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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJULY 5,2016COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA WORKSHOP JULY 5, 2016 The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville met for a workshop on Tuesday, July 5, 2016. Council President Owen called the meeting to order at 5:31 P.M. Members present: Councilperson Jahn, Councilperson Maples, Councilperson Gill, Council President Owen, Councilperson Hawkins, Councilperson Samuel, and Councilperson Rodriquez. Councilperson White and Councilperson Zastawny were not present when the Council Workshop was called to order, however they arrived shortly afterwards at 5:33 PM I. Scott McVoy and Joe Hubbard - Jeffersonville Police Department Council President Owen said that during the last Finance Committee Meeting there were requests by Chief Kavanaugh and Council President Owen asked if the Department would bring the requests before the whole Council to discuss. Assistant Chief McVoy was present to discuss the current Department needs. The first request is in the form of overtime. The Police Department normally comes before the Council at this time of year to request additional money in Overtime. They are requesting $145,000 for overtime. This is going to be higher than last year because of the additional events and SWAT call outs. There have been lots of people on Lite Duty and on FMLA, there is just no way around it. This will get the Department through the end of the year as long as there are no big scale problems. The second request is for Toughbooks. The Department is in the process of replacing all of the Toughbooks and are doing so in cycles. They are looking to replace 30 this year and 20 were replaced last year. Councilperson Gill clarified that these are the computers that are used in the Police vehicles. Assistant Chief McVoy stated they were told the currently Toughbooks they have only have a trade in value of about $100/computer. He is going to speak with the IT Director to see if there is an alternative route to trade them in for more money. The cost for the Toughbooks with the 3 year protection plan is $116,000. They still need to determine how many mounts will be needed (for the vehicles) but it is thought to be around 15. Councilperson Rodriquez asked how many the Police Department needed total. Assistant Chief McVoy stated if they could get to 85 that would be ideal, and they would have some to cycle in in the event that one was broken. Councilperson Rodriquez asked if the Toughbooks came with the squad car and they do not. Assistant Chief McVoy stated the best way to do this in the future would be to incorporate all of the necessities in the total price of a new hire officer. So when a new officer is approved it will approve their Toughbook, squad car, ammo, trainings, etc. Councilperson White asked Assistant Chief McVoy to check with IT Director Dyer to see if there was a way to get more money for the old Toughbooks and it seems there would be a market for that kind of item. The third and final request is in the amount of $228,000 for vehicles. The Department is currently in a crunch for cars right now. This plan covers the purchase of 6 new Durangos that would replace the School Resource Officers vehicles. This would give the department 6 more marked cars for new hires. In total this amount would cover 8 new vehicles for the Department. The Traffic Division is now up and running about 5 hours a day. Right now they are targeting texting and distracted driving. 1 Councilperson Rodriquez asked why the School Resource Officers needed the Durangos. Are they planning on detaining lots of kids? Assistant Chief McVoy stated the Durango is really a multiuse thing, it can be used during inclement weather and they are getting away from having marked cars for the School Resource Officers. Councilperson Rodriquez asked if the Department still had the Dually truck. The Department does still have it. Councilperson Rodriquez asked where the vehicles are coming from and they will be purchased from John Jones in Salem. Councilperson Rodriquez asked if there was a reason that the vehicles were not being purchased locally in Jeffersonville and it is just due to the lack of availability in Jeffersonville. Councilperson Gill stated she knew the Overtime and the Laptops were going to be coming before the Council but she was unsure if she supported the Vehicles at this time. Councilperson Gill asked why this is a necessity for right now. Assistant Chief McVoy answered that after everyone is out of training they will not have enough marked Squad Cars for the Officers. This means they would have to ride double and would delay the amount of calls they could cover and ultimately their response times. Councilperson Gill asked why it had to be a Durango — that seemed like a pricey option for the School Resource Officers. The officers transport children, they keep a lot of their supplies on hand at all times and having a larger car that could be a multiuse vehicle when the weather turns bad would be beneficial. Councilperson Samuel asked it these will be purchased unmarked? Assistant Chief McVoy stated it had not been set in stone yet, but if it was needed they could be striped for about $350.00. Councilperson Samuel said looking at this, it is about a half of a million dollars in requests. The Council could use the LOIT money for all of these requests, but it would have to be taken out of the reserves. The Council needs to determine how much they are comfortable with taking out. Also keep in mind that the Fire Department will more than likely be coming in to make their requests as well. Councilperson Gill informed the Council that tonight during the meeting, there will be claims for two new Durangos for the Fire Department. Councilperson Hawkins asked why this was not budgeted before now. Assistant Chief McVoy stated there has never really been enough vehicles purchased to cover the needs of the Department and then on top of that Officers are being added. This means that the new cars that are coming in are automatically going into use and the oldest ones are being cycled out. We need to make sure that we have enough cars for the Officers we are bringing in. Then when there is an accident and a car is out during repairs it brings up a whole new set of problems. Councilperson Maples stated in his opinion the Durangos could be beneficial. A lot of times the School Resource Officers are transporting multiple kids, their belongings, car seats, and additional supplies. Not to mention having a diversified fleet can be beneficial overall to the Department. Councilperson Maples asked if the Chevy Caprice would be looked at in the future. Assistant Chief McVoy stated on average the Capris costs about $3000 more and have a longer wait time for parts if they need to be repaired. The Dodge Charger is more compatible with the Officers size and there haven't been any complaints using those. Councilperson Gill asked if all of these requests could be looked at separately. She is in favor of supporting some but not all. All of the LOIT has been appropriated. Councilperson Hawkins asked what the outcome of today would be. Council President Owen said the Department would like to know if they can move forward with these items. Councilperson White stated to get conversations started, he would support $100,000 for Overtime, 10 of the 30 requested Toughbooks, and 3-4 cars. 2 Councilperson Gill stated all of these additional events are benefiting the Parks Department but when we are looking for sponsorships we need to try to add in the cost factor of the Police Department to help supplement the costs. Councilperson Zastawny made a motion to APPROVE $117,000 for the purchase of 3 vehicles to be paid for out of LOIT Surplus. Councilperson Jahn seconded, PASSING on a vote, 9-0. Councilperson Zastawny made a motion to APPROVE $45,000 for the purchase of 10 Toughbooks to be paid for out of LOIT Surplus. Councilperson Jahn seconded, PASSING On a vote, 9-0. Councilperson Zastawny made a motion to APPROVE $100,000 for Overtime to be paid for out of LOIT Surplus. Councilperson Samuel seconded. Council President Owen stated he would not be in favor of this because it opens up a whole new revenue for contract negotiations, but he would be in favor of the amount coming out of the General Fund. Councilperson Samuel rescinded his second and Councilperson Zastawny rescinded his motion. Councilperson Zastawny made a motion to APPROVE $100,000 for Overtime to be paid for out of the General Fund Surplus with Councilperson Samuel seconding, PASSING on a vote, 9-0. Councilperson Samuel made motion to ADJOURN and seconded by Councilperson Jahn at 6:51 P.M. //(K. ST: , DU.S)l 1 &)he - ResKLUX) Vicki Conlin, City Clerk 3