it get approached on Red Flag Burn Ban? And, regarding the fining stand point, he was hoping to talk with BCSO Sheriff Stanwick so he asked Dave B. Biteler said they should get fine if burning & we’re in a ban, but not happening. If County Commission enacts a burn ban, there needs to be some teeth in fining. Biteler said have had 1-2 they’ve written up. Jensen said Red Flag Days are burn ban days now, too but people don’t understand it. Johnson asked if we (BPD) shared our social media post? Sgt Peterson thought no. Johnson said the post links to Ordinance. Beckman said to send it to Jess with City. Johnson said in event people burning on Red Flag Day but not see social media post, how they do know without common sense? Hope BCSO fines. Hill said State’s Attorney (SA) needs to charge. Jensen said they’ll discuss at their next Commissioners Meeting. Johnson said those people who are repeat offenders need to get fined so it sticks. He thought similar to ticket & said BPD’s post is a start. Biteler said SA asked to bring on Complaint to make sure up & up. Jensen said they’ll bring it up at their next meeting & put some coverage in the paper. BCSO rep Biteler said all good from BCSO. Assistant to City Manager Beckman said BFD Chief Bolzer’s Open House is Apr 23 (2-4 PM at East Fire Station, open to public) & new Chief (Troy Hughes) starts May 5th. Lt Garry–working on fire danger but if hear things in City & County, please let BPD know of it as we field a number of calls. Another issue – fire boundaries & what level is Hill dissenting the information. Hill said he asks for copy of Township Minutes, speaks with fire department involved, & sends map to E-911. Lt Garry asked is this info able to be dissented? Yes, Hill said it’s public info. Lt Garry said BCSO has been responding, but they’re wondering & Hill said he hadn’t informed BCSO. Lt Garry said in regards to the budget, E-911 surcharge increased & spoke on surplus last year. He would like to maintain it as hopefully in near future we’re building a new building & tremendous amount of infrastructure goes into E-911 Dept so need to have financial backing. There are some State E-911 funds available so when get closer to building, something to consider. Commissioner Chairman Jensen said he attended wind tower safety training & very good meeting, learned new things about wind towers & responding to calls. One question for Dispatch–when call comes in from the tower’s main office, are we dispatching to the site provided or their office? The towers can be 4-5 miles away from office. Sgt Peterson said could be site specific based on cell phone location OR an alarm company where tower dials their office & they call us providing location information to us. We haven’t had a call from a company yet. Jensen suggested we check on it. Hill said he went up years ago (2013), called Dispatch, & it pinged Ivanhoe MN. Lt Garry said tremendous amount of work has been put into routing, we’ve driven the perimeters of the County, & pinging correctly. Lt Garry also asked if anyone aware of meetings that E-911 should attend, please let us know so we could have someone there. A. Next Meeting: May 15, 2025 at 8:30 AM 9. Adjournment: Motion to adjourn at 8:53 AM by Assistant to City Manager Beckman, 2nd by Lt Garry; motion carried. Submitted, Ronda A May Ronda A May Brookings Police Department Administrative Assistant