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PSC 04-11-2013 CUPERTINO PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Thursday, April 11, 2013, 7:00 p.m. Cupertino City Hall, Conference Room A I. CALL TO ORDER Commissioner Nguyen called to order the regular meeting of the Cupertino Public Safety Commission at approximately 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, 2013 in the Cupertino City Hall, Conference Room A, located at 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, California 95014. II. ROLL CALL Commissioners Present: Daniel Nguyen Andy Huang Robert McCoy Nina Daruwalla (late) Commissioners Absent: Lily Lim Staff Present: Captain Ken Binder, Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office Battalion Chief Tony Bowden, Santa Clara County Fire Department Rick Kitson, Public Information Officer, City of Cupertino Staff Absent: None Others Present: Peter Friedland, TICC Pamela Reed, The Forum at Rancho San Antonio III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS There are no oral communications to report at this regular meeting. IV. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS There are no written communications to report at this regular meeting. V. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. March 14, 2013 ACTION: YES VOTE: YES MOTION: McCoy SECONDED: Huang 3 to 0 Commissioner McCoy motioned to approve the minutes of March 14, 2013; Commissioner Huang seconded the motion; votes taken, all in favcr to approve the minutes of March 14, 2013. VI. OLD BUSINESS 1. Discussion of Walk/Bike/Carpool (WBC)to School project, ongoing (Nguyen/Lim) ACTION: YES VOTE: NO MOTION: N/A SECONDED: N/A 0 to 0 There are no updates regarding this program at this time. 2. Boltage Program progress/updates (Nguyen/Lim) ACTION: YES VOTE: NO MOTION: N/A SECONDED: N/A 0 to 0 There are no updates regarding this program at this time. 3. Report on Surveys to Schools (Nguyen) ACTION: YES VOTE: NO MOTION: N/A SECONDED: N/A 0 to 0 The data from the last Survey to Schools is all in and has been reviewed. The next Survey to Schools will be issued beginning on May 7, 2013. 4. Discuss participation in the Alert SCC Program and the CAS Program (Huang) ACTION: YES VOTE: NO MOTION: N/A SECONDED: N/A 0 to 0 Rick Kitson presents updated information regarding the Cupertino Alert System. The City has been working on operational improvements to better coordinate communications between schools and the City so that all agencies are on the same page before any notifications are sent out. The City is also updating CAS policies, which the PSC will soon be able to review. One possible change is to create internal groups that agree to receive all notifications deemed necessary by the City, separate from the external groups that residents are allowed to opt in or out of. The internal groups will include people deemed essential in certain situations, such as CERT members, Block Leaders, possibly Commissioners, etc. The City may also create a 'Drill Group', to provide feedback after drills and identify needed improvements. Mr. Kitson emphasizes that the upcoming summer event season should include another outreach push to increase resident sign- ups. Mr. Friedland asks if there has been a change to the policy requiring the responding agency in an incident to contact a designated City official prior to sending out a notification. Mr. Kitson agrees that the policy is a possible failure point, but indicates that it must remain that way to ensure they send out correct information. He adds that usually any delays are due to the responding agency correctly prioritizing their emergency response before City communication. When the Commissioners discuss frustration after recent local events that did not produce any notifications, Mr. Kitson distinguishes the difference between sensational news stories and actual threats to public safety. Many incidents, although interesting, do not necessitate public notification. Mr. Friedland then asks if the Fire Department has the same right as the Sheriff's Office to initiate notifications. Mr. Kitson answers that although the Fire Department is allowed to initiate notifications, their priorities have not historically included public communication. However, the Fire Chief is aware of the public's rising expectations for communication. They are working to find a balance between public reassurance and respecting when no notification is necessary. Again, Mr. Kitson plans to bring a draft of revised CAS policies to the next PSC Meeting for review, if not available sooner. Mr. Kitson states that the City plans to utilize CAS this summer to notify residents of the cooling stations offered for the elderly and medically vulnerable. He also announces a community meeting on June 13, 2013 regarding the Stevens Creek Dam at the Reservoir. The Santa Clara Valley Water District will present the findings of recent seismic studies; and there are plans to post evacuation route signs. Mr. Friedland inquires about the meeting scheduled for next week regarding the planned cellular tower installations, but Mr. Kitson informs that the meeting is postponed because Verizon Wireless' subcontractors have not completed the site analysis. Commissioner Nguyen asks about the recent Amber Alert message he received on his phone, but Captain Binder clarifies that the CHP is in charge of the statewide Amber Alert System, so it was not produced by CAS or AIertSCC. Mr. Kitson mentions that the City recently purchased a 911 data set for Cupertino in light of recent incidents, which expands their white pages information to include unlisted numbers for true emergencies. Commissioner Huang confirms that the PSC: is registered for the Forum event on June 1, 2013 from 10am until 2pm for CAS sign-up outreach. He adds that he has been approached by a church with around 10,000 members to teach a personal emergency response training class. It will be a multi-day event and they need to secure a I arge venue. Ms. Reed inserts that The Forum would like to host such an event as well, and Mr. Kitson confirms that Commissioner Huang coordinates all these events with Ken Eriksen to utilize City resources. Mr. Kitson comments that many organizations are now requesting such classes of the City, especially since there is no fee. Commissioner McCoy laments that the City Calendar is often unreliable. Mr. Kitson acknowledges that it is a significant problem, and states that there are multiple breakdowns in the system but the City is running diagnostics and working to fix the problem. Commissioner McCoy also mentions that his apartment building has an office space on the first floor that would serve as a good fallback location for EOC operations. Mr. Kitson agrees that the EOC needs a fallback location due to the seismic safety concerns of the city buildings. 