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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-27-2004 1225 Main Street El Sebastian, Florida 32958 Telephone (772) 589-5330 [] Fax (772) 589-5570 City Council Information Letter August 27, 2004 Sebastian Yacht Club Restoration Pro.qram Please be advised that arrangements are currently underway to implement the Sebastian Yacht Club Restoration Program. As some of you may recall via previous year's budget processes, this project has been designated a priority in terms of existing facility restoration programming. A necessary task relative to soliciting proposals from construction firms interested in assisting the City of Sebastian with this effort, is the compilation of necessary architectural drawings and engineering plans that will ultimately govern scope of improvement activities accordingly. As such, staff in both the Office of the City Manager and the Department of Public Works is working to commission and direct respective services from Donadio and Associates. Once this assignment is completed, a bid/proposal solicitation process will be initiated. Staff anticipates offering respective recommendations to City Council in the coming weeks, notably expenditures (from the existing project budget) for the aforementioned tasks, as well as an execution of a contract with a construction firm once the selection evaluation exercise is finalized. Project Safe Schools Grant Pro.qram The United States of Department of Justice is currently in the process of allocating grant funding to both the City of Sebastian and the School District of Indian River County to finance and sponsor implementation of the Sebastian Project Safe Schools Program. This initiative, to be implemented by the Sebastian Police Department via resources and services currently offered by the School Resource Officer Program at both Pelican Island Elementary School and Sebastian Elementary School, will enable implementation of ancillary security features involving various crime prevention through environmental design techniques. As referenced in the City Council Information Letter August 27, 2004 Page 2 attached program summary as compiled and delivered by the Sebastian Police Department, a primary rationale for implementing respective enhancements will be to discourage undesirable individuals from committing acts of criminal behavior and trespassing on both sites while school is in session, as well as during periods of time when campuses are vacant. As such, a resolution authorizing a respective grant proposal submittal will be offered for your review and consideration during your September 8th meeting. Florida Power and Li.qht Temporary Utility Disconnection Historic Cain House Relocation Pro.qram As discussed during Wednesday evening's meeting, arrangements are being coordinated to accommodate the final physical relocation of the Old Cain "Snowshoe" House from its current site on United States Highway One (US 1) to Riverview Park South. Representatives from Florida, Power and Light recently confirmed that crews assigned to engage a necessary temporary utility line detachment exercise would perform this service on Wednesday September 15th. In an effort to facilitate minimal disruption and inconvenience to respective area property owners, actual relocation and disconnection activities will take place beginning in the midnight hour. Potential disruption of electrical service may therefore be experienced for one to two hours at each property location. As such, advanced notification will be delivered to impacted property owners in the US 1 and Indian River Drive vicinity beginning seven to ten days in advance of engaging the aforementioned activities. Building and public works department staff, who will be present during the actual relocation in progress, will supervise activity accordingly. Waste Mana.qement Garbage Collection Schedule Labor Day Week, 2004 As Labor Day (Monday, September 6th) is an observed holiday pursuant to terms and conditions of our franchise agreement with Waste Management, Inc., please be advised of the revised solid waste collection service schedule for that week - Monday's service will be offered on Tuesday September 7th and Tuesday's services will be provided on Wednesday, September 8th. The normal service schedule will resume Thursday September 9th and Friday September 10th. Accordingly, yard waste services City Council Information Letter August 27, 2004 Page 3 will be cancelled this week as necessary to accommodate the aforementioned full garbage collection activities during this time. In an effort to effectively inform customers of this temporary schedule adjustment, announcements will be published in both the Summer 2004 Edition of Sebastian's Pelican Brief Community Newsletter (to be delivered to Sebastian area homes beginning circa this weekend) and an upcoming issue of the Press Journal. In addition, a notice will broadcast on Sebastian Government Channel 25 beginning later next week. Questions and/or concerns regarding this arrangement may be addressed by contacting Waste Management's local area office by calling (772) 770-3179. Enclosure(s): Project Description - Project Safe Schools Grant My Documents/InfoLetter228 PROJECT SAFE SCHOOLS GRANT Date: 08/20/04 To: Terrence R. Moore, City Manager From: