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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-04-13 09-131 ORDERCOUNCIL ACTION Item No. 09 131 Date: 4-13-08 (TITTLE.) ORDER, Authorizing Application for Police Officer Positions under Federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Grant Funding Program Responsible Department: Police Commentary: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes funding for the COPS Hiring Recovery Program to address the sworn personnel needs of state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies. Under this program, unlike earlier versions, the federal government will pay the full cost of all salaries and benefits for an initial three year period. The City would then be required to assume all program costs in year four. In late March, Police Chief Gastia presented a request to the Government Operations Committee seeking approval to apply for six police officer positions. Following this presentation, a full Council Workshop was held in early April to further review and discuss this request. While participating Councilors have generally expressed support for additional officers, concerns have been aired over the requirement that the community maintain the higher level of staffing and fully fund it for at least the forth year of the program. The deadline for applying for these positions is April 14th. This order will authorize the Department to submit an application. If an application is submitted, we will return to the Council once we have been notified that we have received an award and the number of positions that will be funded. At that time, the Council will be asked to act to accept the award. Department Head Manager's Comments: As presented, this order would authorize applying for six positions. Please note that it could be amended should the Council wish to apply fora jqwer numbe City Manager Associated Information: Memorandum from Chief Gastia, Cost Spreadsheet, Dept. of Justice Information Budget Approval: Legal Approval: Introduced for x Passage First Reading Referral Page _of_ City Solicitor 09 331 Assigned to Councilor Hawes April 13, 2009 CITY OF BANGOR (TITLE.) ORDER, Authorizing the Application for Sworn Officer Positions Under the Federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Grant Funding Program WHEREAS, the Police Department has been notified of the availability of COPS funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; and WHEREAS,, the Police Department has identified a need for additional sworn officers due to increased calls for service, growth in various areas of the City, a growing need for enforcement of criminal and traffic laws, an enhanced ability to address identified quality of life issues, and to prepare for future anticipated retirements, among other needs; and WHEREAS,, the Chief of Police has recommended that the City apply for six (6) officer positions in order to respond to these needs; and WHEREAS, during the initial three year grant period, all costs associated with salaries and benefits for these additional officers will be paid through the grant with no local match requirement; and WHEREAS, during the grant period and for one year thereafter, the conditions of the grant will require the City to maintain the level of sworn officer staffing achieved following the addition of any positions funded by the grant; and WHEREASr it is projected that maintaining this staffing level in year four will require the addition of approximately $400,000 to the City budget for Fiscal Year 2013; NOWr THEREFOREr BE IT ORDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BANGOR THAT an application for six (6) sworn officer positions under the COPS Grant Program is hereby authorized, and the Chief of Police is authorized to take such appropriate action as may be necessary to submit the grant application; and BE IT FURTHER ORDERED THAT, as required under the terms of the grant, it is recognized that the City has an obligation to maintain the new positions for a minimum of one year following the expiration of the three-year grant funding term; and BE IT FURTHER ORDERED THAT,, if notification of successful grant funding is received, the City Council shall have the opportunity to make a final decision regarding how many, if any, officer positions the City will actually accept. IN CITY COUNCIL April 13, 2009 Motion Made and for Passage Seconded Notion Doubted Vote: 6-1 Councilor Voting Yes: Blanchette, Bronson, D'Errico, Palmer Stone & Wheeler Councilors Voting No: Gratwick Councilors Absent: Hawes & Nea4py Pas —CITY CLERIC 4 09-131 (TITLE,) Authorizing the Appl i ra i nn for Sworn Officers Position Under the Federal Comimmi y Ori p Pii Pnl ring OPS) Grant Funding Program Assigned to Councilor Bangor Police Department TO: Government Operations Committee FROM: Ronald Gas" Chief of Police DATE: February 19, 2009 RE: COPS Grant opportunity 39 131 240 Main Street Bangor, Maine 04401 207-947-7382 Fax 207-945-6824 The Police Department has been notified of the availability of funding under the COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) for the purpose of addressing the personnel needs of state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies. The funds were allocated as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In 2007, authorization was given to increase our staffing level from 76 sworn officers to 79. The primary purpose of the increase was to provide appropriate staffing at the airport, thereby reducing the burden on the Patrol Division. The airport reimburses the Police Department for the six