VBT Police Dept. tries to reach $412,599 in cuts for 2010 budget

By Rosemary K. Otzman

Independent Editor

   Van Buren Township Police Captain Ken Brooks told the VBT Public Safety Committee at its Nov. 10 meeting that the cuts to the budget he and Captain Greg Laurain propose for 2010 are difficult, but the goal is to avoid layoffs of personnel.

   He said most of the $412,599 cut in the police budget was the services that bring overtime.

   An exception to that was elimination of the vacant Public Safety Director position for 2010, which they figure would save a total of $123,099, with salary and fringes.

   The position has been vacant since last May when the former Public Safety Director Jerry Champagne was fired. The two captains have been filling in, as they have in the past when the top position was vacant.

   The township board appointed Carl McClanahan as interim public safety director in July on a 4-3 vote, the votes divided the same way as the firing of Champagne: 4 newly elected officials outvoting the 3 holdover board members. Those 3 board members in support of Champagne have successfully delayed McClanahan’s swearing in.

   VBT Supervisor Paul White told the captains at the Nov. 10 meeting that he wanted to have a public safety director to offer leadership to the department.

   The captains replied that they would have to make more severe cuts if they couldn’t use the $123,099 public safety director’s salary as part of their $412,599 budget cuts.

   Supervisor White had challenged the police department to come up with the reductions to meet the cuts in township revenue. White said every department is making cuts, except the clerk and treasurer departments which have their services mandated by state law.

   He stressed that the Public Safety Department was 58.5% of the total budget for 2009 and will be 58.25% of the total budget in 2010.

   The other cuts proposed by the police captains were:

   * Reduction of overtime by $143,029 (44%), which means no back-filling of shifts for call offs and reducing patrol from 5 officers/2 supervisors, to a minimum of 3 officers/1 supervisor. They explained the supervisor would patrol with the three officers, making the minimum four officers. While Captain Laurain that this will mean a reduction in patrol response time, Supervisor White disagreed;

   * Eliminate dive team and training;

   * Eliminate marine unit;

   * Eliminate bicycle patrol unit;

   * Eliminate Neighborhood Watch;

   * Eliminate Honor Guard unit;

   * Eliminate K-9 School Programs;

   * Eliminate motorcycle unit;

   * Eliminate accident investigation team;

   * Eliminate boaters’ safety classes;

   * Eliminate purchase of new patrol vehicles ($161,000), with one being purchased through forfeiture funds;

   * Eliminate 50% of annual training (from four times a year to one), including firearms training, defensive tactics, legal update, and all non-mandatory training schools;

   * Eliminate programs with Parks & Recreation Department, including Haunted Forest, Fourth of July Fireworks, Taking it to the Streets, and day camp appearances.

   The above list that Laurain handed out at the Public Safety Committee meeting had a notation that it was not an all-inclusive list and other services may be eliminated or reduced as necessary.

   A three-hour discussion on the budget came about an hour into the meeting, which began with a discussion on the possibility of getting the police department certified as a professional department by CALEA (Commission of Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies).

   There was resistance to CALEA from the police captains and members of the audience which was unusually large due to attendance by members of the committee seeking to recall the township supervisor and three others.

   After some rancorous exchanges between committee members and members of the audience, Vice Chairman Regina Miller, Anthony Woodford, and Diane Madigan volunteered to study CALEA, its advantages and its costs further and report back to the committee at its Dec. 8 meeting.

   Supervisor White said he would check with supervisors of townships with certified departments to get more information on the process.

   “I really believe we should have complete knowledge so if money becomes available, we can move forward,” White said.

   Captain Brooks said, “If our budget was whole, it would be different. Four years ago, we’d have jumped at it. Maybe CALEA should be set on the back burner. But, it’s what the board sets as the level of service…”

   “You knew about it in 1984,” said committee member Woodford.

   “I’m not going to play stump the chump with you,” Captain Brooks shot back.

   “Don’t make it personal,” Woodford replied. “We’re talking about a concept.”

   Trustee Phil Hart, who sits on the committee as a voting member and liaison to the township board, stated that Detroit is not certified and Woodford is retired from the Detroit Police Department.

   “We were trying to get started…” Woodford explained. “But it didn’t benefit individuals…” so it got sidetracked.

   “It’s not easy. Anything good to achieve is going to be difficult,” Woodford said.

