PSC 01-08-2015 CUPERTINO PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
Thursday,January 8, 2015, 7:00 p.m.
Cupertino City Hall, Conference Room A
I. CALL TO ORDER
Commissioner McCoy called to order the regular meeting of the Cupertino Public Safety Commission at
approximately 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 8, 2015 in the Cupertino City Hall, Conference Room A,
located at 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino,California 95014.
II. ROLL CALL
Commissioners Present: Robert McCoy
Andy Huang
Gerald Tallinger
Bob Cascone
Michael Jerbic
Commissioners Absent: None
Staff Present: Assistant Sheriff Binder,Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office
Staff Absent: Battalion Chief Gary Cocroft,Santa Clara County Fire Department
Others Present: None
III.REPORTS
1. Santa Clara County Fire Department
Battalion Chief Cocroft starts by asking if paper copies of the Fire Report are still needed, since it is now
sent in advance electronically. Commissioner Huang indicates the City still needs a copy. B.C. Cocroft
then goes through the report for December, noting response times were all well under the five minute
goal, most close to four minutes. He adds that Cupertino is very lucky to have their fire stations well-
spaced out for optimum coverage across the city. Commissioner Cascone asks if the data includes EMS
responses and B.C. Cocroft answers that it shows all Code Three calls for fire service and about 55% of
them turned out to be medical calls. He continues, pointing out there were two separate single residence
fires in December, both leaving minimal damage as shown in the total monetary loss of just $9,000.00.
One of those fires began in a dryer appliance. Commissioner Jerbic inquires about the 640 hours for
consulting services/inspections, and whether the City is billed separately for that work. B.C. Cocroft
answers no, this just details normal work hours, noting that most of those hours are completed by the
Deputy Fire Marshalls in the Fire Prevention Division with only some inspections performed by Engine
Companies. Also, a large percentage of that time is spent on commercial properties and sites under
construction. He then points out the extremely low amount for Monetary Loss due to Wildfire, over the
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last three years charted in this report, crediting the strong prevention, public education and weed/brush
abatement programs.
Commissioner McCoy asks if the Fire Department has done any promotional events for the PulsePoints
App. B.C. Cocroft says no but most firefighters have the app on their phones. Further, they are trying to
budget for a new position of Public Information Officer that could focus on the social media aspect, be a
point of contact for news information and could potentially promote PulsePoints. Commissioner McCoy
states that he will check with Chief Kenma directly tomorrow.
2. Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office
Assistant Sheriff Binder begins by expressing how pleased he has been to work with the PSC over the last
few years. He has enjoyed watching the enthusiasm and concern for residents shown by the
commissioners. The newly appointed Captain of the West Valley Patrol Division will attend the next
meeting. He moves on to review the report, first noting that over the course of 2014, the Sheriff's Office
responded to 9,605 calls for service of Priority 1 through 3, so deputies are definitely busy.They also beat
the response time goals overall for the year, averaging 4.9 minutes for Priority 1, 6.5 minutes for Priority 2
and 10.3 minutes for Priority 3 service calls.
Among selected crimes, there were 19 residential burglaries, same as in November,but vehicle burglaries
reduced from 40 to 22. Active suppression activities for the month were effective. Grand Theft cases also
reduced from 6 to 3. Assistant Sheriff Binder shows that most crime statistics held steady with vandalism
at 4, domestic violence at 3 and simple/aggravated assault at 2.
For traffic and patrol citation statistics in December, there were 695 issued citations;350 were for moving
violations, 94 for speeding and 251 for other miscellaneous types of traffic violations. During 2014,
deputies continued to work hard and issued a total of 11,678 citations in Cupertino alone.
Commissioner Jerbic then mentions the December protests/riots in Oakland/Berkeley, inquiring about the
local law enforcement policy to respond to protests/uprisings. Assistant Sheriff Binder answers that the
Sheriffs Office is very conscientious to ensure the public's right to free speech.However, if a protest were
to become disorderly conduct via looting, breaking windows, etc., then it would be deemed an unlawful
assembly per the Penal Code. In such an instance, the Sheriff's Office has a responsibility to protect
citizens and prevent crimes. In such cases, the Sheriff's Office is trained to make multiple announcements
over loud speakers, giving warnings so that lawful participants have enough time to leave the area, and
to ensure there are open lines of egress. The Sheriff's Office also has a Crowd Control Unit that could be
utilized to help protect the public and to disseminate an unlawful assembly.
The commissioners thanked Assistant Sheriff Binder and present him with a thoughtful gift to celebrate
his promotion and remember his time working with the Cupertino Public Safety Commission. He is
surprised by the gift and grateful for their kindness.
