Warson Woods Public Safety Committee Review of Glendale PSA Draft
The Warson Woods Public Safety Ad Hoc Committee reviewed the draft Public Safety Service Agreement (PSA) with Glendale. They identified concerns regarding patrol coverage, hiring practices, and termination clauses in the agreement, highlighting both positive aspects and potential drawbacks. The Committee's evaluation aimed to provide accurate information for decision-making by the Board. The presentation included insights on compensation, benefits, cost savings, and impacts on the city's police budget and future financial viability.
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Presentation Transcript
City of Warson Woods Public Safety Ad Hoc Committee Presented on June 15, 2021
Ad Hoc Committee Members Mike Basler Sean Fitzgerald Mandy Kamykowski Jim Lewis Brian Middendorf Tim Quinn
Introduction The Ad Hoc Committee was asked to review the draft PSA and to respond to resident s questions to try and separate fact from fiction to provide honest, truthful information for the Board to make its decision. To fulfill this purpose, the Committee evaluated: Specific terms in the PSA Baseline police coverage in Warson Woods Police officer perceptions of the proposed consolidation with Glendale Citizen Questions posed to the Committee The City s Finances Legislative concerns which could impact WWPD now or in the future
Committee Review of the Glendale PSA Draft On the positive side, the Committee was unanimous in its conclusion that the intent of the PSA was to take care of the WW Officers WWPD Officers would see increase in total compensation Higher base salary Better fringe benefits (health, vision, dental, life, disability, pension) Incentives were built into the contract for Glendale to both hire and retain WW Officers Additionally, the PSA would result in a cost savings to the City: Would reduce the City s police budget by approximately 1/3 Further discussion of the City s future financial viability later in presentation
Committee Review of the Glendale PSA Draft Committee Concern #1 Vague language re: WW patrol coverage Regardless of the parties intent, the language of the draft PSA was ambiguous with a net result of lesser total coverage for the City of Warson Woods Committee Concern #2 Vague language re: hiring, probationary period(s), seniority and retention of WW Officers Again, regardless of the intent, the Committee viewed these areas in the PSA as concerning for the long-term employment of WW Officers
Committee Review of the Glendale PSA Draft Committee Concern #3 Termination clauses No-fault termination with 6 months written notice Vague language re: contracting City ceasing to provide services Only 30 days' notice by contracting City re: negotiation for further consolidation elsewhere
Committee Review of the Glendale PSA Draft Committee Concern #4 Vague language re: Police Service Charges Confusing what were annual recurring charges vs. one-time fees 90-day grace period could be exploited Committee Concern #5 Vague language re: Public Safety Committee Representation Citizen input included request that any WW delegation include citizen representation
Summary of 2020 Warson Woods Police Patrol Hours Observations On average we have 4.7 hours of patrol hours on the second 12 hour shift, not 2 patrol officers all day. 100% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 90% Glendale part-time officers and a Warson Woods part- time officer make up over 60% of the extra patrol shift worked. 80% 70% 61% Percentage of 12 Hour Shift 60% Chief Stanczak and Sergeant Tisius patrol 1,241 hours annually after administrative duty. 50% 100% 100% It is estimated that the Certification process will require 900 hours per year of extra administrative time. This will reduce their availability to patrol by 70% and reduce second daily patrol hours to 3.2 hours. 40% 10% 30% 16% 20% 10% 13% 0% 0% Night Shift 6p-6a Day Shift 6a-6p Second Patrolman WW Patrol Officers Chief and SGT WW PT-Bowman Glendale PT No 2nd Patrol
Warson Woods Police Coverage With very few exceptions, 1 officer is scheduled between 10pm and 6am every night, and no additional coverage is available at the Warson Woods police station for back up. This results in Warson Woods relying on Glendale to back up our officers or respond to a second call in Warson Woods. Note that Warson Woods Police also assists Glendale. We have limited personnel available to cover a night shift if our schedule night officer calls in sick or otherwise unavailable. With a PSA, both departments reach a critical mass to cover unexpected vacancies.
Warson Woods Has Personnel Who Are Available to Patrol During Peak Crime Hours 1) Peak Crime is 8:00 - 20:00; noted by red circle 2) Warson Woods has visible coverage during peak hours via a combination of the Chief, the Sergeant, Patrolperson and Part Time Patrolperson. Chief patrols 30% of his time and The sergeant patrols 50% of his time. 3) Patrols would be reduced based on the PSA and the committee agreed that the number is approximately 36% 4) WW Accreditation will not reduce hours spent on patrol for Warson Woods Police officers; covered with existing Admin time
Did Warson Woods get any competing bids from other nearby municipalities for police services? No other bids were sought. Rationale given was the familiarity that WWPD officers currently have with Glendale officers, and the fact that WW currently contracts with Glendale for fire, EMS and dispatching services was the overriding reason to contract with Glendale. The draft Public Safety Agreement (PSA) does contain savings to WW on the cost of existing fire, EMS, and dispatching services should WW contract for police services.
Was the purchase of the St. Matts property a factor in the decision of WW to contract with Glendale? At the Finance Committee Meeting in May, it was stated that the purchase of St. Matt s property is not the reason. The purchase of the property was financed, which included demolition costs. Debt service on the property is being paid by the .5% stormwater ( SWLP ) tax revenue. The financed portion has stable costs, not rising costs. It was stated that rising cost to operate the police department, which have been rising for several years, is the primary factor in exploring police services with Glendale.
