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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04.27.11 Work Session Minutes Council Workshop Minutes Police Department Budget April 27,2011 Mayor Larson called the workshop to order at 3:00 p.m. Present: Larson, Bartholomay, Donnelly Absent: Fogarty, May Also Present: Brian Lindquist, Police Chief; Cynthia Muller, Executive Assistant MOTION by Bartholomay, second by Donnelly to approve the agenda. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Councilmembers took a tour of the Police Department. The central hub contains 3.5 FTE's. The department started with eight officers and now has 25 officers. The workload has increased. There is one FTE in the central hub devoted to investigations. The building was built in 2002. The police budget is bigger because they are a 24/7 operation. The administrative sergeant handles all technology and phones, he is the backup for IT, the liaison for CJIIN and Logis and has the cars built. There are four officers on the Dakota County MAAG team. Half of the team has turned over in the last year. Farmington remains the same as consistency is fundamental. Cameras in the booking and processing room are tied to the squad cars and all information goes to the same folder. The fitness room contains $25,000 worth of fitness equipment and is available for use by all City employees. Council viewed a squad car and discussed all of the equipment. The cost ofa squad car is $55,000 - $60,000 with all the equipment. The police department is getting two new cars in 2011 to replace cars that are four years old. Cars are used for patrol until they reach 90,000- 100,000 miles. They cycle the used cars through the SRO's for five years. The conference room is used as an emergency operations center, for meetings and training. It contains all the necessary technology for emergency situations. The physical size of the room has become too small to hold the entire police department and could be expanded by removing a wall. For 2012, there will be increases in wages for sergeants and patrol by 1.75%. The department will continue to assess vehicle needs. Police Chief Lindquist might be requesting three vehicles or maybe two. Ifthere are two vehicles this year, it may be four vehicles next year. The cars are ordered in November or December and arrive in June. The state bid process is used. Costs for Logis, CJIIN, and DCC are dictated by those governmental bodies. There may be increases and will know more within the next month. Records management system - 8 of the 12 cities in Dakota County purchased their own system and house it through CJIIN. There will be a considerable reduction in the annual maintenance cost. Logis was $45,000 - $50,000/year; with the new system the cost is $15,000 - $18,000/year. 13 Council Budget Workshop Apri127,2011 Page 2 Gas for squad cars has been static for many years at $55,000 - $60,000/year. Ifgas goes up, there may be an increase. Staff has looked at having our own gas pumps, but there was not enough savings to warrant it. Council suggested it may be useful if all city vehicles, squads and the school district went together. Looking for efficiencies includes working with the schools. Staff recalled that the costs were similar and there was not enough advantage. Staff was not aware if the school can do that. Council asked that staff look at our own gas pumps again. There are four parts to the police budget, administration, patrol services, investigations, and emergency management which is for the sirens. Under administration (1050) there are a lot of items there as holders and staff will leave them there as something has always happened where that money is needed. If the money is not used, it goes back to the general fund. In 2010, the police department spent 99.3% of their budget and had $25,000 left at the end of the year. Regarding animal control, the City used to use 4 Paws. Staff found a kennel south of Farmington and it has worked extremely well. This was a reduction of$10,000, down to $9,500 for animal control. To reduce the cleaning amount, the department purchased their own rugs. They use their own cleaning person who is also a dispatcher. Electric, gas, municipal services - if in June or July we are at 60-65%, staffwill adjust this for next year by 3%. Legal is for prosecution cases. Last year this was $80,000. Approximately 78-79% ofthe budget is dedicated to wages and benefIts. The former finance director had stated the department head's job is to give Finance exactly what they will spend. If more is needed beyond that, it is up to Finance to fmd it. Regarding patrol services (1051) approximately $5,000/month is spent on vehicles. Several of the Nextel phones have been replaced. The Nextel phones should be kept in the budget. The DCC bill is $200,000 and is based on population. Investigations (1052), has come in the furthest under budget. Some of the titles ofthe items have remained the same, but the money may be used for something else. Council asked about a state grant in the budget for 2008 and after that it went away. Staffwill research this. A portion of the tab revenue is used for police PERA. The state grant could have been the start-up costs for the DCC. Emergency management (1054) includes the agreement Council approved for narrowband sirens. The City is splitting half the cost with the county and the City's share will be $7,500. The police department looks at the budget as if the money is coming from their own pocket. Council asked how we compare to neighboring cities as far as number of officers. Farmington is the same as most and less and more than a few. Previous years they considered 1 officer per 1,000 people. Now it has changed to 1 officer per 800 people. With our population of approximately 20,000, we are where we need to be. Out of25 officers, there are 14 patrol, 3 SRO's,3 detectives, 1 drug task force, and 2 in administration. The SRO's are covered 75% by the school district. A couple months ago, the Superintendent said it was possible the school would be reducing the SRO's from 3 to 2 officers. The Police Chief reminded him that in order to increase the number the City had to hire another person. The school district was looking at using 3 SRO's through all of2011. The Police Chief asked them to carry 3 SRO's through June 2012. The police department made certain transitions in the last four years where they took people from patrol. One was moved to investigations, another was moved to the drug task force, another was moved to administrative sergeant, and the third SRO came from patrol. A couple spots were backfIlled, 14 Council Budget Workshop April 27, 2011 Page 3 but we are still two short from our highest numbers for patrol. Last Monday, the school board approved keeping the third SRO through June 2012. The City would cover the two officers' expenses for July, August and part of September until they go back to school. The third SRO will come back to the agency and funding will no longer be received from the school for that person. A five-year officer has a value of$5 million. The Police Chief will fight to keep that body for patrol to bring the numbers up to the level of five years ago. Council asked what is being done now to compensate for fewer patrol. There are fewer officers on a shift. When they are on vacation, sick, or in court, we are not backfilling them. During the day, the police chief: or administrative sergeant, or investigations is the backup. Council asked if the administrative sergeant could serve more time on patrol. Staff explained he does when someone is sick or in meetings. That leaves us with two officers and no backup. The police chief and administrative sergeant are always part of the mix. When the administrative sergeant position was created they considered retirements and a trend in the next five years ofwhat would require more ofa cop's influence than a civilian. When implementing new technology and systems, it had to be someone that was familiar with how it worked for the end user. The administrative supervisor supervises scheduling, staffing and workloads. The administrative sergeant is the supervisor for direction of technical advances. Council noted after a few budget meetings, there could be some big gaps we will have to fill. In the worst case, Council asked if the administrative sergeant would be able to backfill as patrol sergeant and still work on technology. The police chief replied no, it would be easier for the chief to backfill for patrol sergeant. Stafflooks at little things to save everyday. Ifwe lose a person and their knowledge, what would we do? Council noted the chief in Lakeville goes to a Council meeting monthly to give statistics of what they are doing. Council asked if the police chief would be able to do this. Ifwe ask residents for more money, it may be easier for them to understand why. The police chief did not want this to become repetitive. Farmington is 20,000 vs. Lakeville at 60,000 and has more activity. The police chief could do this quarterly. After reviewing the police budget, Council realized the police does not have that many items to reduce. Many of the items are solid, fixed costs. MOTION by Bartholomay, second by Donnelly to adjourn at 5:05 p.m. APIF, MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully submitted, Cynthia Muller Executive Assistant 15