City looks for ways to cut costs, maintain services
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — City officials began the task this month of reviewing staffing to see what, if anything, can be done to help keep taxes flat while continuing to offer desired services to the community.
City Manager Jim Bennett advised councilors that they had a number of options, including “continuing to allow us (city officials) to make staffing level decisions as part of the budget process,” which would require no action by the council, or “(council) have more deliberate input in decisions.” The latter would require more time and possibly more of an investment, with Bennett noting it would take four or five months to review each department individually. Another option put forth by Bennett would be to hire a firm to do the analyses, which would cut the amount of time required for such down to 30-45 days but would require the city to come up with funding to pay the firm for its services.
Bennett suggested one way to determine staffing was to compare Presque Isle’s workforce against similar-sized communities in the state.
“Other communities determine by services needed, then determine staffing,” he said.
“Having a deliberate discussion requires a lot more work,” said Bennett. “I’m prepared to do what council wants.”
Bennett discussed current staffing levels at various departments, including restructuring at the fire and police departments.
Councilor Bruce Sargent expressed concern over the amount of overtime the PIPD had reported since January.
“Mel (Councilor Hovey) said the PIPD spent almost $60,000 in overtime since January. I don’t know how you can have that with 18-19 officers,” said Sargent.
Bennett indicated that some of it was reimbursed.
“I’ve talked to the chief about it. Hopefully it can be resolved,” said Bennett, noting the matter would be addressed as the city “resolves labor issues.”
Sargent said the city should be “proactive.”
“It’s not a free ride here. We should cut. I always felt we have too many police and fire on staff. The department was set up for when the community’s population was 15,000,” said Sargent. “This doesn’t hold up with the rest of the state.”
Council Chair Emily Smith said the council should start with fire and police, by appointment Sargent and Hovey to work with Bennett to decide if a consultant is the way to go or if the review should be done in-house. She agreed the city should be more proactive.
Bennett reminded councilors that “comparing apples and oranges is not as easy as it sounds.”
“I’ve worked in a community that had a police department and it was eliminated. There’s no right or wrong decision. It’s based on what they wanted to do with their funds,” said Bennett. “Council will have to make the decision based on what makes sense to them.”
Sargent said “it needs to be done now.”
“We should have a city-wide ban on overtime. With the police getting all the overtime — about 11,000 hours,” said Sargent.
Bennett again reminded council that “a lot of it is reimbursed.”
“We can’t just go out and say it’s all one way or the other. If a police officer arrests someone and has to take them somewhere to process, we have to have police to cover the town. They’re not going to call and ask ‘do we arrest the guy or not,’” said the city manager.
Bennett continued discussing staffing issues, including the union’s role.
“Some of the rules and things in place, someone granted them to be in place. Unless you eliminate, you’re contractually bound. It’s never as easy as it seems,” said Bennett. “You may not like the rules, but the consequences could be more difficult and costly for taxpayers.”
He said based on some recent discussions, “within existing rules we can do some things.”
“But cutting departments might not decrease costs. You have to have more people paid overtime. The fact is we paid less hiring four more officers,” said Bennett.
Councilor Peter Hallowell said, “in fairness to all parties, I don’t think it would be fair for any of the employees for us to work on this.”
Bennett said he didn’t “have an issue working on this.”
“If I’d been here four or five years, probably not, but given my relative newness, I’m not all that nervous about this. If council wants a total independent (agency), I’m OK with that,” said Bennett.
Sargent suggested starting with the fire and police departments and going from there.
Bennett and the Council agreed to continue the discussion at a later date, with Bennett providing additional information, including comparative figures from other communities to help determine adequate staffing to meet community needs.
Chief Matt Irwin, PIPD, was in attendance at the council meeting. He spoke after the session, agreeing with Bennett that a portion of the overtime had been reimbursed.
“We receive grants for special details that cover the cost of overtime for officers,” said Irwin.
Irwin said there are a number of reasons for the amount of overtime on the books for his department.
“We have to have someone cover when an officer is out sick or on vacation. We have to pay overtime when an officer is taking part in training. If there’s an emergency, officers don’t clock out until the work is done,” said Irwin. “There’s more to it than just a figure on paper.”
