##VIDEO ID:a2g9ebBkOx0## facing uh department and uh we do take a lot of pride in that uh we also staff uh a lot of different uh commissions and committees and meetings uh throughout the year Planning Commission parks and wreck arts and culture uh arts and culture commission and Economic Development Authority all 12 or more meetings per year uh and then Housing and Redevelopment Authority are uh scheduled as needed so we do provide a lot of um staff Lea on support to all of those um bodies um one of the core duties that we have is to provide uh critical analysis and develop of De development uh proposals and land use Excuse me land use applications uh we also manage uh Park and facility rentals and reservations that's includes uh parks and ball fields we also manage uh various City events special events um Autumn Arts Festival project snowy was a huge success uh paint night M you know music in the park and many many others um and then we review like I mentioned earlier re uh review and process literally thousands of permits and uh licenses a year I I tried to put them all into one slide here I ran out of room just to give you an idea we we do quite a bit of work uh each year with permits and licenses and to show you uh numbers wise uh that amount of work uh here is just a total of all of the uh building permits um issued by the Community Development Department so you can look at building permits uh about uh 1,800 last year a year to date we're almost at 700 zoning permits 90 last year 63 to date uh for 2024 specialty permits you know um CH sharable gambling special events National Night Out uh 68 last year we're up to 54 already uh business license is a is a huge part um liquor and tobacco vendor license rental licenses uh we had 21 last year and 180 this year uh contractor licenses you see 119 last year year 56 so far this year and animal registrations chickens beekeeping kennels that type of thing seven last year five this year so you you got a total um permits and license issued last year of about 2,300 and we're uh just over a th so far this year so it's a lot of work on a day-to-day basis uh reviewing and um issuing all those permits and licenses and I'm I'm really proud of my staff for all the work that they've done um and then just a touch a little bit on um meetings that were staffed by Community Dev uh development Department staff um we had 20 Council meetings last year 10 this year so far Planning Commission we had 11 last year seven this year parks and wreck 10 last year six this year arts and culture 13 last year nine this year and then a combination of Eda and H 10 last year and and uh one so far this year so um a lot of uh time you know not during normal business hours we we do spend quite a bit of time uh our staff uh here as well and of course this uh would not be possible without our talented and dedicated staff members in the Community Development Department I want to specifically call out Sarah Chris and Mai um you know i' like I mentioned I've been here for U two and a half months and I've been uh incredibly impressed with um their work their workflow and how they uh really keep things moving along very smoothly so um I I wanted to specifically make sure that I called them out and thank them personally uh for all their hard work um over on the inspection side um again a very integral component to the life safety issues here in North St Paul um we uh inspect uh new construction remodels mechanical and plumbing Replacements um again just to make sure that those meet minimum safety standards and build building codes um also prevent uh D dangerous issues from arising uh later on um for Building Inspections all of our building plumbing and mechanical permit inspections are handled by Rum River Consulting they've been a fantastic FC organization to work with uh electrical inspections are handled by toal inspections and then rental housing is is completed by um North St Paul City staff on the recreation side um obviously Parks is a a huge huge component here in North St Paul we have uh some amazing Parks um and we do offer uh really easy online park facility and park shelter uh reservations for res residents and visitors again we pulled together some numbers to give you a little comparison last year uh 299 Park rentals uh 249 up into this year and then Ballfield uh rentals 640 throughout an entire year and we're already almost at 600 this year so far with a couple months left in the summer season summer fall season so um that is uh that's all I have for you this evening just wanted to give you an over you know very high level overview of all the work that we do in in our department and again I'm very uh impressed with my staff members happy to answer any questions sure apprciate absolutely appreciate that thank you and I do believe you have a star team for sta 100% he absolutely does um I was very it today yeah I mentioned it today I was very impressed with Sarah in last night's meeting just how she handles herself and the meeting and and uh you know and keeps everybody on task I was quite impressed with that um just kind of want to talk about each one of the the three um departments that he talked about from a budgetary standpoint um so we have uh the community uh development budget um what you're seeing there is approximately a $34,000 increase or a 15% increase from the prior year um again it um all of our Personnel expenditures include a cost of living um increase um and and then wage step increases the bigger significant change why this one's up uh 15% is because um there's been a reallocation of the Community Development director's time um when the Community Development director's position was established um by prior city manager um when he got approval from city council for that position he had allocated 45% of the community development's time to The Economic Development Authority um The Economic Development Authority had um requested to look at that and so we did and um obviously the amount of time of 45% isn't um really a true reflection of the time of the community development director so we have moved it down to 20% so you're going to see an increase of of that uh of that 25% of the the salary of the community development director now coming in to this Community Development budget and you're going to see that there's going to be a reduction when we go to The Economic Development Authority when we look at their Personnel Services um tough budget when it comes to everything else that you're going to be seeing in the general fund because there are not a lot of huge increases um that you're seeing again here supplies expenditure increased $775 which represents 19% but again it's only $775 um we're seeing contractual Services increased in here about 15,000 or 18% and that's because of uh the change um from Community Development directors um we had one um our prior community development director um before our prior community development director we contracted all of our planning Services out um our former community development director if I say this without getting Tong TW Twisted on this one um had a a um was that that was their specialty um planning and so we did away with that contract um and only did it as on an as needed basis and so now again as we're changing um Community Development directors and some different focuses and different talents