Agenda Packets - 2009/05/11 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council April 13, 2009 Regular Meeting Page 7 meet the needs of the community when officers are out due to injuries or testifying in court. The 1 grant funding will allow Mounds View to start an officer at Step One with three of the four years 2 paid by the grant including Step increases and benefits. Council Member Mueller suggested that 3 an additional officer may have been requested had it not been for the City’s tight budget. 4 5 Council Member Stigney asked Council Member Mueller whether she favors adding an 6 additional officer over and above the current 19 sworn officers, creating a staff of 20. Council 7 Member Mueller responded that the grant gives the City the opportunity to have an officer 8 trained and ready to fill the gap when someone leaves through attrition or retiring. She noted that 9 the number of burglaries, transients, and other issues have increased and the safety of Mounds 10 View is important so this is the right thing to do. She stated that a decision may be made by a 11 future Council to increase the workforce to 20 and the grant will allow three years to be paid. 12 13 Council Member Stigney offered a friendly amendment that after stabilizing the police force, it 14 will be reduced to 19 officers. 15 16 Council Member Mueller did not accept the friendly amendment. 17 18 Mayor Flaherty questioned the intent of the grant program and asked whether the intent was for 19 communities that had to lay off an officer or cut back hours due to budget restraints. Police 20 Chief Sommer stated the grant intent a two-fold. One intent is to backfill positions vacated that 21 were not filled because of budgets and the other intent is to fund additional police over and above 22 the current level to put additional police on the street to deal with crime, which is a priority of the 23 federal government. 24 25 Finance Director Beer stated they do not know how the grant will be scored and noted that one 26 question asks whether the city is laying off or not hiring officers. Because the City would not 27 meet that criteria, the grant may not be awarded to Mounds View. 28 29 Council Member Gunn stated her support for making grant application, noting the survey 30 indicated residents feel there is a need for extra police patrolling. 31 32 Mayor Flaherty noted the City would have to budget the salary in the fourth year, which would 33 have to come from taxes. He stated he would not want to encumber the action of a future 34 Council. 35 36 Council Member Stigney stated it would encumber a future Council because an officer would 37 have to be laid off. 38 39 Mayor Flaherty agreed it would be difficult to take away an officer but perhaps there will be a 40 future grant or a retiring position will not be filled. 41 42 Council Member Gunn stated the force would be increased to 20 for four years, one year being 43 paid by Mounds View, but during that time some officers will be retiring. She stated that a new 44 Council may decide to not fill one or more of those retiring positions. 45