The Windsor Town Council convened on September 16, 2024, at 7:20 PM for a public hearing followed by the regular meeting at 7:30 PM. The agenda included a public hearing on an ordinance designating authority to declare line-of-duty deaths, proclamations honoring Adult Day Services Week and Paralympic gold medalist Sydney Satchell, reports from the Public Building Commission and Insurance Commission, the Town Manager's report, discussion of the line-of-duty death ordinance, and several new business items including an early voting grant, a lease for Stony Hill School, acceptance of grants, and allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The council tabled the line-of-duty death ordinance to a special meeting before the October 1 deadline, and approved all other items.
Good evening. The time is now seven twenty PM. And welcome to the public hearing of September sixteenth, twenty twenty-four. And before I open it, I would like to read the public notice. Notice is hereby given that the town council of the town of Windsor will hold a virtual and in-person public hearing in the council chamber at the Windsor Town Hall, two seventy-five Broad Street on Monday, September sixteenth, twenty twenty-four at seven twenty PM to hear public comment on the following items. Excuse me, info button found on the front page and select town council meeting for the meeting of September sixteenth. Please state your name and address. When you are called on, you'll be prompted with with you are now unmuted. For those dialing by phone, once prompted, you will press star six to unmute. For clear communication, we ask that you do not place the call on speaker phone. We do not have any uh attendee with their hand up at this time. Thank you, Mr. Angelo. So we'll move to the town hall chamber. Um if there's anyone here that would like to speak, please move forward to the podium and you can do so. You can say right. You sure can. And just please um state your name, and you will have three minutes to speak, and at the sound of the chime, we just ask you to conclude your comments. Okay. Thank you. Yes, sorry. Your name and your address. Thank you. Okay. Uh Ryan Wilder with the uh police department. And the address is my personal address. 1075 Southfield Street in Southfield, Connecticut. Thank you. All right, so good evening. Uh my name is Ryan Wilder as a stated. I'm the president of the police union here in town. I'm here to voice concern on behalf of our membership regarding some of the language and implementation of the proposed town ordinance that designates authority to declare that a firefighter, police officer, or emergency medical service personnel die in the line of duty. The police union's main concern is that this authority is designated to the town manager, does not require he or she to consult with any professionals who specialize in a particular field as it relates to the cause of or manners or manner of death. The town ordinance only states the town manager in quotes the town manager shall make the determination after consulting with either the police chief, fire chief, or EMS chief, depending upon the employee's department, along with other professional resources, such as the risk manager or human resource director, end quote. I point out that the ordinance specifically refers to the risk manager and human resource director as professional resources for line of duty death. The union disagrees because neither of them are medical examiners, uh forensic pathologists, uh medical professional nor a doctor. Such professional resources sought out in a line of duty death should specialize or have professional expertise in determining causes of death or even manners in which death could have occurred or been linked to. Because of this, it is important to make sure that God forbid that we should ever encounter this, that we get this determination right. I'll also point out that there are obvious concerns with leaving this determination up to the town manager, risk manager, and human resource department. Those concerns include financial impacts that they may have in mind when making such a determination. Those concerns uh excuse me, finances should not even have a role in this determination. This determination should be made with the most accurate and correct information only after consulting with real professional resources who specialize in cause of and manner of death as it relates to cardiac events. Uh, but to their surviving family. The police union sincerely hopes that the town does not vote for this ordinance that is currently written and request that you take some uh take some of what have I said what I have said here tonight and consider it in making your determination. So with that, I appreciate all your time and uh thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Well, I don't see anyone else stepping forward to provide commentary at this time. So with that being said, what we will do now is that we will conclude the public hearing.