officers assigned. Statistics indicate a trend of increased calls answered by the Police Department over the past several years. In addition, patrol crews frequently operate below minimum levels, usually because personnel are not available to fill open shifts due to vacancies, sickness, and vacations. Officers assigned to non -patrol positions are sometimes required to "fill- in" in order to meet necessary staffing requirements. Although the population of Bangor remains relatively consistent, growing residential areas, such as Stillwater Avenue, Outer Essex Street and Ohio Street, have increased the geographical areas for which police presence is required. The growing commercial area surrounding the Bangor Mall has significantly increased the need for additional enforcement of both traffic and criminal laws. Hollywood Slots, the Water Front improvement project, and the proposed new Arena will have an impact on the Main Street corridor and subsequently will impact the way the Police Department routinely assigns patrol officers. The number of Patrol Officers on the street needs to be increased. This, ultimately, should be accomplished by increasing the staffing levels of the Department in order to meet all of the law enforcement needs of the City. The reassigning of officers from other positions and divisions has only partially helped, and such action has caused limitations to other areas of need. I recommend a proactive approach to the staffing needs of the Department by obtaining COPS funding for six positions. The positions would be funded for three years, after which the City would need to maintain the positions. Previous COPS grants required the City to provide matching funds; however, that requirement has been waived for this grant z� 39 131 funding. The costs to the City over the first three years would be those associated with the hiring process, Academy training, and equipment purchases. I anticipate that this would amount to approximately $5000 per officer, plus typical unknown costs such as the payment of overtime. While the grant requires that the City maintain the acquired positions following its expiration, this approach will allow us three years to plan for the budgetary requirements necessary to maintain the positions. I believe that an increase in our staffing level is inevitable. While I believe an increase should occur as soon as possible, if an authorized increase in staffing were to be anticipated within the next three to five years, I believe that the benefit that this opportunity presents far exceeds any detriment. Hiring now for an inevitable future staffing increase will be of significant benefit to the City. The proposed positions would be assigned as follows: • One (1) School Resource Officer — In 1998, COPS funding was obtained to support three SROs in Bangor schools. At that time, there was a strong need for a law enforcement presence in our Middle Schools and High Schools. That endeavor was embraced by the previous two school administrations, and continues to be supported by the current administration. The number of SROs in the schools has been reduced from three to one because of recent staffing issues. While the positions were maintained, as required, following the expiration of the grant funding, it became necessary to utilize two of those positions in the Patrol Division. There is a definite need to re -assign a second SRO to the schools. The placement of these officers not only increases the safety at our schools, it also allows the Department to continue its Juvenile Diversion Program. The Diversion Program has been a highly successful program designed to hold first-time juvenile offenders appropriately accountable for their actions, and to reduce recidivism. In addition to reducing crime, the burden on state juvenile corrections personnel has been significantly reduced, thereby allowing them additional time and resources to focus on more serious offenders. The third SRO position would remain vacant. Filling the second position through COPS funding would prevent reducing patrol staffing levels further. • Two (2) Special Enforcement Team Officers — In 2003, the Department developed a Special Enforcement Team (SET) consisting of three officers and a supervisor. The primary function of the Team was to focus on matters of relatively high concern to which neither patrol officers nor detectives could dedicate time due to other, more pressing needs. The program produced significant results; but, after being reduced to two officers and a supervisor, was ultimately abolished because of a lack of staffing resources. Using COPS funding to staff the Team with two officers would allow the department to again address numerous quality of life issues without reducing patrol staffing levels. This program was viewed as a tremendous success and I greatly encourage support for its resurrection. Ap 39 131 • One (1) Community Relations Officer - Not having a dedicated Community Relations Officer to address the concerns of a city the size of Bangor is rare. The recent inception of the Challenge Coin award is a single component to a much needed community relations program. As both the City and the Department grow, providing public safety resources to the community is expected to reduce crime, educate the public, and help to make the City a safer place to live and work. The objectives of this positions would be to increase positive contacts with the community, children, civic organizations, and the elderly; conduct tours; attend speaking engagements; work hand-in-hand with the Department's Media Relations Officer; address