This transcript appears to be a meeting of the **Public Safety Service Commission**. Based on the list provided and the internal context of the meeting, here is the formatted transcript with speaker names assigned. *** **[00:00] Chairperson:** Foreign, thank you. I call the Public Safety Service Commission meeting on May 15th to order. Let's go ahead and start with the pledge of allegiance. **[00:10] All:** I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. **[00:25] Chairperson:** Has roll call been taken? **[00:27] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Yep, roll's been taken. **[00:29] Chairperson:** Thank you. I call for a motion to approve the agenda, please. **[00:31] Commissioner:** I'll move. **[00:32] Commissioner:** I'll second. **[00:34] Chairperson:** And the agenda's moved for approval. I call for a motion to approve the minutes. **[00:36] Commissioner:** I'll move. **[00:37] Commissioner:** I'll second. **[00:38] Justin Olsen (Councilmember):** Madam chair, don't forget to take a vote. **[00:40] Chairperson:** Sorry. All in favor say aye. [Chorus of Ayes]. Unanimous decision, motion moves. Open forum—is there anybody that would like to speak on behalf of the commission? Okay, no questions this evening and we're going to go ahead and move on to presentations. The first presentation up tonight is Emergency Management update by Gwen Martin, Deputy Director of Public Safety. **[01:03] Gwen Martin:** Thank you. I'm not going to bore you with the PowerPoint presentation tonight. I just wanted to kind of have a conversation with you folks. My name is Gwen Martin, I am a police captain and I'm also the emergency manager for the city of Cottage Grove. The question was emailed to me that you had questions about train derailments, evacuation plans, chemicals imported through the city, and preventing derailments. Obviously, this has been in the news a lot with Ohio and also with Minnesota, so it's a concern. I gave you in your packet a rail freight fact and figure sheet. I also pulled in my friend bucket and pulled out a subject matter expert; I brought with me Sergeant Mickey Mayer. She's with the railroad police and she can answer questions hopefully that I cannot, and emphasize that freight railroads are the safest way to transport goods and they are very invested in their own safety in keeping the communities safe. So, did anyone have any questions about that freight rail facts and figures? **[02:14] Commissioner:** Okay, maybe just a comment. I found it interesting that over the years and lately it's actually going down, because if you watch the local media it seems to be almost escalating, but that's not what the facts are saying. So I think the more we can get that out there, I think that will put people's minds at ease that there's not a catastrophe waiting—not that we shouldn't be diligent to help prevent it, but it's still not a crisis at this point. **[02:40] Gwen Martin:** Correct. And the statistic that more than 99.9 percent of all Hazmat moved by rail reaches its destination without a release caused by a train accident was a pretty amazing statistic if you ask me. But yes, we see some of these situations that happen, they get high publicity, and we tend to react to that. So back in November of 2005 was one of my first tabletop exercises here in Cottage Grove where we all got together in the EOC which was at the bottom of Fire Station 2 at that time, and we simulated a tornado that went through this city and it involved a train derailment. Since then, we have had three other tabletop exercises that in some way form have dealt with train derailments, and most recently on August 26 of 2021, we did a virtual tabletop exercise facilitated by the Emergency Management Institute. It brings together communities from all over the United States and for four hours all the department heads and public safety personnel simulated what would happen with a train derailment and a spill of Bakken oil. Within the past year and a half, that was our most recent training. From a public safety standpoint, you're never prepared for when the "big stuff" happens, but I like to think that we're as prepared as we can be. We have emergency response teams that all major railroads have on call 24/7. The railroads themselves train tens of thousands of First Responders. There are certain things that I will have Mickey come up and say a little something about—"if you see something, say something." There are other safety