Police Advisory Committee Meeting
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Grand Chute Town Hall
The following are notes I presented at tonight's meeting.
Reason for committee is to ensure numbers are accurate. Checks and balances with an Appleton based Interim Deputy Chief in charge of the numbers.
Fringe Benefit Savings
Calculation from Chief Peterson of 57,312 savings over five year period.
Requested breakdown of savings.
Inaccurate information.
Failure to take into account benefit comparisons of Grand Chute and Appleton PDs
The following is over five year period (Breakdown on attached sheet)
Physical Fitness Incentive up to $173,380.81
Retiree Health Insurance 17,500.00
Clothing Allowance 46,452.00
Body Armor 10,150.00
Sick Leave (78,883.67)
Wisconsin Retirement Contribution 71,552.40
Five year payout for additional benefits with merged department $240,151.54
Sick Day Accumulation
Grand Chute would need to pay Appleton for officer sick hours accrued at Appleton rate with any merger.
Currently 15,535 Hours banked
Grand Chute current accumulation $342,609.00
(Rate increase to Appleton would still be needed)
Myth:
Grand Chute is not a proactive police department
- Virchow Krause reported Grand Chute has little to no proactive policing.
- Ed Henschel in January 27, 2009 phone conversation stated no analysis or service structure report was performed. Mr. Henschel said the statement was based entirely on direction from Interim Appleton Deputy Chief Peterson.
Why this statement is false
- Officer time is broken down into committed and uncommitted time
- Committed time includes screens generated for calls for service, paperwork, initiated tasks, administrative and out of service screens.
- Uncommitted time is used by officers to conduct proactive policing.
Committed and Uncommitted Times for past three months
October
Committed Time
43%
Uncommitted Time
57%
November
Committed Time
37%
Uncommitted Time
63%
December
Committed Time
36%
Uncommitted Time
64%
Myth
Grand Chute is lacking in specialized services
- Many services are, in fact, provided by Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department for free, but were never noted.
- Notation on some services that Grand Chute because of its size of the department does not have specific organized teams. However, Grand Chute does have individual officers specializing in these services.
- Grand Chute officers have gone through many of the 26 courses noted as Appleton State Certified instructional staff. While they are not state certified, they have gone through training for these courses as required for continuing education.
· Actively patrol for drunk drivers
· Perkins Restaurant patrol
· Business checks during every shift
· Neighborhood Watch Program
· Citizens Police Academy
· Crime Prevention Activities w/kids
· Bike Rodeos
· Halloween Trick or Treat Bags
· National Night Out for Neighborhood Watch
· Bicycle PatrolCommunity Development officer/Liaison
· Prevention with local banks on incidents involving robberies
· Grand Chute I.D., Program established years ago for tellers/clerks checking two forms of ID and how to decipher fake IDs
· Licence Premise Checks
· Grant Projects related to speed enforcement, alcohol enforcement & seatbelts
· IRS Projects
· Fox River Mall Patrol/crime prevention
· Roadstar Inn targeted patrol for Drugs, underage drinking etc.
· Apartment complexes ALL in Grand Chute receiving letters for Apartment watch where nightly officers routinely walk through the complexes. This includes 3321 Woodman Drive which recently had a homicide.
· High Accident Intersection of Wisconsin/41 which led to officer's monitoring intersection and seeking out violations. This led to reduction in accidents at this intersection
Loss of Accountability
- Grand Chute taxpayers will be giving up the accountability of its police department.
- There will be little to no Grand Chute managers within the merged department.
- Can Grand Chute taxpayers comfortably give Appleton 25% of the town’s operating budget?
- Are the numbers provided accurate? What happens if they aren’t?
- Is there an established trusted relationship between the two municipalities?
- There is no turning back if the merger doesn’t work.
Staffing Levels
- A merged department brings no increase in staffing
- Grand Chute loses part time positions equaling 1.5 officers
- Reliant on positive placement up to discretion of the Appleton Chief
- No secured place for Grand Chute’s 5 staff sgts.
- No room in the budget to hire additional future staff
- No study has been done if a merged department or level of services Appleton promises to provide can handle influx of Grand Chute’s population.
Grand Chute has the ability to add more officers without increasing taxes
Salary difference GC officers raised to Appleton levels $ 464,626.00
Savings in Fringe Benefit payout (excluding sick time) $ 240,151.00
Half of Current GC Overtime Budget $ 649,565.00
TOTAL $ 1,354,342.00
New Officer Hires
Year One 74,500
Year Two 76,735 76,735
Year Three 79,037 79,037 79,037
Year Four 81,408 81,408 81,408 81,408
Year Five 83,850 83,850 83,850 83,850
Total 4 New officers over five years $1,126,113.00
Remaining in budget 228,229.00
Future Level of Grand Chute Police Department remaining intact
21 Patrol Officers
5 Staff Sgts
4 Investigators/PSL
2 Leuitentants
1 Police Chief
5 Part time positions (Equals 1.5 officers)
34.5 Grand Chute Officers
Conclusion
- Grand Chute is a fully functioning department
- Grand Chute is adequately staffed
- Interim Appleton Police Chief has failed to provide accurate numbers to the committee, resulting in biasness for a merged department.
- There has been no documentation in support of the half sheet of projected cost savings.
- Projected cost savings are completely wiped out with benefit payouts needed to meet Appleton’s.
- Virchow Krause, a respected accounting firm with experience in negotiating numerous municipal mergers concluded funding formulas do not favor Grand Chute taxpayers.
- Grand Chute has the resources to add more officers and keep the department autonomous without increases to the Grand Chute taxpayer.