Did the process of WW contracting with Glendale begin with Glendale officials approaching WW officials, or vice versa? No definite answer has been received on this question. Discussions regarding the proposed PSA took place in closed Executive Session meetings, the minutes of which have not been made available for review
What was the WW Aldermanic Boards plans to communicate the draft Public Safety Agreement (PSA) to its residents, and when was it to be put to a vote? The Committee has not been able to determine if there was a plan for making Warson Woods residents aware of the consideration of the draft PSA outside of the normal course of aldermanic meetings. At a minimum, the Committee was advised that there was no written plan for making WW residents aware of the draft PSA. The draft PSA was leaked to the community prior to the board presenting at an aldermanic meeting.
Crime Statistics Warson Woods and Glendale see very similar types of crimes Glendale is 2.4X the size of Warson Woods and has roughly 2X the number of crimes WWPD Highlights: WWPD solves it s crimes Zero active cases from 2015-2018 2 active cases from 2019 10 active cases from 2020 The certainty of being caught is the a vastly more powerful deterrent (to crime) than the punishment. The National Institute of Justice
Prop P Shall St. Louis County impose a one-half of one percent sales tax for the purpose of providing funds to improve police and public safety in St. Louis County and each of the municipalities within St. Louis County?
Prop P Question From WW Citizens: Did Warson Woods Police officers receive a raise due to Prop P when it was instituted in 2018? Committee Answer: There was a one-time adjustment to the pay scale in 2019 which resulted in a Step 1 increase of 8% to $19.69 and a Step 10 increase of 6% to $25.26. This resulted in $27,000 in total pay raises to WWPD officers. Other than the change to the step there has not been a significant change in the salary of the officers at a total level
Prop P Question From WW Citizens: How are the Prop P funds being spent and accounted for? Prop P funds go into in the Warson Woods general funds and are accounted for in the general fund Prop P total dollar expenditures are best calculated by the Finance committee. The best estimate of total spending on Police and total Prop P revenue are as follows Incremental dollars spent on police from FY 2018 FY 2021 = $144,000 Total Prop P dollars generated FY 2018 FY 2021 = $406,031 Prop P dollars are being spent legally in support of public safety, including the Fire and EMS contract The Board chooses how to spend those dollars
Legislative Concerns Regulatory challenges to small municipalities and police departments continue Senate Bill 5 (2015) Senate Bill 26 (2021) Municipality Consolidation (i.e. Better Together ) There are likely to be challenges in the future Have administrative and financial cost Difficult for a small municipality to control its own destiny if any of these initiatives force a change.
Senate Bill 5 Signed into law in 2015 Intended to address STL County municipality court reform and police reform Requires STL County municipal police departments to become accredited by August 28, 2021 Accreditation process can take 1-3 years to complete Requires significant documentation on processes and procedures Accrediting agency will conduct audits Failure to comply with law forces municipality to contract police from neighboring municipality or from STL County PD Legal challenges delayed the start of the accrediting process for most municipalities
Senate Bill 5 Missouri Supreme Court ruling in Fall 2020 decided the law was valid and left the August 28, 2021 deadline in place Municipalities are challenging the August 28 deadline in court Warson Woods PD started accrediting process in April 2021 Expect to complete process in 2023 Anticipate up to 900 man-hours to complete accreditation process Glendale PD resumed their accrediting process in fall 2020 Expect to complete process in 2022. Unlikely MO attorney general will enforce August 28 deadline Will wait for challenge to the deadline to be settled in court (unlikely before deadline) Municipalities that have started their accreditation process should be allowed to complete the process
Senate Bill 26 Passed by Missouri legislature in May and on Governors desk for signature or veto According to the Missouri Municipal League, this bill is intended to address police defunding Eliminating police, not consolidating departments Does not allow a municipality to cut its police department budget by more than 12% without similar to decrease to other department budgets Any citizen can challenge a police department budget cut of more than 12% Judge must grant an injunction against the municipality Not clear if governor will sign the bill.
Municipality Consolidation Initiatives like Better Together have been discussed for years Both STL city county merger as well as STL municipality consolidation Last week, Belle-Ridge decided to consolidate its police department with Normandy Mayor cited financial concerns and rising costs as the driving factor As a smaller municipality, it will be difficult for Warson Woods to control its own destiny if any municipality consolidation initiatives gain momentum
Committee Conclusions PSA contains some positive items Protecting our police officers Cost savings Vague wording in PSA creates confusion and potential risks Written description of police coverage differs from intent stated at the Town Hall Meeting Termination clauses could leave Warson Woods without a police department on relatively short notice Police Officer patrolling would decrease Police coverage would remain the same
Committee Conclusions Police officer pay and benefits would improve However, Police officers were, generally, not in favor of the consolidation PSA results in cost savings to the city City can afford the police department today Relatively flat revenue, rising police costs and future capital expenditures (amount unknown) will most likely require tax increases &/or expense cuts at some point in the future Future legislative actions could result in additional expenses Difficult for a small municipality to control its own destiny if forced to negotiate with another city for services
