Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 10-22-2007 special agenda — reading text

The vehicles necessary to provide them to officers were obtained through a variety of ways, including donation from other law enforcement agencies. Through a recent community outreach and fund raising effort, the Police Department raised the funds necessary to purchase two ( 2) K- 9 Officers. These K- 9s will be assigned to two ( 2) Officers for duty, who will care for the animals in their own homes. If the City values such assets, the City and Department should include continued funding of K-9 operations into future budgets. The Department should consider participation in the available programs coordinating Local, State, and Federal law enforcement in the areas of drug crime, interdiction, asset seizure and forfeiture. Opportunities exist to increase revenues to the City by participating in such programs, even though there may be an associated personnel assignment cost. The Department had a position allocated to this under the previous administration ( C- Square Detective), but for various reasons the position, function, inter- agency coordination - and more importantly, sharing in any forfeited assets - has stopped. The Department should consider the option of reviving the C- Square Detective position as a potential avenue for revenue generation - not to mention providing increased law enforcement efforts to the effects of drug related crime. A large contributor to the amount of overtime dollars spent is staffing levels; coverage for vacation/ sick days, special events and details, and unforeseen circumstances and emergencies results in excessive overtime expenses. An alternative is to develop the reserve officer corps to cover staffing shortfalls and aggressively develop the Field Training and Academy programs. Additional sources of overtime costs include: Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 9- 12  Police Court time; Training; Reports and administrative work; and, Investigative call- outs. Future Trends The City is in a rather unique position in terms of population, growth, and expansion. Available population data suggests that the City population has in fact decreased ( or at best remained stable) over the 9- year time period from 1997 to 2006. The population trend is illustrated by Exhibit 9- 5. EXHIBIT 9- 5 POPULATION TRENDS Year POfJulation* 1998 22588 1999 21782 2000 22130 2001 20491 2002 20887 2003 20466 2004 20379 2005 20443 2006 19339 UCR figures, except 06 Census Estimate. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 9- 13  Police Population* 30000 25000 c c 20000 0 15000 I_ Population* I 0.. 0 10000 a.. 5000 0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Year Additional growth issues related to resident population and service population is the nature of the location of Fort Walton Beach. The City is a unique geographic location serving as a conduit for local traffic along several primary thoroughfares, and is bound and restrained by military facilities, other municipalities, Choctawhatchee Bay, the Inter- coastal Waterway, and the Gulf of Mexico. Exhibit 9- 6 illustrates the FWB environs. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach. Florida Page 9- 14  Police EXHIBIT 9- 6 FORT WALTON BEACH ENVIRONS OKALOOS Additionally, the need for law enforcement and protective services are in many ways related to the amount of crime committed. An analysis of the crime rates/ trends and population trends are illustrated by Exhibit 9- 7. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 9- 15 9. 3 Alternative Service Delivery ODtions One option for the City to consider is the outsourcing ( and/ or "consolidation") of the law enforcemenUprotective services function currently provided by the FWB Police Department. The most likely provider for this service is the Okaloosa County Sheriff' s Office. There are a number of positives and negatives to such an endeavor. On one side: The City may achieve a cost savings; The City may achieve equivalent delivery of services; The City may achieve an increased value for the delivery of equivalent services. Alternatively: The City loses direct control of an essential governmental function; The City loses a measure of responsibility to the citizens of FWB for law enforcemenUprotective services; Once lost, the infrastructure needed to reestablish effective City policing operations or functions is cost excessive and time prohibitive. The contractual arrangement is not of a permanent nature, and the fluid nature of the entities involved entails a certain amount of risk in terms of long term planning. A number of opportunities exist for the City to generate revenue for activities related to the Police Department. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 9- 17  Police Recommendations Recommendation # 29: Continue providing police services through its existing personnel, less five ( 5) sworn positions, rather than contracting for services with the Sheriff. Recommendation # 30: Consider reallocation of an officer position to the position of C- Squared Detective. Recommendation # 31: Consider a concerted inter- Departmental effort combining Police and City Attorney to aggressively pursue unclaimed or forfeited assets - including vehicles, personal property, and real estate assets. Recommendation # 32: Consider reallocation of a position to the function of Parking Enforcement. Recommendation # 33: Consider increasing the fine for violation of fire and handicapped parking zones. Recommendation # 34: Research the costs and benefits of opening another DROP window for employees who qualify. There are potential long- term costs to the City that should be avoided. Recommendation # 35: Ensure an adequate training budget - many training areas are mandated by law, and initial training and continuing education and certification in areas such as DUI enforcement, Laser/Radar use, and Traffic Enforcement reduce liability to the City, and potentially generate revenue from increased, and more efficient, law enforcement activities. Recommendation # 36: Research the options and costs associated with retaining the services of a private company for processing traffic incidents accidents and crashes) and then recouping the cost from the Insurance provider of the driver at fault. Recommendation # 37: Consider the option of decriminalizing the " open container"ordinance and replace instead with an administrative fine - $ 50 or 100. Recommendation # 38: Consider increasing the fees charged for: 1. City wrecker service; 2. Fingerprints; 3. Alarm permits; 4. False alarm response; 5. Taxi permits; 6. Records/ Background checks; 7. Report copies; 8. Bike registration; 9. Parking services - fees/ meters; and, 10. Impound and storage fees. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 9- 18  SECTION 10.0 PARKS AND RECREA TION Management Advisory Group, Inc. 2007  10. 0 Parks and Recreation 10. 1 Oraanization and Staffina Staffing The organizational units include Fred Hedrick Recreation, Docie Bass Center, Chester Pruitt Center, Parks System, Library, Museum, and Senior Center. Management for the Department includes the Director, Senior Staff Assistant, the Assistant Parks and Recreation Director, and the unit directors. The Fred Hedrick Recreation unit has eight ( 8) full- time and two ( 2) part- time employees. Docie Bass has four ( 4) full- time and nine ( 9) part- time employees. Chester Pruitt has three ( 3) full- time and five ( 5) part-time employees, and Parks Systems has 12 full- time, 11 part-time, and eight ( 8) summer youth workers. The Museum has four (4) full- time and three ( 3) part- time employees, and shares a Service Worker employee. The Library has nine ( 9) full- time and three ( 3) part time employees. It does use volunteers but the City prohibition on using volunteers to collect money and shelf books does limit the use of volunteers. Exhibit 10- 1 on the following page represents the current structure as noted in the recommended City budget. No major changes are recommended for the structure. Alternative Services Delivery Study for Fort Walton Beach, Florida Page 10- 1  Parks and Recreation Parks and Recreation Exhibit 10- 1 Current Organization Chart Parks & Recreation I CITY COUNCIL SENIOR STAFF ASSISTANT ( 1) FRED HEDRICK RECREATION COORDINATOR 1)