PSC 10-13-2016CUPERTINO PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION
MEETING MINUTES
Thursday October 13, 2016, 6:00 p.m.
Cupertino City Hall, Conference Room A
I. CALL TO ORDER
Commissioner Huang called to order this regular meeting of the Cupertino Public Safety
Commission at approximately 6:05 p.m. on Thursday, October 13, 2016 in the Cupertino City
Hall, Conference Room A, located at 10300 Torre A venue, Cupertino, California 95014.
II. ROLL CALL
Commissioners Present: Andy Huang
Robert McCoy
Gerald Tallinger
Neha Sahai
Hymanand Nellore
Commissioners Absent: None
Staff Present:
Staff Absent:
Others Present:
III. REPORTS
Captain Rich Urena, Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office
Deputy Chief John Justice, Santa Clara County Fire Department
None
Public comment from Pamela
1. Santa Clara County Fire Department
Deputy Chief Justice reports that fire loss went down in the City of Cupertino to about
8,000. He explains that the "first due" vs. the "reliability" depicts the response time, as an
example he explains that the response time to The Forum would be by the Monte Vista Fire
Engine Station. He adds that the first due engine is on time 98.9 % of the time. Chief Justice
further explains that the reliability category means that if The Monte Vista Fire Engine
Station is not available than any other engine will respond within the response time frame.
Chief Justice shows a diagram showing the areas that are served divided into colored
zones. Calls are coded and the types of response to Freeway, Suburban, Rural Areas, Metro
Urban areas are categorized. Engine's number is to identify what type of respon.se vehicle it
is and what station they are out of. Chief Justice shows a diagram of Fire Engine response
times and by types of calls for everything, regardless of zones. Chief Justice, explains that
the most difficult they had was Truck 71 as it was a 7 minute response time. He also
explains the break down by call type on the graph by the type of fire such as structure,
vehicle, vegetation and over pressure, such as a propane tank. Chief Justice explains "Good
Intent Calls "as someone seeing or hearing something that they feel is an emergency and
they call 9-1-1 for a response but upon arrival it wasn't what they heard or saw, but it was
good that the citizen called. Response times for Fire Department in Cupertino are pretty
good at an average of 4 minutes 20 seconds. He further explains the chart in incidents per
month. He explains the number of fires has gone up but all other types of calls have stayed
about the same.
Commissioner Nellore asks if rescue calls are only for residential and Chief Justice replies
no and adds that rescue calls are not only residential as they respond to businesses during
the day as well as to freeways and other locations. He explains that many of these types of
events are related to medical incidents.
Structure loss due to fire for September was $1,670. This low number was mainly due to a
hotel having wiring done wrong and the dryer started a fire. Chief Justice explains that this
is why it is very important to have a permit and an inspector come out to make sure it is
done correctly. Two other structure fires were home fires from stoves due to someone
leaving something on the stove and forgetting about it. It is a very common thing to do.
One vehicle fire occurred and the biggest fire was off highway 280/85 at a homeless
encampment as they lost all their belongings. Chief Justice also explains that they had a
couple of dumpster type fires that may have been as a result of people not paying attention
to what they are throwing away.
Commissioner McCoy asks Chief Justice if they can get response times for EMS. Public
speaker named Pamela adds that they have been having issues with ambulances
responding in a timely manner at the Forum. She adds that the Forum now has EMT' s as
security so they can now determine if they need a BLS vs. ALS. She further adds that in the
past they have had 30-40 minute wait times at least 3 times. Chairman Huang asks if Chief
Justice can obtain EMS' s records for response times and Chief Justice explains that he
cannot because it is a different department.
2. Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office
Captain Urena explains response times for priority 1 calls are at approximately 6.81 % for
September and he adds that traffic has a lot to do with response times. He explains that the
city had four priority one calls which are life threating type of calls. For priority two calls, the
city had approximately 413 calls, and we met our target response times by 112 %. Captain
Urena explained that priority 2 calls are non-life threatening types of calls for service that still
require a prompt response. Priority three calls were a total of 456 calls and again the
,department met the target response time 120 % of the time. Captain Urena explained that
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within the City of Cupertino, they had one robbery in September were a gentleman was in a
wheelchair and someone came up behind him and yanked off his gold necklace off his neck.
He was in shock that it happened in broad day light so he did not immediately tum to look
at the suspect. After a few moments, the victim turned around and the subject was gone.
The victim was unable to provide a description or direction of travel of the suspect.
Residential burglaries went down to only five for September. Capt ain Urena explained that
they are continuing to remind residents to lock up their homes and set their alarms. As a
proactive measure, the Sheriff's Office is working with other agencies in trying to identify
other cities or places where enforcement actions can be taken that hopefully will have a direct
impact on Cupertino. Actions such as probation searches will hopefully curb the burglaries
we are having. The Sheriff's Office is part of a group of detectives from various agencies
working together and meeting quarterly to discuss property crimes as well. They also go out
together and do these operations which result in burglaries declining. Continuing with the
report, Captain Urena explains that commercial burglaries were only a couple. Vehicle
burglaries will probably go up now with the holidays approaching. He adds that we have to
remind residents not to leave valuables in their cars .
