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HomeMy WebLinkAbout13A - COUNCIL COMMITTEE RPTS - PUBLIC SAFETY MINUTESSANTA ANA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE PUBLIC SAFETY Minutes of Meeting January 24, 2012 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was convened at 6:15 P.M. at Santa Ana Police Department, 60 Civic Center Plaza, Police Community Room, Santa Ana, California. ATTENDANCE Council members present: Claudia Alvarez and Sal Tinajero. Staff present: Police Chief Paul Walters, Fire Chief Dave Thomas, Assistant City Attorney Teresa Judd, Sgt. Mark Kozakowski, ACO II Sondra Berg, and Loretta Tafoya, Recording Secretary. Public sign-ins: Sharon Portman, Irma Macias, Rene D. Guzman SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes approved of the September 27, 2011 meeting. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS • Sharon Portman appealed to the committee to be fair when they review the 100 foot limit on the ordinance. There is a tremendous amount of benefits to having chickens. Nationwide right now everyone is into organic food and being healthy. 3. CHICKEN ORDINANCE Assistant City Attorney Teresa Judd introduced herself, Sgt. Kozakowski and ACO II Sondra Berg. She explained the City Council has the jurisdiction to make in-act and advise any changes since this ordinance is to deal with public safety. Sgt. Kozakowski stated our current SAMC 5-18 (Proximity to Humans) requires the keeping of chickens in a coop or pen on one's property to be at least 100 ft. from any other inhabitable building. It is the most restrictive policy within the County. The City of Santa Ana has the densest population in the county, which has potential health risk. In 2003, the City had an outbreak of the West Nile Virus which resulted in the recovery of over 2100 dead or dying birds. This resulted in an increased shelter cost to the City. Diseases travel rapidly with the bird population. Last year, we had 226 fowl related calls. In 2003 - 2011 there were a total of 3132 calls for service. If we increase the amount of chickens residents can have, it could become a burden to our Animal Control Unit. Committee Member Alvarez asked what is the comparison with other cities. Sgt. Kozakowski stated Santa Ana has 100 feet restriction, 27.5 sq miles with the population of 337,977, Anaheim allows 3 hens on 5000 sq ft. lot, 50.8 sq. miles, population 336,255. Committee Member Alvarez wanted to know if we can amend or update the ordinance with more study. She asked what kind of restrictions the County has. ACO II Berg stated the County also has a 100 ft. rule. Committee Member Alvarez stated that there has to be a middle ground. 13A-1 She asked if we could have neighbors petition to allow fowl at their residence. Sgt. Kozakowski said that it has nothing to do with the health issues. Committee member Alvarez asked what kind of calls did they received regarding the chickens. Sgt. Kozakowski stated the calls are due to smells, noise, chickens getting into other people yards, which could be a possible health risk. Committee member Alvarez asked Sgt. Kozakowski if his recommended was not to change the ordinance. Committee Member Alvarez asked Committee Sal Tinajero if he had any to say. He asked what was the main reason for tonight. Sgt. Kozakowski stated that a citizen suggested the ordinance be updated. 4. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS Committee member Tinajero thanked everyone for coming and appreciated their feedback. Committee member Alvarez stated the chicken laws are outdated and the ordinance would be on the next Public Safety Agenda. 5. ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING A. Chicken Ordinance NEXT MEETING DATE - Tuesday, March 20, 2012, 5:30 pm, Santa Ana Police Facility, Room, 60 civic Center Plaza, Police Community Room, Santa Ana, California ADJOURNMENT - 6:35 P.M. 4t'?? PAUL M. WALTERS Chief of Police 13A-2 SANTA ANA CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE PUBLIC SAFETY Minutes of Meeting April 24, 2012 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was convened at 6:00 P.M. at Santa Ana Police Department, 60 Civic Center Plaza, Police Community Room, Santa Ana, California. ATTENDANCE Council members present: Claudia Alvarez, Sal Tinajero, and David Benavides Staff present: Police Chief Paul Walters, Fire Chief Dave Thomas, Assistant City Attorneys Teresa Judd and Melissa Crosthwaite, Deputy Chief Carlos Rojas, Commander Ken Gominsky, Jay Trevino, Alvaro Nunez, Commander James Schnabl, and Loretta Tafoya, Recording Secretary. Public sign-ins: Rene D. Guzman, Avid Reichert, Karen Blue, Tom Cannon, Monica Molina, Julie Stroud, Connie Hamilton, Irma Macias, Rosa Aldaz, Evelyn Rodriguez, Angie Higared, Cristina Damian, Sharon Portman, Helen Cannon, Sharon Tipton, Jerry Vargas, John Franks. SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS 1. PUBLIC COMMENTS • Steve M. Guigan from the Westend COP is disappointed that Santa Ana is known for their marijuana dispensaries. He stated that the fire department and police department should also be working together with the dispensaries regarding public safety issues. He also mentioned how upset he was with the marijuana machine. • Sharon Portman stated she has lived in Santa Ana for over 50 years, and she loves the fact that it is a diverse community. She never heard of any problems with any disease. • Helen Cannon stated she had taken surveys throughout the county and has not come across any complaints. • Karen Blue also supports the Chicken Ordinance. She has a neighbor that has chickens and has not had any problems. • Monica Molina supports the Chicken Ordinance and is hoping the footage between dwellings is reduced. • Sharon Tipton has concerns regarding the Camping Ordinance. She worries about the homeless getting ticketed when they have no place to sleep. She has done informal study that showed there are no beds for single men. She would like an amendment to the camping ordinance so the City can provide the homeless to get assistance. • Grace Ouach supported the Chicken Ordinance. She has them with her children and has never has had a problem with illness. Grace brought a board with pictures showing her children playing with the chickens and showing the difference between store bought eggs and eggs from her chickens that she raises at home. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes of the January 24, 2012 meeting approved. SEX OFFENDER ORDINANCE Committee member Claudia Alvarez stated the City of Santa Ana is the first city in the county to have a Sex Offender Ordinance. Committee member Claudia Alvarez thanked Assistant City Attorney Teresa Judd and Police Chief Paul Walters for the work on the Ordinance. Committee member Alvarez presented a TV clip that was shown six years ago on the new sex offender ordinance. 