The 2010 budget was the main topic during the November meeting of the Conneaut Lake Re-gional Police Commission.

Those in attendance were Secretary Rose Mumau, Sadsbury Township Supervisors Roy Whaley, Kevin VanHonk, and Don Ellis Sr., Police Chief Todd Pfeifer, President of Conneaut Lake Borough Council Richard Holabaugh, Officer David Overman and Sgt. Greg Nichols. Conneaut Lake Mayor Tim Kaider was absent and there were no citizens in attendance.

When the second draft of the budget was presented, the figures reflected not only the regular budget but, they also included figures for a 24/7 department with the increase being $41,000.

The reason why 24/7 was a hot topic was due to House Bill 1500 which would see municipalities that are not covered by local departments paying for the State Police services.

HB 1500 has been discussed at the Police Com-mission meetings for several months now. The board took measures to contact state and local officials in order to impart their displeasure with the proposed bill.

Mayor Kaider had said in the past that he had been told the bill was all but dead and to take discussions about it off the agenda, since it really had no chance of passing.

So, just to compare and contrast, the budget was presented with both sets of figures.

Richard Holabaugh spoke up and said that the mayor was against going to the 24/7. When asked why, Holabaugh said he didn't feel totally comfortable speaking for the absent mayor but did say that the general feeling of borough officials was that it was somewhat of an over reaction due to the proposed bill.

He described it as a knee jerk reaction and one that the borough, which is raising taxes for the first time in 25 years, could not afford at this time.

He said too that there would be no objection to adding a part time officer and working toward a gradual increase rather than doing it all at once.

The very bottom line was the financial aspect of the extra officer or officers and the feeling that HB 1500 did not have a snowball's chance in going through, were both factors in the borough's reluctance.

Chief Pfeifer said that thinking in selfish terms, so to speak, he would love to go 24/7 but speaking practically and fiscally, he understood it would not be possible at this time.

He pointed out that hiring one part time officer would be a great help and he said the department would be “sitting pretty” if they could do so.

He said he thought it would be in the Commission's best interest and in the best interest of the budget to ease into things. “If we put another guy on at 32 hours a week, we could better project another guy after that....”

The talk of a part time officer then swung into action and Roy Whaley asked if they should entertain a motion to add money to the part time budget. Whaley said they could adjust it to include more part time hours.

A discussion ensued about the overtime that would be involved and whether they could swing the extra person and hours or not.

The officers in attendance brought up the fact that a lot of the overtime money is reimbursed through programs like Buckle Up, the Task Force and others as well.

Whaley spoke up in somewhat of a rebuttal to what the mayor had told Holabaugh concerning a “knee jerk reaction.”

He said he did not have the same view of HR 1500 being a factor in the 24/7 coverage. “I've already talked to Evans and Robbins and they said there's no way...it's going to pass. My interest in going 24/7 is a lot more to do with my feelings and thoughts of what's going to be increased protection because of the continuing downturn in the economy. People are having a hard time dealing with what is going on....The next few years are only going to get worse and that's why I'm in favor of 24/7...”

He continued by saying that if adjusting the proposed budget in order to take in a part time officer was the wishes of the board, he'd have no objection to that.

Mumau got out her calculator and soon had some figures for a part time officer. This would put the department at having full time coverage four days per week, which would be good, according to those on the board, especially in the summer months.

As Mumau crunched numbers and imparted some findings in the process, more discussion took place.

Holabaugh asked the two other officers in attendance, Overman and Nichols, what their views were concerning having the extra worker and specifically, in the summer months.

Nichols said because he and Overman are out consistently on the weekends, sometimes it was tough for just the two of them.

Overman backed him up on that and pointed out that multiple calls could be a concern when it's the two of them only.

After praising the chief for his scheduling expertise, Whaley said he thought the police presence had been an obstacle to crime. He went on to say that, in his opinion, 24/7 would go further to deter criminal activities, “we just want to be prepared,” he stated.

After coming up with the figures and chatting quite a bit back and forth, a decision was made to hire a part time officer. The board approved the budget via motion with the additional part time and overtime hours as calculated by Mumau.

When to advertise for an officer was the next question and the decision was to wait until the first of the year after the budgets were passed for certain, etc.

Whaley said that Sadsbury is already budgeted for 24/7 so, if a need arose down the road, they could take a look at it again.

He also pointed out that the budget is tight but, they will leave it as advertised right now. “As the demand rises, we will go from there.”

He said the township will now be going16 years without a tax increase and they've adjusted the budget accordingly. He then encouraged all to do the same.

“We've made some changes in our budgeting process to be prepared for the future. I would challenge everybody involved with budgets, including the County and the schools, they've got to live within their budgets. They can't keep raising taxes because the very people they're trying to tax, money's not there. Services, contracts, agreements, it's going to be tougher and it's got to change. The old way of doing business is over,” he concluded.

After that part of the meeting, the chief gave the activity report for October and it was as follows:

There were 10 traffic citations issued in the township and 6 in the borough; 1 misdemeanor arrest in the township; 3 field interviews in the township;

7 incident reports in the township and 1 in the borough; 4 incidents cleared in the township and 2 in the borough; 5 accident reports in the township with no injuries and 3 in the borough with no injuries; 8 follow up reports in the township and 2 in the borough;

54 calls in the township and 27 in the borough and 5 outside the area; 41 verbal/written warnings in the township and 30 in the borough; 50 traffic stops in the township and 35 in the borough and 4 motorist assists in the township and 3 in the borough.

Property value lost/stolen was $450 in the township and property value recovered was $625 in the township.

K9 activities were: 2 assists in the township and 15 hours of training.

Total calls were 207 in October. Prior to the conclusion of the meeting, Sgt. Nichols thanked the board for their decision to allow for the purchase of a headstone for Officer Zark, the lovable canine who died in October.

Zark had lived with Nichols during his “employment” with the department, through his retirement years and up to the time of his death. He was a loyal companion and an excellent partner to Nichols during his time on the force.

The next meeting of the Conneaut Lake Regional Police Department will take place on December 16. The meetings are held at the Sadsbury Township building and begin at 6:30.