CC MINUTES 06092020 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

City Council Regular Meeting Minutes June 9, 2020 Page 3 1 Commission in place and he has not received a response back yet. He hoped that maybe there is 2 something that can be gleaned off of other areas or Cities that might be helpful. 3 4 Councilmember Webster indicated she was also curious if there are other communities with a 5 model that St. Anthony could look at. She also knew several communities have a Human Rights 6 Commission and wondered if during the Worksession they might look at this Commission from a 7 broader lens and tie in their mission statement as a City and look at how they can look at the 8 different factors of the health and safety of all of their residents. 9 10 Mayor Stille thought if no one objected, the consensus of the City Council would be to have the 11 City Manager move forward and get the City Council some ideas as to what this might look like 12 and some draft priorities. 13 14 Fire Chief/Emergency Manager Mark Sitarz provided the City Council with a high level and 15 brief overview of how the public safety agencies responded to the recent events tied to the death 16 of Mr. George Floyd. He stated his primary concern and focus as Fire Chief is the safety of the 17 residents of St. Anthony. He stated during the events that happened over the past several days 18 was to focus on taking care of the residents in the City. He noted both the Police Chief and he 19 have access to information from various sources that allows them to keep up to date with what is 20 currently happening, what trends are taking place and what is potentially coming down the road. 21 He stated they were utilizing those sources as was every other City in the Metro Area, using that 22 information in order to have the discussions they had and come up with plans. 23 24 Chief Sitarz explained discussions resulted in St. Anthony having an increased and continuous 25 public safety presence in the community which meant both departments needed to increase 26 staffing in order to make their presence known in the City. From a fire perspective there was 27 multiple apparatus out on the streets with the whole intent of being seen and the Police 28 Department followed the exact same plan. By increasing the number of police on the street they 29 were able to provide City wide coverage and that constant visibility and the goal was met. The 30 departments also used mutual aid and had discussions with neighboring Cities. The common 31 response was the other cities would help as much as possible but depended on what was 32 happening in or around their cities. There were a lot of internal discussions that took place and 33 much of it was about sharing information with staff on what was known, what the plans were and 34 what was needed, and staff responded fantastically. 35 36 Chief Sitarz indicated his staff responded for additional help during this time without hesitation. 37 The majority of St. Anthony Fire Fighters are paid on -call and are full time paramedics and full 38 time Fire Fighters in other Cities as well as other occupations. They left their families to climb 39 on a truck to provide that presence in the Community. These are men and women that truly care 40 and have a true passion for taking care of others and he cannot thank them enough for their 41 courage and dedication and their selflessness. Their goal on this was to be present. The goal 42 was to be seen and they needed to do that and accomplished that and did a good job. He 43 indicated he was in favor of the proposed Public Safety Commission. 44 45 Police Chief Jon Mangseth stated he echoed all of the comments Chief Sitarz expressed. He 46 wanted to make special note as well that the communication was well done and was quite