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Police and fire budgets emphasize personnel, equipment updates and volunteer revival for fire
Summary
Police presented a largely personnel-driven budget: a reorganization completed, one vacancy in patrol, plans to buy hybrid patrol vehicles and continue radio/body-camera rollouts. Fire will reinstate a volunteer program (stipend included) and pursue targeted equipment upgrades; both chiefs stressed training and wellness investments.
Police Chief (Chief Coon) told council the department’s budget is primarily personnel-driven — roughly 90% of the police budget supports wages and benefits — and described completed reorganization work, recent hires and one remaining patrol vacancy. The chief said the department is budgeting to acquire new hybrid patrol vehicles, rotate older cars to public auction and continue implementing radios and body cameras; he also listed modest equipment and training requests including a drone and forensic equipment.
The chief said the agency has increased in-house training capacity to reduce off-site training costs and emphasized mental and physical wellness efforts for officers. He noted the department tracks data closely and presented call-volume, crash and event charts to show trends behind staffing and equipment needs.
Fire Chief Gavin summarized a status-quo operations budget that is likewise personnel-heavy, noted small capital needs such as rope-rescue gear and portable radios, and said the department is restarting a volunteer program with a small stipend that was budgeted by moving a previously unfilled position’s money into temporary wages and volunteer stipends.
Both chiefs said they would continue to seek grants for specialized equipment (thermal imaging, etc.) and that most of their requests are intended to maintain service levels rather than expand them.
Council and staff agreed to further examine long-term staffing needs tied to population growth and call volumes and to use the planned efficiency/operations study to refine public-safety staffing models.
