ORDER-2015-173 : Appropriation of 699,534.85 From Available Free Cash To Various Accounts As Set Forth Within

Transcript (~12 min @ 27:40)

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▶ 27:21 Peter D. Mortimer: thank you very much chief the motion to recommend this for passage has been made and duly seconded by alderman voice Ellen alderman lemmerman respectively All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, this order will be recommended for passage at our next full board meeting. Thank you. As you know, Chief, you need not attend at that time. Thank you. Thank you very much for coming, sir. The next order we have before us is an appropriation for $699,534.85 from available free cash to various accounts as set forth herein. We are still under suspension. So, Mr. De La Russo, would you rejoin us, please?

▶ 28:14 Peter D. Mortimer: Welcome again, sir.

▶ 28:18 Speaker 2: Certainly.

▶ 28:22 Peter D. Mortimer: Would the two chiefs join us too, please? Yeah.

▶ 28:34 Speaker 2: Spare them, but.

▶ 28:50 Speaker 9: All right, through the chief, I may. Please, Mr. De La Russo. Thank you. Specifically, I think the objective this evening for both the police chief and the fire chief is to address their request for additional overtime. They both have submitted a request due to circumstances within the department. would ask respectfully if they could um individually address the board at this time

▶ 29:18 Peter D. Mortimer: as to the need for the overtime very good sir which chief would like to go first please thank

▶ 29:24 Speaker 1: you chief lyle thank you um the police department had had some serious challenges this past year as far as uh staffing we had a sergeant that was out injured for approximately four months with a with a knee injury and also a patrolman that was out for five months with a knee injury And it impacted our shifts substantially, that was one portion. There was a carryover from a contract settlement from last year into this year that impacted our overtime, our salary and wage as well. And then various vacations that we get hit with every year. But one big factor that we have discovered in the police department as the years go on, so don't accruals for officers. So the more years on, more vacation time. And we get hit with about another 1,000 hours of vacation time, and it's certainly impacting the police department's overtime budget.

▶ 30:15 Speaker 2: Thank you, sir.

▶ 30:18 Peter D. Mortimer: President Kahn, please.

▶ 30:22 Speaker 6: Yeah, Chief, your current staffing level of sworn police officers is what, 43? Including you and everybody else?

▶ 30:29 Speaker 1: 31 patrolmen, eight sergeants, four lieutenants, and myself.

▶ 30:32 Speaker 11: Okay.

▶ 30:34 Speaker 1: Two non-sworn.

▶ 30:35 Speaker 6: And how much beyond the overtime budget would you be if this appropriation was passed?

▶ 30:43 Speaker 1: This should get us to the end of the year.

▶ 30:46 Speaker 6: Okay, what would that make your total expenditure for overtime for the year on?

▶ 30:50 Speaker 1: It's in excess of 400,000 on.

▶ 31:10 Speaker 1: 424,000 to date, approximately.

▶ 31:15 Speaker 6: Mr. Chairman, in preparation for looking at this budget tonight, One of the things that I did is I reviewed the Pomeroy study that was done several years ago relative to the operation of our police department. Right. And what people should be aware of and what the consultant, Mr. Pomeroy, a retired police chief highlighted at one point in his report, I think it's on page 25, is that the city has a conscious choice to make relative to police staffing. You can staff up towards the 63-man ordinance police department, or you can choose not to hire more officers, and you can be more reliant on overtime. And people should understand that those are choices that are made by the city, by the administration, And neither one is right or wrong, but if we choose to continue to have a 43-person police department, we're going to continue to spend money for overtime. And the other model would be to hire significantly more police officers, which would obviate the need for overtime. But people should be aware this is a conscious choice that's been made by the city. You know, it's not a result of any failure to manage overtime or failure to appropriately deal with the situation, but we have the same level of staffing as we did, I believe, Chief, in 2012 when that report was undertaken. Is that correct? Approximately. And so we're in the same situation. At that point, it was noted that we were expending overtime monies because we had small police force. So, you know, I know everybody here understands that, but that's what people should be aware of. And I guess in a few months we're going to be talking about putting something on the ballot that may potentially add two police officers. I would respectfully suggest that I don't think that two is going to do anything to change the dynamic that we have here. And coming up to a 45-person police department is going to continue to have us expending large amounts of money on overtime for the police department.

▶ 33:52 Speaker 6: Mr. Del Russo, in terms of the free cash account, how much money would we have left in the free cash account? Should we pass this? Is this going to wipe us out for the year?

