Minutes - Council - 11/29/1995 - Budget Public Hearing

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Tribune article about the cost of the police departments - comparing, for one, Ramsey and Andover, was froth with errors. It was not at all accurate. The City of Andover does not have a police department - they contract with Anoka County as do some other smaller townships in the County. They contract for the patrol officers time - the support service provided was not accounted for. We also provide education services for the police - they do not show that in the article either. With regard to the fare department - between Andover and Ramsey you will find just the opposite. With regard to building a new Police facility - the Ramsey Police Department is currently operating in a space that is so small, there is "hardly room to turn around". The City put off for a long time improvements to the Police Department and the Public Works area. This City Hall was built totally with federal funds - the Public Works facility was a temporary building - a pole shed erected 20 years ago. It has now been replaced and that department should be adequately housed for a number of years. That leaves the Police Department and the Fire Department. We plan to build a $600,000 facility for the Police Department. These would be paid for with an interfund loan. We are doing that project basically in house - we are just building a basic, functional building - nothing fancy. With regard to sealcoating - we had complaints last year about pea rock being on the road too long - this year we have received complaints that it was not on the road long enough. We will try to get in the middle next year. With regard to the playground, there was one park we did not mow on purpose because neighbors complained of what's going on in the park and they felt if the park was not maintained, these things would not happen. The park was not maintained, therefore, other neighbors complained. It was a test issue - not a route to be taken. The chained park Mr. Karst referred to is a County park and he (Schroeder) did not know why that would have been closed. With regard to the recycling charge, the landfill fund subsidized the cost of the recycling which is why it was initially free to the residents. With the closure of the landfill, these funds are no longer available. The City is mandated to provide recycling services and we request bids from companies to perform this service. He stated that taxes could have been raised to pay for the recycling, however, it was felt that would be inappropriate because commercial would have had to pay 35% of the cost and they do not have this service provided to them. Mr. Karst then asked about dropping the number of officers down from 15 to four or five. Mr. Schroeder explained that the Department is up to about 8,000 calls per year and it appears to be ever increasing. Thc call load is over burdening our existing officers. Mr. Karst inquired how often the City replaces its squad cars. Mr. Schroeder responded that we have a two-year cycle - they are traded down to the Administrative staff. We run them to between 100,000 and 180,000 miles and then sell them as surplus property. He added that he feels it's valuable to keep the Police Department squad cars to low mileage and that they should be fairly new as they are emergency response vehicles. Councilmember Peterson added that with higher mileage also comes higher maintenance costs. He stated, to Mr. Karst, you sound like you have been very fortunate in not needing to ever use the Police Department. He stated that the City has a lot of preventative programs and he wished Mr. Karst could read some of the letters we get from people who have needed the police - where lives were saved, etc. He stated that he is proud to be paying for a service like that. Budget Public Hearing/City Council/November 29, 1995 Page 3 of 4