Several members of the Clarkston City Council expressed concerns over why they were not informed of the outcome of a recent meeting, saying they learned of a new possibility for police services only through outside sources.
The meeting in question took place when city officials and representatives from various groups sat down March 14 to discuss a tentative proposal to save Clarkston an estimated $100,000 annually by dissolving its police department and subcontracting with Independence Township for services from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
Although the idea was not new, the plan took a fresh approach: a full time OCSO sergeant would be assigned to act as the de-facto police chief for Clarkston’s 962 resident, half-square mile area.
The sergeant would work a 40-hour week, and have fulltime use of a sheriff’s car, to which city officials could add Clarkston markings and logos if they chose to do so.
The remainder of the time, hypothetically the afternoon and midnight shift, would be patrolled by deputies in the same fashion as Independence Township.
Independence Township would bill the city about $126,000 for the service, plus a 10 percent administrative fee of 12,600.
Clarkston’s 2006-2007 police budget totaled $239,361, with $31,700 of that amount allocated to Independence Township for midnight shift police services by OSCO.
Mayor Sharron Catallo, City Manager Art Pappas and Councilman Bill Rausch, the city’s police liaison, attended the meeting. Other members of council reported hearing of the information only through reports published in the Clarkston News.
‘I’ve been talking to residents, since this is a subject of concern for everyone,? said Councilwoman Kristy Ottman, who asked members at Monday night’s meeting to keep one another updated as they gather information. ‘I’ve been telling people that my bone of contention (about policing through OSDO) is that they can’t dedicate a car in the village. And then I read in the newspaper that they actually can dedicate a car in the village.?
Catallo and Rausch, however, answered concerns by saying the proposal was merely a product of the group’s brainstorming at the meeting.
?(OSCO) realizes they can’t give us the kind of coverage we have,? said Catallo at Monday’s council meeting. ‘It was a thought, and that was all it was, just a thought, that there might be a possibility we could work something that way. There were no proposals made.?
Rausch echoed the sentiment, saying he recalled that the idea didn’t come up until after the meeting.
‘It was an off- the-cuff remark,? he said. ‘There was no offer.?
Others in attendance at the March 14 meeting, however, seemed to have given the topic a good deal of consideration beforehand.
‘You can put him on a bike, have him walk the street or whatever you want to do,? said OCSO Business Manager Dale Cunningham during the meeting. ‘We’ll give you 40 hours of service from a sergeant, and the Independence Township deputies will patrol and respond to calls as usual on the afternoon and midnight shifts.?
Speaking by phone several days after the March 14 meeting Independence Township supervisor David Wagner, who was in attendance to present the concept, said the idea was a thought-out suggestion based on knowledge of the city’s police needs, and said the city could interview sergeants from a pool of candidates to choose a person with qualifications and personality traits appropriate for the city’s special needs and wants.
He also said the plan would not cost Independence Township taxpayers anything.
‘I’ve talked to members of the board and they don’t have a problem with it at all,? said Wagner. ‘The majority of them feel the same way I do; if there’s some way we can benefit the village, we’ll offer a suggestion, no matter what it is.?
Wagner acknowledged the March 14 meeting did not go quite the way he envisioned, but felt the ideas were conveyed clearly.
‘There were still a lot of questions left unanswered,? he said, noting that Clarkston officials fear exorbitant overtime fees. ‘We talked after the meeting about overtime, but even with the patrol (Independence Township has) on midnights, there have never been any charges, the sheriff’s departments just absorbs them.?
But Wagner said he didn’t want to paint an unrealistic picture, either.
‘There could be overtime charges, there’s no doubt, but they are really limited,? he said. ‘I can understand the city wanting to have a grasp on it, but its night like a runaway train, otherwise we couldn’t afford it, either.?
Undersheriff Mike McCabe said Tuesday the OCSO would bill Independence Township $122,731 should the proposed plan come to fruition. The township would then add its own fees and bill Clarkston appropriately.
While there was no written offer, McCabe confirmed discussing the cost and logistics of the proposal with Lt. Dale LaBair, commander of the OCSO Independence Township substation, who also attended the March 14 meeting, and Independence Township Supervisor David Wager, before the questioned gathering took place.
‘If they want a written proposal we’ll be happy to provide that,? said McCabe, noting, however, that Clarkston would facilitate the administrative side of the any plan through Independence Township.
McCabe, who will speak to the city’s police committee next week, said he has difficulty understanding the origin of many published comments regarding the situation.
‘I read all these negative comments about ‘the sheriff wont do this and the sheriff won’t do that,?? he said. ‘I don’t know where that’s coming from. To me it’s mind boggling.?
The OCSO, he said, has been contracting out services for 50 years without a cancellation, but does offer a 90-day clause allowing cancellation of a contract.
‘If someone isn’t happy with our services, they can dump us,? he said. ‘It’s real simple.?
But McCabe said he believed the cities and townships already policed by OCSO were the best testament to the service provided by the organization.
‘We’re very responsive,? he said. ‘All you have to do is call and talk to any of the communities that currently contract our services and see what they have to say. I would encourage the City of the Village of Clarkston to do that.?
Citing a wide spectrum of communities’Addison Township is much different than the City of Rochester, which is quite different from Royal Oak Township’McCabe said every OCSO contract is molded to fit the needs of the community.
The bottom line,? he said, ‘is Clarkston would get outstanding service from us, and outstanding coverage.?