HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 113078CITY COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS
NOVEMBER 30, 1978
The Special Meeting of the City Council of Palm Beach Gardens was called
to order by Mayor John Kiedis at 8:00 P.M. in the Assembly Room, 10500
North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and opened with the
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
ROLL CALL: The roll was called by the City Clerk and present were: Mayor Kiedis,
Vice Mayor Laurie, Councilman Aldred, Councilman Feeney, and Councilman
Martino. Attorney William Brant and City Manager John Orr were also in
attendance.
LAW ENFORCE- Per the request of the City Council, Mr. Richard Wille, Palm Beach County
SEE Sheriff, was present to discuss a Law Enforcement Agreement he prepared
SHERIFF for their consideration of execution with the County Commission for con -
DEFT tractural services of his 700 - member department.
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Sheriff Wille gave a brief summarization of the proposal and answered
inquiries of members of the Council and audience as follows:
MANPOWER GUARANTEED
18 Patrol Officers
4 zones /officers available for calls from 8:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M.
4 zones /officers available for calls from 4:00 P.M. - midnight
3 zones /officers available for calls from midnight to 8:00 A.M.
2 Full -time Detectives /80 hours a week in Detective Services
2 Civilians to handle increased clerical work such as radio dispatching,
records, etcetera.
SALARY /FRINGE BENEFITS
Minimum Starting Salary
Approx. $12,800 or greater, dependent on length of service, experience,
etcetera.
Health Insurance
They pay for employee; and the employee pays for his /her family
City Council Special Meeting, 11/30/78 Page 2
SALARY /FRINGE BENEFITS (contd)
Retirement
State Retirement System
10-year retirement to be vested under high - hazard
Eligible for retirement at 55
Use of Sheriff Department Vehicle
Within one year, each uniformed officer will have his own patrol car
for his personal use (except a lounge) and transportation to /from work,
with the stipulations that his radio must be on, he must respond to
emergency calls and any crime he sees committed regardless of circum-
stances, and the vehicle cannot leave Palm Beach County.
TRANSFER OF CITY POLICE PERSONNEL TO SHERIFF DEPARTMENT
All personnel that desired to transfer to the Sheriff Department would be
interviewed; and some of the personnel that will be assigned to the PBG
sub - station will "definitely" be taken from the City's existing police force.
However, they would not necessarily transfer with the same rank.
They have four sub- stations that officers operate out of and if an officer
desires to transfer to a sub - station closer to his residence in which a
-- vacancy occurs, a lateral transfer to that same position will be permitted,
unless a specific reason why he should not exists.
EXTENT OF SERVICE
"The officers will be at the City's disposal to service the people of Palm
Beach Gardens the same as they do now. The only things that would change
would be the color of the cars and the uniforms." The types of services the
City wants will be provided as long as it is related to police functions,
including house and business checks.
ASSIGNMENT OF OFFICERS TO TONES
With the exception of sick days, days off, and vacation days or the event
of a .resignation, the same officer will patrol the same geographic zone of
the City (i.e., they will not rotate zones).
DISPATCHING
Dispatching will be from central (downtown) dispatch, They have three dis-
patch stations and eight frequencies, one of which is being designated for
the north end of the County.
City Council Special Meeting, 11/30/78 Page 3
CITY COST US. SHERIFF DEPARTMENT COST
Eliminating the duplication of chain of command and equipment. Savings on
dispatch service.
FINE STRUCTURE
The fine structure would remain the same and would be disbursed to the
City in the existing manner. However, the $1 per fine now allotted for
training of City police personnel would go to the Sheriff Department.
The agreement could include that confiscated items would be the property of
the City.
POSITION OPPORTUNITIES - CAREER GROWTH
The Sheriff Department has 21 fields /divisions in which police personnel
may advance to and specialize in. In case of injury, they have several
areas for light service that they can be placed into temporarily /permanently.
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
There would be a mini - computer in each patrol car, which allows an officer
instantaneous access to the national computer hook -up in Washington D.C.,
the one in Tallahassee, and the one in Palm Beach County. This is a safety
factor as it cuts down transmission time by enabling an officer to by -pass
the central desk and obtain information about a driver /vehicle himself.
In addition, the officer uses the mina- computer to type his case report,
which goes into the main computer downtown and is distributed to the records
department and the sub - station of the officer.
SHERIFF DEPARTMENT EQUIPMENT
Due to the Sheriff Department's size and magnitude of funds, they have more
up -to -date and modern equipment than a municipality.
