September 29, 2016 - The last police officer eligible to remain on the Timpson Police Department following the end of the year was eliminated from the force at the September 20, 2016 meeting, and yet there were no eruptions of protest from a public in support of needed officers in the city as there have been in the past, because an audience of citizens to support the officers was not present.
After what has amounted to around two years of arguments and long meetings surrounding reducing the police force when there were then four officers and one police chief, the council chose to reduce the police department to a chief and one officer. At this time, Jake Metcalf is still on the police force; however, he was elected to the position of constable in Precinct 4 and will take that position in January 2017, which is only three months away.
With no real discussion on what officer would be cut from the force as it was stated in the meeting Michael Williams was the highest paid officer remaining on the department, and is the officer whose livelihood received a swift cut.
Williams' last day will be this Friday, September 30, 2016.
A heated exchange did ensue between councilman William Al Skinner and Police Chief Kent Graham when Skinner suggested Graham wasn't carrying his weight and making the necessary contribution. Skinner stated there has been a significant decrease in work effort due in part to a "former council member" who he stated was retaliatory.
"Numbers don't lie, if you're down to this one officer and a chief, you don't need a chief any longer," said Skinner.
Debra Pate Smith, Timpson Mayor, stated to Skinner a chief is required in the state of Texas.
"Well, we need to go to some other type police force," said Skinner.
Smith said that would have to be addressed at another meeting, because it was not on the agenda.
Skinner addressed Chief Graham, who was present for the meeting, "When you first got here your citations were 500-and-something in a seven month period," said Skinner, who was then advised by the mayor citation numbers could not be discussed.
Skinner continued, "the work effort fell off from there, the work effort of your police force dropped off significantly as well under your jurisdiction. I'd kinda like to know what happened."
Chief Graham asked if it was the desire of the council that he provide an answer to Skinner's inquiry.
"I'll tell you exactly what happened. What happened was, the council that we had at the time totally demoralized this police department," said Chief Graham. "To the point where the officers, they were working and doing their jobs, but traffic enforcement was not a priority. Okay, what you're talking about is traffic enforcement that's what generates revenue," said Chief Graham.
Skinner said that was partly what he was talking about and they weren't talking about revenue and Chief Graham stated that was what Skinner was mentioning at the beginning.
"There are other aspects to a police department, when I had four officers working full-time that freed me up to do investigations and all the things that I needed to do as a chief, now you're saying you don't want a chief. Okay, I don't know where you're going with that you have to have a chief," said Chief Graham.
Chief Graham explained his workload will be cut down with less officers and he will do traffic enforcement. He did traffic enforcement when he first joined the department as an officer.
"If I've got an officer out there 24 hours a day, why should I be out there working traffic when I've got other duties," said Graham. "When the council that we had at the time started doing the things that they did with the soul purpose of demoralizing the police department in my opinion. It's hard enough to get people motivated, when they don't have anything to look forward to when this council that was here at the time, anything that had to do with the police department, every time it felt like, every time I picked my head up somebody's sitting there hitting me on the head with a spoon from the council. There were three of them, one of them is not here anymore."
Mayor Smith stated they have put that behind them now and she would like to move forward with intention of getting the department back where it needs to be, and the finances where they need to be.
Skinner stated he is not a politician and he will pose items that will make people angry, "What I get from the constituency out there, the citizens, they tell me. They come to me and they come to me pissed, and I say, 'okay.' I tuned it down a little bit, but a working department from the numbers that I saw, which is a reflection of work."
Chief Graham asked Skinner to what numbers he was referring and he stated the numbers were citations and violations. Chief Graham clarified that is traffic enforcement. Skinner reiterated he has had a lot of people come to him upset and Chief Graham asked him when he was planning on telling him people have been complaining to him and Skinner said the meeting was a good opportunity.
According to Chief Graham, he can't fix a problem unless he knows what it is. As the focus of the discussion remained on traffic enforcement, Mayor Smith instructed the council such discussion is illegal.
"Do we want traffic enforcement? Yes. Do we want traffic enforcement? Yes. Do we want safety? Absolutely. Does it generate revenue? None of us are dumb here, but we also have multiple aspects of those numbers, because once they write them they can take defensive driving. No revenue. They can do their compliance, no revenue and yes work fell off in that aspect during that time, and nobody is denying that, including him," said Mayor Smith.
Mayor Smith stated the chief can't tell the officers to go out and write tickets and direct them to write a specific number of tickets. With the numbers Mayor Smith has come up, she directed the council reducing the department by the highest paid officer was the approach to take according to her numbers.
"All of them, if you're looking at work product in traffic enforcement, because at the time this all started, we had four traffic enforcement officers and a chief and so it was across the board. That's all in the past, I plan on it remaining in the past," said Mayor Smith.
