General News

Shelburne Police Services Board elects new chair/deputy chair

February 14, 2019   ·   0 Comments

Written By PETER RICHARDSON

The Shelburne Police Services Board met on Feb. 7, to swear in it’s newest member, Mike Fazackerley and to elect a new chairperson. 

Due to a scheduling problem, Mike was sworn in by Town Clerk, Jennifer Willoughby earlier in the day, but found himself nominated for the chair position by Mayor Wade Mills. The nomination was seconded by Deputy Mayor Steve Anderson. Mike accepted the nomination and was duly appointed Chairman of the Police Services Board. 

There are still two provincially appointed board members to be chosen, however it was indicated that these will come at a future date. With the ongoing OPP Costing procedure, this will be an sonorous year for the SPSB and it’s new Chair. Especially, since, if the Town chooses to retain the existing Force, It is due to start salary negotiations in October of this year. Deputy Mayor Anderson, will serve as Vice-Chair for the Board.

After going through the required procedural motions for the agenda, Chair Mike Fazackerley brought the meeting round to matters of the Police Budget. This had been passed by the previous Board, however Council was not satisfied with it’s content and sent both the Capital and the Operating Budgets back to the Board for reconsideration. 

At the suggestion of Mayor Mills, the two were gone through line by line, with Police Chief Kent Moore providing the answers and explanations for each item. 

The chief had previously reworked a revised budget figure, based upon not being able to start a new officer until March 1, rather than Jan. 1 as originally intended. 

This reduced the operating budget by some $27,000 for the two months salary not being paid out. The new hire is a second class Constable. There are five classes of officers, starting with a cadet and progressing from 4th Class through 1st Class Constables. The progression through the levels is an annual occurrence and this year four officers are moving up a classification, which has raised the salary level by 2 percent overall. 88 percent of the Police Services Budget, is made up of salaries and benefits.

Next up, was the matter of PSB expenses. The Chair person and the two provincial appointees are paid a stipend to attend the meetings. Mike Fazackerley wanted to decline this payment save the resulting $6,250 annually, however it was noted by members Mills and Anderson that this was not necessarily a good idea and also might not be within the scope of the Board to approve.

The subject of meals was brought up by Mayor Mills. In the past, food was brought in for the board meetings, due to their start time and paid for by the board. Wade said that rather than that, should the Board decide to continue the practice, he would pay for his own and those of the Chief and the Secretary, Nicole Hill. Nicole then said that on average, it amounted to only $500 per year for the gratuity and Steve Anderson opined that he felt it should stay in practice. At this point, the meals will not occur for the current year, pending a review.

Computer support for the Police Service was discussed, as it is currently contracted out for $17,500 annually. As the Town has no IT Department, this cost could not be mediated and was left in the budget, as was the radio maintenance contract.

Next up, Chief Moore was asked to explain the vehicle portion of the budget and whether or not all of the new purchases were required. He explained that the patrol vehicles were run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 365 days a year and consequently ran up considerable mileage annually. 

This year, a new SUV has been ordered, at a cost of $50,000 and also one of the cars was to be replaced. The Chief felt that the car, a non patrol vehicle, in excellent shape and with lower mileage, could be retained for another year safely. He pointed out that although the fleet is renewed on a three year rotation, there was wiggle room with the special use vehicles which are not as regularly used.

Steve Anderson then asked the chief if there was any available warranties that might reduce the cost of maintenance on the fleet. The Chief said he was unaware of any but would investigate their possibility and cost. Currently, maintenance is split between Trillium Ford and The Auto Center for all the fleet.

The Board voted to retain the Ford Taurus for another year and not make the expenditure in this budget. Further discussions determined that the remainder of the budget should stay as presented and the Board voted to accept it with the advised revisions, which reduced the total by $57,000, a substantial savings for the Town. The total Police Services Budget, was $2,625,071.00 for 2019, which after the addition of revenues, became $2,496,027.



         

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