Agenda Notes:
The fiscal year 2007 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) is attached for your information and review. On December 10, 2007 a full presentation will be made during the Dinner meeting regarding these financial statements by Finance staff and the external auditor. The report will also be available online at
http://cafr.charmeck.org after December 10, 2007.
Information Items:
The Police Department has pulled the COPS 2007 federal grant application from the December 10 agenda. CMPD staff will work with the COPS Office in an attempt to restructure the grant in a manner that meets the major project goals at a lower cost and is sensitive to Council's concerns regarding significant demands on the City's General Fund and/or police assets forfeiture funds.
CMPD continues to believe that regional data interoperability is critical to its success in addressing Charlotte's crime and security issues. The system sought in the original grant application would link the eleven counties in our USAI region and would build on technology funded under previous COPS grants. Crime has become very mobile with criminals moving from one jurisdiction to another within Mecklenburg County, from one county to another, and across state lines to commit crimes. Police agencies within the region operate in isolation with respect to their data, making it extremely difficult to identify and intervene in crimes that share similar events, patterns, and suspects. Case solvability is impaired or delayed because of data isolation, resulting in criminals staying on the streets reoffending and criminal enterprises going undetected for much longer periods of time.
The system also meets critical needs that are part of policing an urban area in a post 9/11 environment. Terrorists are criminals and their activity is often funded by the commission of criminal acts. The ability to share and analyze data on a regional basis is crucial to our ability to establish the connections between people, places and events that allow law enforcement to detect potential terrorist activity at the earliest possible point. The intelligence system outlined in this grant would enable emergency agencies in the region to share data and could also include some private sector entities with common crime control interests such as financial agencies and private security firms.
A recent study conducted by Forecasting International (a firm with 40 years of experience tracking economic, technological, and social trends) concluded that "automated information systems will help to 'mesh' information from incompatible data sources, recognize patterns in the data, develop rigorous hypotheses, and perform collaborative analysis. These techniques may offer the best chance of giving law enforcement agencies a clear advantage over their adversaries."
CMPD will ask the COPS Office for an extension on accepting the grant and will reconfigure the requested intelligence system to meet the project goals at a lower cost. Concurrently, CMPD will approach other agencies in the region to secure commitment letters indicating what they will fund toward the project match and the ongoing maintenance for the proposed system. With the regional approach to intelligence gathering being adopted nationwide, it is also likely that UASI funding will be available to help sustain regional intelligence systems such as this.
CMPD will come back to Council with its modified proposal within the next few months.
CMPD Hosts CALEA Accreditation Team: Public Comment Sought As Part of Assessment Process
Staff Resource:
Sergeant J.D. Cox, 704-353-1139, jcox@cmpd.org
A team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) will arrive Saturday December 8, 2007 to examine all aspects of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's policy and procedures, management, operations and support services. This thorough assessment is part of the process to gain re-accreditation, a highly prized
recognition of law enforcement professional excellence. The Department has to comply with 750 applicable standards in order to receive accredited status. It first gained accreditation in 2004 and must undergo a re-accreditation process every three years as well as submit annual reports attesting to continued compliance with those standards under which it was initially accredited.
As part of the on-site assessment, agency employees and members of the community are invited to offer comments. There are three opportunities to provide feedback about the Department's ability to meet the standards of accreditation:
Public information session Tuesday evening, December 11, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. The session will be held in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Headquarters building, 601 East 4th Street
Call in: 704-432-2653
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Write in
Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA)
10302 Eaton Place, Suite 100
Fairfax, Virginia 22030-2215
Telephone comments as well as appearances at the public information session are limited to 10 minutes and must address the agency's ability to comply with CALEA's standards. A copy of the standards is available at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, 601 East Trade Street, Charlotte, NC.
The assessment team is composed of law enforcement practitioners from similar but out-of-state agencies. The assessors will review written materials, interview individuals, and visit offices and locations where compliance can be witnessed. Once the Commission's assessors complete their review, they report back to the full Commission, which will then decide whether the department is to be granted accredited status. We will advise Council of the final outcome.
The first ten days of LYNX Blue Line operations have been highly successful demonstrating that people in Charlotte will in fact ride light rail. Ridership the initial free opening weekend was approximately 106,000. Based upon manual sample counts and ticket sales, daily ridership during the following week with fares being charged started at 6,700 and reached over 13,000 by week's end. Weekday mid-day riding was stronger then expected. This past weekend, staff estimates that Saturday ridership totaled nearly 25,000 person trips and on Sunday usage was between 11,000 and 12,000. Average daily ridership since the first day of charging fares is just over 12,300, well above the projected first year average daily figure of 9,100 person trips.
