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1d. Appointment of Police Study Committee I , . _, ,. I 4 CITY OF /'6, . 7. , CHANHASSEN , ., , " . . ,.., ‘ i . .. . -. ,,,_. . ., . . r 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 (612) 937-1900 • FAX (612) 937-5739 II MEMORANDUM TO: Don Ashworth, City Manager IFROM: Jim Chaffee, Public Safety Director IIDATE: November 29, 1989 SUBJ: Establishing a Police Study Committee IIYou may recall that at the beginning of 1989, Mayor Don Chmiel, with the support of the Council, directed myself to work with I Sheriff Al Wallin in establishing a police study to bring back to the City Council . Mayor Chmiel felt this was necessary to pre- vent the continuing controversy which seemed to surround the II police issue and the City of Chanhassen. Mayor Chmiel had met with County Commissioner Al Klingelhutz, County Sheriff Al Wallin and myself separately attempting to determine the best process for this to occur . IIUnfortunately, as my memo to the Public Safety Commission dated November 7, 1989 suggests, we were never able to make significant II headway in doing the study. You also may recall that the deci- sion to stay with 24 hour coverage in 1990 provided us with a measure of time in which to conduct a study and hopefully present I it to the City Council in the early summer of 1990. My attached memo to the Public Safety Commission recommended the establish- ment of a committee to assist myself and Sheriff Wallin in deve- loping such a plan. In my memo, I recommended that myself, I Sheriff Wallin, Jim Castlebury, Scott Harr, a member of the Public Safety Commission, with two citizens from the community be appointed to this committee . IIOn November 9, the Public Safety Commission addressed this recom- mendation (see attached minutes) , and changed it slightly. II Instead of having two citizens at large, they moved to have two members of the Public Safety Commission on the committee . You will note that in the motion, the Public Safety Commission I recommended that a police study be established and that the Mayor appoint Sheriff Wallin, Chief Deputy Jim Castlebury, Assistant Public Safety Director Scott Harr, Public Safety Director Jim II Chaffee and two members of the Public Safety Commission. My ori- ginal recommendation was to have seven members on the police study committee, however, the Public Safety Commission recommends six. I believe this was only an oversight on their part in Iwishing to establish that two of their members be on the committee. Don Ashworth November 29, 1989 Page 2 1 I have since discussed this with Councilmember Dimler and she has expressed an interest in also being on the committee. Sheriff Wallin and myself thought this was an excellent idea and there- fore, my recommendation is to have the Mayor appoint a police study committee consisting of Sheriff Al Wallin, Public Safety Director Jim Chaffee, Chief Deputy Jim Castlebury, Assistant Public Safety Director Scott Harr, two volunteer members of the ' Public Safety Commission, Barb Klick and Bill Bernhjelm, and Councilmember Ursula Dimler . ' PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION ACTION: Boyt moved, Wenzlaff seconded that the Public Safety Commission recommend that a Public Safety Committee be recommended to the Mayor and that it consist of Sheriff Wallin, Jim Castlebury, Scott Harr, and Jim Chaffee, and two members of the Public Safety Commission. All voted in favor except Dick Wing who opposed, and the motion carried. RECOMMENDATION: It is staffs recommendation to ask the Mayor to appoint a Public Safety committee consisting of Sheriff Al Wallin, Public Safety Director Jim Chaffee, Assistant Public ' Safety Director Scott Harr, Chief Deputy Jim Castleberry, Public Safety Commission Member Barb Klick and Bill Bernhjelm and Coun- cilmember Ursula Dimler . The purpose of this committee is to establish a five year or longer plan for police services for the City of ChAnhassen. The time frame for this committee would be to have a working document ' prepared and ready for Council presentation by July 15, 1990 . The committee would establish a mission statement, goals and objectives and a time frame in which each of these goals and objectives can be accomplished. 1 1 1 1 1 1 /4 , ,,1 i I CITY OF _ i , CHANHASSEN 1 ., . .i, . . , , ,. 4 , , . :. 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 • (612) 937-1900 • FAX (612) 937-5739 MEMORANDUM I TO: Public Safety Commission FROM: Jim Chaffee, Public Safety Director II DATE: November 7, 1989 I SUBJ: Consider Recommendations to Establish a Police Study Committee Sometime ago the City Council asked that Sheriff Al Wallin and myself conduct a II study to establish a plan for providing police services to the City of Chanhassen. This suggestion was made in January of this year but due to time constraints and other pressing issues, Al Wallin and I were only able to meet II one time regarding this issue. At that:-time, we discussed what year the City of Chanhassen would likely need and/or desire to establish a local police depart- ment. 1992-was- the earliest Sheriff WaliiY and myself thought that the City of IIChanhassen might consider