FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILL ROAD

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2008

 

 

EXPENSE SUBCOMMITTEE

 

 

1.         Finance Committee of Council's Subcommittee to review Expense opened at 7:55 p.m., with roll call as follows: Mr. Fix, Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Sauer were present. There were no members absent. Others present were Chief Taylor, Angie Fenner and Stacey Bashore.

 

2.         A.        APPROVAL OF MINUTES of Minutes from March 19, 2008 Meeting-  Mr. Sauer moved to approve; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Sauer voting "Yea."  Motion passed, 3-0.

 

            B.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES of Minutes from April 2, 2008 meeting- Mr. Sauer moved to approved; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Fix and Mr. Sabatino voting "Yea."  Motion passed, 3-0.

 

3.         A.        Review and discussion regarding Police Department Expenses

 

Mr. Fix stated that the approach he would like to take with this Committee was to look at what the City does in very general terms to see whether it is effective and affordable.  He further stated he wanted to look at each department and how it is broken down to see if there need to be any changes.  Mr. Sabatino stated we can look to see if each portion is contributing and whether there is a cost benefit.  Chief Taylor stated he would be happy to answer any questions.  Mr. Fix asked about conviction rates and cases.  Chief Taylor stated that conviction rates are harder to figure out because we don't know when they go to court.  He stated there is not good feedback from the Court to tell us what happened with each case.  Chief Taylor stated that we have a 66% solvability rate which is relatively high.   He stated that last year 731 cases were investigated between 3 detectives and it depends on what the case is and how long it takes to investigate.  Mr. Fix asked if we received help from any other governmental agencies and Chief Taylor stated that Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Columbus Police Department helps, but it still requires a lot of footwork on our end.  Chief Taylor stated that the detectives have to type up their own case and it would be very helpful to have a secretary work on those to free up more of their time.  Mr. Fix stated that his goal is that everyone comes away with a good understanding of what goes into the budget so we are comfortable answering any questions.  Chief Taylor asked everyone to keep in mind should a detective or the bureau get cut from the budget it would leave officers following up on cases and taking them off

 

 

the road where they need to be.  He stated that the level of service that we provide is next to none and we get court recognition wishing other departments were like ours.  Mr. Fix asked what percentage of the crimes were felonies and Chief Taylor stated it was approximately 20%.  Mr. Sabatino stated that compared to other communities we are at the low end of the number of detectives.  Mr. Fix asked what the task force officer was and Chief Taylor stated he was the officer who works undercover with Fairfield County Task Force.  Mr. Fix asked what if we didn't have that and Chief Taylor stated they are involved in high dollar cases that are in the process of being adjudicated.  Chief Taylor stated that we have had two paybacks of money since he has been on the task force.  Mr. Fix asked if there was no officer in the task force would they still work with us on the bigger cases and Chief Taylor stated the response would be much slower if we took an officer out.  Mr. Fix asked about the DARE program and Chief Taylor stated that it appears to be worth it and there are enough students to warrant two officers.  Mr. Schornack stated that we do receive some money from grants for the program.  Chief Taylor stated that it covers approximately 1,000 kids a year.  Mr. Sauer asked if there had been any research done to show the positive impact and Chief Taylor stated that we have shown kids who have went through the program that have a change of heart and their self esteem is built up.  Mr. Sauer stated that from his point of view the youth tend to get neglected in the whole scheme of things and he feels it is a worthwhile program.  Mr. Fix asked about dispatching and Chief Taylor stated that if he has one dispatcher that is sick or on vacation he is into paying overtime.  Mr. Fix asked what outsourcing options there were and Chief Taylor stated the Sheriff's office could but the quality would be questionable and Columbus Police Department isn't an option.  Mr. Sauer stated from his opinion outsourcing it could be a logistical nightmare that could put people's safety at risk.   Mr. Fix asked if we told the Police Department to cut their budget by 15% what would you cut and Chief Taylor stated he would cut manpower but he was already short one officer.  Mr. Sauer asked how the red light cameras would impact the officer shortage and Chief Taylor stated it would help a great deal and could equate to approximately 40 to 50 hours of officer time.  Mr. Fix asked if there were any services that were provided at an expense that were optional and Chief Taylor stated that most of the services are provided while the officers are on shift so we flex the schedule to allow for them.  Mr. Sabatino clarified that all of these services are performed during the regular shift routines.  Chief Taylor stated that the parades and festivals costs straight overtime.  Mr. Fix stated that we are developing a policy for any entity that wants money or manpower from the City has to come before the Finance Committee and we will set aside so much a year for that. He stated that we recognize that we have assumed something that we can no longer assume.  Chief Taylor stated that some of the overtime can't be helped due to Court and training and he tries to limit it as much as he can.   Mr. Sauer clarified that the schools pay for the officer's time for high school games.  Mr. Sabatino asked if the festivals could fund the officers and Chief Taylor stated he had no objection to having his officers work special duty if the festivals wanted to pay them.  Mr. Fix asked what happens if we don't send our officers to festivals and Chief Taylor stated they don't have to provide security and they could hire a private security company.  Chief Taylor clarified that a private security company would not have arrest powers.  Mr. Sabatino stated that we shouldn't provide free services for the festivals and should have a policy in the permitting process. 

 

Chief Taylor stated that the Violet Festival runs around $7,000 in overtime and the parades run around $2,000 each in overtime.  Mr. Sabatino requested a sheet to show the costs involved for a parade or festival to see if we need a new policy for the permit process.  Mr. Fix stated that we would set aside a certain number of dollars and then we need to come up with a dollar equivalent for the police officer time.  Mr. Sabatino stated that from a fairness standpoint it would give us a way of accounting for it.  Mr. Fix asked for an average hourly cost for overtime and typical man power for each function.  Mr. Sauer stated his point of view is that the City should not be in the business of subsidizing the safety needs of these different festivals.  Mr. Sabatino stated that we need to be the one who defines what kind of security is needed.  Mr. Fix requested that the other departments be broken down with a revenue and expense history for future meetings.  The Committee requested that the Finance Department be ready to discuss at the next meeting. There being nothing further, the Expense Subcommittee closed at 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April, 16 2008.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

 

                                                                       

Stacey L. Bashore, Deputy Municipal Clerk