Moving violations were 154 for the month and 24 of those were for speeding. Zero DUI' s for
September. Accidents about 40 in the month of September. Captain Urena ends the report by
adding that the Motor Deputies are not only working as Traffic Deputies but also a s regular
patrol deputies helping with calls for service.
3. Commission Reports
Commissioner McCoy-None
Commissioner Sahai-None
Commissioner Huang-None
Commissioner Tallinger-Bike Path Commission Meeting went over Tier 1 project off Main
St and Stevens Creek to De Anza College expect a lot of construction through this area . The
plan is to separate the roadway with bike lanes. A consultant will work with the City to
come up with a plan. The project is not approved yet. Chairman Huang asks if car lanes
will be reduced due to the bike lanes. Commissioner Tallinger responds yes but not by
much maybe by half a foot. We will probably receive a review of the public safety once they
have a plan in place, and have the Sheriff have a look at their proposal for sidewalk biking
for children 12 years old and yow1ger and also company legal gardening. Before going to
city council the Sheriff should look at the plan and give advice. Safe routes to school had a
bike rodeo that was pretty good and provided mobile bike repairs; they repaired about 50
bikes which were very good . Safe school routes are improving the number of students that
walk and bike to school but the process does take time because it's a long process.
Upcoming projects include a program to use pedestrian crossing flags in locations where
they cannot place cross ing guards. The program consists of picking up a fl a g and walking
across the street with it and placing it back in a flag holder that will be on both sides of the
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street. Other projects include street light banners to promote safety. Commissioner Nellore
asks if Safe Routes is already in place. Commissioner Tallinger responds yes it is a program
in which the Sheriff, schools, and parents all work together to solve the bike traffic issues.
It's a lot of work to put together but they are making a lot of progress .
IV. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
There are no Oral Communications to discuss at this regular meeting.
V. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
Chairman Huang read an email from Pamela who works in Emergency Preparedness at the
Forum. The email explains an issue involving long traffic lines from Cristo Rey to Foothill
Expressway as a result of waiting for Rancho San Antonio Park to open. Pamela was concerned
since this had never happened before. Pamela sent an email to the Park Rangers as well. Traffic
backs up due to a problem with the gate not opening automatically per the Park Rangers.
Pamela's concern was that between 0600-0630 hours is shift change for the nurses and food
trucks coming in for the Forum have been delayed. The backup would also cause a health
concern if there would have been an emergency. Michael Newberg (Park Ranger) stated that it
was a onetime thing, but it happened again on Sunday. Gate jammed two days in a row;
Pamela is concerned that this is going to repeat every weekend? Chairman Huang does not
recall seeing any signs up that all street parking is off limits to Rancho San Antonio Park
Visitors. Commissioner McCoy has reported that they have been hanging up the signs for the
last two weeks. Park visitors are aware of the changes and that is what is probably causing the
traffic being backed up since the park gates do not open until 0700 hours. Park Rangers have
zero intentions of adding more parking since there are staffing issues and only have two park
rangers for the park. Commissioner Tallinger asks if there is a waiting area that visitors can
use. Chairman Huang responds by saying the only other waiting area that is open is the
parking lot of the Korean Church at the beginning of Cristo Rey, but that would mean that
someone will have to go talk to them to ask for permission because on Saturday and Sunday
they have their Church Services. Commissioner McCoy states that blocking access of the
roadway is a problem and they should add it to the agenda for the next meeting since it is
impacting Public Safety. He suggests checking the status of the signs as well .
Pamela arrives and gives her summary of the email. She joins the meeting and explains that
due to mountain lions the park gates will not be opened any earlier. Pamela explains that on
one occasion the gates opened at 0800 hours because of a power outage that occurred the night
before. Pamela is being sent back and forth between Parks and The Sheriff's Department hying
to get an answer as to who can address the issue. Pamela added that any help would be great.
VI.APPROVAL OF MINUTES
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September 8, 2016
ACTION: NO
VOTE: YES
MOTION: YES SECONDED: YES 4 to 5
Commissioner McCoy motioned to approve the minutes of September 8, 2016 with no
corrections; Commissioner Sahai seconded the motion; votes taken, all in favor to approve
the minutes of September 8, 2016. New Commissioner Hymanand Nellore did not vote as he
was recently added to the Commission.
VII. OLD BUSINESS
1. Discuss participation in the Alert SCC Program, the CAS Program, and the Pulse Points
App (Huang/McCoy) Commissioner McCoy, has 999 cards, asks how everyone feels about
the back of the card with the City logo. Commissioner Tallinger says the wider the cards get,
the darker it is going to look, and Commissioner McCoy says design can be revised next time.
Commissioner Tallinger advises that the PIO should have a color number for the logo in the
standards book. Sheriff's logo came out awesome, fire logo jagged at curve bleeding out a bit;
the red is not too bright on every card. Commissioner Tallinger states that the cards say
"Cupertino" and "A Service of the City of Cupertino."
