2003-10-22 - Finance Committee - Minutes Board or Commission: ❑ Finance Committee
Document Type: 0 A e
g nda 0 Minutes
Meeting ate: 10/22/2003
Type of Meeting: ❑ Special Meeting
The Village of Buffalo Grove Finance Committee convened on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 at the
Village Hall, Upper Level Conference Room. Those in attendance were: Elliott Hartstein, Jeff Braiman,
Steve Trilling, Bill Balling, Bill Brimm and Ghida Neukirch.
Representing departments: Jamie Dunne, Pete Ciecko, Dan Pearson and Ed Schar.
The sole subject of tonight's meeting was the first of two meetings to present an overview of the Core
Service Objectives identified departmentally within the deconstruction models. Tonight Fire, Police and
Building & Zoning presented.
Bill Balling provided an overview to tonight's session,that being a focus on those "Yellow" core service
objectives within public safety departments.
Jamie Dunne reviewed the Police core service objectives based in part on a memo dated October 6, 2003
that further identified certain core value-added customer facing activities. Particular emphasis was placed
on detailing Patrol Division activities(traffic, pro-active patrol, etc) and the importance of identified patrol
activities to the overall importance of pro-active rather than reactive police objectives. It was noted during
the discussion of Police matters that significant value will be assigned by the eventual comparison of
activities through the measurement metrics. The use and validation of metrics will be critical in defining
not only Police but all departmental mission goals.
There was a further review of Field Operations Support Group and Crime Prevention. Core services with
further review were related to recent issues regarding the Northern Illinois Police Crime Lab, the use of
civilians within certain public service disciplines and the successes garnered by maintaining a working
relationship with retired sworn officers.
One discussion point for further review was the Crossing Guard program. It was noted that there are
statutory references that one may believe leads to crossing guard services being supported by using
school districts. It was suggested that staff may want to consider laying a longer term plan before the
districts to transfer costs of the program to districts. Several questions were posed: What would be the
status of the program if the schools do not want to fund the guards but want the program to be
maintained? Also, who would then make a determination of maintaining the services if the schools do not
want to pay but want the program-the schools regardless of their reluctance to pay or the Village based
on lack of interest put forth by the districts by their lack of desire to properly participate in funding?
Pete Ciecko and Dan Pearson reviewed their service memo and the Committee noted that the content
met their objectives for this session. There were questions raised on the daily deployment of fire
personnel-what is done during traditional work time and what are roles or expectations during the more
traditional off-hours. A discussion then centered around the service profiles of police and fire-generally
being pro-active in policing while being reactive in fire suppression and EMT activities; active versus
providing readiness. For the Committee, the "typical" Fire Service day was reviewed.
Several companion comments:
- Fire Prevention should consider an article for an upcoming Village News on the benefits and uses of
carbon monoxide detectors. DC Ciecko will talk to Troy Shannon and Skip Hart about preparing such an
article.
- Based on the recent Chicago fire involving the high-rise facilities occupied by Cook County government
as well as other tenants, staff was asked to review our codes and standards to make sure that such codes
and standards do not lead to such a tragedy. This will be a combined review process of Fire and Building
& Zoning.
Ed Schar reviewed the Building & Zoning core objectives. While clear as to process,the review did
encourage several comments for further review.
-What is the frequency of inspections for day care/child care facilities? There should be some
consideration given to inspecting these facilities on a more frequent basis and this will be reviewed.
- Is there any value in licensing rental housing through the primary owner? After some discussion,this
was not deemed a good idea in that it would become intrusive and difficult to administer and follow
through.
-Should the Village do away with garage sale permits as one of the"bureaucracy busting" activities and
address issues on a complaint basis? This is to be reviewed by the department with a recommendation
to follow.
-The issue of mold inspection is believed to be an up and coming issue of importance. The department
was asked to monitor developments in this area so that if such inspections need to be incorporated in the
future,the approach is clear and identified within the core service objectives.
-Staff should continue to make sure that any costs incurred relative to property maintenance are properly
identified, billed to property owners and flagged as part of the due diligence process prior to the issuance
of real estate transfer tags.
The meeting adjourned at 10:00 pm. The second follow up meeting is set for Wednesday, October 29
although consideration will be given to an alternative date of Monday, October 27th after Student
Government Day.