that are there we're going to need to to utilize the planning Services a little bit more than we have from the prior year but still below what we were at um if we were to look back two three years ago um so um and then there is a capital expenditure in this budget of the $60,000 um for a down uh update of the downtown design manual um and that's um was one of my suggestions to remove it from this budget and have the Economic Development Authority um fund that because it really does fit more underneath the Economic Development Authority um there was a meeting scheduled um I believe last week but there wasn't a quorum so we couldn't have that discussion and have them um formally um agree or adopt um that change so it Still Remains here um but I'm definitely in hope that um that gets shift so we can drop that $60,000 and the levy impact that's associated with that um by the time that we do our maximum Levy or it's going to be one of my suggestions that we do that when we do our Max maximum Levy so as you can see with the Community Development Department there's not a lot of I guess extra that's built into to many of these especially in the general fund um that it's in there but I will separate each one of them and kind of talk the same way on each one of the Departments but if there's any questions on the Community Development budget um would' be more than glad to answer those before we move on to the inspection budget yeah what page are you on trying toate well the Community Development budget is is in your page numbers 23 to 25 of 77 that's I asked [Music] close and you'll start off with the Personnel summary um which um basically is showing that 0.25 change um because again the Community Development director's position is 22 of I just printed it off show weird 22 of the packet but oh a different number because of yeah Sear I have a question yes um with all the things that are going on you know we have pressures on their budget um and um it looks like we're maybe um missing a community and admin Services director as well AC according to this summary that that that is not a current role correct correct it hasn't there hasn't been that position since 2021 prior to 20121 um so my my question is um with do you feel strapped for time and energy or do you feel like you can handle all the different buckets of work that you're currently um managing and then you know you know can you foresee that um you know what what that work will look like in a couple years maybe yeah I certainly do feel that I I can you know again two and a half months here still learning a lot of of the processes and workflows here but uh in those two and a half months I I feel comfortable that um between myself and our three staff members that we are adequately handling everything in a couple years um I I I don't Envision any major changes to the Staffing in the community devel uh development department but again um need a little more time to kind of be here and and kind of get acquainted with everything before I make any recommendations it's a hard question to answer that's very fair and I I appreciate that very much um I'm thinking like this from a like a grant standpoint because we receive so much in Grants like py for example would like uh some FTE towards like a grants person help pretty much pay for itself and then they could also maybe help with some projects I I I definitely don't think that that is a bad idea or that it would hurt um I think I would probably test the waters by um Contracting um for a contract or for a grant um writer um first to see where that's at um part of the reason is I think you just heard Riley's response and that allows him to have a little bit more time in understanding his staff uh what that workload is going to be but yet it also gives somebody who has that expertise which is hard to find um for for somebody who can seek all those grants do the appropriate grant writing and and secure those but obviously you and you've done an excellent job of forwarding information we we do try to get as many grants as we can but there isn't that staff there I I would try to start start it out with a consultant first of all uh and there are a number of consultant companies um that do provide that service and then we could kind of again I'm going to rely on on Riley and um because he has tremendous amount of expertise wait till he gets comfortable and then if it's something that we need to actually put up part-time or a full-time FTE that has that ability plus can help some other um demands that um that come up um so that would be kind of the route to go about that way but fantastic suggestion onto that thanks any other questions on the Community Development I have questions in terms of like the permits it sounds like the partnership with Rum River is going very smoothly it it is um I actually have experience working with Rum River in my previous City so I I was very familiar with them and and happy to see that they were here when I when I joined um North St Paul um we we've been uh happy with them uh at least since I've been here and um you know we're looking at changing our uh some of our permitting software and some things to kind of help streamline some things but um overall i' I've been happy with them yes okay good thank you yep they have a presence here too that they here a couple days a week or yep he's here three days a week uh the Baseline yeah so um what I was referencing was um uh Baseline software it's it's Baseline technology is what is called it's it's a um um basically it would take the place of open gov um uh for all permitting it's it is proprietary to um uh Rum River and so they have a lot of experience using it and um we've been kind of kicking the tires around and thinking about it and um likely we be making that change implementing that change probably in the next month or two would be my guess so um just some a minor change but um I we think it's going to be a a a good addition may help some of your staff absolutely yeah yep is there concern with proprietary data in their software being able to be shared back into the city City in the event we choose someone else down the road no everything that is um all all of the permits that um are handled are are would become property of the city essentially so um we would keep all those records that would all be transferred to us when you say that it would help maybe with the flow are they going to be is it going to be helping with people that are staff not having because of the the Integrations tighter correct yep U not only that but from a resident contractor point view to kind of that front-facing component of it I think is going to be a lot lot more streamlined too like user friendly yes okay yeah great and as you can see we process a lot of permits and so you know I I think that's a good thing that uh we're looking at that council member Cole to to kind of give a little bit more of insight onto that um when we uh when the former community development director was here um we looked at the the Baseline there's always an option that if at the end of the 5 years we decide to go you know we do an RFP and they don't get it that we do have the option that we could actually purchase that software but in addition that software has some integration current you know currently that it'll work with laser fish so permits will be