   (Former VBT Public Safety Director Christopher Elg is head of the West Monroe, Louisiana, police department which is the first in its state to be certified by CALEA. The department has been certified since 1993, and regularly passes recertification in the rigorous process that requires adhering to more than 400 professional standards.)

   Laurain said CALEA was too costly for VBT and only 12 departments of the 614 in the in the state were certified, implying if it was so great more would want to be certified.

   “What else do we cut to get a sticker on the back of our cars that says we’re certified?” asked Captain Brooks.

   “You don’t see the value,” noted Woodford, who had brought forward at a previous meeting the idea of VBT looking into becoming a professionally certified department through CALEA.

   “I brought CALEA up at the budget hearing,” said Trustee Hart. “We can debate it all day long, but where would you get the money?”

   Trustee Hart also was testy with committee member Madigan at the beginning of the meeting, since she had placed five items on the agenda.

   The meeting had been cancelled for “lack of agenda” by someone other than the committee leadership and so Madigan said they had things to discuss and gave the five items. The meeting was rescheduled.

   Trustee Hart said some of the things she wanted the committee to discuss didn’t have to be agenda items and she could just call Laurain for answers.

   “We have five agenda items by Diane,” Hart announced, making a motion to separate one agenda item into two. Committee member Richard Wardwell seconded the motion which was passed unanimously.

   Wardell said that he has spent a lot of time at the police department, getting to know the personnel. He praised the department for being extremely professional and he stated that the two captains could run the department very well without a public safety director.

   Hart, a supporter of the recall, said he could not support CALEA now. He also said he could not support having a public safety director now. Hart said while he had wanted to increase the amount of money in the budget to do a search for a public safety director in 2010, he now has changed his mind.

   Theresa Wardwell pointed out from the audience that there were two ways of dealing with decreased revenue, making cuts and adding new revenue. She urged the township to look at ways to generate new funds, such as charging to attend the fireworks.

   Brenda Keele, who identified herself as the wife of a police officer/fire fighter, urged the township to use common sense in making cuts and prioritizing, putting safety first.

   She referred to the proposed cutting of marine patrol and the dive team. She said the township can’t depend on Wayne County to patrol Belleville Lake, although that is their responsibility by law.

   “They would have come bobbing up on their own by the time Wayne County got here,” she said of the recovery of two drowned fisherman by VBT rescue teams earlier that same day.

   Captain Laurain said, “The meat and potatoes of our business is patrol and response.”

   “I have a problem with reducing patrol,” Woodford said.

   “There’s never been any abuse in overtime on this department,” Captain Brooks said.

   “You can argue that,” Woodford replied.

   Brooks said in 2009 there has been $14,000 in overtime per two-week pay period and in 2010 it will be $5,400 per pay period.

   Woodford asked about using auxiliary police and Brooks replied that because of police union contracts they can’t be used to do work that should be done by police officers. You have to lay off all the reserves before you could lay off an employee, Brooks said.  

   Brooks said the township uses 20 officers for the fireworks. They could use five paid and 15 reserves, but the paid officers “would go beserk.”

   Woodford again said he does not like cutting back on patrol.

   Brooks said the cutback on patrol affects the police officers’ safety more than the safety of the public and, “It is not a good situation.”

   “Everything else should be cut before cutting patrol,” Brenda Keele stated.

   “We have a commitment not to go below four officers on duty,” Brooks said.

   “If we still had a public safety director, would we get rid of him to meet budget cuts?” Woodford asked and he was told no.

   “Maybe we need to move past it. We all recognize the need for having a director,” he said, adding leadership is needed.

   After a discussion of cuts proposed for the fire department, the committee moved on to the next agenda item. Since the meeting had been going almost four hours, Supervisor White suggested they put off a few agenda items for the next meeting.

   Trustee Hart objected, addressing Supervisor White, who was present to explain the proposed township budget: “Paul, you wanted this meeting. Let’s have it.”

   After more discussion, Captain Laurain reported the longtime animal control officer has completed his eight-hour course and now he is certified for euthanization.

   The meeting had started at 5:30 p.m. At the end of the meeting, about 9:35 p.m., Wardwell suggested that the committee commend the police and fire fighters who did such a great job earlier that day in recovering the bodies of the two drowned fishermen. The committee agreed to the commendation.