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Bratenahl committee flags police overtime and dispatch costs amid staffing shortage
Summary
Committee members pressed police leaders and the fiscal officer about rising overtime and a temporary staff shortfall; Lieutenant Soric said two vacancies and one leave drove overtime, and Fiscal Officer Diana Cooks said contracted dispatch costs run about $18,000 per month (roughly $270,000 last year).
Bratenahl’s Special Finance Committee spent a substantial portion of its May 5 meeting examining police expenditures and operational readiness.
Fiscal Officer Diana Cooks said the police department has recorded $703,621 in charges year to date. Members focused on overtime after seeing accelerating overtime spending; Councilmember David Dews warned the current overtime trend could lead to well over $100,000 if it continued unchecked.
Lieutenant Soric explained the core cause: "So the reason that's so high is we were down two officers this year and we had an officer out on personal—like an jury leave," he said, describing how minimum staffing levels, vacations and training forced the department to use overtime for shift coverage. Soric said the department extended a conditional offer to a final candidate and expects that officer to bring staffing back to full strength, after which he expects overtime to fall significantly.
The committee also reviewed fleet and equipment. Soric said the department has six marked units in rotation, one unmarked vehicle and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle used for traffic enforcement, noting the motorcycle was acquired with private funds and has lower repair costs than Tahoe patrol vehicles. Members discussed vehicle replacement cadence (about one vehicle per year) and a recent unplanned new-unit purchase.
Contractual dispatch costs drew significant attention. Cooks identified Chagrin Valley Dispatch as the largest contractual service in policing and said the Village pays roughly $18,000 a month for dispatch; "last year we spent about $270,000," she said. Committee members agreed that contracted dispatch remains less costly than standing up and staffing a comparable in-house dispatch center and noted county consolidation mandates and technical requirements make in-house options impractical.
Members also discussed equipment requests and training needs. Soric described interest in a voice-stress analyzer for background checks (a replacement estimate near $10,000) and the trade-offs of reducing patrol idling—for example, officers leave cars running to avoid Mobile Data Terminal shutdowns that would slow response.
No formal action was taken; members asked staff to return with reconciled figures and follow up on staffing and overtime trajectories.
