MORE TAX DOLLARS WASTED!!!

During last Tuesday’s Town Council Workshop, the second agenda item was a Police Officer Vacancy Discussion.  The Town Manager started off the discussion by explaining that there is a vacancy in the Patrol Division and requested that the town receive permission to fill this position.  According to Chief Brooks’, the town tried to fill this position but the candidate did not accept the offer.  The Council gave permission to start the process again, without a vote being taken.

After the workshop was completed, Chairman Pesce opened the workshop for the audience to make comments.  I asked Chairman Pesce if the Police Department had eliminated the “Unobligated Time”, identified in the Police Study.  Chairman Pesce did not answer the question but provided double-talk about what our officers are currently doing. 

The Town Council paid to have an independent study performed by subject matter experts (SME) from The Tideview Group.  This cost approximately $6,000.00 of taxpayers’ money.  These subject matter experts completed the study and provided their findings to the Town Council.  In their study, The Tideview Group provided 10 recommendations to improving the cost effectiveness and to provide manpower recommendations on our Police Department.  Below are two of the recommendations from page 27 of the Police Study:

          .  That the use of unobligated time be reviewed to insure that this time is being spent in a proactive manner.

          . That current staffing levels of officers in the Patrol Division be maintained and reevaluated after unobligated time is being used to maximum potential.

 Since the taxpayers paid for this study and The Tideview Group provided recommendations to the town; it is only right that the taxpayers be kept informed as the progress the Police Department is making to accomplish the recommendations provided.  It makes no sense to pay for a study and then not utilize the study to improve the efficiency of our Police Department.  Chairman Pesce did not provide an answer to the question of “is the unobligated time being used to maximum potential”. 

This issue of unobligated time needs to be resolved prior to spending any more tax dollars on a Patrol Officer.  If the Town Council, though the Town Manager, is not going to monitor the progress of  resolving these recommendations; then the study is useless and the town wasted $6,000.00.

Chairman Pesce should not be so short with the residents of this community and answer their questions instead of giving then double-talk.

Larry Fillmore