As a Grand Chute Town Supervisor, it is my duty to examine incoming police department proposals from a point of view of the best interest of the town, its taxpayers, citizen safety, and the effect the merger would have on the men and women of the Grand Chute Police Department.
From the beginning, I have felt the process to examine the department merger has been biased. The call for proposals did not begin to address the complexities and financial issues involved with a study of this size. A committee should have included town officials, police staff, citizens, from both the city of
Because of these reservations, I have spent the last month contacting and researching departments that have merged, thought of merging but didn’t, and departments that contract out their services. I examined how they went about forming their mergers, the process involved from idea conception to implementation, and the success of their respective services, along with the challenges each department faced. This included phone interviews and/or reading reports of Bonduel Police Department, City of
- Started out with a private feasibility study.
- Had a joint advisory board (including town officials, police staff, and citizens) to review service options
- Had a clear vision and firm objectives in mind before the proposal went public.
- Had much public participation including forums before adopting the merger.
- Had clear and equitable funding formulas covering members obligations
With the insistence of careful planning, the Indianapolis Metro merger took three years, and Louisville Metro took five years of planning before the merger. There is also an understanding that mergers do not save money. They look to improve services. The ultimate question is do proposals submitted by APD and OCS provide enough improvement of services to justify such a merger, and at what cost.
Respectfully submitted,
Travis J. Thyssen