initiatives; for those of us in public safety, we know what this "orange book" is. This is the book where all these chemicals are. The stuff that comes through our city, we don't know what it is until we see the number on the rail car and we can say "Okay, Ethyl Methyl bad stuff," and this is what we need to do. In October of 2014, the railroads put out a user app called "AskRail." Public safety personnel have it on their smartphones. We see a train car with a number on it, we put in the number and it tells us what that is in that particular tanker. While we can't prevent derailments or chemicals from coming through our city, we can prepare. Our Emergency Management planning team went through a THIRA process where we identified 33 threats that could occur in Cottage Grove, and train derailments was in the middle third. Mickey, do you want to just give them a little spiel about what you were telling me? **[05:25] Mickey Mayer (Railroad Police):** Our biggest resource is our employees as well. There's a 1-800 number posted on every railroad vehicle at every crossing to identify whose crossing that is. That's the number to call if you see something suspicious. Even if you're not sure, call us. We can send people out to check on it. **[05:46] Commissioner:** I have a question please. So if there is a hazardous material spill, who is the responding organization initially? **[05:55] Gwen Martin:** If it occurs in our city, it's us: Police, Fire, and EMS. We would be notified through our dispatch center. CP police would respond as well as our Hazmat and operations teams. Our Hazmat officers then notify the Minnesota State Duty Officer as well. **[06:17] Commissioner:** Question: we have a big exchange area for a lot of trains to go through. How many trains would you say per day travel through Cottage Grove? **[06:26] Mickey Mayer:** I can answer that: roughly 80 trains a day. **[06:30] Gwen Martin:** And we have two sets of tracks that run through Cottage Grove as Mickey is aware; one's a BNSF and the other is CP (Canadian Pacific). I believe the west side of the city along Grey Cloud is BNSF and the east side along West Point Douglas is CP. However, trains from both companies can run on those tracks. **[06:58] Commissioner:** That's still a lot per day. Regarding the maintenance of the rails, who does that? How are we comfortable with that? **[07:08] Mickey Mayer:** It's a standard that is set by the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) on how many inspections or tests need to be done on the rail. It is regulated. **[07:22] Commissioner:** I don't know the whole background behind what happened in Ohio, but I know there was a derailment and the company decided to vent and burn the train. What role does Cottage Grove law enforcement play with companies who make those types of decisions? **[07:44] Gwen Martin:** It is not up to us to decide how they're going to dispose of the chemical. They've got all kinds of subject matter experts. In Emergency Management, you've got a structure and an Incident Commander. What we have is Unified Command. You may have the Police Department, Fire Department, railroad, and the EPA. If the incident happened in Cottage Grove, we would be involved to say: "what is our primary life safety preservation and stabilization of the incident?" If they say blowing something up is going to release chemicals but letting it run into the water contaminates the entire city's water supply, they have to make those decisions. We're involved in that, but it wouldn't ultimately be up to us. **[08:57] Commissioner:** I have a question. If there was a need to do evacuations, how is that communicated? **[09:05] Gwen Martin:** We have different community notification systems. One of them is called CodeRED. People opt into CodeRED for general safety notifications. Something that requires an immediate threat to life qualifies for what we call a WEA (Wireless Emergency Alert). Our dispatch center can draw a polygon around a specific area on a map and issue an alert to every cell phone in that area. We've got 360 characters to say what you need to do and why. We also use the City's website alert center. We wouldn't just say "evacuate," we would tell people where to go, like our Ice Arena. Part of Public Safety is communicating that you should have a "go kit" with medications, cash, and keys. We also follow up with personnel knocking on doors. That's why they call police officers "blue canaries"—we go out in the "Ethyl Methyl