▶ 34:00 Speaker 9: You will have, through the Chair, $444,272.85.

▶ 34:07 Speaker 6: And where is this going to leave us relative to our snow debt? I know you haven't talked about it yet, but in the interest of brevity, I'm going to ask all my questions now, Mr. Chairman, and not speak again.

▶ 34:21 Speaker 9: um what will the objective would be to use approximately 402 000 of that 444 000 towards

▶ 34:34 Speaker 9: the snow and ice deficit um on top of that i found out today we anticipate approximately 300 000 on the low end for assistance due to this the horrific winter through fema or mima whatever the case may be and that will still leave us with an approximate 1.1 to 1.2 million dollar deficit

▶ 34:56 Speaker 6: in snow and ice do we have a plan to uh to bridge that gap at the present time yes um right now one

▶ 35:00 Speaker 9: of the objectives uh my principal objective is i want to finalize exactly what the reimbursement is The expectation for me going into the fall would be to see if I can garner some resources of available funds to also strike that down towards that $1.1 million and make it less.

▶ 35:26 Speaker 9: The Department of Revenue has provided us a provision to carry up to three years the amount that you're unable to cover of your deficit. it. However, I'm not one that likes that. So I'm going to do everything I possibly can within my capacity to try to address it within a year or two. So that's the goal now. Once we have some final numbers, I can speak to it clearer as far as the resolve. But again, I don't expect that to know that final answer until probably October after the books are closed and

▶ 36:08 Speaker 6: much free cash is certified. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, President

▶ 36:10 Peter D. Mortimer: Kahn. Anybody else wishing to ask any questions of Mr. De La Russa or either of the Chiefs? Alderman Medeiros, please. Thank you.

▶ 36:24 Monica C. Medeiros: Mr. Chairman, we are anticipating revisiting this order again.

▶ 36:32 Peter D. Mortimer: Is that correct? This order, I think we will, as part of the budget hearings, or we'll take we could take a motion to recommend it for passage at this time and then we'll revisit it at the full board it would be up to the will of the

▶ 36:48 Speaker 5: board thank you

▶ 36:51 Monica C. Medeiros: chief Lyle I was hoping to talk a little bit more about the overtime is is some this overtime associated with police details yes is is there a any kind of

▶ 37:14 Monica C. Medeiros: breakdown in terms of how much is associated with details or you know is it possible I wish sorry I kind of wish that we were doing this along with the budget at the same time but in terms of planning it out and seeing kind of where where we've been this year versus where we're going forward. Is there any kind of breakdowns to-

▶ 37:32 Speaker 1: I have some numbers. I don't have dollar figures, I have hours, man hours.

▶ 37:56 Speaker 1: This is up to date from July 1 of last year. We call it community events, where we cover a community event with overtime or detailed funds. we've had since July 1 238 man-hours overtime slash details covered with our

▶ 38:24 Speaker 1: overtime budget we carry we cover Memorial Day parade out of that some different community events Victorian Day those events are covered through the

▶ 38:34 Monica C. Medeiros: police department's budget so those include those are like the the big community events maybe the summer stroll things like that yes how about we didn't

▶ 38:42 Speaker 1: a center stroll that was covered through a different funding source through different

▶ 38:49 Monica C. Medeiros: sunny swiss okay um does does that include you know how about the construction details no not at all no are the construction details included in the overtime amounts

▶ 38:59 Speaker 1: no they're not they're a separate line item they're they're details just details construction

▶ 39:04 Monica C. Medeiros: details and and that's whether there be private construction or for the city of meadows yes that's

▶ 39:13 Speaker 1: in a separate total separate account we have i i don't have a dollar figure we have somewhere of 150 000 outstanding right now that we are chasing people that haven't complied that request so that

▶ 39:27 Monica C. Medeiros: those come out of a completely separate account a whole separate uh well maybe we'll revisit that in

▶ 39:33 Monica C. Medeiros: the uh budget and that's all i have for now thank you thank you alderman Brodeur any other alderman

▶ 39:41 Peter D. Mortimer: Anyone wishing to be heard?

▶ 39:45 Speaker 8: Mr Chairman, oh, go ahead.

▶ 39:47 Speaker 2: Alderman Bird, please.

▶ 39:49 Jaclyn L. Bird: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just as a follow up question.

▶ 39:54 Peter D. Mortimer: Excuse me, Alderman Bird, I called you out of turn, were you required to start this public hearing now? Not a problem. But as soon as we return from the public hearing, which, by the looks of the gallery, will be very brief, you will be first to have the floor.