automatically put into laser feish for us so we'll have a much better data retention that we do today so there's a lot of positives that Baseline um does provide for us us U moving forward because I just remember multiple conversations three years ago now probably of switching up some of the software and with it being proprietary some of the records may not transfer over so that was that was my primary reason for asking yep no good point but we had checked those out when we were looking through with with Baseline so um yes so there's opportunities so the the Baseline software is actually its own entity separate from Rum River it just happens to be veloped by the son of the owner of The Rum River very fascinating young man who's developed that with a with a partner um but and and they do very good support um so it does open that opportunity for us to even if they were not in the pitcher that we would be able to to have that software and and moving forward that decision for us really needs to be made by the end of 2025 I believe because that's the time that the 5-year contract that we have with opening up um would Sunset and give us the opportunity to get out of that that that at that point in time so Riley has his hands full with that too that your digital storage laser fish I'm pardon this digital storage yes so right now is somebody taking that information and putting it in then to digital storage because it's not a path through correct so that's a help of that okay thanks any other questions on community develop development before we move on to the inspections Department okay the inspection department it it really there isn't a lot in there there's basically one line item it's um it's underneath the contractual Services you're going to see that it decreased $50,000 or 10% um it's compared to um the previous year's uh budget and and based upon our 2025 estim estimation of our our permits um any increase or decrease in this also has an impact on the revenue side to it for permitting um if you remember the contract that uh of the charges um they retain 75% we we retain 25% of that so if you if you look to make further reductions in this line we also have to reduce um the revenue side to it so um I think we're you know if you look at the past history on the inspections um you know it's it's a very unpredictable um area um you can see in 2021 it was about 340,000 then on 2022 it's 708 23 486 we've had a we've got it budgeted for um 500,000 in 24 and then 450,000 in 2025 um we're tracking a little bit lower um right now um this year but we're also tracking a little bit L on our um uh permit Revenue too um so um it's kind of a it's a guess um is is the bottom line um with that and that's the only line item that's that that's in there there are no personal services associated with that department um supplies capital or anything else any questions with uh the inspections I'm not hearing any I'm going to move on to the recreation and um the recreation budget is is a very small budget um you know we allocate uh 0.005% of our community development director's time there um and if you look at the budget you're you're seeing just a $622 increase in personal services which 622 represents 7% increase again um its cost of living um weight step increases supplies are increasing about $1,500 or or uh or I'm sorry decreasing $1,500 or $ 29% um and contractual services are decreasing $231 or 1% um probably the biggest part that's in the recreation budget is that is where we also fund the community or the um arts and culture um commission um so really there's not a lot of um money budgeted for I was going to say really the recreation components because we really don't have a a true Recreation program um in the city um but um are there any questions um with that and again that may be something that you know you can see the FTE in the in the past that may be something that that um gets you know enhanced in in the years to come um especially with um The Parks Commission doing a number of studies on the parks um currently they've got uh hga in her contract doing three Parks uh one being the the mcnight complex um we're out with the RFP for the community center um there definitely can be some synergies in those reports and and finding out that may generate a need um for more of a program um component that the city doesn't have today and that could be either staff or that could be consultant but um really can't make that determination until those uh those reports come back to us um and then city council has a opportunity to digest that and to see that but at this point to budget something that we have no IDE idea is is isn't the greatest idea and as a conservative Finance director I can't recommend that we do that without the something to substantiate but I definitely can see something like that um moving forward in the future yeah I had a meeting or got together coffee with the Maplewood mayor they use rev Sports and I passed that on to uh the staff here and they don't uh they said it's been working very well they uh they're able to take that off the plate and they get all their Sports they got a lot of sports that you normally can't you don't have with the like karate and all the other stuff so it's she's they've been very happy with it so passed it on to look into it and that's part of when you when you have a a city that's smaller in size to have your own staff on board there's multiple experiences and discipline that you need to have that's hard to find in one individual in most cases so you end up you know being able to do that you have to have multiple people which which is you know I I'll say more cost prohibitive or or more of a burden to our residents so that's where um Contracting is is a better way to to look at that because they have that expertise we have the land they have the expertise they have the expertise absolutely any questions on the recreation budget no thank you with that I we're gonna uh Riley and myself we're going to try to team up on the HRA and the Eda and kind of give you kind of an overview of of those um I'll I'll lead on the HRA and he can take the Eda lead he didn't know that but I just he just just throw that out there um the housing Redevelopment Authority um you know based basically it's um you know it's activities to provide the administrative um direction for the North St Paul housing Redevelopment Authority the H monitors affordable market rate and senior housing resour for the re resources for the rehabilitation of plighted properties are administered by the HRA the HRA is a legally separate organization with an independent taxing Authority the governing body consists of City Council Members with management of the city having operational responsibility one of the biggest components that the HRA has been doing been doing for a number of years that you're well aware of is the student built housing program um where you take a blight property um and you turn it around um into a home and and you move it and you sell it and you move it on um uh back a few years ago we had dropped the the levy pretty much to zero um because it pretty much cash flows itself just by the um you know purchase of the property um the cost cost for construction and then we turn it on and sell it um that's been kind of a the pattern for a multiple years last year we increased the the