Standing Room Only: A looksee through the sheriff's proposal

Not us but it had the same feel as us last Thursday
except more cops

Last Thursday night we literally had standing room only in the council chambers at City Hall for the February council meeting. The lion's share of the folks there were gathered to hear Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald present his proposal of the city contracting police services with the county. The room was so full of cops – county deputies, detectives, department heads and many of our own police officers – that the running joke of the first half of the meeting was that if anybody needed to get somewhere in a hurry, Highway SS heading north out of town was clear.

In about twenty minutes or so, Sheriff Fitzgerald gave a 25-slide power point presentation pitching why it would be advantageous for the city to contract with the county and disassemble our own police department – streamlining of services, access to all additional units the county offers like the Emergency Response Team and K-9 teams, better communication, and the savings to tax payers. I won't speak for everyone in the room but I think most of us were eager for him to get to Slide 17 that broke down what that savings would be. By his estimate, if the city were to adopt his proposal and sign a five-year contract we would realize an approximate $50,000 a year savings. What's more, there would be additional money saved as we would no longer have any squad cars to maintain because we wouldn't own any squad cars any more. We wouldn't need to heat or light a building or a municipal court because that would be gone, too, as would all the gizmos and gadgets any local police department needs to function effectively.

If his plan was adopted, he promised that Chetek would have four

designated officers who would be assigned to us. That is, these four would be “permanently” posted here – not deputies who would serve a weekly rotation in town and then return to patrolling elsewhere in the county. So, in time, we would come to know Deputies “Tom, Dick, Harry and Sue” as well as we know Ron, Jessica, Jon and Rick now. He also assured the council that someone representing his department would be present at our monthly council meetings and any other committee meeting we would request. The long and short of it is we would get what we already have except it would cost less and, in his opinion, be a better service.

While the meeting was not a public hearing I had promised beforehand that if we all gave the sheriff an opportunity to present his plan, I would allow questions from the floor – something Sheriff Fitzgerald was eager to respond to. For the next thirty minutes or so he was like a batter at batting practice hitting all kinds of questions pitched at him – heaters, changeups, breaking balls and the like. Overall, what I heard were legitimate concerns about things like response time, the bottom line (i.e., do the numbers say what they really say?), familiarity with Chetek and access to police. As Bruce from Northlakes Drive In so aptly put it, “If I need Ron or Jessica or John or Rick, I take out my phone and call them. Could I call your guys?”

On the main, people were pretty well behaved though it would be fair to characterize the atmosphere as tense. Change is hard on everyone. But talking about change as well as thinking about talking about change can be equally stressful. The council simply invited the sheriff to hear what he had to say. As elected officials we have an obligation to the public to make sure we are providing the best services we are able to while getting the most bang for our buck at the same time. It may be a surprise to some people but from time to time Carmen will crunch numbers to explore, say, contracting our garbage services out as Rice Lake does. It's not because she hears complaints about our guys. Far from it (I have it on good authority that at Christmastime those guys make a haul in cookies and spirits from people who are grateful for their service). It's just making sure we are doing things in a cost-effective way. So having the sheriff come and talk to us was just exploring our options.

Of course, what people really want to know is now that we know the numbers what are we going to do about it? Are we going to go forward with his proposal? Are we going to think on it? Are we going to File 13-it? Well, it's hard to answer that question. The sheriff's proposal was but one item on an already full agenda and other than the questions the council members and others present asked the sheriff there really was no discussion that followed his presentation. I haven't seen any of the members of the council since Thursday night and technically we can't really discuss it among ourselves without a 24-hour notice in the paper. As of right now, I've asked Carmen to put it on the agenda for next month's council meeting where we will either conclude that we need think on his proposal further or essentially tell him “thanks, but no thanks.” For the time being everything remains status quo.

Along with his proposal the sheriff presented a possible timeline if

the council felt it was in the city's best interest to pursue his plan. That timeline assumed adopting the plan in March and implementing it in time for Liberty Fest. But let me remind everyone who was there or may have heard from those who were there, it was his timeline not ours. Nothing is imminent.

I appreciate those of you who have taken the time to either stop me on the street to express your opinion about the matter or wrote as much on the mayor's Facebook page or sent me an email. Whether you're “for it” or “against it”, your input is valuable in all the things we address as elected leaders in our community. Call your alderman, either Cliff, Bill, Mark or Shirley. Each of them have been serving our city way longer than I have and welcome your input.

There have been a few individuals – but just a few - who have expressed themselves very frankly at the mayor's page on this matter going so far to question my intelligence and competency because I am not (in their opinion) pro-CPD. I'm sorry that they feel that way but when I read their words again I'm reminded that we still live in a free country where people are free to speak their mind and not fear repercussion or retaliation. And that's a very good thing.