3. Commission Reports
Commissioner Jerbic starts by relaying congratulations to Assistant Sheriff Binder from Peter Friedland of
the TICC. Mr. Friedland also mentioned residents are fearful lately of calls claiming to be Microsoft
Support but may be attempts at identity theft. He suggests that the TICC and PSC collaborate in some
way to do community outreach regarding cyber security. Commissioner Jerbic advocates for a joint
webinar on the topic, and Commissioner McCoy suggests using CAS to make monthly safety awareness
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bulletins.Commissioner Jerbic thinks a monthly bulletin would be better suited in the Cupertino Scene or
Courier. Commissioner Cascone adds that he too has received calls from Microsoft Support that sound
questionable, but believes they are just using poor sales techniques to sell software/security upgrades.
Commissioner McCoy warns caution in delving into anything so technology focused, since the PSC
commissioners are not technology experts and the City Council would probably question it. He would
like to see a clear plan and what the PSC's role would be, plus he suggests that Commissioner Jerbic
attend an SRO-led Cyber-Bullying presentation to see what information is already being disseminated to
the community. Commissioner Jerbic verifies that at this point, he only wants to offer support of this idea
since he believes it would be good for different commissions to work together on special projects that
overlap.
Commissioner Cascone states there was no regular meeting for the Bicycle-Pedestrian Commission, but
they had a special meeting that he wasn't notified about in December. Unfortunately, he will not be
available to attend their next meeting. The Parks & Recreation Commission is meeting now, so he will
view it online later. He adds that he brought public safety materials for the PSC to review, produced by
the County EMS agency,but will have to present them next meeting since time is short for this one.
Commissioner Tallinger says he would like to compile all the school contact information and
commissioner assignments at the next meeting, but Assistant Sheriff Binder reminds the PSC that this
was already done. Commissioner McCoy offers to put it together in a concise spreadsheet and bring it to
the next meeting.
IV. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Commissioner Cascone mentions a friend at a holiday party who suggested that deputies monitor the area
around McDonalds on Homestead, guessing that a multitude of citations could be written for all the traffic
violations including not stopping on the red light before turning.
Commissioner Tallinger says that he viewed the City Council meeting from December,noting that Dave
Stillman and his boss presented information about the tragic accident aftermath.Councilmembers asked
about the Boltage program and the results of the Walk/Bike/Carpool program,but they had no information to
offer.Commissioner Tallinger then called Mr.Stillman offering to meet and pass along the information,
possibly inviting the Teen Commission Liaison too.Commissioner Tallinger also confirms that the bill for the
Kennedy Middle School bike racks has been taken care of by Toby Smith;there was no explanation for why
the bill was sent to the school or district at all, other than clerical mistake.
V. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
There are no written communications to discuss at this regular meeting.
VI. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. December 11,2014
ACTION: YES
VOTE: YES
MOTION:JERBIC SECONDED:CASCONE 4 to 0
Commissioner Jerbic motioned to approve the minutes of December 11, 2014, with corrections;
Commissioner Cascone seconded the motion; votes taken, Commissioner Huang abstained because he
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was absent last meeting, all else in favor to approve the minutes of December 11, 2014 with the following
spelling corrections:
a. Page 1,IV. "Commissioner Jerbic submits an email from Steve[Hamm],Principal..."
b. Page 1,IV. "...meet with Mr.Smith on Tuesday regarding[Ark] installation..."
VII. OLD BUSINESS
1. Discussion of Walk/Bike/Carpool to School (WBC)project(All),the Boltage program(Tallinger),and
Surveys to Schools(Tallinger)
Commissioner Tallinger begins by asking Assistant Sheriff Binder if the Surveys to Schools were
distributed as planned in December by the School Resource Officer Deputies. Assistant Sheriff Binder
confirms that they were and he will notify soon when they are ready for pick up.
Commissioner McCoy changes topic, saying that Ding Ding TV, near Scott Blvd. and Central Expy. in
Santa Clara, will be hosting a live forum on January 9, 2015 at 3:OOpm with a pro-growth of Cupertino
agenda. He suggests that a couple of commissioners try to attend, because he believes they need to be
prepared for inevitable growth and how it will affect emergency services. He also mentions he was not
sure if the previous Mayor shared with the rest of the Council all information about the PSC's work as
presented in the Mayor's Meetings with the Commissions. Commissioner McCoy makes an argument
that commissions are advisory boards so all Councilmembers should be made aware of the PSC's work.
Commissioner Jerbic asks if voted recommendations can be passed along to the Councilmembers the next
day, but Assistant Sheriff Binder replies that information from the PSC is taken to the City Manager and
Department Heads and then the Manager or Staff relay relevant information to the City Council.
Commissioner McCoy adds that the PSC was by charter originally to review stop sign issues and traffic
matters;so they are currently going way above and beyond their officially established scope.He suggests
a revision to the charter, since the PSC has evolved to handle the promotion of CAS, AlertSCC, and
PulsePoints, plus largely handles the Boltage and Walk/Bike/Carpool programs. Commissioner Jerbic
reiterates that he would like the norm to be that if the PSC takes a vote, it needs to be visible to the full
City Council. Commissioner McCoy adds his hope that the current Mayor and Vice Mayor share
information about the PSC with the entire City Council.