levy from0 to $111,000 um this year it's being proposed to increase it to $50,000 when we meet next Tuesday and it was one of my options to not increase that that $39,000 I am again on Tuesday going to tell you not to increase that $39,000 um to leave it at the $111,000 because we've been C flowing unless somewhere the program changes and we have additional need but we're sitting on probably about a half a million dollars in cash um in The Economic Development Authority budget itself um so we're we're good to keep doing with the programming that we're doing in addition to that part of the I think 0.25 sales tax that uh the state of Minnesota instituted um last year um we've already received 42,000 that's our first half so this year we'll receive $84,000 that is is specifically for lowincome housing um so there's another component that's on the plate of our econom our community um development director is that we will end up having to develop some sort of program to utilize those funds in the future um and then bring that um for city council support and Direction on that um because that'll be accumulating over time so um there's really not a lot um that is in this HRA um again um if we look at it the Personnel expenses are increasing about $55,000 7% against cost of living and its um weight uh step increases um the HRA does not have any uh supplies expense contractual Services have increased about $52 00 or 36% of the prior year um and that's really just due to some of the increased costs that we've seen in the past due to the general contracting Consulting Services line item um and then uh the capital side to it and the capital is is increased 85,000 or 29,000 or 29% that is the cost the capital cost is for the student built housing um but again it it's being you know greatly offset by the revenue that we receive um from those homes uh so right now um and I and I believe even this this latest one we're still um you know there's a profit that's coming in so it's increasing our cash in the in the fund and that's part of the reason why my recommendation will be not to increase that Levy um at this point in time especially in the tough Levy year that we have but with that if you have any questions um either myself or Riley will try to answer that here thank you council member Wong has something oh you yeah I'm curious on what you know uh your thoughts are around um the um the HRA um budget when it comes to when we're making such a large gap do we um you know is there uh thoughts around what those funds would be contributing to outside of a student built program are there other ways um that could help that you see um would help residents well I I'm going to do the wise thing as a finance director and I'm going to turn it over to our community development director here on on onto that um but I think it's an area just like that point this is my only piece to it just like that 0.25% of the sales tax there is something we're going to have to do for low income housing um I think you know we had a resident come up in one of our public U meetings and and talked about that you know um in still instead of building this this house that's you know $400 some thousand if we were lower in that $300,000 range you know in other words it's it's it's not a 2,000t um home it's a400 foot home um that you know we're increasing that affordability piece to it and so that's something that we need to really you know look at develop and I think a lot of that's going to come out and and um and I know some of the council members if not all are aware we we have a tough we have a lowincome community um very diverse I think that's going to become even more crystal clear as we get the results from the hga um we get that information that's going to come out um from the RFP for the community center so there does need to be something developed again from a budgetary standpoint it's kind of hard to budget something until we've got something concrete with that I'll I I'll give uh our Riley an opportunity to make any comments uh again he's got much more experience in this than I do I would really just piggyback on what Dan said I think um there's going to be some opportunities for us to um assist with the with a lowincome component and um you know council member Wong I think you're correct about um some of that some of the sale proceeds of that uh student build house and and what can we do with it and so that's something that um you know between Brian and I and Dan will we'll sit down and start figuring out some plans um what to do I also assume for that money that we have in that account now they got to float money as they build a house so there's stuff going it's not like it's 500 Grand just sitting there they're going to have to buy all this and you know cash flow it in and do all that stuff that is that is accurate thank you any other questions on the Housing and Redevelopment Authority okay we'll move on to the Economic Development Authority you want to take it or should I just keep on going um again from a staffing um perspective you're going to see that there's a reduction of that 0.25 that I had mentioned earlier in the community development um budget um and that's the a reallocation of our community development director's time and I think it much it it better reflects the true time that our community development um director is spending on The Economic Development Authority um you know the you know description of the activity for Community Development authori is is um the administers the nurse Paul Economic Development Authority they provide support for the economic development of the City and his gold is to build a strong and adaptive local economy the Eda is a legally separate organization from the city with an independent taxing Authority the governing body consists of seven members two of which are City Council Members um there's a lot of work that's that's happening at the economic uh Development Authority itself they're looking at um a facade Improvement program um and um so just recently there's been drafted um some Pro program and application again it was to be presented at the last meeting again there wasn't a quorum um so that'll be presented in the next meeting but really the intent of that is really to to look at our businesses um you know um at least on on 7th street and margar Street and to make sure that um you know we're improving the looks of those those entities um in hopes to attract more businesses um to the downtown area the has invested a lot of money on 7th Street um and um and there's been some you know recent developments that you're well aware of um that are in Tiff districts you know with the Sentinel building and then the article 7 um so we're really from an economic perspective we're building that density um and we're trying to hope to to attract um to get more businesses down there um they do have a levy the Levy's been um static um for um I I think probably about the uh well 25 would be about the the fourth year I think that it's been the same um we're having it at uh 200 thou about $201,000 um the majority of their budget is is in Personnel costs um there's you can see the allocation um that's there for the city manager and so forth and Community Development director um in a comparison to Prior year this this year it's decreasing um uh 8 ,300 or a 6% decrease so that decrease