bad stuff" and see if the canaries still survive. **[11:00] Justin Olsen (Councilmember):** Madam chair, I'd like to add something if that's okay based on the questions here. We should first of all inform everybody that those alerts that Captain Martin is referring to are similar to an Amber Alert. So your phone is probably the best way to get that information. Second, they train for this stuff all the time. They do tabletop exercises and then also actual live exercises. I've been to several of the trainings and they are as real-life as they can get. I've been to one where they trained for an issue at Prairie Island with a nuclear issue. Captain Martin earlier mentioned the Duty Officer; that's a pretty important person. **[12:00] Gwen Martin:** The State Duty Officer is that single point of contact. That position rotates through folks from Homeland Security Emergency Management, the Fire Marshal’s Office, and Public Safety. Everything starts and ends locally, but we reach out to our mutual aid partners—Saint Paul Park, Newport, Afton, Woodbury, Oakdale, Hastings. If it gets even bigger, we go to the state. **[12:53] Commissioner:** Actually, I have two questions. So your officers, when they respond, they have the proper protective equipment? **[13:00] Gwen Martin:** Binoculars. [Laughter]. Seriously, though, you want to get eyes on the car number and then pull out your app. If it says you need a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), I'm calling Rick and his firefighters. Our police officers have Hazmat awareness training every year. **[13:39] Commissioner:** Second question: in terms of the derailment issues we’ve seen, is it speed or infrastructure? Does Cottage Grove have a "30-degree corner" or something that's going to be a problem for us? **[14:10] Mickey Mayer:** I've seen many different causes: tampering with tracks, broken rail, or something with the train. There's not one specific thing. **[14:26] Commissioner:** A follow-up: is 80 trains a day on the high end for most cities? **[14:38] Gwen Martin:** I didn't get this map in time, but these are the tracks that run in Cottage Grove. [Hands out map]. You're hearing about derailments more now because of everyone on their phones taking videos, but statistically, they are fewer now than before. **[15:13] Commissioner:** Do you ever have any insight when there's something "super hazardous" coming through town? **[15:19] Gwen Martin:** We don't have manifests for all trains. I can say we don't have nuclear bombs being transported, at least I hope. But common chlorine used for bleach can be super hazardous. **[15:43] Commissioner:** That's what I was alluding to. Typically they load up 50 cars of chlorine, not just one. I wasn't sure if they gave you a heads-up. **[15:52] Gwen Martin:** No, we don't get that info. But the rail companies are taking safety measures with newer requirements for tanker car fittings and thicker steel. **[16:10] Chairperson:** Thank you. We will move forward with our agenda. Next up is the Heart Safe Communities initiative, given by Mr. Rick Medinas. **[16:23] Rick Medinas (Public Safety/Fire):** Good evening, Madam chair and fellow commission members. I'm going to talk to you a little bit about Heart Safe Community. It’s a designation that recognizes a community's efforts to prepare citizens to recognize cardiac arrest. Organizations in Minnesota partner to get one million "Heart Safe Minnesotans." We are placing Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) where people live and play. One was recently placed in Woodridge Park. City Hall here has AEDs on site. We are also educating the public on "hands-only" CPR. People wonder why we aren't giving breaths; with hands-only, you're still circulating air in the blood to the brain. We had a booth at the Community Showcase where people could learn hands-only CPR in 10 minutes. We need 800 "heartbeats" (trained people) to be designated based on our population of 42,000. Our goal is 2,000 people. As of May this year, we’ve trained 1,600 people since October 2021. Our long-term goal is 4,000. We’ve also been going into businesses. We've done 17 events; our new goal is 25. Here are pictures of the Lions Club that stopped by our fire station; they learned hands-only CPR and how to operate an AED. We also have a group from Afton Apple coming in. Regarding mapping, we’ve identified 53 AEDs in the community. Our goal is to get to 75. Talk to your businesses or host a class for