13A-3 Assistant City Attorney Teresa Judd reviewed the purpose and definitions of the ordinance and the difference between the City and County ordinance. Committee member David Benavides asked Assistant City Attorney Teresa Judd what her recommendations were as to including additional locations. She stated if the city wanted to add new children's facilities they should be specified in the named ordinance. Committee member Tinajero stated he felt the Ordinance should be made more restrictive. After a discussion by Committee members and staff, a motion was made and unanimously passed the recommendation that the City Council consider adopting a revised ordinance that adds provisions similar to the county ordinance. The Committee also recommended that KidWorks, the Orange County Therapeutic Arts Center, and the Main Library be included in the list of Children's facilities. Committee member Alvarez agreed and is going to have an email sent to the Council so they will have a list of suggestions they feel should be put in the ordinance for the next council meeting. 4. CHICKEN ORDINANCE Deputy Chief Rojas reviewed the chicken ordinance modifications. After researching numerous ordinances in Orange County, modifying the distance to allow fowl to be kept 30 feet of any family residence or building designated for human occupancy, with the exception of the owner, is a reasonable distance. There is no data that determines the risk of disease and there is no indication that noise complaints will increase. The distance reduction recommendation will be consistent with the majority of Orange County cities. Deputy Chief Rojas recommends the modifications. Committee member Alvarez made a motion to accept and Committee members Benavides and Tinajero agreed to send to the Council. 5. INTEGRATED I.T. PRESENTATION Deputy Chief Harrelson and Commander Jim Schnabl proposed an Integrated Software System for the Santa Ana Police Department. They stated the major systems used at the Santa Ana Police Department are: Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), Report Writing (I R2), Jail Management System (JMS), Records Management System, Digital Information Management System (SIMS) and the Case Management system (CMS). The Integrated System would eliminate nearly all of the repeat data entry based on research from agencies. Another important feature of the integrated system is the ability to go virtually paperless. While the amount of data entry required for our current systems continues to increase, the personnel needed to perform these task has decreased. This has resulted in a back log of the workload. Committee member Benavides asked about the upfront costs. Commander Schnabl stated there will be transition cost but Integrated Software Systems would work with the Police Department to keep costs down. Committee member Alvarez stated she was worried about the costs and would like an independent company to review. Committee member Benavides appreciated working with Commander Schnabi and asked what Chief Walter's recommendation was. Chief Walters stated technology has been very important to the police department, and we want to be cost-effective. We are still in recovery mode and we still don't have adequate reserves. Committee member Benavides recommended City Hall I.T. and PD combine information. Committee member Alvarez agreed. A motion was made to put on the next Public Safety Meeting agenda. 6. FIRE SERVICES EVALUATION Chief Thomas stated a weekly "Executive Summary" report will sent to the City Manager that include: news & events, board action, weekly update on response and preparedness, community events, significant emergency incidents and a table listing incidents by major category. Following a two-year period, OCFA and the City will evaluate the response performance for the current configuration of response units in the City and discuss results of the analysis, including any recommendations from either party for modifications that are warranted. Committee member Alvarez stated she wanted to make sure the OCFA can still bring good service to the community. She would also like to make a motion to have a six year plan to see if the City will stay with the OCFA; make sure we protect all records regarding services; City Council have their own survey, and have a quarterly survey of the percentage of firemen that have stayed with the City. She asked if council agreed. Motion passed. 13A-4 MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES Steve Trevino presents video to the committee regarding the news clip on the vending machine that dispenses marijuana. He reviewed the background of the medical marijuana Proposition 215 and Senate Bill 420. In 2005, the City began a two year moratorium on medical marijuana. The City regulation specifically prohibits medical marijuana dispensaries while not interfering with the regulations of Proposition 215. The City stops businesses before they start. The City has modified business license and certificate of occupancy applications to identify potential medical marijuana dispensaries. Administrative citations are a very good tool. Cites are given to violating tenants and the property owners who operate as a dispensary. Code Enforcement, Police Department and the City Attorney's Office work together with the enforcement efforts. Deputy City Attorney Melissa Crosthwaite reviewed the ordinance challenges. Committee member David Benavides asked Deputy City Attorney Melissa Crosthwaite if we were successful in the cases that were challenged. She said we were successful. Committee member Steve Trevino closed by saying we approached this in a multi-faceted way and are committed to a comprehensive approach. Committee members Claudia Alvarez and David Benavides thanked Deputy City Attorney Melissa Crosthwaite, Jay Trevino, and Alvaro Nunez for their presentation and hard work. Jay Trevino said the success is due to the cooperative efforts between Code Enforcement, Police and City Attorney's Office. Committee applauded the legal team. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS David Benevides thanked everyone for attending the meeting. 9. ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING A. IT Presentation B. Chief Thomas presentation on 4th of July NEXT MEETING DATE - Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 5:30 pm, Santa Ana Police Department Community Room, 60 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, California ADJOURNMENT - 6:35 P.M. 2,1. I __ PAUL M. WALTERS Chief of Police 13A-5 13A-6