is is it it's accounting for cost of living increases step increases but then it's being offset by that 25% reduction in the community development directors um time which is more than the increases of the cost supplies budget is really only increasing $100 um and then contractual Services budget is increasing um approximately 11 ,000 or 21% um part of the discussion from The Economic Development Authority is um um to maybe hire a consultant to help spur on some of that economic development in in our city um instead of you know necessarily utilizing um the community development director themselves again uh it it's one of those Reflections small City how do you have somebody who's a community development director do this this this this this and this and you and you heard um all the responsibilities of just the econ or the Community Development Department itself um and so even though Ry probably could do it all it's it's really it's really spreading ourselves um thin and then there are some specific areas of consult or specific Consultants that do have that expertise in helping that um economic spurring on economic development in the downtown area um Bradley is there anything you you want to add to that you did a great job um there one other thing is that um which is not included in their in this budget at this point in time is that $60,000 if they choose to fund that um updating of the downtown uh manual it would come out of the general fund it would end up being in in this Economic Development Authority budget with that any questions I I'm going to make a comment and I sure um so so it sounds like we're seeking the design manual to be reup um and then we're and that's going to be like um finished probably like a year from now and then we're also launching the facade program so is there uh some direction that you know will work now um do you know what I mean well absolutely um I don't know a lot about it and I caught that as as we were looking at that and so so so Riley and I had a conversation I'm going to turn it over to Riley because part of that downtown does have um specifications for the facades but uh Riley and I had talked and and he's got fantastic response yeah we we certainly talked about that I mean it's real kind of a chicken or the egg type scenario so um I think that is one of the reasons why we're we're recommending not doing that 60,000 in next year give buy us a little bit more time um and then um kind of kind of resetting the the trajectory the path of okay what needs to happen first because they you're right they both kind of feed into each other so that is something that we're going to be looking at for sure yeah we talked about that just the other day and that's part of the discussion that we wanted to have with The Economic Development Authority and have that information for you tonight um but um so so uh council member Cole and uh mayor uh M mongi that you you got to to to hear a little bit of a preview of what you're going to hear at the next Economic Development Authority meeting any other fantastic question one more one more good so um in the past I've um kind of referenced uh the arts and culture Commission interested in maybe collaborating collaborating with the econ the Eda um around maybe murals is that something that's um feasible in a downtown facade program at this point yeah that I that is certainly I I have a little actually a little bit of experience in my my previous City working with um a muralist I think is what it's called Uh in in doing something on just kind of a large blank uh space right in downtown turned out great um and I think that is something that um um um Ma and I had talked a little bit about as well so uh I do think there is uh some good opportunity to collaborate um kind of again combine a lot of these projects together and I think it it certainly makes sense to look at for sure awesome thank you I guess for also behind the scenes for the the Eda is we've been doing you know cleanup as far as uh across the street when it comes to the Margaret so we got all the puds thanks to the to the staff and so we're getting the land appraised and ready to go so that has been been behind the scenes so it's been good to get that going too on R yep thank you any further questions on Economic Development Authority I'm just joking oh okay if if there are none then uh we we can we can excuse our our dis distinguished uh community development director uh for this evening I I want to thank him very much very very very much it's been you know an honor right now just in two and a half months just to see the talent that he's brought to the city um it's been very very good so look forward look forward to uh you know more time and and see where we can move forward so thank you very much thank you you very much appreciate it thank you thanks Riley here comes the headliner bar's been said hi R yeah it's great the opening act going be your new nickname's opening act as uh as Ray gets uh set up here um actually I was I was glad that I scheduled it this way after he showed me his his presentation it is kind of like that but I do have to say that that uh it wasn't really an opening act because Ry didn't want heck of a great job uh so I I can't go that far I'll headline my next tour okay I'll be your backup so I can just add some filler here if we want until he gets it all set up another rain came through so we just seem to be getting comes and goes there'll be no wake again on Silver Lake the way it's going again so don't paddle so hard when you're over there next time a nice swim the other day though nice all all right well I I think our police chief uh Ry is all set and ready to go um and so I'm going to turn it over to him so he can go through his presentation and then um I will kind of talk about a little bit of the financial impact um of his budget and then we're both open to any questions that you may have um again this is quite an honor again like I I said when I first started here he was the interim police really kind of got a bond um to him uh he's just one of those salt of the earth type of individuals and it's really good to see that he ended up um you know getting into becoming our permanent police chief so with that um um watch what he does now all right drum roll uh mayor council members city manager Daniel thank you for those kind words thank you for having me here I'm excited to be here tonight um to give my presentation uh for the police 2025 budget presentation um some of the items that I want to cover tonight will be you know our PD's Mission uh community outreach community policing um our current organizational chart um Staffing road ahead what that looks like the 2024 uh calls for service quarterly report and the BCA joint Powers agreement with the violent crimes unit um our culture and wellness and then uh closing with our um recently released uh uh recruitment video that I'm sure you all got a chance to see um but uh we're going to close with that tonight so our our mission statement is uh we strive to enhance the quality of life in our community by providing compassionate and Professional Service with honor integrity empathy and respect you know how do we do that how do we provide for our community uh we can we can improve the quality of life for officers and our community in a number of ways uh community outreach