establishing a local police department. We discussed several alternatives and methods whereby this might be accomplished. We appeared to reach`.a consensus that a gradual implementation II would be necessary to preserve both an orderly:,transition and an expansion of the Sheriff's responsibilities ifto several adjunct areas. . . Unfortunately, we were never able to follow through on our initial meeting and 1 the study has been put on haid since then. The purpose of the study would be to establish some ground rules'==for the City in which=to make critical decisions regarding Public Safety,= "R'he necessity for a Oak is evident by the constant II pressures from various=sources put upon the Sheriff's Department and Public Safety to work in .iiazmony tovard,„a ommon% a1 put efforts in this study will be to establish nit connmon "qoal II It will be ours objective to establish a five year plan and to,bbain •City Council approval to implement the'< plan.._ Hopefully, once a plan is approved II through the various agencies 'tlten4no°,aore ontcoversyz-should be generated regarding the w&'� ' g g police issue. It is my recommendation at this time to stablish a committee to assist Sheriff II Wallin and myself in developing such afive year plan. I would recommend that myself, Sheriff Wallin, Jim Castleberry, Scott Harr, and a member of the Public Safety Commission be members of the committee. In addition, I would recommend II that two citizens at large to be appointed by the Mayor to sit. on,.•the committee. I would further recommend that a time frame be established whereby completion of the study may be concluded and presented to the City Council for approval. This time frame should be no later than July of 1990 to facilitate budget preparation for 1991. II Public Safety Commission Meeting J ,r November 9, 1989 - Page 41 I ' Harr : Yes, through the schools. Klick: It was an excellent letter. It was very nice. Wenzlaff : Yes, my daughter brought it home. I 'm sorry, yes. Thank you for bringing that up. I had a note here and missed it. Back to item A. Jim we by-passed that hoping that you would be back in time that we could discuss that so would you please kick that one off. A. CONSIDER RECOMMENDATIONS TO ESTABLISH A POLICE STUDY COMMITTEE. Chaffee: I ' ll take credit for this idea because it's all mine. It's something that I 've thought about for a long time. The various discussions ' that have occurred both with this commission and with others outside the commission. Sheriff Wallin and I were supposed to do something to develop a study. It was suggested that we do this back in January. We just quite frankly haven' t had the time. Other issues have cropped up. I just ' thought it might be better if we could get a committee together made up of myself, Sheriff Wallin, Scott Harr , Jim Castleberry, a member of the Public Safety Commission and I think it was 2 citizens at large to sit down and come up with a proposal to present to the City Council for police services for the City of Chanhassen. A 5 year plan, a 10 year plan. Something long range where we can avoid any of the controversy that has occurred in the ' past. I think if it's done right and it's well thought out and it's presented in such a manner where it' s feasible, I think it will certainly help. It's just a recommendation I 've got. I 've run this by Sheriff Wallin. I think you're in agreement with it Al? Al Wallin: Yes . Chaffee: That it would just help us and we set some specific timeframes now where we can come back to the City Council with whatever plan that we develop. ' Al Wallin: . . . I don' t know if you'd want to delay this a month. It's my understanding that Chief Young is doing some work that was prompted by a mayor in his city to look at policing needs in Chanhassen. I guess it ' probably behooves us to wait until he gets this done because he has called me and said that it' s just about completed . He does want to -meet with nee and so forth and go over some things. Get some information and I guess ' what I 'm saying is, why reinvent the wheel . If everything' s there, we can look at it and I guess one month delay won't make much difference to see what' s going to happen with that. Klick: Who is Chief Young? Wenzlaff: Yeah, I was going to ask the same question. Al Wallin: Chief Young from South Lake Minnetonka. Klick: He' s conducting a study for Chanhassen? ' 41 r„ Public Safety Commission Meeting November 9, 1989 - Page 42 Wenzlaff: Would somebody like to explain this? ' Klick: Where did that come from? Chaffee: I talked to Chief Young today. Al , I don' t know if you knew that. He has completed a preliminary draft of that report. I don' t think it's going to help us in this case. It certainly would help us as something as a resource. ' Audience. I think they're asking why. . . Wenzlaff: Yeah, where'd this all come from? This is news. ' Chaffee: It' s a good question. Boyt: Why don't we discuss this after the meeting. Wing : Why would we do that Bill? ' Wenzlaff: I think it's pertinent. Boyt: I would refer you to the third paragraph of Jim's memo and suggest II that we don' t need to talk about this. If you personally want some background , I 'd say that's an