1991.01.29_PB_Minutes_Regular TOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH
PUBLIC SAFETY SERVICES ADVISORY BOARD
REGULAR MEETING - MINUTES
Tuesday, January 29, 1991 9: 45 A.M.
This Regular Meeting of the PSSAB was called to order by Chairman
Harold C. Chambers at 9: 45 A.M. in Commission Chambers .
Deputy Town Clerk Doris Trinley called the roll . Present were the
Chairman, Vice Chairman Arthur G. Eypel and Regular Member Dennie
Freeman .
No other persons were in attendance .
Upon MOTION by Mr . Freeman/Mr . Eypel , the Minutes of the January 14,
1991 Regular Meeting were approved with unanimous vote.
NEW BUSINESS
The Chairman briefly recapped a short, recent meeting with Delray Fire
Chief Kerry Kohen, during which Chief Kohen suggested that residents of
condominiums affected by the County sprinkler retrofit ordinance go
before the Appeals Board for a variance . If such exception was granted
the Chairman said, then Delray advised they would honor same regarding
the possibility of the Town' s contracting with that City in the future
for fire/rescue services. The Chairman said he was advised that such
services would be provided on a cost-only basis.
A discussion took place among the members regarding available opt-out
dates with the County; they agreed that meeting the first date, 2/1/91,
was not possible, noting the next opt-out date was 9/30/91.
Attention was then given to two recent newspaper articles regarding the
County' s fire/rescue services (Sun Sentinel-1/25/91 and The News-
1/27/91) . It was noted for the record that information contained in
the Sun Sentinel article listed the County' s first response time for
the Town as under eight (8) minutes; second response time (from Station
52 on Hagen Ranch Road west of Delray) , while listed only as "over
eight (8) minutes," was stated by the Chairman to be more like 22-23
minutes . The probable future increases in costs to the Town ' s contract
with the County as regards rapid growth within the County and thus the
need for more personnel , stations and equipment, which was the gist of
the The News article, was also discussed. Upon MOTION by Mr . Freeman/
Mr . Eypel , with unanimous vote, copies of these articles are attached
to and made part of these minutes.
It was the CONSENSUS of the Board that it would be timely for the Town
to start looking into the possibility of forming its own fire/rescue
department. Discussion took place as to how information-gathering on
this concept could be best approached. Among sources available, the
members discussed the possibility of State assistance, as well as
assistance from Boca Raton, Delray Beach and perhaps other similar
f
Public Safety Services Advisory Board
Regular Meeting - Minutes
January 29, 1991 Page 2 of 2
size municipalities that had set up their own fire/rescue departments.
Regarding professional consultants, the members agreed it would be more
economically feasible, with the Town Commission' s approval , to amass as
much data as possible from other sources for the time being . Messrs.
Eypel and Freeman requested that Chairman Chambers, in his capacity as
Town Commissioner , transmit not only this request for approval , but
also that it was the Board ' s CONSENSUS, as previously stated, that the
PSSAB, or some form of it, remain active to represent the interests of
the residents regarding future negotiations with any entity whom the
Town might consider as a provider of fire/rescue services. Concluding
this discussion, the following MOTION was made by Mr . Freeman/Mr. Eypel
and carried with unanimous favorable vote:
THE BOARD FEELS IT WOULD BE OF BENEFIT TO THE TOWN
TO CONTINUE LOOKING FOR ALTERNATIVES TO PALM BEACH
COUNTY FIRE/RESCUE SERVICES THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30,
1991.
There being no further business to come before the Board at this time,
the meeting was adjourned at 10: 05 A.M. upon MOTION by Mr . Freeman/Mr .
Eypel , with no future meeting date being set at this time.
