The only activity by the board, in the last year or so, regarding its own police department has been to sell some computer equipment to the HCSO. The police department has reached its current state due to attrition of its officers and the police chief. Well over a year ago, and within a few months of the last police employee’s departure, the board faced opportunities on at least two occasions to address the police department’s situation. What they did do is hire a code enforcement officer who resides in another town to write up code violations while being paid $12.00 per hour. That contract was renewed in June.
In addition to this, the board met with the HCSO on several occasions concerning contracting agreements. Those meetings occurred between July and October of 2011. There was never a vote held. Due to no motions ever being made, let alone seconded, no vote was held and therefore is listed in the minutes that no action was taken by the board to contract with the HCSO. I believe the last offer was for the HCSO to cover the town for $4000(+/-) a month for each officer with a minimum of two. This would be equal to $96,000(+/-) per year cost to the Town of Buffalo for the western themed guns for hire program. (Please correct me if I am wrong on the latest amounts)
During the most recent July meeting there was a sparse, but thorough, attendance of concerned citizens addressing the board during its public comments section of the meeting. One of the most revealing issues I realized is that a majority of the board is not getting any of our concerns being voiced simply due to the fact they do not have Facebook accounts. It is not clear to me if they even have smart phones, email, or even access to a computer for that matter. So keep this in mind when you see FB comments being made or blog articles that are written or anonymous blog comments. More than likely a majority of the board is not seeing it. Because of this I am not certain they are even aware of the gravity of the town’s situation as being presented by the citizens and the HCSO. They may not even be remotely aware that there is a problem.
Having recently been challenged to "get off my ass and do something", which was "liked" by numerous people, just may be what everybody will need to do to make the board aware of the issue of law enforcement.
Hmm. Interesting they are turning in no activity but yet showing there is a police Dept. Didn't they get their chevy impala on a grant? If so I believe that they would have to turn that Impala back over or they can donate it to another law enforcement agency but they can't keep it for themselves can they? The car was for the Police not the over all City... And Greg your right people need to get involved and bring the Police issue to the city boards mind. It doesn't have to be negative. I'm sure if the citizens of Buffalo would pull together and get on the agenda and talk about this issue, then hopefully a decision will be made for them to act on knowing and seeing the citizen's concerns..
ReplyDeleteGreg what did it cost them in the past when they had 3 officers? Do you know or could you find out? I'm trying to figure out if it would be cheaper for them to contract with the Sheriff for two additional people or if its cheaper to hire their own police officers.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the cars was donated through contacts of former police chief Murrell. Durango may have been via reap or grant monies.
ReplyDeletePolice budget for dept. would be at least 6 figures. I never asked. 140k has been thrown around a lot. I don't know if they know. Mentioning of uncertainties such overtime is repeated often when the topic is raised. Insurance... and the usual banter you would expect when trying to find out. If the time is taken, city hall will produce any numbers you would like to look at. Always willing to share the info based on my experience.
Greg I found out today at the City Hall that the car donated to them was an older car which they don't have or can't use cause it is broke down. The Impala they said "DID" come on a grant to be used for the Police department. If thats the case can they use keep driving it when they don't have a police force anymore? I think if the Government found this out this could be a real issue for them. If their figures were in the six digits then why wouldn't they contract with HCSD? It would save them money if they did it before for the $96,000.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you're on to something there. Might be the reason the police department is still on the books.
ReplyDeleteLack of code enforcement was a hang up. No way to guarantee coverage. Often having to pay the price for full time county officers when coverage was being performed by deputy reserves which cost little if not nothing in wages to HCSO. Failure to turn in monthly reports detailing the patrols driven and contacts made. Violations written in city limits were often on the county’s ticket pad instead of city’s ticket pad resulting in an obvious return of investment issue.
Oversight and direction was impossible to achieve. No accountability/quality control. Areas of concerns could not be address adequately if even at all. The only thing the board or city manager had any ability to oversee was that the check was sent out every month.
I personally noticed a decline of patrols by my streets when the Town of Buffalo hired someone else to do it. I cannot recall the last time I saw any patrol by my street in quite some time. To go from multiple sightings per day to rare sighting is quite apparent. Something has to be done to correct this.
Were you able to find out the real costs while you were at city hall? Last budgeted amount verses real costs. Keep in mind a lot of the first round budget would have been for expenses associated with startup. Wage/benefits along with fuel/wear-tear should be the main bench mark used in a new analysis for budgeting. Not to say that incidental expenses won’t occur. Sending a potential officer to Cleet School would be an example.
Quite simply sometimes you may have to pay more to get what you need.
