10-24-2016 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION October 10, 2016 DRAFT 3 Council Member Rafferty also discussed resale value. Mayor Reinert remarked that he 91 has questioned the need to have vehicles for each of the district chiefs plus an extra car. 92 Council Member Manthey suggested that the reason for those cars seem to be for 93 response to calls; in his experience, district chiefs did not have a take home vehicle. 94 Deputy Director McCarthy explained the reason to provide a district chief with a take 95 home vehicle – to respond quickly to emergency calls. 96 97 Mayor Reinert stated that the council will have further discussion of some of these topics 98 at the November work session; there will be budget topics as well. 99 100 5. Elimination of Lino Lakes Participation in DEA Task Force – Director Swenson 101 reviewed the written report. 102 103 Mayor Reinert said he requested that this matter be included on the agenda. The city has 104 been involved in the program for five years. He thinks it is excessive to have this officer 105 involvement especially for a city this size. It was a three-year commitment and the city 106 has been in it for five. He suggests that the city has done its fair share and it’s time to let 107 another city take over. It doesn’t pay for itself. Council Member Manthey noted the 108 funds that come back in forfeiture and he wonders how much that makes up for costs. 109 Mayor Reinert acknowledged those funds but he still feels it is time to end the city’s 110 participation. Council Member Maher remarked that her hesitance would relate to crime 111 being on the rise and how this program helps in crime reduction. Mayor Reinert 112 suggested that all cities benefit from this program and so the city would still receive that 113 benefit without supporting an officer. Director Swenson explained that any Lino Lakes’ 114 work related to narcotics is given to this officer who can then leverage the resources of 115 the whole task force for that work; that is what would be lost to the city. Further 116 discussion on the matter will occur as part of 2017 budget considerations. 117 118 Council Member Rafferty noted information he received from staff that shows what other 119 departments of similar sized cities have for sworn staff. He’d like to extend that report 120 because he finds that type of information helpful. 121 122 Mayor Reinert noted that you can use a baseline of three officers at all shifts during 24 123 hours – that is 12.6. Level of service is an important discussion that the council will 124 continue. The city does have the best public safety department around and that should be 125 kept but discussions about cost will continue. 126 127 The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 p.m. 128 129 These minutes were considered, corrected and approved at the regular Council meeting held on 130 October 24, 2016. 131 132 133 Julianne Bartell, City Clerk Jeff Reinert, Mayor 134 135