families. **[20:10] Commissioner:** I have a question. To be certified and count toward your numbers, do you have to be over 18? **[20:20] Rick Medinas:** I believe you can be 16 for full certification. Hands-only, you can be 11 or 12. If you can do a compression, you can get trained. **[20:30] Commissioner:** I'm thinking of the sports teams I'm on; maybe we can do that as an Athletic Association. **[20:39] Rick Medinas:** The Athletic Association has been in contact with us for the coaches. **[20:45] Commissioner:** Do you know if every park in Cottage Grove has one now? **[20:50] Rick Medinas:** Between Parks and Rec and the Teddy Dowdle Foundation, they are attempting to get them into all parks. At Woodridge Park, there's an outdoor AED station next to the pavilion. It's climate-controlled, videotaped, and notifies responders if it's opened. **[21:40] Commissioner:** In terms of AEDs, they typically need preventive maintenance? **[21:45] Rick Medinas:** Very minimal. You look at the icon; if it’s an "OK" sign, it’s good. If it has a wrench, it needs service. The pads do expire. During COVID it was tough to get them. **[22:28] Commissioner:** I was thinking of an incentive to encourage businesses to report them—like, "we will check your AED for free if you tell us where it is." **[22:50] Rick Medinas:** I and Deputy Chief Pritchard get emails from churches and businesses about pads. We have a conduit to bulk purchasing; we can lead them toward that. **[23:25] Commissioner:** Having the professionals give us advice on which replacements to buy would be helpful too. **[23:45] Rick Medinas:** If you see an AED, take a picture and send it to Deputy Chief Pritchard. And take the chance to learn CPR. It doesn't have to be the four-hour course; 10 minutes of hands-only makes a difference. **[24:15] Commissioner:** Do you guys teach "Stayin' Alive" for the beat? **[24:20] Rick Medinas:** There are a couple of different songs now with the same beat. If you know that mnemonic, it makes it easy. The newer AEDs have a voice prompt that walks you through it. **[25:10] Chairperson:** Thank you so much. Moving on, we are back to Captain Martin to discuss hunting maps. **[25:20] Gwen Martin:** Captain Rinzel couldn't be here; he had to go to Ireland to get his daughter married in a castle. Per our ordinance, each year prior to the hunting season, the designated hunting areas are reviewed by this commission. We had minimal complaints: two were legal activities and one was someone shooting rabbits in their own yard. There are no changes to either the firearm or archery maps. Our recommendation is that you approve the 2023-2024 maps. **[26:30] Chairperson:** Can I have a motion to approve the 2023-2024 season hunting maps? **[26:35] Commissioner:** I'll move. **[26:36] Commissioner:** Second. **[26:38] Commissioner:** I appreciate that the city still gives folks the opportunity to do it because part of our community is rural where it is safe. **[26:55] Commissioner:** These maps are pretty detailed. Who did them? **[27:00] Gwen Martin:** That was our GIS guy, Eric. He's very good. **[27:10] Chairperson:** We had a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. [Chorus of Ayes]. Unanimous decision, passes. Is there any old business? Hearing none, responses to previously raised commission requests? No? Okay, we're going to move on to staff updates. Ryan Burfeind, Public Works Director. **[27:45] Ryan Burfeind:** Our 2023 spring cleanup was last Saturday. We had 880 vehicles come through, which is up from last year. We recycle mattresses, appliances, tires, batteries, and electronics. Washington County Environmental Center is also open Monday through Saturday off Cottage Grove Drive for hazardous waste. Another big one is the East Point Douglas and Jamaica project. It's "controlled chaos." We want to keep it open for the businesses, so if you're just driving through, maybe take Keats Avenue or 80th Street instead. Traffic is currently on the southbound side of Jamaica. Next year, a roundabout will be built by Cub Foods; that will be a physical disconnect, so you'll have to go to Keats Avenue to get to Menards and Walmart. Our pavement management project south of 80th is going, as is the mill and overlay in Thompson Grove. Hydrant flushing is wrapped up. Lastly, we have our Public Works appreciation lunch this Wednesday at 11:30. I'll turn it over to Gary for street-specific stuff. **[31:10] Gary (Public Works Staff):** After a crazy winter, sweeping