Minutes - Council Work Session - 09/14/2015 - Joint with Elk River CC

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3.06: Regional Recreational Corridor for North Mississippi River Ramsey Parks and Assistant Public Works Superintendent Mark Riverblood updated the group on the regional recreational corridor for North Mississippi River. Recreation Manager Steve Denoite stated in June the City adopted their Master Park Plan, which took about a year to complete and now they have a document they can work off of for the next ten years. He updated the group on the Elk River Master Plan and indicated trails are very important to the residents of Elk River. 3.07: Public Safety Coordination Ramsey Fire Chief Kapler updated the group on public safety in Ramsey. He thought the coordination across the County line was working well. He noted that Fire Station #2 is being rebuilt. There will be a Police Substation within the building and will allow for an ambulance bay. Elk River Fire Chief Cunningham agreed and stated as a Department they cannot do everything by themselves and appreciated the cross County help they have received. He updated the group on public safety in Elk River. Ramsey Police Chief Katers stated the Police Departments work well together. They have had calls for service but mutual aid is a little different than the Fire Department because there are two Counties involved. The demands have changed for calls for service. Law enforcement in general has recently had some negative public perception but when he has talked to the residents of Ramsey he has found that not to be the case. Residents are very supportive of the Police Department in Ramsey and he thought that was probably similar in Elk River. The Police Department is constantly looking at different ways to reallocate the resources we do have and one of the things we have tried to do this last year is more community engagement; he felt that has been successful and positive. Elk River Police Chief Nierenhausen concurred and stated they are similar yet different. There is a lot of land in between the two cities and different radio systems are used unless they go to a different channel to communicate and they are hoping to rectify that in the near future. He thought the overall lesson public safety has learned is they reach out to other organizations and find out what each organization is strong and week in and learn from each other. He stated they have to be self-sufficient and rely on what is around them. Elk River Mayor Dietz asked with all of the negative talk about Police Enforcement Agencies Nationwide, how has that affected the morale of the officers. Ramsey Police Chief Katers stated he keeps reminding his officers of the reason why they joined the force plus there are also positive comments from their citizens, which is very uplifting. The officers have actually seen an increase in the amount of citizens that have come up to them at events and thanked them. He thought it was almost a reverse effect. He stated they will continue City Council Work Session / September 14, 2015 Page 7 of 9