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Residents press council for 24/7 drug drop box as officials debate 24/7 officer coverage
Summary
A resident urged installation of an outdoor, 24/7 drug drop box for anonymous disposal; council members discussed whether full 24/7 city patrols are feasible or would require raising taxes or reallocating funds, and assigned follow-up to a council leader.
Resident Jody Crockett asked the council to consider providing a secure, outdoor, 24/7 drug drop box to allow anonymous disposal of prescription and illicit drugs. "This would entail having a safe box drop off outside when you have it housed inside," Crockett said, and asked for a response at the next council meeting.
Council members and residents recalled the existing indoor drop box installed roughly 15 years ago and discussed options for an exterior lockbox and security camera. Council and staff discussed cost and anonymity trade-offs. One council member warned expanded continuous patrols would be a capacity and budget issue: "it's a discussion of, do we have the capacity?... we've got x amount of dollars to spend. And if we're not providing 24 hour coverage, then ... we've got to increase capacity, which means we've got to raise taxes," a council member said. The mayor and other members said the city currently relies on an on-call complement and mutual aid and that the matter will be considered in the upcoming budget process.
Council president Todd Thomas was assigned to lead the discussion and staff were asked to place the drug-drop-box item on a future agenda for additional review.
