This is a bit of a update for November into December 2008.
Elmwood Police Committee had a meeting with a couple of Plum City employees and my wife attended and recorded the meeting. Over all, the budget for 2009 will allow 24,700.00 Salary for a 3/4 Time police Chief, and a Part time officer as well. The budget also has 5,500.00 for benefits and 6,500.00 for expenses like fuel and maintenance on the squad. They have taken away 2,000.00 for the outlay to balance the budget the way they wanted. The outlay would be for the purchase towards a new car, and purchase items needed for the PD.
During the discussion it was clear the members believe no one wants to work evening and weekend shifts. It was stated the officers come and go, as if they are going through a revolving door. Once they get experience, they leave. It was also stated that the good officers leave quickly, and the bad officers always seem to hang around. "Older officers are set in their ways, and do not want to follow instruction" was claimed.
Plum City Reps stated that if they would be looking at getting a squad car, they would most likely just get the Dept. up and running themselves again. It is Elmwoods idea to have Plum City contract through Elmwood to increase their expense amounts and mutually purchase a new squad car. The Rep also stated that Plum City always budgets for the police and currently it is believed 20,000.00 is the 2009 budget amount.
The Schools also have interest in having officers around at the beginning and end of the school days, as well as during sporting events. It was noted that they also have truency issues that are to be dealt with, and the school also have the officers around for pro-active reasons. The truency issues are covered by the village ordinances and Attorney Robert Loberg takes care of them, as he is the Attorney for both communities at this time.
The Plum City Representative asked if the officers would be required to be 24/7 ready, and it was responded that they will be required when their are events going on, as well as nights and weekend mostly.
Elmwoods Police Committee spokeman stated that the 2nd part time officer for Elmwood has resigned, and their will not be another until they hire someone new, near the beginning of the new year. It was also stated that the Hrs to be covered will be likely 7-9 am, and 3-10 pm or so, sometimes till bar closing and every other weekend to mix it up. A new job description is being done to ensure these areas are covered. 32 Hrs a week will keep the officer at part time, and keep the costs down for their pay. If two people are hired, they could look into about 55 hrs keeping the benefits from being paid. The part time officers now are paid 10.00 and hour. The squad car that Elmwood has, is loaded with most the up to date technology that it could have. It was also noted that Loberg does not believe their to be any problems in the two communities working together. The part time officers that have been in Elmwood are also Spring Valley officers, so their has been comments in regards to the squads being in the opposite towns often.
Plum City Reps then stated they would look into having about 24 hrs of service with Elmwood, and would like the figures to be put together and sent to them, prior to the December 1, 2008 board meeting they are going to have. This would help them look into their budget numbers also.
Elmwood Reps noted that they where placing an ad in the paper for the position, and looked to hire someone near the beginning of the year.
Biggest thing noted " The officer must listen to the board, and the job discription will be changed to ensure that" The policy and procedures they are to be covered also, but the control by the board is much more a factor.
It was clearly stated by both community Reps, that Pierce County is not much help. Elmwoods Rep stated "We do not rely on them" and Plum City stated " We have a hard time getting them down there too".
It was a common issue that a full time officer is too expensive for small communities, due to the Retirement, and Benefits that are required by law to be covered for them. The Control over how they do their job is another factor both noted often.
The meeting lasted approx. 35 minutes
November Board Minutes by Clerk Jodi Pulk
1st printing of the year in the Argus.
(note: I called and asked the Argus about the monthly publication of the Elmwood minutes, and they responded they could not really remember any. yet they charge the citizens in the budget for monthly publications of them. more funds missing?)
Nov. 3, 2008
There was public input by Susan Dzubay, stating that the public safety part of the budget was the most important part to be considered at the budget talks. Their was conversations about the police dept. and the village office then.
The 2009 budget talks then discussed how they are looking at the recent survey and spending funds on repairing the sidewalks, like the citizens noted as being the biggest concern.
( I do not agree. I believe Public Safety as being the biggest concern. We have not had police coverage like it is suppose to be, and the board is well aware they are the reason for this problem.)
It was also noted that the Nursing Home will become a smoke free facility at the years end.
This meeting lasted just over an hour, ending at 8:15 pm.
NOTE: While reading the article written by Sari Gordon of the Pierce County Herald, she stated that the Sidewalk budget was cut in half, to allow for a 3/4 time police officer.
(This was never noted by the clerk at all. They also stated that they took away 2,000.00 from the outlay of the police dept. budget. What are they really doing with these funds????)
Nov. 17, 2008
The open public hearing for their budget ended up being nothing but talks between Elmwood and Plum City Reps in regards to sharing a police Dept. This lasted about 17 minutes, and the Public Hearing was closed.
The 2009 Budget was then approved by the board after opening the regular monthly meeting.
They then changed the ban on renting tables and chairs to the community. Now they will charge 5.00 for a table, .50 per chair, and 10.00 per picnic table. They also are charging a deposit fee, that was not given.
They also changed the special assessment interest rate from 5.5% to 10%. This was also passed.
The Board meeting lasted only about 20 minutes, ending at 7:37pm
Note- I will update this when I get the December Board meeting recording done being transcribed.
December Meeting was held this past Monday.
There was no public input
The Pierce County Public Health Dept. in Elmwood will be closing the office they have here, due to budget cuts at the county level. They will continue to assist people of the area though, by using the village auditorium and board room for the WIC and Immunization clinics they hold. This was ok'd by the board.
There was a Representative at the meeting to discuss a Cell Tower being placed within the village limits to provide service coverage for users in the community. This would be owned initially by Minnesota Tower Co., and it would start out with AT&T service, and 3 other carriers could be added in the future as well. The Rep. stated they had concerns though with the village Ordinance, stating the village wants 5% of the revenue received for the tower. He added that he has been dealing with these towers since the mid 90's and has never came across anyone wanting Revenue %. The other area of concern was in the transferability. The village wants the ability to revoke the contract if the company changes or transfers ownership of the tower. Rupakus gave his concerns using large words to make himself look and sound more intelligent than the rest of the people in the room. He does this on a regular basis. There is a word they use for this style of person, but I will let everyone choose their own for him. He wanted to know what kind of payments they would be willing to provide. Clerk Jodi Pulk stated that she called around to other communities and no one used their style of terminology in their contracts. She added that she spoke with Attorney Loberg in regards to the ordinance. It was agreed that the Attorney for the Towers and the Village Attorney could continue the talks in regards to the contract information. The tower would be somewhere between 200-250 feet tall, and it would be anchored down by a cement slab 6' underground. Rupakus continued to state he was concerned about bearing the burdens of the tower, and it was stated that if service was to be stopped, the tower would be removed all together, except for the cement slab underground. It seemed that the ability to terminate the contract at there wish was the biggest concern Rupakus had. The Rep added that the tower is governed by the FCC, and the FAA. He also stated that this is done by engineers and they are controlled by state standards.
So it sounds like we might get a tower to assist in the poor cell phone reception we have here in Elmwood.
