Dorchester reconsidering CAPD offer for 24/7 police

After spending nearly a year looking unsuccessfully for a new police chief or officer, Dorchester is reconsidering an offer from the Colby-Abby Police Department to provide 24/7 coverage.

Members of the local police committee told the village board last week that they have been unable to find a suitable candidate to take over the village’s police department.

“We couldn’t find anybody that met our standards,” said Linda Baumann, chairman of the committee. “As it is, it doesn’t seem as though there’s really anybody out there that will accept what our wages and benefits would be.”

Baumann said the members think it’s time to take “a second look” at contracting with the CAPD for police protection.

After longtime police chief Gary Leichtman retired about a year ago, the board briefly considered hiring the CAPD, but it voted last September to proceed with hiring its own police officer or chief. An applicant was chosen in December, but that person was ultimately not hired.

A second round of interviews was done earlier this year, but that also failed to produce someone to take over the local police department.

For the first six months of this year, the village paid the Clark County Sheriff’s Department for deputies to patrol the village, but that agreement was terminated in early June, leaving the village without a regular police presence since then.

Trustee Daniella Schauer said problems in need of law enforcement are mounting in the village.

“It’s not quiet. There’s so much going on on our end of town. We’ve got vandalism, we’ve got kids running around town ringing doorbells,” she said. “We’ve got ordinances that are being violated, establishments that are choosing their hours.”

Schauer said speeding and other reckless driving is also a major concern.

“I swear my road is a racetrack,” she said. “They blow the stop sign all the time.”

Police committee member Carol Staab said a big reason the village has trouble recruiting a qualified police officer or chief is that it does not offer Wisconsin Retirement System benefits. Baumann said they’ve heard from people in several different law enforcement agencies that not offering WRS benefits and a higher wage is preventing the village from hiring a police chief.

Village clerk Christie Erikson said it would cost about $61,000 per year for the village to start offering WRS benefits to its employees, who would all need to be enrolled.

Erikson said the village had been budgeting about $116,000 annually for its police department, but she said the $61,000 should really be added to that amount if they expect to hire someone. Also, with a higher wage factored in, she said the total cost for continuing with a local department would be closer to $190,000.

That is still about $17,000 less than the latest cost estimate provided by the CAPD for 24/7 police coverage.

CAPD chief Jason Bauer presented the board with a total estimate of $206,947 for police coverage starting in 2022. That includes the cost of hiring two additional full-time officers so that the department could provide round-the-clock patrols of Abbotsford and Colby plus Dorchester.

Based on Bauer’s proposed budget, the two largest expenses for the village would be $125,000 for salaries and $30,000 for health insurance, followed by about $14,700 for state retirement benefits.

Erikson noted that her estimate of $190,000 would only pay for one 40-houra- week officer to handle both patrols and administrative work, whereas the $206,947 would provide 24/7 coverage with a K-9 officer and other resources.

Trustee Eric Klemetson said his biggest concern about contracting with the CAPD is the possibility of cost increases in the future.

“What about the fifth year into it? Are we going to have a 25 percent increase?” he wondered.

Bauer said he understands why the $206,947 figure causes some “sticker shock” for board members, but he pointed out the benefit of 24/7 coverage.

The two additional officers would cover shifts from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. on week days and, on weekends, they would be on patrol from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m.

“So, then you’d have three cars working Colby, Abby and Dorchester,” he said.

Except for adding officers, Bauer said contracting with Dorchester would provide no added benefit to CAPD, “I’m not low-balling you guys to get you into our department,” he said. “I’m not playing that game.”

Bauer said he’s not interested in providing anything less than 24-hour coverage because that would mean handing off cases between county deputies and CAPD officers, depending on what time the incident occurred.

“I’d rather have our guys respond to the incident and take care of it from beginning to end,” he said.

Bauer said the CAPD would need to add a vehicle, but it may be able to use Dorchester’s existing squad at first.

When determining the annual charge for services, Bauer said he considered that Dorchester would make up about 18 percent of the total coverage population when combined with Colby and Abbotsford. He then applied that percentage to the department’s total annual expenses.

The village would not be expected to contribute any money toward utilities at the police station in Abbotsford since it has its own office space for police officers to use in the village, he noted “I run a conservative budget and I try to keep costs down,” he said.

When asked if a Dorchester representative would be seated on the joint police commission, Bauer said that might not happen — at least right away.

Bauer said he’d love to see the department eventually include Dorchester as a full member, but to start with, the village would only be contracting with the CAPD for services.

“I’m not sure how that would work, but certainly you’d have input,” he said. “I’m not sure if there would be a voting member on it. We’d have to look into that.”

Schauer said she was strongly in favor of considering Bauer’s offer.

“A lot of different officers I’ve talked to said we’d be stupid not to do a contract with them for the dollar amount,” she said.

Trustee Clem Klimpke, however, wondered how the village will be able to afford $90,000 more per year than what it had been paying for its own police department.

“You must understand that money doesn’t grow on trees,” he told Schauer. “We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to make the budget.”

Ultimately, the board voted to refer the issue to the finance committee, which was tasked with finding out a way to pay the roughly $207,000 per year needed to contract with the CAPD.

“We need to do something,” said trustee Julie Goldschmidt. “It’s important to keep our citizens safe.”

Other business

_ A resident of North Fourth Street spoke to the board about parking and speeding issues in her neighborhood. She said the duplex across the street from her house has seven vehicles parked in front, making it difficult for her and her husband to get in and out of their driveway.

The woman also noted that farmers use that street to get their equipment in and out of the village, but if vehicles are parked on both sides of the street, they are unable to get through.

To remedy the situation, she was hoping the village could restrict on-street parking on North Fourth Street from Washington Avenue. She said the road narrows quite a bit at that point.

The woman also expressed safety concerns about vehicles speeding down street, going way above the posted 25 miles per hour speed limit. She said this happens while kids at a nearby daycare are waiting for the school bus.

Village president Kurt Schwoch said the board will consider prohibiting onstreet parking on the part of Fourth Street where there is no curb and gutter.

_ During public comment, trustee Eric Klemetson raised concerns about his neighbors keeping more than the limit of three dogs at their house, and also mentioned someone living in a motor home on the street.

“There’s nothing we can do about it until we get someone to enforce our ordinances,” Klimpke said.

_ Village clerk Carol Devine said she spoke to someone at Ehlers and Associates about handling the district’s two TIF districts, which are both scheduled to close in 2022. She said the financial advisory firm will present the board with a proposal to handle the closing, or possible extension, of the TIF districts.

Devine also told the board that the village has received its first payment of $45,270 from the American Recovery Act, which can be used for water and sewer work among others things. A second payment of an equal amount will come next year, for a total of $90,539.

_ The board authorized Jenny Halopka at Memorial Hall to get rid of several old tables that are no longer usable.

_ The board approved a motion to spend up to $2,500 for R& R Waste Systems Cleaning to repair an eight-foot stretch of pipe under Fourth Street.

_ The board approved a $10,500 agreement with Beck Appraisal to do a full revaluation of all village properties that will take effect Jan. 1, 2022. He said most of his home value assessments will be based on exterior inspections, but some will require interior inspections, if possible. Under state law, he said property owners can always deny him access for interior inspections.

Changes in assessment value will take effect on the tax bills that go out in December of 2022.

_ The board approved the creation of a special account that will allow the water fund to temporarily cover extra expenses in the sewer fund.