Police Chief vows to do everything possible to keep school officers
By Rosemary
K. Otzman
Independent Editor
At Monday’s (Dec. 7, 2009) regular meeting of the Belleville
City Council, Police Chief Gene Taylor vowed he would do everything possible to keep the School Resource Officers in place
in the Van Buren Public Schools.
Brian Spitsbergen and Elizabeth Treen of RACY (Resources for Assisting Community Youth) had given the council a report
on RACY, telling how it used to fund part of the SRO program. Now, those funds are depleted.
Newly sworn in Councilwoman Kim Tindall asked about the school
officers, saying as a mother of two daughters that have attended Belleville High School, she knows what the officers do and
how valuable they are.
Spitsbergen
said RACY actually had begun its life in 1988 when the tri-community police departments organized a group to provide drug
education and combat gangs. The Substance Abuse Task Force eventually morphed into RACY, which was the fiduciary unit for
the DARE program. Walt Michal’s in Van Buren Township had done lots of fund-raising for DARE.
As times changed, DARE was eliminated and Spitsbergen said
he wrote a successful federal grant to secure funding for the SRO program and used it for the last three years for prevention
and early intervention.
He
said they still have programs in the elementary and middle schools on violence prevention.
“We had a fund balance and we burned it all up ... The
issue is how to continue to fund SRO,” Spitsbergen said, noting he is looking at how to get grants for the program.
“It’s up in the air.”
He noted the school board has funded a share of SRO costs, but that is good only through the first semester.
He said Wayne County has state Child Care fund money that
perhaps may be used to fund SRO and that is being investigated.
“The program needs to stay,” Spitsbergen said, adding that 3,000 students
come into school in Belleville that don’t live here. “They need a connection with the officers.”
Police Chief Gene Taylor said he became a Belleville police
officer before the DARE program was instituted and he has seen the value of DARE and now the SRO.
Currently Belleville Cpl. Kris Faull and Van Buren Township
Officer Ryan Bidwell serve as SROs for the local schools.
“As long as I’m chief, the City of Belleville Police Department will not
fail the program,” Chief Taylor said. “We’ll do everything in our power to fund and support the program.”
Former Mayor Tom Fielder, who is active with RACY and other
juvenile programs, said the SRO was funded half by Belleville/Van Buren Township and half by RACY’s fund balance, now
being provided by the schools for the first semester.
Councilwoman Tindall asked if anyone has approached Canton, Ypsilanti, and Sumpter townships
to help with the cost, since those communities send students to BHS.
She was told they had not been approached, but Plymouth/Canton has its own
officers for its schools. Sumpter had dropped out of funding the DARE program in 2000 because of economic difficulties.
Spitsbergen enumerated the many services RACY provides for
local juveniles and said, “I want to keep it all. I don’t want to lose any of it.”
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the council:
* Heard a presentation by four DTE representatives explaining
their updates to electrical service to the city. When Mayor Pro-Tem Rick Dawson’s wife Mary Jane asked if the brownouts
at her house would not happen again, they offered to install a monitor at their home that would trace the voltage profile
for a month. Dawson’s electrical service had been fluctuating and burning out appliances, with problems in place just
six weeks earlier;
*
Approved the three-year AT&T local service contract for seven lines into City Hall at $173.09 monthly, a better rate than
the city currently is paying. City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said the city is planning to purchase a new phone system in about
a year and they will be looking at different carriers;
* Approved Mayor Richard Smith’s appointment of Councilman James Shrove to the
Zoning Board of Appeals with a term to expire Dec. 5, 2011;
* Pulled the proposed District Library Agreement from the agenda since it is not ready
to be considered;
*
Set a public hearing at the Dec. 21 council meeting for the 2010 Community Development Block Grant allocation;
* Approved an amendment to the Detroit Water and Sewerage
Contract, which adds Exhibits A and B, having to do with the city’s water flow;
* Approved the removal of former Councilman George Chedraue’s
name as an official signatory for the city and added Councilman Shrove’s name;
* Approved a special joint meeting with the Downtown Development
Authority at 6 p.m., Dec. 16, at Victory Station to conduct long-term strategic planning for the two groups. This will take
the place of the regular DDA meeting scheduled that night;
* Approved Wayne County annual maintenance permits;
* Announced the 2009 Home Decorating Contest, which will be
judged from 6 to 10 p.m. on Dec. 16 and 17;
* Approved accounts payable of $235,689.03, which includes the following departmental purchases in excess of $500:
to DEQ, $978, for annual water supply fees; to Hennessey Engineers, $7,027, engineering fees; to Republic Underwriters, $1,050,
rewrite of policy; and to Service Electric, $2,400, for replacing pole and other repairs at Horizon Park (paid by DDA, but
reimbursed by contractor’s insurance);
* Heard City Manager Kollmeyer announce that for the 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10, meeting of the planning commission, everyone
is invited to sit in on the presentation by the architect on the new Belleville High School building;
* Heard Mayor Smith say there were an estimated 3,000 to 4,000
people who turned out for Saturday’s parade. He read a letter from Cathy Horste, who had dreamed up the Whoville entry
that was shared by the museum and the city. Councilwoman Tindall said she, playing the part of Cindy Lou Who, was “one
cold Who-ette” since she had to wear a skirt and couldn’t be bundled up like the boys;
* Heard Fielder report that State Rep. Dian Slaves said there
were more people out in Belleville for a winter event than she has ever seen in Plymouth or Canton in winter;
and
* Heard Kollmeyer report
that Sunday’s Angel of Hope event at Hillside Cemetery was “a lovely ceremony.”
Before the regular meeting on Monday, a special session was
held for orientation and training of the council members elected in November. Tina Brooks Green, chief 34th District
Court Judge, then conducted the swearing in ceremony for Councilmembers Kim Tindal and Brian Blackburn.