excellent idea but I think for the Public Safety Commission, it's a mistake. ' Wenzlaff: I'm sorry. I 'm missing . I don' t know what we don' t need information on or what's a mistake. I 'm missing something. Wing: Let' s back up Wayne. I don' t know what we're talking about. Wenzlaff: I don' t either. I'm sorry. ' Boyt: I don' t think South Lake' s interest in Chanhassen is, and our police services, is a particularly good topic for the Public Safety Commission to , talk about. I think if you' re interested in it as an individual , fine. I think we're better off leaving these issues somewhere else. This is like deciding that you want to go out for a Sunday walk through a landmine field and I 'm just encouarging you to not go on that walk. Klick: Are you talking about this or the South Lake? Boyt: No. I 'm talking about the South Lake study. I think this is fine I to talk about. Wenzlaff: I guess I don't know anything about the South Lake study and since it was brought up, could it be summarized in a sentence? Chaffee: I can. I don' t know where it came from. It came from Mayor ' Haugan directed, as part of the South Lake committee, group of people who oversee that contract system, directed Chief Young to propose a study. That's it. ' 42 , Public Safety Commission Meeting November 9, 1989 - Page 43 I Wenzlaff : With a view maybe that they could provide some services? Chaffee: I would assume so. That's all I know where it came from. Al Wallin : That' s right . I 'd have to side with Jim here. We don' t know what it's all about. That' s the whole thing . Wenzlaff : That's all I need to know right now. I just was curious as to , ' we were getting a South Lake name brought up that had never been mentioned before. Wing : So you don' t want me to ask why would another mayor from another city prompt their police chief to do a police study regarding Chanhassen? Is that right? I mean it' s just sort of news . I 'm sort of sitting here, Al, what are your feelings on this? Al Wallin: I don' t know. I don' t know what prompted it or anything . Like I said, Chief Young and I are going to meet very shortly here. ' Wenzlaff : So apparently Chief Young contacted you or contacted Jim or both of you and said, we'd like to talk to you about police services to Chanhassen? Is that it in a nutshell? Al Wallin: I don' t know if it' s police services in Chanhassen or just to ' do a study on Chanhassen. In other words, are we providing enough service. I don't know what he's doing. I think that's what the meeting will be all about so I don' t want you to get off on the wrong track here to think that they' re going to come in and do your policing or whatever it is. I don't ' know. Wenzlaff : It would sound to me like, whatever that issue is, if it involves public safety, a study that Jim is suggesting here is certainly appropriate regardless . Would anybody disagree with that statement? Klick: This is excellent. Bernhjelm: Jim, why did you recommend 2 citizens at large rather than more representation from the Commission? Was there a reason? Chaffee: Well there is a reason. I guess I had somebody in mind . I was thinking of Clark Horn to be honest with you and it's up to the Mayor I guess to appoint the 2 people at large. I mean it' s a brainstorm I had and ' I don't even know how we want to develop this but it's just a suggestion. Bernhjelm: I was just wondering. Wenzlaff: How do you feel Mr. Mayor about being asked to appoint those 2 citizens? Are you comfortable with that? Mayor Chmiel ' s answer couldn' t be heard on the tape. Boyt: I think one of the things to think about is why does the Public Safety Commission exist. I thought you were all citizens at large myself 43 • Public Safety Commission Meeting November 9, 1989 - Page 44 and happened to be reasonably well informed about the issues. I 've got II some questions about the public safety, whatever it is, the traffic thing . Whatever we' re calling that group of people. They have a citizen at _large. That's a public safety issue. Why isn' t that citizen somebody off this commission? I 'm not sure that it' s a good idea or a bad idea but when I see, I just think that's what the Public Safety Commission is. It's citizens out there and you've taken the time to become informed about this. Klick: Let's start with how much time you think would be involved outside II of our regular commission meetings and how many people are interested . Maybe we'd start with that. ' Chaffee: My own opinion is that' s going to take at least one meeting a month, if we want to set a goal of next July of a presentation to the II Council . Certainly Sheriff Wallin and myself along with Scott and Jim could do a lot of the legwork and during the meetings when we meet is__ present you with the information and the alternatives. The data that you would seek. ' Klick: What does the Commission think? Wing: I support Jim's recommendation. Wenzlaff : I tend to side with Bill . I think that adding a citizen in there is a nice touch probably from the standpoint of the fact that all of II us are more intimately involved. Some of us are members of public safety and other areas, fire, police, whatever or have been in the past but I