started April 17th. Wednesday is "Dirt Day"—any plow damage to yards, we sprinkle black dirt and hydro-mulch it. We took down over 80 trees this winter, ground the stumps, and planted 80 replacement trees. We are starting to spray for weeds and our summer help started today. **[32:15] Commissioner:** Ryan, on the Highway 61 project, how do they know where to cut the concrete? That road was redone not too long ago. **[32:25] Ryan Burfeind:** There are areas that "blew out" and were patched with asphalt. Those aren't permanent, so they cut them out for new concrete. Also, that was just an overlay of an old road section back in the day, so they want to address it before a major failure. **[33:00] Commissioner:** Any thoughts on a four-way stop at Keats because of the traffic increase? **[33:15] Ryan Burfeind:** Not specifically for this year. Being a County road and MnDOT interchange, they watch it closely. When we do our realignment project in the coming years, that will likely become a roundabout or a signal. **[33:45] Chairperson:** Rick, fire update? **[33:47] Rick Medinas:** We completed interviewing for our open full-time position; a decision will be made this week. A new part-time member is completing fire school this month. District Chief Jeff Brown retired in March after 27 years of service. In March and April combined, we had 607 EMS calls and 168 fire rescue calls. Several team members completed certification for Fire Apparatus Operator. We hosted the daytime course at the Hero Center and it filled up immediately. We’ve also had several Community Paramedic visits—in-home follow-ups for patients discharged from hospitals. It helps the elderly who might be hesitant to call for help. Burning restrictions are still in place by the DNR. Lastly, we received grant money for air monitoring and rope rescue equipment. We are preparing for the radiological drill in June at Park High School, which we do every other year with FEMA for the Prairie Island plant. **[36:55] Commissioner:** You said 600 calls in two months? That's 10 to 12 calls a day. **[37:10] Rick Medinas:** Yes, we are on track for about 1,480 calls so far. **[37:25] Commissioner:** How is application density? Are you suffering like the Police Department? **[37:35] Rick Medinas:** We only had eight people apply for this replacement. There are 10 to 12 departments in the metro hiring right now. We are competing against White Bear Lake, Maplewood, and Burnsville. Minnesota isn't known for full-time firefighting outside big cities, but departments are moving toward a full-time model because not as many people want to be part-time anymore. **[38:50] Chairperson:** Is there a police update? **[38:55] Gwen Martin:** We have hired two officers starting Monday, which brings us to 44 sworn officers. We acquired a $78,000 mobile camera trailer through a UASI grant. That's all for my spontaneous update. **[39:30] Chairperson:** Councilmember Justin Olsen? **[39:35] Justin Olsen (Councilmember):** Thank you. I’ll try to be brief. Thank you, Rick, for the Heart Safe presentation. The Lions Club attended that training and we are looking at an opportunity to bring all of our city commissions together for similar training. It is our intent to have AEDs in every park. The city recently received a Triple-A stable bond rating, which is the highest you can get. It tells investors our bonds are a good investment, which lowers interest rates for the taxpayers. May is a busy month—Military Appreciation Month, Nurses Week, Public Works Week, and Asian/Pacific Islander celebration month. But yesterday was the start of National Police Week. Today is Peace Officers Memorial Day. It’s a big deal to me and my family. Last year in the U.S., 246 officers perished in the line of duty. I get choked up because I have many friends who wear the badge. Please take a moment to think of them. Lastly, don't listen to Facebook or Twitter. If you have questions about the city, come to us. There's so much misinformation out there; you have direct access to us for the truth. **[43:10] Rick Medinas:** One clarification on AEDs: in Minnesota, you cannot have an automated message going over the 911 system. So, while the AED reports to us that it’s been removed, the user must still call 911 manually. **[43:45] Chairperson:** Thank you. Motion to adjourn? **[43:50] Commissioner:** I’ll move. **[43:51] Commissioner:** Second. **[43:52] Chairperson:** All in favor say aye. [Chorus of Ayes]. Meeting is adjourned.