5. Discuss CERT items relevant to the PSC (McCoy) ACTION: YES VOTE: YES MOTION: Huang SECONDED: Daruwalla 4 to 0 Commissioner Huang motions to assign a formal liaison to CERT who will attend the monthly meetings, and further motions to appoint Commissioner McCoy as the liaison; Commissioner Daruwalla seconded the motion; votes taken, all in favor to assign a liaison to CERT and appoint Commissioner McCoy to this assignment. Commissioner McCoy points out that there is still a fee attached to the upcoming Westside CERT training classes. Mr. Kitson explains that the Fire Department continues to charge a $35 fee, but the City of Cupertino has a policy to reimburse Cupertino residents because the City is just grateful that residents take the initiative to become prepared and help during an emergency. The City is also looking in to producing its own training classes, more specific to Cupertino residents, since the Fire Department's training is extremely generic. Mr. Kitson also notes that the County OEC is moving from the Sheriff's Office to the Fire Department, bringing many internal changes that may prove beneficial for Cupertino. 3 VII. NEW BUSINESS ACTION: YES VOTE: YES MOTION: Huang SECONDED: McCoy 4 to 0 Commissioner Huang motions to amend the proposed 2013 PSC Mission Statement to add the words "public health," after the words "emergency planning,"; Commissioner McCoy seconded the motion; votes taken, all in favor to add "Public Health," to the 2013 PSC Mission Statement. Commissioner Huang mentions an email from Ken Eriksen regarding the emerging health threat of a new strain of deadly flu virus H7N9 currently affecting China and spreading to neighboring countries. He points out that the Bay Area has direct flights to and from China, making this virus a clear danger for the City of Cupertino. He then proposes that the topic of Public Health be added to the PSC's Mission Statement so that the Commission may discuss such matters in so far as it may affect Public Safety moving forward. Mr. Kitson agrees that deadly contagions are already a recognized emergency preparedness scenario, which falls within the purview of the PSC. VIII. REPORTS 1. Santa Clara County Fire Department B.C. Bowden reports the total fire loss in April as $11,030.00. He adds that they have received new dual band radios through a grant, which allows the Fire Department to communicate with multiple agencies and better coordinate response services, including the Sheriff's Office, emergency medical and outside agencies. 2. Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office Captain Binder announces that Lt. Neil Valenzuela-Parker has been assigned to Westside Patrol. He worked many previous years in Cupertino as a patrol deputy and as a detective, and Captain Binder may introduce him at the next PSC meeting. Captain Binder then reviews the March report. Response times in Cupertino were all well under the required amount of time. There were 17 Priority One calls for service, with an average response time of 2.89 minutes. There were 348 Priority Two calls averaging 6.5 minutes and 376 Priority Three calls averaging 10.5 minutes. Regarding burglaries, the number of residential stayed the same while commercial and vehicle burglaries increased a little. The number of automotive thefts remains low since the five arrests following the spike of thefts in January. However, if automotive thefts increase again, Capt. Binder will request that the RATTF team plan some work in Cupertino. Identity thefts went down from 10 to 6; domestic violence and other crimes stayed at similar numbers. Looking at the numbers of combined patrol and traffic citations issued, all numbers almost doubled since the motorcycle team finished training for new members. There were 460 moving citations, 130 speeding citations, 614 citations for other violations, and 15 DUI arrests. Most schools have Spring Break scheduled next week, which may have an impact on numbers in next month's report. Commissioner Daruwalla asks Capt. Binder what happens when vehicles are burglarized. Capt. Binder answers that deputies will respond to take a report and record serial numbers of stolen property like computers or tools. Then if property is found elsewhere under suspicious circumstances, deputies can run the serial numbers through the database to match it up and arrest the burglar. Also, deputies increase patrol checks in the area looking for suspicious persons. Mr. Kitson interjects that burglars often target the trucks of construction workers, and there are multiple construction projects going on around the City now that may attract more burglars. 4 3. Commission Reports There were no Commission Reports at this regular meeting. IX. FUTURE AGENDA FOR NEXT REGULAR MEETING 1. Walk/Bike/Carpool to School Project, ongoing 2. Boltage Program progress/updates 3. Report on Survey to Schools 4. Discuss progress on participation in AIertSCC and CAS Programs 5. Discuss CERT items relevant to the PSC X. ADJOURNMENT This regular meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. XI. NEXT MEETING The next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: Jennifer Roth Executive Assistant West Valley Patrol Division Santa Clara County Office of the Sheriff April 17, 2013 APPROVED BY: 7/1 ) Daniel Nguyen, ommis o it Date 5