RESPONSE TIME
If the City now has the same quantity of officers available for calls as
that to be contracted, the response time would not be affected. Additionally,
the Sheriff Department guarantees the service of the quantity of zones
contracted regardless of sick days, days off, compensatory time, and vacation
days.
City Council Special Meeting, 11/30/78
STANDARDS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
Page 4
If there is a difference in opinion between the City and the Sheriff Depart -
ment as to the extent of the duties and functions rendered, the final deter-
mination would be made by the Sheriff. However, "anything logical would be
worked out ".
CITY'S PROPOSED BICYCLE SAFETY PROGRAM
There wouldn't be any opposition to experimenting with or implementing a
program that would promote public safety, as long as it wasn't too expensive.
In regards to the City's proposed Bicycle Safety Program, "if it is a viable
program, I don't think there would be any difficulty in integrating it into
the contract; and if it is a good program, I would probably implement it all
over the County ".
AVAILABILITY OF STATISTICS
If requested, the Sheriff Department would furnish the City copies of monthly
reports (i.e., zones, the number of calls, the types of calls, number of
arrests, miles traveled, response time, etcetera). This would assist the City
in determining the quantity of zones needed as the City grows. "The Sheriff
Department would provide the manpower for the quantity of zones the City feels
is warranted."
CITY'S VOLUNTEER POLICE PROGRAM
Members of the City's Volunteer Police Program would be encouraged to become
members of the Auxiliary Program of the Sheriff Department.
TRAINING
Deputies complete 360 hours in a training academy and an 80 -hour program
in service for the use of computers, digitals, etcetera. In addition, they
must qualify four times a year with the department in day and night firing
for liability purposes.
OFFICERS MAINTAINED IN THE EVENT OF DISASTER
The contract would obligate the Sheriff Department to a certain number of
officers in the City at all times. However, they would use their discretion
re: assisting in the event of a disaster (i.e., officers assigned to the City
may be required to assist in the event of a disaster outside of the City, if
one was not occuring in the City and vice versa) "In no event would they
drain any one area of patrol cars."
City Council Special Meeting, 11/30/78 Page 5
MISCELLANEOUS
1. The County Commission does have to approve the agreement.
2. The City's present police station would not be needed by the Sheriff
Department. The officers would operate out of the north end sub - station
on PGA Boulevard and be in their respective zones eight hours.
3. They presently do not serve any other municipality on a contract basis.
However, they have full -time contracts with the P. B. International
Airport, Wellington, and Boynton Inlet.
4. The position of Sheriff is not any more, if not less, political than
the position of Police Chief. The department "is political only if its
leader is political. Employees are all hired and hopefully will remain
on the Job through their ability and nothing else ".
5. The legalities re: a sheriff deputy enforcing a City Ordinance would have
to be verified.
6. The contract fee is separate from the Sheriff Road Patrol tax that is a
part of all Palm Beach County Ad Valorem Taxes.
7. The one-year contract can be cancelled by either party the City Council
or the County Commission, with 90 -days notice prior to the expiration of
the contract. Note: Regardless of a contract, the Sheriff Department
has the general responsibility and the duty to maintain law and order
throughout the County.
8. The only increase in the contract fee next year would be manpower wage
increases, which is determined by the County Commission, or of the City
wanted additional manpower /cars. Equipment and related items are con-
templated for 32 years and would not change.
9. The City would not be responsible for liability insurance or any other
expenses that are incurred in suits, false arrests, etcetera.
The City Manager clarified that the City's present police force, excluding
dispatchers, consists of: 3 lieutenants, 1 sergeant in communications, 2
detectives, one chief; and including sergeants, 20 patrol officers.
Mayor Kaedis thanked Sheriff Wille for accepting the Council's invitation to
attend the meeting; and reiterated that the reason the Council invited him was
to give the City information which they thought would be valuable at some
future time in the event the services of his department were needed.
City Council Special Meeting, 11/30/78
Page 6
Sheriff Wille commended the City's Police Department; and stressed that he
in no way feels the City would get a lot more intelligence or expertise
with his department. "It's a matter of economics and what the City wants."
ADJOURNMENT
With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:30 P.M..
IN
MAYOR KIEDIS COUNCILMAN ALDRED
VICE -MAYOR LAURIE f COUNCILMAN FEENO
CITY CLERK
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COUNCILMAN MARTINO