the multiple requests that the Department receives for safety training for employees and the elderly; explore the possibility of Neighborhood Watch programs; liaison between the Special Enforcement Team and community members to address quality of life concerns; expand recruitment efforts; and improve the relationship between the Department and the public by introducing ways to create positive images of police officers. • One (I) Computer Crimes Investigator - Currently, the department has one detective assigned to investigate computer crimes. Computer crimes include fraud, property theft, identity theft, and crimes against children such as child pornography. These types of crimes have become very prevalent, although little follow-up investigation is conducted, and proactively seeking criminals who use the internet for illegal acts is almost non-existent due to a lack of resources. These crimes will most assuredly continue to increase both in number and significance. Training and assigning additional investigators to conduct computer related crimes investigations is inevitable. • One (1) Violence Crime Investigator — Since the mid 1990s, the Police Department has assigned an investigator to the Federal Violent Crimes Task Force. The Department has realized a large benefit from having an officer assigned to the Task Force. Many firearms related offenses that occurred in the City were investigated by the Task Force, and when needed, the full resources of the Task Force were at the Department's disposal. The Department also received monies from seizures that were later forfeited to the government. In 2008, it was necessary to reassign the officer to the Patrol Division due to staffing deficits. There is a clear benefit to the community in having a fully staffed Violent Crimes Task Force and in having an officer of the Department assigned to that unit. However, assigning an officer to the Task Force without increasing overall staffing through COPS funding would decrease the Patrol Division by another officer, which would not be prudent at this time. I am only requesting authorization to apply for the funding for these positions. There is no obligation of the City to accept the funding, if approved. Z? Projected Costs for Proposed COPS Posidons FY2010 - FY2013 W c co B�_RANr Saka2"ONlcsr) ��pEo 1 $35,387.04 538815.793 538.30223! $1!0,50508; Heft Ins. - 39.5% (Per OMew) $14,309.78 $14,949.961 $15.553.57! :44,873.32`: — Medicare . IAS%(PwOMco $527.50' $548.80; $570.951 - $1,847,251 ICMA fflt Nnenl).-JT(Per Oflfosr) _ ICMAOlamW ka.-.34% Per _ _L _$3,637.92+ _ $123A91 $3,784.80; _ 13,937.61 $128.68; $133.881_ ` __.. i_ _ . ,.---- $11,360.391 $388.251 - $70 Max, Om i $70.00+ 872.83: $75.77! $218.59 Workers CmV. -1.97% Per 1 5718.67 5745.61 $775.71; 12,237.991 1 POSITION $54,832.60; $57,046.47+ $59,349.72' ! $171,228.79 2 POSITIONS 8109,881.20 $114,092.94! $118,899.44 S342AS7.581, 3 POSITIONS : $164,497.811$171.139.401$178.049.16i. 1 $513,888.37' 4POSITIONS $219,330.41' $228.185.871 $237,398.881 5884,915.16' 5POSITIONS ; $274,183.01 $285,232.34; $298,748.60 5856,143.98 6 POSITION ! 5328,995.81, $342,278.81: $358,098.32 $1,027,372.74 CITY PEN SEN Per OfBoer $40,044.98 Heakh km - 39.5%(Per ONI � 5182$1.26; i Median -1A5% OfBoer WMA -10% JPer ' $4,116.77 WMA OfseMity Im - U% (Per ORker) Un mNR - $70 Max. OMosr $79.211 Workers -1.97% Per $811.00 SUBTOTAL FOR 1 POSITION$62,050.13 SUBTOTAL FOR 2 POSITIONS SUBTOTAL FOR 3 POSITIONS $124,100. SUBTOTAL FOR 4 POSITIONS + r !------� 5248,200.53 SUBTOTAL FOR 5 POSITIONS i $310,250.86 SUBTOTAL FOR 6 POSITIONS j $372,300.79 E $700.00 ; Uniforms 1 $390.001 $200.001 $200.00 $200.00 Overtime $1,000.00, $1•,000.00 $1,000.00 Court TIM Hold" Pay! 1 $612.15 $1,222.00! $1258.66] $1,298,42 $830.51! $849.43! $888.911 Boot Allowance _ _ V $350.00 $350.00+ $350.00 $350.001 ClothIn Allowenee :1,300.001 Sf,300.00 51,300.00' T $1700.00 { � TOTAL FOR 1 POSITION $3,752.15 $4,702.51 $4,758.09 $4,815.33+ $18,028.09 $80,078.22 TOTOAL FOR 2 POSITIONS $7,504.30 $9,405.03 $9,516.18 $9,630.671 $38,056.171 $160,158A4 TOTAL FOR 3 POSITIONS ; $11256.45 $14,107.54 $14,274.27 $14,446.00 084.26 5240 234. TOTAL FOR 4 POSITIONS $15,008.60 $18,810.06 $19-032.36! $19,261.33 $72,11233 5320 312.87 TOTAL FOR 5 POSITIONS ! $78,760.75 $23,512.57 523,790.45 524,076.661 $90,140A41 $400,391.09 TOTAL FOR 6 POSITIONS $22,512.90; $28,215.09; $28.548.541 $28,892.00' $108,158.521 ,4N3f W c co 39 131 V646WAO ?,✓IWilrrw#A a 5 -Capf60400, Q: Does the non supplanting requirement apply to the CHRP grant program? A: Yes. The non -supplanting requirement is a legal requirement in the Public Safety and Community Policing Act, which is the COPS Office's authorizing statute. The non -supplanting requirement means COPS grant funds must be used to supplement (not replace) state, local or Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) funds that would have been dedicated toward law enforcement if federal funding had not been awarded. As it applies to your agency's CHRP grant, grantees must not reduce the level of state, local or BIA funding that would have been dedicated toward sworn officer positions as a result of receiving federal funding. Q: Can CHRP grant funding be used to pay for officer overtime and/or eliminate officer furloughs? A: No. CHRP funding may only be used to hire and rehire full-time law enforcement officers in order to create and preserve jobs and to increase law enforcement agencies' community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. Q: My city hasn't reduced the police force yep, but we are currently going through