City Manager Studying Public Safety Administration Over Police & Fire
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City Manager Robert V. Belleman
City Manager Robert V. Belleman is meeting with other city officials to consider establishment of a Public Safety Administration.
Mr. Belleman has been meeting with Police Chief Michael Cecchini and Chris Lewis, director of human resources, "in evaluating whether the City will create a Public Safety Administration over both Police and Fire."
"I still believe it is important to hire someone who will either have the title of Fire Chief or Deputy Director/Fire Department," said the manager.
"Regardless of whether I recommend to you that we restructure and establish a Public Safety Administration or continue with the current structure, I believe that it is imperative to narrow the Fire Chief applicants to a manageable level and commence the interview process," he said.
The city has received 26 applications for fire chief and 15 applications for Director of Electric Utility, according to the manager's memo to commissioners.
The interview process for the utility director is slated to begin within the next month to six weeks, according to the manager, and an appointment should be made by the end of the year, he said.
The city has been discussing how to save funds without affecting the level of services to residents. Police and fire departments take up about half the budgets of most cities and therefore are often targets for cuts, according to the Michigan Municipal League (MML).
Cuts in state revenue sharing amounting to 29 percent are affecting Michigan cities that get about a quarter of their funds from that source. Revenue sharing in Michigan has been cut from $1.52 billion in 2001-2002 to $1.07 billion this fiscal year, MML officials say.
"In recent years, state government has cut payments to local governments by more than $2 billion -- forcing the layoff of more than 1,600 police officers and increasing pressure on local property tax payers to fund this and other services that provide a high quality of life," MML says.
MML notes that Michigan has fewer law enforcement officers than it did when terrorists struck the nation on 9-11-2001.
However, Governor Jennifer Granholm recently has signed a bill giving local units a two percent increase in revenue sharing for the 2009 fiscal year.
In this tight economy, many cities say they desperately need the extra money. Jerry Ambrose, City of Lansing Finance Director: "That's certainly better than the previous years when we got no increase at all. For us that's about $175,000."
That money will go into the general fund which supports vital services like the police department.
Says Andy Schor of MML: "If you don't have the dollars that revenue sharing provides, you don't have police that provide security and safety, you don't have the parks, you don't have sewers, you don't have all of the things that a local city provides that the citizens expect."
Meanwhile, Bay City continues to consider if it should try to save local budget dollars through a volunteer fire department or by combining police and fire functions to serve the city of about 37,000 persons.
The City of Grosse Pointe Woods, in Wayne County, has about 16,000 residents and has operated a combined Police/Fire/Ambulance service since 1944. Duties of police officers and fire fighters are performed by Public Safety Officers who are licensed Medical First Responders or Basic Emergency Medical Technicians.
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