think if that citizen were really interested in becoming involved with it, II would be a citizen who might also be interested in becoming a member of this conm►ission. I would encourage them to seek that membership if they .opportunity arises. I think it can be dealt with certainly the people involved from the agencies are appropriate and 2 or 3 members from the Public Safety Commission might be a better choice than bringing in another citizen. At least we have the knowledge. All of us have been here, most of a year or more and have the knowledge of some of the issues we deal I with. It's educational at least to have gone through the controversy that some of us have gone through with issues. You know Sheriff's department versus police department and I think we're all sensitized to the issue that II we get defocused from time to time but we' re all interested in the public safety needs of Chanhassen. By all I mean the Sheriff's department is Chan Public Safety and this group is and we probably would bring a better demeanor to the table having been embroiled in that controversy before and II approach it from a more professional viewpoint of yes, we know this has been an issue before and we don't have to dredge up old things. We need to look at where we go in the future. Everybody has at least agreed that Chanhassen is going to need more public safety as time goes on. There's no II argument from any quarter on that. The only question is how that gets provided and in what manner , if there's going to be a change over and what ' manner that change over takes place. I agree with Bill , I think that 's better addressed by this group of citizens than by anybody else we could bring in from the outside. 44 Public Safety Commission Meeting November 9, 1989 - Page 45 r Wing : I couldn' t disagree more. I think that you hit it right on the head Wayne when you said we've been embroiled in controversy and that' s taken away some of the objectivity. I think one member from this commission, a knowledgeable member of this commission. Someone familiar with what' s occurred . The history that' s a professional in the field, whatever the case is. I think we're talking pure facts. Pure objectivity and I think that can best be handled by the group as presented by Mr . Chaffee and I ' ll call for a motion at this time that we simply go along with Mr. Chaffee' s recommendation for the committee make-up. Chaffee: Mr. Chairman, may I make one point too. In fairness to Candy, ' she did call nie this evening and she indicated her support for my memo. Again, this is just a suggestion. What I 'm telling you is what Candy told me. She also indicated that it would be her desire to have somebody ' totally foreign to the police issue, that knew nothing about it. A totally objective citizen from the community who did not have any prior background and those were her thoughts to me before the meeting tonight. ' Wenzlaff: So would that not rule out Clark Horn? Oh, okay, I 'm sorry. We have a motion on the floor. Do we have a second? Klick: Can we have more discussion on it or does there have to be a second? Hoyt : Well the motion dies for lack of a second so you' re welcome to discuss. Klick: I just want to restate my question again. For the amount of time, ' I think we can go round and round about what's best. I think that the actual getting together of this committee is the most important thing and the members are kind of secondary, although that's an' important piece. How many people here are interested in putting that much time forward? I 'd be ' interested in just seeing first of all if we have more than one person from Public Safety who'd be interested. ' Wenzlaff: Would or could. Klick: Would. Who would make the commitment to come another day a month ' starting December thru July? Bernhjelm: I could probably do it with some flexibility. I ' ll be on night shift the next 6 months. I will have days essentially free so I could do some of the legwork also. Wing: it sounds like this is a far cry from the original police study in that there's so much professional staff involved in doing the research and then getting the findings. I dare say you could meet very often if you chose to. Wenzlaff : Did I hear that you'd be interested or available? Wing: If there was a need, I 'm always available. I 'm not necessarily volunteering . . . 45 - Public Safety Commission Meeting November 9, 1989 - Page 46 Klick: Wouldn' t the commission be drawn in along the way as you see this II plan or would it just be these people that went about collecting data and. . . Would the commission be privy to this along the way or not? Do you see the plan just starting out there and ending up with a presentation to us of your facts and findings? Chaffee: I guess I haven' t thought it that thoroughly thru yet but it can II be worked either way. I mean my intention was to have this. Get it done. Present it like we would anything else, through the Public Safety Commission and then to the City Council but certainly we can tell you how we're doing as we go along . We' re still going to be having our monthly meetings and we can give you whatever we have. I 'm not sure it would be anything . Boyt: Well I would like to see it be made up of a subcommittee of members of the Public Safety Commission. And that as part of that there would be periodic reports back to the Public Safety Commission for other commission 1 input as to what's happening. If we have 2 people that have an interest, I'd sure like to see those 2 people be on this. Wenzlaff: Would you care to try that in the form of a motion? ' Boyt: Well maybe there' s interest in discussing it anyway. I would recommend that this committee be recommended to the Mayor and that it consist of Sheriff Wallin, Jim Castleberry, Scott Harr and Jim Chaffee and 2 members of the Public Safety Commission. Bernhjelm: I' ll second that. , Klick: So no one outside? Just the 4 public safety officials and 2 people from the commission. Is that it? Boyt: Yeah. That' s what I proposed . I think there would certainly be a need and plenty of opportunity hopefully for public input into this as it hits a stage where they've got something to have input about. What I would see this group being is a group that is researching and creating a working document so people could respond to it. ' Wenzlaff: I agree. I see this as a professional group and I •use the word professional to mean people who have a knowledge of the situation and can make informed decisions. I think having someone involved from the outside, unless they bring some professional value to this group, doesn't add anything. Bringing an uninvolved citizen in because they are uninvolved and have never been embroiled in the controversy, doesn' t help us get a plan done down the road as to how this is going to happen. I think the people who are most able to put a plan together that' s workable are the people mentioned and the value of the people on the Public Safety I Commission is that they are not involved in it. We' re not involved in it full time. We aren't the officers on the street. We aren't the people who get our pay checks from the County or from the City and have to be cognizant of those details. I think Bill I agree with your point. I think I it's exactly the right use of this group. 46 I Public Safety Commission Meeting November 9, 1989 - Page 47 11 ' Harr : I think you' re seeing some attempts by Jim and I was part of the discussion of this just to try to keep the calm that I think has finally come to the situation but frankly I agree with you 100%. I think they're ' good comments. Wenzlaff : I think we've got the 4 professional people who are involved on a day to day basis who need to give the most direction you people, and I ' would include Jim although he had to leave, Castleberry here. You have the ability from the computer and the data and the history to make the most informed decisions and the only controversy I see coming up in that is ' where we have a disagreement that is going to get dealt with I would hope and have every reason to expect on a professional level . That' s where the members of the commission I think can be valuable. Where we don' t get our pay checks from the City of Chanhassen nor one from the County and we can perhaps bring a different perspective to it. Everyone here has a background in public safety or involvement in the city in some method . We've been involved in the medical side or the fire side or the police, ' sheriff side and I question whether any citizen without. . . Any further discussion? Wing : Jim, obviously I 'm not going to go anywhere with this. I just want you to know that I think it's a very good recommendation and Scott I think, as far as myself is concerned, keeping the calm would never have been an issue. I 'm very accepting to what would occur in the people that would ' have been involved or I would have trusted them to be very objective and very honest and I think perform this duty perhaps better than any of us could just because of our background and our involvement. I can' t see us ' being as objective. That's my opinion. That's the end of my statement. Wenzlaff : Further discussion? Boyt moved, Wenzlaff seconded that the Public Safety Commission recommend that a Police Study Committee be recommended to the Mayor and that it ' consist of Sheriff Wallin, Jim Castleberry, Scott Harr and Jim Chaffee and 2 members of the Public Safety Commission. All voted in favor except Dick Wing who opposed and the motion carried. Wenzlaff: And unless anyone has anything else, I believe that's the end of 9 . o our agenda . Wing: Before we close, I'm just curious where you're going to go with these minutes. Bill you brought that up and it' s old business. It was ' discussed a year and a half ago and a couple times we've mentioned the Minutes and you mentioned it again tonight and I think they've been unwieldy. They're difficult to read. City Council has commented on them being difficult to handle and looking at a couple other cities, it' s not ' uncommon to not do it that way. That they record the Minutes and there's a tape available for anybody who cares to spend the time listening to it or if there' s an issue they wish to pull out but the general, the motions and ' the status of the meeting is in a more concise, readable manner . What' s your intention Bill with these Minutes? 47