ACTION: NO
VOTE: NO
MOTION:N/A SECONDED: N/A 0 to 0
a. Discuss creation of a wallet card/fridge magnet about reporting crimes/fires/incidents
and situational awareness
That should cover our CAS and also an outreach to the community along with the Fire
Department and the Sheriff's Office. Commissioner Tallinger-how do we distribute the
cards? Chairman Huang responds that PSC normally would distribute to volunteers that
attend the city functions, however, since these cards have Fire and Sheriff's logo, Fire/Sheriff
should participate in the distribution of the cards. Commissioner Nellore asks what the CAS
stands for. Commissioner Tallinger explains that it is Cupertino Alert System and 1,800
people are part of CAS program. He adds that they are always hying to recruit more citizens
to be part of the program and hopefully these cards help with that. Chairman Huang asks
Chief Justice and Captain Urena if they would like to participate in handing out the cards to
citizens. Chief Justice responds that if they are put in the trucks they will get lost but can be
given to educational services to pass out. Captain Urena agrees to hand some out at our
community events for the residents of Cupertino to sign up. Commissioner McCoy explains
that he is planning on making a fridge magnet a little bigger. The magnet will have more
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information on the "See Something, Say Something" phrase by revising the image for the
magnets. He adds that another set-up fee will be charged which will cost around $40.
ACTION: YES
VOTE: NO
MOTION: N/A SECONDED: N/A 0 to 0
2. Discuss the Continuation of Public Education and Outreach (McCoy/Sahai)
Commissioner McCoy spoke to PIO Brian Babcock who informed him that starting next week
he will be using the cities web page and social media to try to get out the information into the
scene. Commissioner McCoy added that he will meet again with him next week since they
are both out of town, to go over the final plan for the self-defense event. Commissioner
McCoy explained that one of his concerns was that it is not even a month out, but they have
been working on it for about three months already. PIO' s office is completely aware of what
we are trying to get put in place. A suggestion made for the next event was to go through the
city itself as they can handle our outreach. The city can figure out a plan. The date was not
changed it will still be on November 19, 2016 with only 100 people. Chairman Huang,
instructor would like about 50 people to attend.
Commissioner Sahai has two aspects to cover. The first is presenting to the county to obtain
approval on her project and explains that the presentation she is going to make today is just
a rough draft of "Safety at Horne" and will add Medical Safety. Commissioner Sahai shows
a slide to everyone with 3 topics 1) Safety at Horne 2) Safety Outside 3) Safety in Car. She
explains the need to give out general information for senior people. Commissioner Sahai asks
if they should add a health/medical card with important numbers. Commissioner Tallinger
asks if the county has something like this that can be handed out or put in a bag. Fire Chief
John Justice explains that they have changed over to the bags now. Chairman Huang thinks
less message is more effective for the seniors. He adds that Commissioner Sahai should work
with Fire and Sheriff to find out what kind of calls is frequent for seniors . He adds that
seniors can use any cell phone to call 9-1-1, and that it would be good for them to get set-up
with Life-Line which is free for seniors. Everyone thinks it would be a good idea to provide
it in different languages once it is complete.
a. Discuss event plans for Information Forums
ACTION: YES
VOTE: NO
MOTION:N/A SECONDED: N/A 0 to 0
b. Discuss the possibility of disseminating information about the Firewise Program
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Chief Justice talks about Firewise Program being in early May as the first official clean-
up day is always the first Saturday of May. Bef9re the hot summer weather and fire season
starts.
ACTION: YES
VOTE: NO
MOTION:N/A SECONDED: N/A
3. Discuss the Collaboration/Cross-Training of Volunteer Groups
Any specific request from the city that they would like for us to discuss?
ACTION: YES
VOTE: NO
MOTION:N/A SECONDED: N/A
4. Discuss submitting a request for a monthly report from Cupertino OES (Office of
Emergency Services)
0 to 0
0 to 0
Commissioner McCoy asks who is the New Director for OES? Captain Urena responds, it is
Christine Hanel.
ACTION: YES
VOTE: NO
MOTION: N/A
VIII. NEW BUSINESS
SECONDED: NIA
There are no New Business Items to discuss at this regular meeting.
IX. FUTURE AGENDA FOR NEXT REGULAR MEETING
0 to 0
1. Discuss Reports from Cow1ty Fire Department, County Sheriff's Office and Commission
Liaisons.
2. Discuss promotion plans for CAS, AlertSCC and the Pulse Points App . (Huang/McCoy)
a. Discuss creation of a wallet card/fridge magnet about reporting
crimes/fires/incidents and situational awareness
3. Discuss the continuation of public education and outreach. (Tallinger/McCoy)
a . Discuss event plans for Information Forums
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b. Discuss the possibility of disseminating information about the Firewise Program.
c. Proposals for future Forums
4 . Further discussion of Firewise proposal promotion within Cupertino.
X. ADJOURNMENT
This regular meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm
XI. NEXT MEETING
The next Regular Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 6:00 p .m.
SUBMITTED BY:
Veronica Lara
Executive Assistant
West Valley Patrol Division
Santa Clara County Office of the Sheriff
November 2, 2016
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