programs Community pleasing or Wellness programs work life balance strategies and diverse and our diverse officers our community outreach programs um and our community policing uh events like uh Shop with a cop fish with a cop coffee with a cop um our upand cominging uh crit and Remembrance Memorial which will be on September 7th um honoring his 15E anniversary um n National Night Out fall Roundup parade um these programs can help build Bridges and break down barriers between police and citizens um our community policing this approach can help reinvigorate our community and deterior deterior crime it can also help establish trust and respect between our law enforcement officers and the community our Wellness programs uh our organization strives to improve the mental health of our officers by providing access to Mental Health Services educational resources and training the work life balance strategies that we uh um incorporate uh they can help our officers maintain a healthy work life balance and include flexible scheduling mental health support physical wellness programs develop and maintain a healthy work environment internally uh our Law Enforcement Officers already have a stressful job in their day-to-day operations we need to make sure we have created keep good morale within the organization as a whole and diverse officers having a diverse police force can help increase Community Trust and citizen cooperation it can also help create a force that better reflects our community currently this is our organizational chart uh you'll see here um the chief of police on top um overseas are four sergeants and two administrative staff our for Sergeants see a number of areas um throughout the organization um they oversee the investigations unit Community Service Officer the school resource officer our Patrol officers and our joint Powers agreement agent BCA violent crimes unit um which is currently um being serviced by Sergeant Fredericks uh we have one investigator uh we have a part-time community Service Officer we have one school resource officer we have six Patrol officers currently one of which is uh light duty right now and we have four current vacant patrol officer spots we have one sworn staff that is on leave um you'll see the four sergeants uh have I have them um streaming off with the uh the four categories there each Sergeant um is assigned a certain responsibility in these areas um so all sergeants won't be overseeing all of these areas it might be two sergeants overseeing Patrol unit might be one Sergeant overseeing investigations and so forth so currently we do have six Patrol officers uh on our streets and our current uh FTE is 22.75 and that's what our organizational chart looks like we do have a second investigator spot um the reason I have it listed as one investigator is because because of our shortage in staff we can't fulfill that position we have to keep that patrol officer um on the streets um to help service our community um which backlogs our investigation unit right now so because of that shortage and because of those four vacant spots uh we're unable to have a second invest Ator even though it has been approved and we do have a second spot right now that is uh vacant in our investigations unit so that's where we're at with our investigations how's the process for backfill on those spots coming along positive uh yeah and I'm hoping that um you know as we move on to the uh uh presentation here um I'll expand on it but we do have um several people uh being uh in the Pro in the hiring process right now um three of which are getting backgrounded so um it's looking pretty good fingers crossed everything goes good and they get through the process our staffing road ahead uh what that looks like is we need to meet the community needs and expectations to promote the best outcomes um by adding a second in command position a deputy chief position adding two Patrol officers which uh I would um put as power cars um and adding one CSO a crime analyst and in um researching more into embedding a mental health crisis uh unit right here at the PD um the the second in command position basically um would alleviate a lot of flooding that's going on in the chief Spa right now and in the past um in my view just by my experience and seeing how uh previous Chiefs uh had to take on this responsibility um and without that second and POS second and command position um we really don't have anybody to take on a scene when there's a critical incident um and during my time in the last two years we've had multiple critical incidents um and as Chief uh several um and what that does is it it strains the process of uh basically evaluating the critical incident itself and how we manage it um it puts us behind um in how we are able to communicate with uh you folks the community the officers um strategically having the second and command position would be able to eliminate that and get information out the way we need to get it out um so that's a big part of the second and command position and and basically having somebody here that is going to be here in my absence um right now we have four sergeants and we have a first sergeant who is Ben bwitch um who typically will be an acting Chief in the event uh I'm I'm not I'm not here um or I'm out of town um but really uh you know if if he's gone then we got to we got to put in one of our other sergeants as acting uh acting Chief and it just becomes now we got to make sure that all four of these sergeants are trained into this type of leadership role in the event that our you know our first sergeon is not available so something to keep in mind um the power officers basically uh are officers that these two officers basically basically take on the role of filling in time frames during a police schedule um during the day shift and the night shift so we have we have uh a day team A and A Day Team B and we have a night team A and A Night Team B these power officers fill in on both sides um our teams work a 6:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. 12 hour shift four days on four days off the power officers would be taken on the position of make maybe uh a 12 to 12 or a 3 3 to 3 a 2 to2 something that is going to uh have them do a crossover and help both teams out um during their shift um so ultimately you know if we're fully staffed and we have two power staffs which in my time here in the 14 years I've been here uh we had uh this this we had power cars um I was one of them I think for a Ser maybe 3 four months um and then some folks uh went elsewhere or you know just the the the way it's been right now is you know people come and they go so that's how it was when we when I was uh on patrol and we had the two power cars and it worked out great it was like you had a car you had a police car on every block um so it was it was amazing um not only that but we got we had the opportunity to get out of the car and then go meet people and you know interact with the community so uh that Community engagement uh with those two power cars is very helpful adding to cso um we have a CSO right now um Brandon Carbone who is currently enrolled in a law enforcement program um he's our young man here in the photo um and he uh is going to be uh taken as post license in 2025 summer um the benefit of this is so good because we it's a long-term investment um