City Hall - 455 Main Street Worcester, Massachusetts

Chairperson Councilor Toomey read the Item and spoke of her request for an overview of said departments along with their set goals and/or objectives for the year ahead.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey recognized the various staff present for the meeting, who all provided overviews of their departments’ involvement pertaining to various initiatives in the Public Safety related departments of the City.

The Deputy Assistant City Manager spoke regarding the City Managers implementation of an interdepartmental task force with all department heads (which includes working with Meghan Gomes) in the public safety sector. They meet monthly at the emergency operations center.

They follow SEM also known as the Community Emergency Management plan. The overview of this plan includes all types of responses to all types of disasters.

The task force also asses all resources in order to plan for emergencies and disasters which include new implementation of bleed bags in all city buildings.

The Deputy Director of Communications spoke concerning the item, THIRA (Threat and Hazard Identification Risk Assessment) for the city. This allows the city to analyze top concerns, along with knowing the city’s abilities when it comes to the risk for natural or manmade disasters. This process will allow them to discover the area that needs focus.

The Director of Communications spoke concerning wellness and self-care for emergency operators.

The Police Chief spoke on the historic lows percentages of violent and property crimes within the city. This has been a trend for the last 3-4 years.

He also spoke on the pilot program for body cameras – they are putting together a report on how the pilot went – brought back sixth grade gang talks via the Shannon Grant, youth violence prevention program, along with school traffic evaluations in order to change the current issues.

In addition, the Police Chief also commented on the Asher program which is an active shooting training. He spoke on how the program always changing due to ongoing updates. The police also undergo two in-services every year.

The Inspectional Services Commissioner spoke concerning the Ballpark construction, hiring two new building officials who will inspect multi-family homes once every three years. He is actively working closely with the Fire Department, especially concerning the annual 304 inspections.

The Deputy Assistant City Manager explained that the Office Staff meets with the Inspectional Services Commissioner along with the Fire Chief and teams to assess communication tools and technology to determine if the tools and tech are being used correctly, etc.

The Director of Housing and Health Inspections spoke concerning social media presence for our inspectional services department due to lack of presence on that platform. Having a presence can aid in issues concerning food safety, permitting issues, and working with HUB Core.

The Fire Chief spoke concerning the department’s recent goals and objectives which are based on safety and training. Which included the creation of the Critical Incident Stress Management team (non-profit) that provides counseling to all firefighters.

The Fire Chief also spoke on the great relationships they have with other departments/collaborations that continue to be well organized. Currently, the Fire Dept. is working with the District Attorney to combat the opioid crisis.

He spoke of the diverse incoming firefighter class.

He spoke on their efforts to focus on making three decker’s safer for the community, and firefighters. They want to remind people that the fire department offers free smoke detectors. In addition, they are teaming up with Sound the Alarm program through the American Red Cross. The department will visit 350 locations in one day to install smoke detectors.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey moved to recommend the Item be placed on file. Recommend File.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey read the Item and recognized the Police Chief, who spoke concerning a follow up report that will be provided at an upcoming agenda. Chairperson Councilor Toomey moved to recommend the Item be held.

Recommend Hold.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey read the Item and recognized the Police Chief, who spoke concerning the issue, and the likelihood it would increase Halloween holiday activities to multiple days each year. Chairperson Councilor Toomey moved to recommend the Item be placed on file.

Recommend File.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey read the Item and recommended the Item be placed on file.

Recommend File.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey read the Item and recommended the Item be placed on file.

Recommend File.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey read the Item and recommended the Item be placed on file. Recommend File.

Chairperson Councilor Toomey read the Item and recommended the Item be held.

Recommend Hold.