our budget process and may be cutting officer positions before the COPS Hiring Recovery Program grants are awarded. Can we apply for COPS Hiring Recovery Program funding to restore those positions? A: Your agency cannot cut its sworn officer budget just because COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) funds are now available for officer hiring. First, that would be risky to your agency, because the COPS Hiring Recovery Program is going to be very competitive and there is just no guarantee that your agency will receive CHRP funding. Second, that would create a potential supplanting violation that could be identified through an audit or monitoring, if it appears that the only reason your jurisdiction cut its police officer budget is because it anticipated receiving COPS Hiring Recovery Program funding (your agency would be using CHRP funds to replace local funds that it otherwise would have spent on those officer positions). Your agency must make its local budget decisions about swom officers as if it had never heard of the CHRP grant program, and then if your agency is still planning to cut officer positions, it may apply for CHRP funds to rehire any officers who have been laid off, or to prevent lay-offs that are scheduled to occur in the future, or to hire new officers to fill vacancies that are no longer funded in your agency's budget. 112% 3 9. 131 In this case, where the timing of the budget decisions is happening all around the same time that your agency applies for CHRP funds, it is especially critical to document the reason for any budget cuts that eliminate sworn officer positions to show that the cuts are not being made because of the CHRP. it is particularly helpful if your agency can document that other city departments are facing similar personnel cuts (through lay-offs or attrition) in the same time frame and same amounts - if it is audited in the future and can show that the school system laid off 20 teachers at the same time the police department laid off 10 officers, that goes a long way to proving that the police department cuts were not related to the anticipated receipt of CHRP grant funds. Q: We understand that we must commit to retain any COPS Hiring Recovery Program funded positions after the grant ends, but what will happen If our city's financial situation has not improved by then - or is even worse - and we can't retain? A: As with past COPS programs that required retention, the COPS Office will work with grantees facing severe fiscal distress at the time that the grant period is ending to evaluate whether they might qualify for a retention exemption. If a grantee does prove that its financial situation is so distressed that it cannot afford to retain the positions, -the COPS Office has the authority to exempt the grantee from the retention requirement and the grantee is then ineligible for new COPS grants that have retention requirements for one year. If the grantee's fiscal distress is not so severe that it qualifies for a retention exemption, and the grantee still does not retain, then the COPS Office may bar that agency from receiving any new COPS grants (even those that don't have a retention requirement) for three years. Q: What kind of documentation can prove that the lay-offs) are not related to the receipt of CHRP funds? A: Any records showing that the lay-offs) occurred as a result of state, local or tribal budget cuts. To show that the lay-offs did not occur as a direct result of the availability of CHRP funds, it is especially helpful to demonstrate that budget cuts occurred in the entire (or at least additional) municipal or tribal governmental departments, notjust the law enforcement department Or if budget cuts just occurred in the law enforcement agency's budget that they were across all categories not just for sworn officer positions. Documents might include: 1. council meeting minutes discussing the budget cuts and lay-offs; 2. budget orders directing municipal departments to reduce their operating budgets; 3. personnel directives given to the officers who are scheduled for lay-off(s); JI 99 131 4. any other local documents explaining why the lay-offs occurred; and/or 5. notices provided to the individual officers regarding the date(s) of the lay- offs. Q: if our agency's economic conditions change after receiving a CHRP grant and we want to change the hiring categories from what we identified in our CHRP application, what should our agency do? A: If your agency receives a CHRP grant and atter receiving the grant, your agency needs to change the hiring category(s) it received funding under, your agency must request a post -award grant modification and must receive prior approval before spending CHRP funding. To obtain information on modifying a CHRP grant award please contact the COPS Response Center at 1-800-421-6770. Q: Is our agency required to retain the CHRP-funded positions following the conclusion of the 36 months of grant funding? A: Yes. At the conclusion of federal funding, CHRP grantees are required to retain all officer positions awarded - including positions awarded to rehire laid off officers or to prevent lay-offs - for a period of 12 months. The additional officer positions should be added to the grantee's law enforcement budget with state and/or local funds, over and above the number of locally -funded officer positions that would have existed in the absence of the grant. Absorbing CHRP-funded officers through attrition, rather than by adding the extra positions to your budget with additional funding, does not meet the retention requirement. -3-3