The council was instructed they had the choice of reducing the department by one officer, or anything else they would consider would have to go completely back to the drawing board and redo all of the budget numbers.
Yvonne Ramsey, councilwoman, made a motion to reduce the police department for budgetary reasons from three officers to two officers one chief and one officer, terminating Michael Williams. The motion was seconded by Skinner. The motion carried with Kyle Allen, councilman, abstaining.
Police Department Report for the month of August:
26 agency assists, 11 motorist assists, one escort, eight extra patrol requests, four animal complaints, nine disturbances, one case identity theft, the suspicious person calls, one call suspicious vehicle, three crash investigations, 11 investigations, five welfare checks, one case assault, three cases criminal trespass, one DWI, three theft cases, one assault family violence, one unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, one possession of dangerous drug, one possession of a controlled substance, total calls for service of 95, and one arrest.
Municipal Court Report:
For the month of August 2016, there were 104 citations issued, 127 violations, 0 to juveniles and 5 to minors. Total amount reported $7,367.68 the City’s portion a 55% estimate of $4,052.22.
Agenda items approved during the meeting include:
Consent Agenda items:
A. Approval of the minutes of the regular meeting held on August 16, 2016
B. Approval of the minutes of the special meeting held on August 22, 2016
C. Approval of Financial Statement for the month of August, 2016
D. Approval of Accounts Payable – Unpaid bills for August, 2016
E. Approval of sending a contribution of $200 to the Deep East Texas Council of Governments Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (DETCOG RSVP)
1. Reduction in force of the Police Department for budgetary reasons from 3 officers (1 chief and 2 hourly officers) to 2 officers (1 chief and 1 hourly officer). Michael Williams named as terminated officer.2. 2% COLA raises. Cost of living adjustment for employees in the Electric, Water Sewer and General Departments (excluding the Police Department). This raise was calculated into the 2016-17 budgets. The last COLA raise was 2% in 2014.
3. Approve salary, hourly rate and call out pay for the Police Department. $889 per week or $46,228 per year at $49,072.56 gross for Chief Kent Graham; Jake Metcalf will remain at $17.50 per hour from October 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016 any vacation that he has not been paid out will be paid in full upon his termination on December 31 and he will be eligible for call out pay. Call out pay for non-salaried hourly officers will be set at $425 per month to be paid on the second pay period of the month. If someone is hired when Metcalf leaves, it would need to be a few weeks before he leaves for training purposes. The hourly rate for a potential new hire starting December 1 to begin training will be $16.50 per hour for up to 120 days at which time a review will be performed and if approved a pay rate increase up to $17 an hour would go into effect making that officer paid less than the current officer. Call out pay for that officer would be $425 a month and four holidays would make the estimated gross for that officer $37,386. Budgeted gross payroll total $98,125.56.
4. Ordinance 20160920-1 adopting the Final Budget for fiscal year 2016-2017.
5. Ordinance 20160920-2 adopting Proposed Tax Rate of .340000 per $100 of value. This is an increase of 4.615385 percent for the City of Timpson.
6. Ordinance 20160920-3 making McLaughlin St one-way from 3:00pm-4:00pm and also making Pecan St one-way from 7:00am-8:30am and 3:00pm-4:30pm. These streets are located near Timpson ISD and are made “one-way” during peak school pick up and drop off times.
7. Ordinance 20160920-4 which concerns the Memorial Wall and other monuments located on city property. This ordinance will state that any desecration of memorials that are located on city property will be subject to fines from the Police Department of no less than $1 and no more than $500.
8. The purchase of a 2009 F750 bucket truck in lieu of the 2003 International which was approved at the August 16th meeting. The 2003 was found to have mechanical issues and two mechanics, used by the city, suggested that the truck be returned. A 2009 F750 was found, also at Bill Jones Equipment, and has been inspected and found to be mechanically sound. This truck is currently being used by the Electric Department and so far, no problems have been detected. The 2009 F750 purchase price is $35,000, therefore the city would owe an additional $10,000 to Bill Jones. Austin Bank CD (2800232162) was fully cashed in for $35,742.72 on 8/26/16 after reaching maturity. This Electric Department CD can be used for the purchase of the truck instead of the Texas State Bank CD 31415.
9. Repairs needed on the generator located at City Hall totaling $2,399.95. This can be completed in the 2016-17 budget cycle.
10. Installing vents on each of the water wells and filters. Due to the presence of methane gas, venting is needed to control the level of concentration. The only bid received was from Russell Drilling for $6,592. This venting needs to be completed in the current budget cycle.
11. Purchase a replacement pump for the lift station on 59. To date, one bid has been received from Smith Pump Company for $4,565. This pump will need to be purchased in the current budget cycle.
12. Adjourn.
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