At the Special Session held this evening, in a vote that seemed to have the full support of the police, the staff and the citizens, (except for one), the Oro Valley Council approved the 2009-2010 police budget.
Without going into too much detail the new budget's most important provision is the saving of all police jobs, and adding a dispatcher. This was accomplished mainly by transferring four personnel to other departments, thus lessening the police budget by eliminating some redundancy.
Additionally, other items were either cut or eliminated to save money. The total savings in the police budget exceeds $1.3M.
Still to be determined is the status of the Municipal Operations Center and the police substation planned for the OV Marketplace. Potentially, cuts in either or both could save additional funds in the police budget. These two items are scheduled for the May 6 council meeting.
As for the item on police take home vehicles, no decision was made, but this will be discussed at a future Study Session.
Let's give credit to those that deserve the credit.
Topping the list is citizen John Musolf, whose expertise was instrumental in tonight's vote.
Council Member Bill Garner who presented the new proposal last Wed, plus Council Member Salette Latas who worked hard to achieve this outcome.
Additionally, the full council for doing the right thing as evidenced by the 7-0 vote.
Chief Danny Sharp and his officers that met with John, Bill & Salette earlier in the day, along with Finance Director Stacy Lemos did a great job of hammering out this compromise.
Finally, our Town Manager David Andrews who summed it up clearly & concisely in four words----"It's a Win, Win Situation!"
5 comments:
A superb effort by those who participated in this resolution directly, and for a superb reflection by all - the Mayor, Councilmembers, the Police Chief, the members of the OVPD and the citizens who appreciated the result.
This is very good news. One of the finest examples of citizens, police and some dedicated Council Members.
Bill, who showed leadership and Salette who communicated openly deserve our appreciation for working together. They demonstrated how hard they are willing to work for each of us in Oro Valley.
At the TOV special session on Monday, April 27, 2008, I agree with the quote of Town Manager, Dave Andrews, who said the discussion and resolution of the police budget was a “Win-Win” situation.
As Art Segal furthur stated: “ The new budget's most important provision is the saving of all police jobs, and adding a dispatcher”.
In tough economic times, it is imperative that we all “tighten our belts” to try to cut overhead and redundancy in expenditures and save jobs and families. I hope we can do this for many of the potential people cuts still looming.
Our community came together (elected leaders, town staff, and citizens). I know that Chief Sharp and his staff, Bill Garner, Salette Latas, Stacy Lemos, and Dave Andrews all put in extra effort to achieve a positive result. I was happy to contribute in a small way to that effort.
On a lighter note, I picked up a new nickname, “The camel who poked his nose under the tent”. Evidently, one citizen felt that my getting involved with the TOV government activities was somehow “meddling” and poking my nose where it shouldn’t be. I think every American should get involved with his community, government or school, and voice his opinions and volunteer to help where he or she can.
John Musolf
Way to go John.
Nice to see you get involved and don't see why citizens and taxpayers should be excluded from participating in OUR government.
Thanks to you and all those who are working hard to make it work.
We need you in Washington, D.C, pronto :))))
Thanks for the comment John. For those that may not know it, Mr. Musolf did much more than "contribute in a small way."
The record is clear. To his credit, Chief Danny Sharp knew of John's expertise in budgets and prevailed on him to help. John met the challenge and did more than help. He saved our town a large amount of money, and as I previously noted, saved at least six police jobs to date.
If anyone is interested in knowing the identity of the citizen that chastised John, Bill Garner and the rest of the council, please log on to the OV web site and watch the streaming video of the meeting.
You may not believe what this person had to say!
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