We have experienced large crowds riding the light rail system to attend events at the Bobcats Arena and the Panthers Games. In addition, the high ridership this past Saturday resulted in long lines at the Ticket Vending Machines (TVM's). As a result, CATS staff implemented additional measures to sell tickets by hand directly to patrons at some stations and provide for crowd control at key events particularly at the I-485 and Uptown Stations. Staff is reviewing how those measures worked, including security considerations, and will make adjustments as needed. We are also considering introducing new fare products to address emerging ridership patterns and customer requests (i.e. a regular roundtrip ticket).
We have experienced reliability and capacity problems with the Ticket Vending Machines (TVM) which cause individual TVM outages at some stations along the Line. The capacity problems have involved transaction processing time and machines running out of money during high ridership periods. Except for one problem (printer malfunctions), all of the reliability issues experienced since opening had not manifested themselves in the initial testing CATS and the manufacturer had conducted last summer and this fall. The manufacturer, ACS in Atlanta, has 5 technicians on-site working to isolate and resolve these problems. ACS has started to see the TVM's stabilize this week and is scheduled to make additional software and hardware adjustments at mid-week. At times some riders have been provided a complimentary trip; however staff has conducted hand sales during peak travel movements at the heaviest stations to handle ridership volume and deal with any TVM outages. The TVM's are currently under the initial acceptance period in our contract with ACS which also includes a one year warranty period.
As reported in the November 2 Council-Manager Memo, staff is following up to Highland Creek residents' complaints about odors from the Wallace Farm composting facility, 14410 Eastfield Road. The only authority the City has in this matter relates to two components: water quality and zoning. All other regulatory authority rests with the State and with Mecklenburg County
acting as the State's enforcement agent.
- Status of State Permits (waste management and stormwater)
The major State regulatory authority for the farm's composting operations is a permit from the Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Division of Waste Management (DWM) permit. The permit expired in 2005, but since the farm submitted its application for renewal prior to permit expiration, it is allowed to continue to operate as long as the application process proceeds in a timely manner.
Staff has been in contact with DWM staff about their timetable for reviewing the permit application and holding a public hearing. Their review is pending action by the State Division of Water Quality (DWQ).
The DWQ is charged with issuing a permit for stormwater discharge from the facility.
DWQ staff has been in discussions with Wallace Farm representatives, but as of late last week Wallace has not submitted a permit application. When that occurs, DWQ staff estimates that it will take two to three months for their review and disposition, including a 30-day public notice and comment period.
Upon completion of the DWQ permit process, and subsequent review of any impact on waste management requirements, DWM staff has indicated they will schedule a public hearing on the draft solid waste permit. The timetable for Wallace submitting a water quality permit application is unknown.
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Permit – component of State process (wastewater)
As of November 27, the State DWQ has determined that the wastewater discharge permit issued to Wallace by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities in August 2007 is "adequate." This is normal terminology used by the State on permit acceptance letters. The permit allows for the discharge of leachate (liquid drainage from the composting) into the sanitary sewer system and indicates that no pretreatment of wastewater is warranted at this time. The permit expires in August 2008 and involves quarterly monitoring and other milestones for Wallace to meet over the next year. According to Utilities staff, the discharge of leachate bears no relationship to any odors.
- Mecklenburg County Enforcement Actions Update
On October 4, County Solid Waste Management staff issued a citation to Wallace for an odor violation. Wallace submitted a response to the County, but the County staff deemed the response incomplete. On November 15, the County sent Wallace a letter requesting additional information with a deadline for response of no later than December 17.
Staff is exploring other avenues to deal with the odor complaints through enforcement of the City's zoning ordinance. We will keep Council advised.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg will join 14 other large water utilities and Duke Energy to form a new, unprecedented group that will help protect our region's water supply and enhance the Catawba-Wateree River Basin. The group's first meeting will be Thursday, December 6, in Rock Hill.
The Catawba-Wateree Water Management Group is an outcome of the Duke Energy re-licensing process. The group exists to identify, fund and manage projects that help extend and enhance the capabilities of the Catawba-Wateree River Basin. In addition to drought, it will focus on improving water and energy conservation, water quality, enhancing reservoirs, improving security and implementing best management practices in watershed management.
The group originally was slated to formalize in 2009 with the onset of Duke Energy's new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license. But, the clear benefit the group brings to the region prompts the partners to initiate work a year early. Thursday's event will include a presentation of Duke Energy's annual dues to fund the first year of projects. The other partners will begin contributing dues in 2009. Charlotte City Council recently endorsed the group, authorizing Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Deputy Director Barry Gullet and Water Conservation Manager Maeneen Klein to participate in the group and its regional projects.