SRO. Bill Jursik ~ - Reference: Project Safe schools Grant PROJECT SUMMARY The City of Sebastian Police Department in cooperation with the Indian river School District is securing funding in order to make two of our primary school campuses secure by adding a section of fencing along a wooded area on the north side of the Sebastian Elementary school to keep undesirable individuals from committing acts of criminal behavior and trespassing during in school session and times when the campus is vacant. We arc also seeking to add security gates at the entrance to the center courtyard to limit access to the center of the campus. At the pelican Island Primary school we intend to fence the perimeter as well. The school is located on the corner ofa naturc preserve, which is hcavily wooded area. Pelican Island also intends to add a single gate to the rear breezeway to deter criminal activity and entrance to the rear of the school during open hours. The school also intends to secure lighting for the area of the rcar of the school, which is very dark during the evening hours. We have evaluated the area near the woods and intend to add several flood type lights to enhance the security and deter criminal activity. We have spoke to the district administrators who advise they will have the gates constructed in house and have the fencing contracted. They will also install the lighting in house. Assessment of problems- Historically the state of Florida has constructed the school campuses to be open campus. Sebastian, as a city and community, is rapidly growing and demographically changing from a retirement haven for senior citizens to a younger community of working families with young children and teenagers. As such, many of the problems usually associated with juvenile crime and delinquency are beginning to consume significant police time and resources. We arc beginning to see initial signs of juvenile gang activity in the community, particularly graffiti and tagging. Recent investigations have linked numerous local burglaries, thefts, vehicle burglaries, arsons, illicit and illegal drug possession, use and sales, vehicle thefts, ctc, to juveniles, who claim gang alliances. Drug and alcohol abuse is also a growing problem here and it is involving younger and younger victims. In rccent times and events it has been viewed as an unsafe practice, which allows criminal activity to occur with out any safety measures to curtail these events. Our agency has a small staff, which attempts to patrol the schools during regular patrol duties. The Police department's budget is composed of funds for regular patrol duties and is not intended for the use of the School district. The school district is unable to endorse a project this size due to the hiring of tcachers to reduce classroom sizes through out our state. The efforts made by our district are with good intention but are usually done at a minimal solvability level due to the limitations of funding. Proiects Goals and obiectives- By the erection of fencing and gates along with lighting darker areas of the campus, we intend to deter criminal activity during out of scssion hours. These security measures will also allow the individual school to know who is on the campus at ali times. The Sebastian Police Department has currently in place an existing partnership with our local School District to provide a single SRO, to each of the elementary schools and one charter middle school located within the City of Sebastian. Under this proposed grant program, the funding would allow the SRO to conduct the core G.R.E.A.T. program during the first or second semester opposite to the D.A.R.E. program. Having each school within the City with its own full time SRO will allow for full presentation of the SRO program as defined by Florida Statutes 230.2318 and 233.0663. The G.R.E.A.T. program will interface and partner with the Sebastian Police Department's full time Community Policing Officer, to provide a well rounded approach to attain our community policing goals and objectives by having the school communities more fully interrelated with the rest of the community organizations, partnerships and programs. Implementation plans- The school district of Indian River County will procure all materials needed to complete this project. The School resource Officers will assist the district in conducting crime prevention through environmental design survey to assist in the proper locations of projected security measures. Evaluations Plans- The project will allow us to monitor the calls for service, which are routinely handled by the SRO's. The calls for reports of criminal mischief truancy and the trespassing of juveniles on the school campus during the out of session hours of school. To date the Police department reports 20-40 criminal mischief complaints each year, and 30 theft reports. We also report 20 trespassing each year. Current/Planned crime prevention Activities- Currently the schools in our jurisdiction are open campus. The installation of the security fencing and gates will deter students from skipping school or attempting to exit the campus during in session hours. This will also assist our agency during routine patrol when an officer is checking a campus for trespassers this will enable them to sec individuals climbing on to or exiting a campus.