this young this this CSO basically while there school is learning the day-to-day operations of your police organization and actually getting to you know um work side by side with the officers that he or she may get to work with after they're done with school um Brandon cabon is most likely going to become a cop with us when he's done um and we're looking forward to having him but and that CSO would be great having two csos would be great for the community too um our crime analyst uh if we were to add a crime analyst right now uh with our joint Powers agreement with the BCA um we've had to lean on them quite a bit in Ramsey County um for information that we would need from a crime analyst um the problem is is we have to wait for it um having the crime analyst here uh embedded in our in our our PD is instant information um and when we when we move on to the presentation I'll uh be talking more about that crime analyst spot the mental health and crisis unit work embedded more and more agencies around the Metro are getting these folks to be involved in their in their PD um and work in house um the great thing about this is uh you know they they go out to calls with the officers um the people that might be in crisis don't have to engage one-on-one with the officer and they can engage one-on-one with the uh crisis worker um which then in turn um might might uh you know deter a use of force incident or um you know something else like that nature so mental health Cris uh crisis unit embedded would be good the 2024 uh crimes for service quarterly you'll see here um if you look on the top I don't know is that a little too small for you guys uh you'll see here on the top um gra my notes here so far uh this CFC report shows our first and second quarter stats that's what you're looking at here uh for 2024 you can see according to these pie charts the calls for service went up in the following areas from quarter 1 to the second quarter crimes against persons uh 66 calls went to 73 calls crimes against property went from 67 calls to 84 calls quality of life 269 calls to 3177 calls uh and other miscellaneous calls for service went from 9 967 calls to uh 1,59 calls um what's the trend here uh the trend is call we're consistently between 2019 to 2024 um well 2023 um we've consistently averaged above 8,000 calls um and I you know the 2019 we had 10,000 calls um and I do recall I remember that year that was a busy year um but you know 8,000 calls for our city to average um in um a handful of these being critical incidents um where we've had to utilize outside resources um should say something um it should say that you know there's there's a lot going on in North St Paul and uh crime is steady joint poers agreement with the BCA violent violent crimes unit um like I said before we've had to utilize uh their um their services several times uh in the months that I've been here um and the cases open this is this is their stats um the cases they have open Year date 158 um a big one here is 356 arrest um the drug recovery has been phenomenal the firearm recovery has been phenomenal um this unit uh by us having Sergeant Frederick's with them is priceless we um a perfect example of this was when we had uh the Casey Lake shooting um uh the BCA violent crimes unit stepped in they ended up taking on this case but uh without them uh we we just wouldn't have been able to sustain this type of investigation um with our current staff levels one investig Ator our Sergeant um of Investigations and myself uh BCA came in uh took over the um took over the case and was able to uh you know provide us with resources above and beyond our capabilities um expedited uh you know um BCA processing um of evidence um you know we if we were to process stuff on our own that could take months um and it's this is is a direct in and they were able to get some uh evidence back quicker than we would have been able to um along with the crime analysts that that came in and were involved in this uh Casey Lake incident was uh was great there was the St Paul PD gang task force came in and helped us out um and that was all because of the resource of having Sergeant Fredericks be a part of this um joint Powers agreement look at these look at these guys look at this that's uh officer Deany and Sergeant Goldson smiling ear to ear because they love working here right um so I I love this picture it says a lot about uh what we have going on here and how happy our folks and troops are are here are glad to be here um so our goal is to keep our team healthy mentally and physically uh this is a difficult task when we are operating with only two officers on the street during a 12-hour shift at time we want to create a work environment which is desired to be a part of and retain our great staff um we have great people here and they are tired burnout leads to FR frustration and frustration leads to the unlike of being motivated to come to work um it's the last area that we want to see our officers get to our police officers have continued to step up and work the overtime when called upon and stay late or come in when they are needed but this Trend will not last sooner or later they will look elsewhere and it's not going to be because of the people they work with or the community they work for uh it will be because they simply are tired of working working short-handed and not being able to engage in more opportunities um our law enforcement officers are very close to each other and this team is truly a family uh we communicate with each other and we lean on each other for professional and personal advice this family like tie that we have created here is difficult to build at any agency but we are fortunate to have it here I send I send out a lot of shoutouts to my team uh to let them know how great they are and how much this city city appreciates them as a person and the work they do I always let them know how damn proud I am to be their Chief I'm going to close this presentation with our recently released recruitment video This is the first recruitment video our agency has done and it turned out amazing as you each watch the video I would like you to take note at the smiles just like the one you see the two you see here in this picture in the video they are truly happy to be here at North St Paul py and they are truly happy to service this community take note at the family Vibe I explained earlier and you should know that we are going to run we were going to run this video with uh Q cards um instead everybody wanted to just talk from their heart and say what say what they wanted to say to answer the question instead of having it you know pre-made up um so what you're about to see is them these officers talking from their heart about why they want to work here at North St Paul how do we get this s on go here PA City you we had this all worked out tested it's all out yeah I blame Riley I always blame the opening [Laughter] act North St Paul's the kind of City you fall in love with they really know you and they get to know you quickly we're a small Department but we do get large crime we have the support from everybody around us whether it's you know our team or the community to lean on I believe that healthy officers create healthy and safe communities that's why my number one goal is making sure that everyone on the team has what they need to enjoy