Commissioner Tallinger begins a PowerPoint presentation regarding the Boltage program, outlining the
possible costs and associated work. With Regnart Middle School in mind, he shows that a new unit costs
$5,015 (including the first year of maintenance and 500 RFID Tags), plus $200 for shipping, and $950 per
year thereafter (for maintenance, Sprint Wireless service, and a new set of Tags). Pole installation costs
$300-400, but he thinks the school or the Public Works Department could do it instead. It requires a 2"
diameter pole, for which a 3 feet hole must be drilled and secured with concrete. The cost of incentives is
separate and varied, such as$50 for 600 stickers. He states that he can't think of any better incentive than
wrist bands, which he says are inexpensive and can be customized with the school's name. There is a 3-
year package option of $6,915, otherwise the first year Grand Total he counts at $6,345 plus $950 the
second year, incentives not included. Commissioner Tallinger adds that someone must perform the
system installation to set up the Wi-Fi connection through the Sprint card. He emphasizes the school
would need to commit about 3 hours a month to checking for weekly and monthly winners, distributing
incentives, etc. There would also be necessary hours at the beginning of the school year for a registration
event and Tag distribution.
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Commissioner Tallinger moves on to discuss the possibility of Boltage at Lincoln Elementary. He
received an email that included language causing him to doubt their commitment to doing the Boltage
program.Also, they may have no Tags left to distribute.Commissioner McCoy responds that if Lincoln is
not really interested, the PSC should focus on a school that is and move the pole.Commissioner Tallinger
clarifies that the equipment can be easily removed and put on a different pole somewhere else.
Commissioner Jerbic had a standing question of who owns this equipment.
Commissioner McCoy asks if the PSC is to provide all funding for Boltage and the incentives.
Commissioner Huang reminds the PSC that in the past, all grant proposals were originated by the
schools. Commissioner Tallinger adds that he would like to see the WOW program run at 8 schools,twice
a year, incurring $500 per school per event although not every school uses the whole $500 allowed
amount. Commissioner McCoy asks why high schools are not listed among the WOW schools.
Commissioner Tallinger answers that he didn't know they participated in it but Commissioner McCoy
recommends they wait to see what proposals the Teen Commission receive.
Commissioner Jerbic returns the conversation to Boltage, underscoring the need for the schools to want
the Boltage program in order for the PSC to justify any grant expenditures. He says the schools need to
share at least some of the costs, such as agreeing to buy their own incentive prizes if the PSC covers the
cost of the unit and set up. Commissioner McCoy agrees, telling Commissioner Tallinger to pressure
Lincoln for a firm decision within two weeks. Commissioner Jerbic offers to make contact, since he is the
official liaison. Commissioner Cascone weighs in, stating that the PSC should proceed incrementally.The
commissioners then review their priorities for Boltage, reiterating that Regnart is first priority, so they
must determine whether they will reuse the equipment currently at Lincoln or purchase a new unit.Hyde
is also very interested in Boltage, so that school will have second priority. Commissioner Huang
summarizes the PSC's expected actions for the February and March meetings,projecting that Regnart and
Hyde may have Boltage installed and running by the end of this school year.
2. Discuss participation in the Alert SCC Program, the CAS Program, and the Pulse Points App
(Huang/McCoy)
ACTION: YES
VOTE: NO
MOTION: N/A SECONDED: N/A 0 to 0
Commissioner Tallinger changes topics within his presentation, recommending the PSC purchase
retractable banners for $79-150 each to promote CAS at schools. He also says he would like to see every
other table providing give-aways at the Earth Day event to promote the same. He thinks refrigerator
magnets are the most effective, but pens are nice too, and they could print business cards to give away
with magnetic fridge clips. Commissioner Huang states the City is already printing items to promote
CAS.
VIII. NEW BUSINESS
There is no new business to discuss at this regular meeting.
IX. FUTURE AGENDA FOR NEXT REGULAR MEETING
1. Discuss Reports from County Fire, County Sheriff's Office and Commission Liaisons.
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2. Discuss the PSC sponsored programs.
a. Sub-committee for Walk/Bike/Carpool to School Project and Boltage Program
b. Survey to Schools
3. Discuss promotion plans for CAS,AlertSCC and the Pulse Points App.
X. ADJOURNMENT
This regular meeting adjourned at 9:52 p.m.
XI. NEXT MEETING
The next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday,February 12,2015 at 6:00 p.m.
SUBMITTED BY:
Jennifer Roth
Executive Assistant
West Valley Patrol Division
Santa Clara County Office of the Sheriff
January 21,2015
APPROVED BY:
Robert McCoy,Commission Chair Date
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