HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-09-29 Government Operations Committee Minutes
Government Operations Committee
September 29, 2009
Minutes
Councilor Attendance: Wheeler, Nealley, Hawes, Blanchette, Gratwick, D’Errico,
Palmer
Staff Attendance: Barrett, Farrar, Cyr, Yardley, Ring, Wardwell, Gastia, Hughes
Others: Charlie Birkel, 3 Recycling Committee Members, BDN
Committee Chair Wheeler opened the meeting at 5:00 p.m.
1. Continuation of COPS Grant Acceptance Discussion
Barrett gave some background. The application for the positions was approved in April
while the City was in the middle of the budget process. Under this program the City
has been awarded 4 positions of the 6 that was requested. The funding runs for 3
years and at the end of the three years the City is required to pick up the funding for at
least one additional year and will cost the City approximately $320,000.00. Barrett said
that assuming next year’s budget is a difficult budget it would be difficult to eliminate
any positions in the Police Department without losing all of the funding for these
positions and potentially being unable to apply for additional COPS grants for a period
of a year. There are conditions under which it is possible to get a waiver to that
provision. For example, if the City accepts the funding, goes forward with this process,
the Excise Tax Referendum passes in November, and the City has to make cuts in the
budget, and it can be shown to the Department of Justice that those cuts have been
made throughout the organization and not just focused on the Police Department, and
the City makes a case to them that the cuts were required by a change in our financial
circumstances, they can, in effect, change the grant to a supplemental grant to allow
the City to keep officers that might otherwise be laid off.
Chief Gastia stated that the decision needs to be made by the end of October to accept
the grant. He believes that the City does need to add additional forces to the Police
Department. If the City does not do it now, it will need to happen later because the
department stands to lose approximately 26 people to retirements in the next 4 years.
There have been some questions by Council members in the past regarding those
numbers as to how many individuals would really go, and Gastia is confident that about
half of those will retire at that time. Most of those people have seniority in higher
positions with a great deal of experience. The current force is a relatively young
department and will be a much younger department in the near future. It takes
approximately one year to fill a position due to the hiring process and the availability of
the academy for training purposes. Once the academy is available, it takes 3 to 4
months of training. This will be difficult on the department and will require a lot of
money in overtime if the City does not take advantage of putting officers on the streets
when the opportunity is there. His recommendation is to accept all four and, although
he realizes there are tough times ahead, the department will need extra staffing as the
City moves into the future.
Responding to Gratwick, Barrett said that if the Excise Tax Referendum passes in
November and cuts $1.8M out of the City’s budget it could go into effect as early as
January. If that happens, the City would have to find $900,000.00 in savings in the
City’s expenditure budget over the final 6 months of the year which would translate to
20 or 30 positions City wide. There is no way those kinds of reductions would be made
without affecting every department including the Public Safety Departments and Public
Works. Under that scenario, the City could go back to the Federal Government and
seek a change in the program to have them recognize that the financial situation has
changed and to allow the City to use the funding to keep positions that would otherwise
need to be laid off. He pointed out that he is unsure if they would allow the City to do
that.
If the referendum passes on the Excise Tax, Gratwick believes this is going to be very
hard times for a City Department that is already stressed. He thinks this is the
appropriate thing to do and public safety is of primary importance to all Bangor citizens.
This is a time of unusual stress in Bangor due to the recession and there is an increase
in crime with drugs, gangs, etc and mandates. Bangor has a good Public Safety Police
Department at this current time. He feels that the City needs to set aside the money as
time goes and not put it on Council three years down the road. He also said that
Council will need to make some really hard choices between departments deciding the
relative balance of the public safety, schools, fire, plowing snow, etc. He is against
raising taxes and thinks that exceedingly hard and unpleasant choices will need to be
made in the future.
Responding to Blanchette, Gastia stated that 4, including him, are FBI trained academy
graduates. Of those 2 and possibly 3 are eligible or planning to retire. Blanchette said
that as Council, some hard decisions need to be made and with the strained budget of
the City, also comes an increase in crime and delinquencies. She does not believe that
the City can reduce the size of the Police force and expect to get the same
enforcement. Responding to Blanchette, Gastia said that of the 6 positions that were
originally applied for, one School Resource Officer, 2 Special Enforcement Team Officer
and one Community Relations Officer, one Computer Crimes Investigator, and one
Violent Crime Investigator, he still feels that although he is only being offered 4
positions, these positions are important. In his opinion, the 2 Special Enforcement
Team officers, a School Resource Officer and the Community Relations Officer are
essential. The other two positions were taken away when he took the position as Chief
due to the need of the patrol officers. Responding to Blanchette, Chief explained that
Bangor is one of two municipalities that have the ability to investigate murders. All of
the investigators are trained to the level of homicide investigator. Whenever a new
detective is brought into the criminal division, they are trained. There are 5 general
investigators. The supervisor of that division will be retiring, but there are no other
investigators that plan to retire. Gastia said that his department is constantly looking at
sending the Lieutenants, as they come up to that position, through the FBI training, but
unfortunately, the District of Maine only gets 2 positions per session to send to the FBI
academy. Bangor has been fortunate that a position has become available about every
4 years. The City just got someone back a couple of weeks ago and has already begun
the application process for another Lieutenant. He anticipates it might be another 4
years before another position for Bangor will become available.
