Police & Fire Commission Minutes

Minutes of the Police & Fire Commission meeting held on Monday, April 13, 2009 at City Hall pursuant to notice duly given.

1. Meeting called to order at 6:00 p.m. by President Olson.

2. Roll Call: Dick Olson, Tim Longsine, Steve Gering, Gene Berth and Ron Hayes
Also present: Chief Carper, Chief Hoppe and Mayor Nerenhausen

3. Moved by Gering second by Hayes to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

4. Moved by Longsine second by Berth to approve of the minutes from the 3/9/09 meeting.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

5. Correspondence:
a. Every 15 Minutes Program
Chief Carper reported that the program was conducted last week…so far a lot of good comments…have not received the video yet; Carper stated the thought occurred to make a personal outreach to the sponsors…other than just a thank you in the paper…present the video so any of the interested sponsors have a chance to view it;
b. Copperfest and National Night Out
Carper stated they have started to look at scheduling for Copperfest; VanHulle and Ruechel will co-chair National Night Out, which will be held first Tuesday in August;

6. Public Input:
Ron Hayes reported that the Chamber of Commerce will be sponsoring a bike decorating contest to be held on May 2nd and requested to have officer’s on hand to do bike inspections;

7. Citizens Complaint:
Longsine stated that about one month ago he made a complaint about a couple of neighbors with excessive garbage and junk; Carper reported that a citation has been issued, but wasn’t sure when the court date was; Longsine submitted photos of the properties; Gering questioned why the public works department can’t clean it up and then charge the owners in the same manner that they do for grass cutting and snow removal; Mayor took the pictures from Longsine and said he will take care of this tomorrow.

8. Discussion/action/update on:
a. Training Standards and Reimbursement
Carper submitted a check in the amount of $504.00 which was from the State; The money was left over from training and disbursed to the departments ; Olson questioned how the amount received is determined; Carper stated it varies, depending on the State budget; Carper stated in the past the Commission has approved for the money to be used to offset overtime costs for training;
Moved by Berth second by Hayes to approve to apply the $504.00 to overtime costs;
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes


b. Recovery Act Grant Process;
Carper reported that some progress has been made…at recent department meeting, potential uses for the money was discussed; County is pushing forward with mobile data…budget numbers was basically for hardware…license fee for software would be $3,000 per car…even with grant can’t afford to do 3 patrol cars; Carper stated other avenues that were discussed…upgrade the 10 handhelds to digital…Spillman database in squads to include printers and computer but not the extra $3000 for database…New LED light bars for cars; Hayes questioned what Carper was looking for from the Commission; Carper asked if there was any input for prioritizing; Olson stated that the department should prioritize on their own; Carper stated he wanted to keep the Commission informed;

c. Spillman Upgrade – Computer Hardware Requirements;
Carper stated after a long process, a copy machine was purchased locally and a considerable amount of money was saved…nearly $2,000.00; Expecting by the end of this year or first part of next year, required computer upgrades; Olson stated Carper had talked to him about using the savings from copier for the computers and Olson agreed that now is a good time to buy; Hayes commented he was pleased they purchased locally;
Moved by Hayes second by Longsine to approve for the remaining capital equipment funds to be spent on computer upgrades.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

d. Recommendation to Council to amend Residency Ordinance to include positions of Police Chief and Fire Chief;
Olson stated that he has requested for the amendment to the ordinance; The City has come up with an ordinance referring to department heads requiring to maintain residency with in the City of Oconto within one year of the commencement of employment; Olson stated he thinks the ordinance for the Police and Fire Chiefs should be consistent with rest of the City;
Moved by Hayes second by Longsine to recommend to the Council to amend the Residency Ordinance to include the Police and Fire Chiefs;
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

e. Request from President Olson to consider having an audit of Police Dept.;
Olson stated that this was something that came out of one of the meetings with
Attorney Kalny to have an independent look at the Police Department; A copy of a request for proposals consisting of a listing of the scope of duties and anticipated tasks was reviewed; The cost of the audit will be approximately $10.000.00; Gering questioned the task of evaluation of records and other documents, “collect, examine and evaluate personal items”; Gering stated auditors should not be allowed to look at sensitive records, could include medical records; Olson stated that he agreed…this is just a general list; Berth stated he understood this to mean how we run personnel files, not to look at each individual persons file…evaluate our system; Gering questioned if Police Department could do own evaluation…do own self audit; Carper stated Wisconsin Law Enforcement Agency has accreditation guidelines for overall policy makeup…accreditation applies differently according to size of department; Carper will get document to Commission; Officer Sowle questioned if audit would include how many tickets an officer writes…only a small part of the job; Olson told him “no”; Hayes stated that there have been too many inconsistencies and omissions…the audit would determine how our department measures against other departments; Sowle questioned if officers would be interviewed; Olson stated that they would be; Sowle stated the officers would want union representation with them during the interviews; Olson stated that this is a positive thing to enhance whatever we are doing;
Moved by Hayes second by Longsine to recommend to Finance Committee to consider having an audit of the Police Department at the approximate cost of $10,000.00;
Motion carried upon verbal vote. 5 ayes

9 & 10. Discussion on monthly financial reports;
Moved by Berth second by Gering to approve of the monthly department reports and accounts payables and the check register as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes

11. Moved by Hayes second by Longsine to approve of the expense and revenue reports as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 5 ayes
Longsine questioned what had become of the intercept agreement with Green Bay Rescue; The clerk informed him that Atty. Mraz had a concern about some of the wording and that everything should be in place by the next meeting;
Berth questioned where the speed checkers were; Carper stated they were in the garage…hadn’t been able to use during the winter due to the amount of snow;
12. Nothing to report on meetings/conferences/seminars attended.

13. Moved by Hayes second by Gering to adjourn. M/C
Meeting adjourned at 6:53 p.m.

Minutes submitted by:
Carol Stewart
Deputy Clerk Treasurer