Well they were paying the $96,000 a year to the sheriff which was still saving the city somewhere around $40,000 in wages alone not to mention fuel, vehicle repairs, uniforms, etc. I don't see why they don't do another contract with the sheriff since they have a city ordinance person hired. That let the sheriff hire two cops for him and assign them to Buffalo only. Why would the city not jump on that. They wouldn't have to deal with the complaints, it seems that HCSD keeps their deputies and they dont have a big turnover like buffalo did. What do you think Greg? Would it be better to hire our own police officers or contract? Just looking it looks way cheaper to contract. I really liked it the last time they contracted. I felt Narty did a good job on keeping his deputies in town and i don't recall that much crime back then either. It seemed like the crime kicked up after we did away with the contract. Whats your opinion?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the "not to mentions" you listed would be included in a proper budget. Also there would be extra cushion for contengencies built in.
DeleteLack of code enforcement was a hang up. No way to guarantee coverage. Often having to pay the price for full time county officers when coverage was being performed by deputy reserves which cost little if not nothing in wages to HCSO. Failure to turn in monthly reports detailing the patrols driven and contacts made. Violations written in city limits were often on the county’s ticket pad instead of city’s ticket pad resulting in an obvious return of investment issue.
Oversight and direction was impossible to achieve. No accountability/quality control. Areas of concerns could not be address adequately if even at all. The only thing the board or city manager had any ability to oversee was that the check was sent out every month.
I personally noticed a decline of patrols by my streets when the Town of Buffalo hired someone else to do it. I cannot recall the last time I saw any patrol by my street in quite some time. To go from multiple sightings per day to rare sighting is quite apparent. Something has to be done to correct this.
Keep in mind a lot of the first round budget would have been for expenses associated with startup. Wage/benefits along with fuel/wear-tear should be the main bench mark used in a new analysis for budgeting. Not to say that incidental expenses won’t occur. Sending a potential officer to Cleet School would be an example.
I am not sure how far apart the numbers really are. Lots have been thrown around. I asked at the meeting the other day for the board to have their accountant crunch the numbers to help with a comparision.
Quite simply sometimes you may have to pay more to get what you need.
Here is a quote found on the HCSO FB page. This is towards a comment left on this blog by Susan Orange.
Comment by the Harper County Sheriffs Office "It may not seem like it but Buffalo is way to big to not have a city police department."
I agree with that quote!
I see. Well hopefully we can get the City to hire their own police officers. All I know is I would like to have fulltime officers in our town at all times and I understand the sheriff's office side of it also where they can not be expected to stay in Buffalo. I guess that would be like Laverne telling the Sheriff to stay in their town. They can't do it so the city should look at this and fix the problem. It's to my understanding that one or two board members really don't care anything about this issue which is sad. I guess after some town board meetings we will see which ones those are and hopefully get rid of them in the next election. My hopes are that I am wrong and that they all care about this and will just simply hire some officers.
ReplyDeleteThere is a broad spectrum of beliefs from the various board members. There is hesitation that comes from within City Hall also. Both their focus and lack thereof has contributed to our current situation. Generally speaking I think one will find that they believe having a police department is burdensome. Whether it is a board member getting phone calls about it or the people in City Hall that have to deal with the things that go on by having the department. It is much easier on them to pass the buck, literally, in order to relieve themselves of the associated duties that come with the positions they hold. Doing what is best is not always the easiest and doing what is right is often forsaken by human nature’s trait of avoiding conflict.
DeleteNo comments lately. Did the community in Buffalo give up on this matter already?
ReplyDeleteThe only two people in Buffalo who would ever do anything about this kind of thing is the writer of this blog and the guy they ran out of town. What's one guy gonna be able to do? We can't complain. We brought this upon ourselves by our complacency. Now we live with the consequences.
ReplyDeleteWe elect our leaders because of their relation to us or their friendship, not because of their abilities. Ask yourselves what our leaders ever accomplished in this community. What good have they brought? What have they done that has impacted Buffalo in any positive way? And therein lies the answer as to why there is no action. Nothing equals nothing.
We need leaders who thrive when there is conflict instead of avoid it. We need more People like Greg in this town.
Oh, and we miss your buddy too. Things got done when you two got involved.
The guy who supposively you say was ran out of town should of kept everything in his pants and ran a business legally instead of illegally!!!
DeleteGreg....When my family moved here in 1964, Buffalo had a police department. It was only one officer, Ted Jones, but he did a pretty good job by himself. As the years passed, we gradually grew to a 3 man department. For 40 plus years, we always found a way to staff and pay for our department. Although the economy is not at a peak, there ARE funds that could be used to re-establish the department. Even if they have to start with one officer and then over time, build it back to three. Take the money being paid to the code enforcement officer and use it towards the officer(s) salary and have him/her do the code enforcement as well. Rex Atkins summed it up the best. The town board needs to back the officer and not make the position a political one. In other words...hire him/her and then let them do their job without the political backlash. Just my thoughts on the issue. Wish I could have made the meeting but I didn't get off work till 7pm and got home about 7:30. Tommy Painter.
ReplyDeleteI agree. And I know the money is there. However fear of earthquakes may thwart this whole effort.
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