Attachments (2)
dmt
APPROVE:
Harold C. Chambers, Chairman
Arthur G. Eypel , Vice Chairman
Dennie Freeman
ATTEST:
DATE:
{
s
A R A m B m 0 ^' `i m b7 en
3'"7 fDpga< fl'aiA y y$ m fD ?O� m aRp �•
-- 0 O MMO .y O
S m 9 O T- n vi O O p C'•p A
= aoom°' c —'aa l< o (D CD
0 (Ddip SA '
OC^G.=(D dA S M < C (D R q�
m fD A W d mA A m m .Y`< p• CD
W m timms oo3A nr°� a- D [V
m o E. rA
mmCD
Ops off . cD ` roccyR
CC�<yc T1
m _ELL Q
C CL
d? GL iC'rl S laD O O L
m to *BMW
_ m 3 �
f09 O O (D• ,A„!Sk,m_� y�C '►T.'Tnpy d dSOy y tvn.3 N
d — Rcn
d yc CL R...t Q'J A 0-0 lD =ry•C R S y
c--' m
o o a o
' n 2) el) o CS, (.0� v� nA � W (Dp
O (DO �' C ^ASt fyyD
fD o y 7 "Ai y O R C'A b O A C y ^G v ti 0. �
MO S_.Q SU 0. '< _,< D (D "M a ==I CD cm
u''m a7 R " c n(DD eD aq O CA CO�(D<<
A y O C r.•� < CL o p G 9 y R V m 0
ym o� cm =°d m R =.� =rM T.- A to O. O
819 y O ` y cD f9 .�O•R c •.t C.7 y MOW
O C
fOD p SAD fyD : y p m � m m
O A r. ,,..,_. O
b O lD fD v� oq -:m y OQ O fD Oq -f
fD n lD O A 'i S fD lD :� S a' 'S.cn
O O ^7^+ p O y fD lD .O ..t II. O v O
d o m Q 04 m W G1 R O - R "1 syn
o < R=a O 'b A m 5'o a7 5 0 y
a-
pyo'. c aR0 c (D3
cD
En cn=
' o < os
JV O b
dncC y C7 `f� p C (n A, CT1AWNr 3
ZZZ Z ZZZZ C O O O
I -c�a'0CDma.m � CL
z 000. o ' 0000 > CD
.a Cn W 0 CA)01 r 0
OR lD -c �O O �
�H0.CD iD o �- m
� oo � cb� � m m�(D cri C,�� r CD0M
SSO ?'=Jv' Cpb e°'i .o. ppm fo AO — (A O
ti'Cf' C O -m m M ��?
c°O --3(D TA g3._ n' am j3Do� m _CD
��� C
m -..v,
�cD .. D tom m 00
>r MD
o 1 e3 '�� cn� C/]
R m m iv CD cD b
o cD m n0. .o-nci v, A.;a:'� G7 ; cD
co y o w� R Gn 0 in
m A �� C �� Z
b S-pr G -oi .. •o ? m m C 0 •• �;., .4 A
23 ro
cm
3 SD
fD =!fDmy O O
CD
�y o „tin o 3 0 _ v, ' A O
cog � m
°c c ° ID 0
'Y fD S y
DA Tha
pews, Sunday January 27, 1991
i :a
OUR VIEWS
Straight talk
on emergency service.
The issue:
Providing enlergettci, medical services
to a growing and shifting population.
We suggest
The county tell the public how much
it will cost to bring the emergency
medical services system up to standard.
Thursday night's recommendation by a Palm Beach County
advisory board to place a new rescue station west of Delray
Beach certainly is good news for residents of that growing
area. But it does not address the larger, more critical issue of
emergency medical care for the entire county.
Unfortunately, meeting countywide needs is far more compli-
cated than a simple vote. It is, however, one that must be evaluated
in total ... and soon.
The Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Department does its best
with its resources, but the resources are so limited that the depart-
1 ment must do a juggling act to answer all calls requiring advanced
emergency care.
The county has 23 ambulances serving more than 400,000 peo-
ple over 583 square miles
of unincorporated land, as
well as It municipalities
that contract with the
county. When more than
one emergency call is re-
ceived by any one station,
the rescue unit from an-
other nearby station must
be called in, leaving that
area uncovered. Not exac-
-�, tly a reassuring method,
but one of the few not re-
quiring additional money.
There are also areas of
' the county — including
some in South County —
WE NEED MORE where units frequently
take more than eight min-
A combination of tight budgets and utes to respond to emer-
growing and shifting population is stretch- gency calls. The county's
ing the resources of Palm Beach Fire-Res- goal is to have fewer than
cue units. 10 percent of its calls tak-
Their numbers can be Increased ... but ing that long.
at what price?
Overall, the county
meets this goal, with a 5.9
percent rate. But
individually, at six stations — including two in South County —
that figure exceeds 10 percent.
Such figures reflect a growing population that either has located
itself where existing fire stations aren't or a population that has be-
come so dense that one station is not adequate.
CLEMENT C. NVINRE.1R Kathy Owens, the department's special projects coordinator,
Nexidenl&Publisher says there are 10 stations that could be built right now just to han-
WAVNE Fnu. die the present population. They wouldn't even address future
IT&F,dnnr growth and development. "We've had to play catch-up just to get
MIC11AF.1. P.SMITII to square one," Owens says.
Mnnnginq F.rlimr Obviously 10 new stations would cost money the financially
G. R."I m,iL NWARAY strapped county government does not have. But Band-Aid measures
Fdiinnal Pngc Frlina are unsatisfactory — and, possibly, dangerous — for a growing
county. The Fire-Rescue people are aware of the problem and are
SIxIrT N. FIx;rRTON trying to deal with it — even as the population continues to expand.
IT"lwr,W The public must be made aware how much additional tax money
111IRERT 1111JON will be needed to resolve the problem of too few ambulances and
IT,YarhOinq staff and too many potential patients. Knowing that, the public can
UENNIs GARDINER then decide if it wants to pay the bill for renovating the system.0
Cirrulnlinn 1Jir.
INWO,GORMAN