Sometimes, important items get "buried" among some not as important items in the consent agenda of Oro Valley Town Council Meetings. Its a cute way to "getting things through". (The purpose of the consent portion of the agenda is to seek Council approval of items that require little to no Council discussion.)
There is one such item on tomorrow's consent agenda portion of the Oro Valley Town Council meeting:
"Item J: "Resolution No. (R)11-55 Authorizing and approving a task force agreement between the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA") and the Town of Oro Valley ("Town") for the participation of two Oro Valley police officers...", which basically funds three Police Officer positions.
Chief Sharp defends funding Police positions through outside grands on the basis that the grants totally pay for these positions. This is not totally true.
Here's an example, provided by our Guest View commenter, John Musolf, when grants for Police Officers actually cost the town almost $90,000! It relates to two police officers assigned during a two year period (2009 and 2010) to the Pima County/Tucson Metropolitan Counter Narcotic Alliance (CNA):
Remember too: The grant contracts specify that the officers are under the direct supervision of the agencies not the Oro Valley Police Department. So, the Officers receive their assignments from the agencies. The bulk of their Officer's time is spent outside of Oro Valley! So, in our example, we, the taxpayers, wound up paying for Police work done outside our community!
On other thought: If the Grants don't materialize, then the Oro Valley police officers serving on the Federal, State, and County Task Forces become the sole financial responsibility of the Oro Valley Taxpayers. That means: You and Me.
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Sometimes,"consent agenda items" really do matter. Tomorrow's Item J warrants public discussion.
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UPDATE: Item J was discussed by council and approved by a 6-1 vote.
Let's hope the grant money comes through!
