Title
Resolution Encouraging DDA Funding of Downtown Public Safety
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Whereas, City Council, at its December 2012 retreat, identified public safety as one of five priorities and the DDA has consistently maintained (and reiterated at Council's most recent meeting) that a safe environment is an essential element of a strong, vibrant downtown;
Whereas, Chief Seto indicated the current deployment of police officers in Ann Arbor is largely reactive and service improvements could be achieved by expanding proactive policing efforts;
Whereas, Deployment of downtown "beat cops" is a perfect example of proactive policing that would result in enhanced public safety as well as improvements in the perception of a safe downtown;
Whereas, Deployment of "beat cops" has been identified by the DDA and downtown businesses as a need for many years and on May 20th, it was indicated there have been DDA discussions regarding adding two beat cops and a community standards officer;
Whereas, Deployment of new dedicated public safety personnel in the Downtown area would provide relief for existing police officers related to Downtown policing and allow more of the existing officers' efforts to be dedicated to neighborhoods;
Whereas, Recognizing that the DDA is responsible for its budget, City Council approved a FY14 budget amendment encouraging the DDA to allocate $300,000.00 each to the Affordable Housing Fund and to repair of street lights funded by the $600,000.00 increase in revenues the DDA will realize beyond the amounts reflected in its original budget;
Whereas, A FY14 budget amendment to add three police officers was rejected 5-6 by Council with two members voting against the amendment indicating they would prefer to seek DDA funding for additional officers rather than allocating General Fund dollars;
Whereas, The DDA budgets for FY14 and FY15 include grants expenditures of $1,623,608.00 and $1,608,608.00, respectively, of which $400,000.00 in both years is unassigned and could be used as the funding source for additional officers; and
Whereas, The cost of an additional officer is about $90,000.00 annually;
RESOLVED, That City Council encourages the DDA to provide funding for three officers to be deployed in the DDA district and asks that the DDA consider this request at its next regularly scheduled meeting; and
RESOLVED, That if funding be approved by the DDA, the Administrator is directed to increase the police FTE and dollar budgets accordingly and commence the hiring process as soon as possible.
Sponsored by Councilmembers Lumm, Petersen, Kailasapathy
Date: 6/3/2013