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Flandreau council leaves police staffing at six for now, vows to monitor impact
Summary
City councilors heard a lengthy briefing from Police Chief Zach Weber about staffing, response-time limits and on-call expectations and agreed to keep the budgeted six-officer model while tracking operational data after a planned year-long deployment reduces active staff later this year.
Flandreau — The Flandreau City Council on Monday discussed whether to operate with five or six sworn officers and, without a formal personnel vote, left the council’s budgeted six-officer staffing model in place while directing staff to track performance and report back.
Councilors heard a detailed briefing from Police Chief Zach Weber about the operational impacts of running the department with fewer officers, including officer fatigue, training opportunities and coverage gaps when an officer is deployed or on leave. Weber described the department’s normal shift pattern and said that with five officers he must perform a weekday office assignment to cover patrol scheduling gaps.
The discussion centered on three practical issues: officer safety and the value of two-officer responses, the 15-minute response-time expectation currently applied to daytime officers who are considered “on call,” and how the department would absorb a planned military deployment this fall. Weber told the council the deployment scheduled for November will reduce active on‑duty officers and that the city has previously rotated staffing with five officers but that experience was “hard” on morale and scheduling.
Council members raised retention and cost questions. Members asked whether the city could redesign schedules to reduce continuous overtime, offer on-call pay or use part-time certified officers to provide coverage during absences; councilors also noted the department’s mutual-aid relationship with Moody County and tribal police but were told those arrangements do not guarantee 24/7 outside coverage.
Cole (city staff present for the briefing) told the council the 2025 budget had been prepared assuming six sworn officers and recommended keeping that staffing level “for now” and monitoring the effects of any change. Several council members supported that approach, saying they prefer to collect data for a year and then reassess rather than make an immediate staffing reduction.
The council did not take a formal vote to change staffing. The mayor and councilors agreed by discussion that, absent different direction, the department will remain funded for six officers; staff will monitor overtime, call volume and shift patterns and return with data to inform future decisions.
Looking ahead, the council requested staff produce a short fact sheet and periodic reports showing how many shifts are covered, how often officers work consecutive days and the use of part-time or temporary officers, so members can evaluate the operational and fiscal consequences of any long-term staffing change.
