HomeMy WebLinkAboutWorkshop July 17, 2014JEFFERSONVILLE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Council Chambers
The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville met in a workshop on Thursday, July 17, 2014.
Council President Julius called the meeting to order at 5:OOPM and members present were:
Councilperson Samuel, Councilperson Sellers, Councilperson Payne, Council Vice President Gill,
Councilperson Smith, and Councilperson Glover. Absent: Councilpersons Zastawny and Owen.
Also present were: Council Attorney Scott Lewis, City Clerk Vicki Conlin, Police Chief Chris
Grimm and Dr. Joe Grant.
Public Safety
The Council met in a workshop to discuss ways in which they can determine how many police
officers Jeffersonville needs to adequately service the City and the annexed areas. President
Julius stated that since the last Council meeting on July 7, 2014, at which time the Council
discussed whether or not more police officers should be hired, Fire Chief Eric Hedrick has also
requested the hiring of sixteen new firefighters. President Julius asked Dr. Grant if the study
that he proposed to the Council could encompass both police and fire and Dr. Grant stated that
his colleagues deal with primarily law enforcement, however, the basic approach would apply
to both, but the variables you would use would be different. Dr. Grant emphasized that no one
knows how many police officers are really needed, this is just an approach to make a
determination.
Chief Grimm stated that his department did an analysis called the "Rule of 60" looking at work
load, budgetary and per capita (based on the annexation plan), which he presented to Council.
This method determines whether or not 60% of an officer's day is used for on call service. Chief
Grimm explained that they pulled a random winter week and a random summer week to use to
determine need in their study. Chief Grimm stated that it's difficult to plan ahead as to how
many officers are needed on any given day, so you have to plan for the worst.
President Julius asked Dr. Grant how the Council should move forward from here and he
suggested first making sure that everyone is on the same page and remarked that despite the
little glitches, they are. The next step would be to set up the community/neighborhood
meetings and then lastly, find an individual to come in and conduct the study to determine
what is or is not needed to maintain services in the community.
Councilperson Glover asked what the average cost was for a study such as this and Dr. Grant
stated anywhere from $30,000 to $70,000. Councilperson Glover also stated that when you
conduct a study you have to be prepared to move forward with its recommendations. If Council
pays approximately $50,000 for a study and then states that they can't afford the amount of
officers the study recommends, that's throwing good money after bad.
Vice President Gill suggested going ahead and doing the study so that future administrations
have something to help guide them in the process. Councilperson Payne stated they need to
think about the type of growth that the City is going to have over the next few years. In three
years this study may not be applicable at all to the population and types of problems the City
may have and remarked that this study is a glimpse into the "right now."
Councilperson Smith explained that the hiring of City employees isn't the problem — he would
like to see as many as they can get, but the problem is financially how do they afford them and
how do they continue pay raises and maintain insurance.
President Julius explained to Chief Grimm why Council was taken aback by the request for 25
new police officers. He stated that the union never expressed a need for a 30% increase in
personnel, never heard that they felt understaffed and found out about the request for more
officers through the news media. Stated that Council's responsibility to their constituents is to
justify what they're spending their money on. The outside source and independent study is just
to offer some help. Chief Grimm stated that he thinks that together than can do the study in-
house and not spend $50,000, but if Council decides to do the study he will support it, but
requests that an RFP be put out.
Councilperson Glover stated that he feels that this study should be an all-inclusive study (police
and fire) for all emergency personnel response especially to those annexed areas.
Councilperson Smith stated that unless we look at the whole City, the study is useless.
Councilperson Samuel stated that Council needs to make sure they do their due diligence and
find out what the best plan is stating that maybe they can't fulfill the plan, but will have
something to go by that is based on a couple of different approaches — per capita and work
load. Councilperson Samuel explained that at the Council meeting (June 16, 2014) when the
hiring of 25 additional police officers was discussed, he felt that he was being asked to approve
it at that time and he didn't feel as though he had enough information to do so.
Chief Grimm suggested to Councilperson Smith that they sit down and really look at the budget
with the City Controller and figure out a number that they can all live with. Chief Grimm stated
that the decision boils down to money and questioned why they would pay for a study that
looks into manpower when ultimately, it's about the almighty dollar.
Dr. Grant stated that the question still remains how many officers the City needs and stated if
you want to rely upon the finances go ahead and work that out explaining that he has no vested
interest in promoting a study to the Council. Dr. Grant stated that the study is not a cure-all, but
will give Council a basis. Dr. Grant also offered his assistance to the Council, the Chief, and the
Police Department in any way he can.
After discussion, it was suggested that Council, Chief of Police, City Controller and the attorneys
sit down and discuss the issues further.
Councilperson Samuel made a motion to ADJOURN at 6:04PM with Councilperson Payne
seconding, PASSING on a vote of 7-0.
Vicki Conlin, Clerk
Dennis Julius, sident