Responding to Nealley, Gastia said that 10 years ago Chief Winslow did a program
budget, and it was reported that officers responded to approximately 22,000 calls. In
the previous year, the Police Department responded to just over 32,000 calls, a 10
thousand call increase in 10 years. The number of patrol staff on the streets to patrol
has not increased for over 27 years. There are three shifts; (6am-4pm), (4pm-2am) and
(8pm-6am). This brings it to 6 officers that would be out actively on the streets but it is
necessary to account for vacations, sick leave, etc. Typically, Gastia has five officers on
the day crew from 6 am until 4 pm, which is the time when the City has the highest
volume of people within the City. From 4 pm until 8 pm, there are again roughly 5 or 6
officers that are on that crew. At 8pm there is double coverage.
Nealley thinks that the COPS program is a gift to Bangor with the attrition and no
budgeted dollars for this. The City has several years to budget in for these positions
when the funding ends.
D’Errico recalls many past Councils that have taken risks. He spoke about 1968 when
the City lost 13,000 people due to the deployment of military personnel and their
families. One of the things the City attempted to do was to have the State create an
airport, which was turned down. The next attempt was to form an authority within the
surrounding communities, which was also turned down. The government offered the
City the airport and immediately recognized it as a resource for economic development.
However, there was quite a risk involved. He pointed out that the risk was a substantial
risk and he says that Bangor is growing and changing. In today’s Bangor Daily
newspaper, Derrico pointed out that 60 criminals are going to trial. He believes that the
City should take advantage of this opportunity by accepting this grant.
Responding to Wheeler, Barrett said that in the union contracts there are management
rights to take actions if positions need to be eliminated.
Responding to Wheeler, Gastia said that the functions of a Community Relations Officer
is very broad and will ask other departments that currently have a Community Relations
Officer to fine tune a job description. The department currently has a part time
position for a Public Information Officer to deal with the press and he feels that the
Community Relations Officer would be something entirely different. Although working
hand in hand with the Public Information Officer, the Community Relations Officer will
be educating the public. He see the misunderstanding the public has about what the
department is doing and believes the department is focusing on things it should not be
focused on. He feels that becoming proactive in crime and educating people about
ways to prevent these crimes are key. He believes that having a Community Relations
Officer will help to improve the image of the department. He thinks it is important for
the City to employ community policing such as a Community Watch program. He wants
to speak with the schools, meet with neighborhoods and parents, which is important
and not something that his officers have had time to do.
Responding to Wheeler, Gastia said that a Community Relations Officer could go to
colleges and schools to help recruit individuals of the highest caliber. The City would
like to find individuals that are good representatives of the City and good ambassadors
that are personable, and this is hard to do in the current hiring process.
A motion was moved and seconded that this Committee recommend acceptance of the
4 COPS position to the full Council. A voice vote was done and it was unanimous.
Blanchette commended Gastia for holding strong on the Community Relations Officer
position from the beginning and thinks he has explained his case and his cause very
well.
2. Discussion Regarding Whether the Recycling Committee and City Staff Should
Continue to Pursue and Analyze Solid Waste and Recycling Alternatives
Ring began by mentioning the comprehensive overview of both Recycling and Solid
Waste issues. The City may be facing financial challenges in the future and there are
some major contracts dealing with the Solid Waste Management coming up very soon.
He referred to information that was provided to the Committee with descriptions of
some alternatives ways to deal with both recycling and solid waste. He said that he is
not in a position to discuss these alternatives right now, and the information was
intended to be informational at this point. The Recycling Committee has spent a great
deal of time discussing other possible things the City might consider in the future.
There are no recommendations at this point but there are other alternatives that other
communities use and the question posed was whether there is interest in having the
Recycling Committee and City Staff continue to collect and analyze data regarding the
various solid wastes and recycling alternatives available in addition to, or in place of,
our current systems. The research would take 2 or 3 months to come back to the
Committee with something useful.
Blanchette said that many people are opposed to using plastic bags due to the
environmental issue and she would be interested in discussing the idea allowing
containers without bags, or paper bags for disposal. She would like to see all areas of
recycling explored. She is not interested in stopping the current recycling program and
says that once the system is stopped it is very hard to start up again. She said that
even though the number of households recycling is low, every amount not going to the
land fill or being burned and creating toxic fumes is important. Ring responded by
saying that many of the things that Blanchette is talking about would be researched if
the Committee decides that they want staff to go forward with the collection of data
and research.
Hawes observed that the Recycling Committee has not had Council commitment in the
past. She was on the Recycling Committee and they would often come to the Council
with a message that something was needed and would come back with the least
expensive way to accomplish the task. She agrees that there will be some difficult
decisions to be made with the budget, but one of the things that the City cannot afford
is not to recycle. She agrees that more information is needed and believes that there
are more ways to recycle.
