Highlights from the weekly report (July 10) from City of Lakewood Manager, Andrew Neiditz to the Mayor and Council Members:
- City Receives AWC Well City Award: The City of Lakewood was honored with the WellCity Award by the Association of Washington Cities (AWC). Lakewood was one of 34 Washington cities and towns that received recognition for its workplace wellness program at the Association’s Annual Conference. The AWC WellCity Award recognizes cities and towns that demonstrate best practices in employee health promotion. A city must meet the minimum criteria in each of 9 WellCity standards to receive the award.
- Center for Domestic Preparedness Training for Lakewood Police: Lt. Steve Mauer went to Alabama the week of June 21 for federally-funded training at the Center for Domestic Preparedness. The Center provides training in all areas of civil disturbance and weapons of mass destruction for first responders from all over the US and other countries. The class included three days dedicated to learning about protestor devices used to block roadways and entrances to buildings, and then two days at the “COBRA” center with emphasis on chemical weapons and the equipment used by responders to work at the scene to treat and assess victims and decontaminate them for further treatment. The class included going into training bays in full chemical Suits and mask where we were exposed to chemicals such as Saran gas that was used in the Japanese subways several years ago by an extremist group.
- Shooter training sessions at local elementary school: The Police Department conducted the first of four active shooter training sessions at Oakbrook Elementary School on July 1st. The training is designed to prepare officers for response to situations such as Columbine and Virginia Tech and is instructed by officers from Metro SWAT, the multi-jurisdictional tactical team. We currently have 4 other agencies participating with us in the training, with two more agencies planning to participate in 2010, in our effort to provide regional training in this discipline.
- Police attend Georgia Police Accreditation Coalition Conference: Officer Jeff Carroll attended the Georgia Police Accreditation Coalition Conference in Georgia June 22-25 as a VIP as the President of the Northwest Police Accreditation Coalition. The conference included classes on Ethics, Leadership, Accreditation, and Use of Force; and all expenses were paid for by the NWPAC.
- Training to parenting group at Bates Vocational School: Safety CSOs Sandi Stauffer and Gail Conelly attended a parenting group session at Bates Vocational School and gave a presentation on Child Passenger Safety and Keeping Your Kids Safe to 15 parents and small children.
- KAPAG Youth Safety Camp: LPD and the Korean American Police Advisory Group (KAPAG) had another successful year of Youth Safety Camp, with about 80 kids and other parents and adults. We taught Personal Values and Ethics, Traffic Safety, Reckless Driving/Road Rage/Racing Prevention, Gang Awareness, Drug Awareness, Mock Court, Criminal Laws, Calling 911, SWAT Presentation, K-9 Presentation, Explorer Presentation and many others. Officer Brian Wurts, Officer Austin Lee, CSO Dawn McGinnis, and KAPAG members were able to facilitate this 10 hour course with no injuries or incidents. Your browser may not support display of this image.
- Court of Appeals Decision Rendered: The Court of Appeals issued a decision in favor of the City of Lakewood in a public records case this week. The case dates back to December 2006 when the City was sued for withholding public records. In April 2008, the Superior Court entered a decision finding in favor of the requestor and imposed a monetary penalty of approximately $13,000 plus attorney fees, significantly less than the over $63,000 plus attorney fees which was sought. The requestor appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed the Superior Court decision, concluding that the requestor was not entitled to additional penalties, attorney fees or other recoveries. The City was represented on appeal by Associate City Attorney Matt Kaser.
- Soccer and basketballs for Kick for Nick Foundation: CSO Dawn McGinnis collected more than 20 soccer and basketballs for the “Kick for Nick” Foundation. The balls were signed by members of LPD then delivered to Bonney Lake Fire Department on July 2nd. The “Kick for Nick” Foundation was created in memory of United States Army Private First Class Nick Madaras, who had dedicated himself to the sport of soccer, and was killed in action in 2006 at age 19 in Iraq.