CC_Minutes_2023_0227 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, February 27, 2023 Page 12 in a better position to have better access to it? He noted that after some of the events over the last couple of years, every city started looking around, contacted fence vendors,nobody had any stock here, and nobody had any ability to turn something around quickly. That is why the fencing consortium is a unique idea to help facil- itate that better. The fact is, whether the City joins this or not, the City will be looking for fencing on some limited basis and he thought it was better for the City to be in a position to have access to fencing depending on the circumstances than not and scrambling to find it. There are a lot of possibilities where it might not work out as perfectly as the City would like it to because of other competing cities, but he still thought being in the consortium is better than not being in the consor- tium. Public Comment Mayor Roe offered an opportunity for public comment. Mr. Roger Hess,Jr. Wagener Place Mr. Hess thought there needed to be a lot more input but if something were to hap- pen, he asked if the Council thought people were going to wait eight hours before coming and doing something. He thought if the City Hall and Police Department were protected by a fence but not the Fire Department,the protestors would destroy the Fire Department, Public Works, or the OVAL because they would not be able to get to these two buildings and those buildings actually have some pretty expen- sive equipment. He would rather sacrifice this building than those buildings so unless the City is going to surround those buildings with fences too,which will then cause the people to go out into neighborhoods and start wrecking homes. He stated there is not enough fencing to cover the whole campus so he does not think it is very worthwhile. Mayor Roe appreciated all of the comments made. On a personal response,he did not think the Council wanted to be in the position where they would need to decide on sacrificing any City facilities or buildings because they all have costs associated with them and is not an objective that the City would want to have. Schroeder moved, Groff seconded, adoption of Resolution No. 11968 entitled, "Resolution Adopting the Fencing Consortium Joint Powers Agreement." Council Discussion Councilmember Schroeder reminded everyone that the Council did get a letter from the Police Chief earlier for them to look at this so this is not the first night the Council has seen this and the Council has had some time to review this. Since the City is only committing to a year, if the City wants to get out of it after a year the City can do that. It is better than not being able to get into it and find out it is needed.