Gratwick said that coming together with the Community is what needs to happen. This
is done by having public meetings.
Barrett responded to Blanchette by explaining once the Committee has indicated
whether or not they approve staff moving forward with research, the Recycling
Committee would then meet again with this committee to discuss the recommendation
of certain proposals. Wheeler recommended to the Committee that the Council pass a
Resolution or Resolve.
Jay Dresser is a member of the Recycling Committee and stated there are a few issues
being discussed in the Committee. One being the single stream and the other is user
fees. These are both very complicated and interesting ideas, however, he believes in
multi-stream as opposed to single stream. He says that multi-stream is free labor. The
consumer separates the trash rather than someone on a conveyor belt. There is also
less contamination with multi-stream. Single stream has a huge transportation cost.
He is ok with user fees as long as 100% of the revenue goes to the Recycling
Committee to purchase things such as new bailers. He suggested having another drop
off center on the north side but currently there is not any funding for that. If the City
accepted user fees that might be a possibility in the future and the collection efforts
could increase.
Monique Goudreau is also on the committee and pointed out that at a recent workshop,
Gratwick shared that 62 other communities in Maine have forms of pay per throw for
their solid waste. She found that very surprising and said that the committee has been
studying this for a short period of time and she agrees with Jay that this is complicated.
She agrees that user fees are not popular and will be a challenge to sell the idea, but
she feels that this is the time to do it. The Committee did some random phone calls
and she was surprised that the response was as favorable as it was.
Blanchette asked that with the Resolve there should be a time table that staff report
back to the Committee before budget time. She believes that there is a big possibility
that the City may have to ask for a user fee. All the information needs to be in place to
make informed decisions. Barrett said that after talking to Ring they feel that
information can be available by mid-January.
Hawes said that the City will need an education process and believes that going to the
schools would be beneficial. Wheeler said that discussing this with the Superintendent
of Schools would be a start. Blanchette pointed out people from the State of Maine
who should be contacted, such as, Neil Rhodes, who has written a book on this topic
and Sherri Huburd, who headed up the recycling. She said there might be some grants
the City could tap into and would help get an education program going in the Bangor
school system.
Monique Goudreau pointed out that there are two opportunities at the High School that
have the potential for getting this information out. The SEED group, which is an
afterschool program that is an environmental group, would be happy to have some
involvement with something like this. She said that she works with a Special Ed
program called Project Transition where the kids do projects in the morning and the
afternoon and do job coaching. One of the places they go three times a week is the
recycling center.
A motion was made and seconded to draft a Resolve to the City Council recommending
the Recycling Committee and City Staff continue to collect and analyze data regarding
th
solid waste and recycling alternatives and return to the Committee by January 15,
2009.
3. Revised General Assistance Workfare Strategy
Yardley stated that this idea came from staff and he is proud of them and thinks this
idea has a lot of merit. General Assistance has a Workfare component for those able
bodied people that find themselves in need of general assistance. The idea is that they
work at a rate of minimum wage to repay the benefits they receive. Although this is a
good concept, Yardley believes it is difficult to manage. Work sites have to be found
and they have to be coordinated. In the past, it has been difficult to find supervisors,
find sufficient work to keep people busy. Staff came up with the idea, which is modeled
after other labor programs, and is a labor ready concept where it would be made easy
for potential employers who are, for example, other City departments, or non-profit
organizations in the community, etc. to let us know their need and this program would
help meet that need with people that have that requirement.
Blanchette thought this was a great idea and suggested that helping to keep City Hall
and the loading dock outside City Hall clean would be beneficial. Yardley responded by
saying that this program allows those that have fallen on tough times or had a tough
history, a chance to create a positive work history that can be used as a spring board to
find employment. If the labor that is required helps these individuals to find a paying
job that is a side benefit. The challenge is to get worksites appropriately supervised.
Once they leave our office, they are then the responsibility of the placement and in the
past that has been a problem.
Yardley stated he wanted to get the endorsement of the Committee before he
contacted all the City departments and some targeted social service agencies in town.
Responding to D’Errico, Yardley said that if the individual did not have their own
transportation, the BAT bus is timed to stop at his department at the same time the
shift would begin. Bus tickets would be provided.
Nealley commended Yardley and his staff for the great idea. Gratwick also agreed and
asked how it has worked in other communities. Responding to Gratwick, Yardley
pointed out that some of the challenges will be people refusing to work or doing an
adequate job that will result in a loss of benefits. He said that this program will at least
force these individuals to come into the office and report for duty at 8:00 a.m. and if
there is not enough work they will be released of their obligations for that day.
Palmer suggested that the wording of able bodied be replaced with work capable.
Yardley agreed and said that he will go back and change his paperwork and, if possible,
will ask the state level to do the same. A motion was made and seconded to support
the Workforce program, and so voted.
Meeting adjourned @ 6:50 p.m.