03/16/1993 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE OOIJNCIL OF THE CITY OF NORTH OLMSTED MARCH 16, 1993 Present: Council President Boehe~er, Council Members Bahas, Leonard, Lind, McKay, Musial, N~shar, Beringer Also Present: Mayor Ed Boyle, Law Director Michael Gareau, Finance Director James Burns, Clerk of Council Barbara Semen Council President Boehmer called the meeting to order at 8:05 p.m. in Council Chambers, 5200 Dover Center Road, North Olmsted, Ohio. Members of the audience were invited to join Council in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. President Boehmer atnounced that Ordinance Nos. 92-102 and 92-103 would be removed from the agenda; and Ordinance Nos. 93-18, 93-19 and 93-27 would be passed under suspension of the rules. Mayor Boyle reported: 1) Effective yesterday, Monday, March 15, Mr. Henry Robinson has been suspended from the North Olmsted Civil Service Commission. The Mayor's letter to Mr. Robinson was hand delivered by the Police Department. Council members have been supplied with copies of the letter. 2) There have been come~amity concerns expressed about the lack of a DARE Program in North Olmsted. Actually, the city has been gearing up for this program since the beginning of the current Administration. In 1990, the Police Department was 17 officers below full complement because the Civil Service Commission had not replaced retirements and had not filled three new positions authorized by City Council. Since then, tha~re have been other retirements and other increases. Currently, the force has approximately 30 patro]men on duty with three or less years of service to the city. These officers carrot be considered for the DAME Program because they do mt have experience to qualify according to DARE regulations. There are nine mane t officers who carrot be considered because of their positions. That brings the number down to 14 officers who would qualify by their position, time and rank. DARE prefers the officers have between seven and fifteen years of service "on the streets" in order to answer field questions and dispense knowledge. Once we go through the elimination process, we will end up with five to six officers who will be eligible. In order to run the program properly, we will need at least two DARE officers. Because DARE is a long-term commitment, the officers mast choose to take the position; they caimot be assigned. These officers will basically be giving up their Police careers to go into the classroom as drug education instructors. Also, the city is required to replace the DARE officers ors the street, which means that there will be twn more officers on the street with less than three years experience. Although our Police Department is not understaffed, it is a very young force with greater than 30 of the officers below the age of 30. The next DARE training program will begin in January of 1994. It is the Administration's intention to have at least one officer in that program. hopefully, the city will be able to kick off the DARE Program for the beginning of the 1994 school year. The Administration has chosen to do this in a systematic mariner in order to address crime within the city and maintain staffing for security of people and property. a~»«~:- .