serving the community and being a part of this team and that support extends to their families too if we have to make it to family events we have the ability to leave early we can take up to a month off each year which is amazing you get to know the officers on an individual basis not just a number which you might be in another agency we're always checking on each other that's what you do as a family we have a lot of up-to-date equipment new tasers new body armor helmets new body cam systems I feel safe about coming to work doing my job granted it is dangerous but we are given the tools and an advantage to take the safety approach one responding to calls as close as we are you know with the equipment we got the leadership we have I couldn't see working anywhere else if you want to be a DUI traffic car you can do that if you want to get into you know predatory offender stuff it would let you do that so I really like it that they let you spread your wings and let you kind of you know see where your path goes in law enforcement I don't think I would have been able to do that anywhere else if you want to work alongside a dedicated professional and multi-talented team this is the place for you we have opportunities for crisis negotiators drone Pilots school resource officers firearms and use of force instructors less lethal instructors social media coordinators community outreach evidence coordinators SWAT operators and special investigators if you want to be a part of a vibrant supportive and growing Community apply today [Music] so there you have it thank you done next your R video video the budget very nice thank you so now you can see why it was wise to have him go last he again I I met with uh Ray earlier this week to kind of go over this and so this is now my 10th time that I've seen this and every single time it gives gives me goo Goosebumps and and I love uh uh officer Allen um he just his it's genuine um when he talks about that family and you just get the whole connection and you know the whole entire staff um it's just fantastic and and and that's done underneath this uh gentleman's leadership um and he's done one Hecker job great job since he's been here we just need to see him get to that uh full staff uh level so we don't burn out our current staff I'm going to quickly just go kind of go through some of the budget highlights and then open it up for questions for for police chief uh Rosales and myself um the Personnel expenditure budget um um what you see in the thing shows it it increased $346,000 what P John Dan I jumped down so I have got pop back up oh I apologize uh it's in the budget packet is 22 or I have a when I printed it off page 27 of 77 is the summary component to it there's no changes in in total FTE um from 24 to 25 page 22 of your print P page 22 is of the budget if if the print off package it says page 27 of 77 you had 26 on yours there we go 2 I'm at 26 of oh now I get it because that's I got the agenda I first I'm not very good with numbers Riley [Music] so so uh it in includes the cost of living again it's consistent across the um all of the salary projections and uh wage step increases um what we have to look at here is that this also includes the officer that's in the BCA violent crime reduction unit um so if we were to reduce that because we get Revenue um and it's included in the general fund Revenue if we were to reduce that the personal services um goes up $180,000 or 5% um from from the prior Year from 2024 versus that 11% and it's just because the revenue goes somewhere else but the expenditures have to show within the police budget um the supplies expenditure um is only um increased 19,000 um but that represents 15 um% um contractual Services increase $667,000 or 10% the um driving components to and I have no idea how this was um working with the prior uh police chief there was no repair or maintenance for vehicles line item uh in the 2024 budget however the 20224 budget underneath um uh police chief roles is still within budget there was no line item um for that um even though there's expenditures and there's been expenditures in the past so of that $67,000 increase you're going to see $40,000 it um for um uh you know vehicle repair and maintenance which is is very much needed um and then you're also going to see um increases in the uh fiber Enterprise uh fund um for the technology um internal service fund um and then Capital expenditures of what they've had in the budget in 24 to 25 is a decrease of $8,000 or 62% so not a lot of change outside of personal services I think you're seeing that consistently across each and every single one of our departments um within the general fund and that's kind of when I did the opening um on the general fund in the levy budgets I was very proud of what our department heads had put together and presented because I think if we look from a very high overall level um at the general fund itself you know we're we're seeing personal Ser Personnel Services increased 8% overall for all of the departments in the general fund supplies did not increase at all matter of fact they decreased $55 but from a percentile nothing contractual Services increased only 1% um Capital increased 33% but we also have to factor in that $60,000 that you know probably we will not be funding in the general fund and I'll be making that recommendation that may go to The Economic Development Authority or be postponed out another year um and then we're seeing um transfers being decreased so you can really see that this is a tough budgetary year as far as a levy impact that city council has because the bottom line to it is is we haven't changed much in our line items it's our Personnel costs that are driving things and I know I I believe on Tuesday there will be an executive session um where city council will hear more about how Union negotiations are going um and so what I have in the budget may not be enough it may be enough I don't know that at this point in time so it's a tough budgetary um position but um you can see that the police is well in line with the budgetary recommendations that were made from our uh city manager Mr frandle um and all of our department heads um and they've done just an ex exceptional job as far as keeping it as tight as tight as possible the one thing that's out of their control Personnel costs um you're seeing you know virtually no FTE increases across the board um we had a slight one of uh um in the um Administration where we went from a part-time to a full-time but then you also saw a reduction um in the accountants position in the finance department so that's all about the budget questions for police Andor the budget in general and you're going to have another opportunity in the workshop on the 3 to ask me any question that you want and help me um really establish that that Levy Target that we want to do for our maximum Levy um any questions on specifically on the police department while we have uh police chief rolis here I do so as discussing during your with your Staffing um I think we all recognize that Staffing is an issue with the police department here in North St Paul and it has been for quite some time um can you explain to me besides the video that you have which is fantastic what other recruitment strategies do you have to get officers in here yeah so I'm sorry so since I came in as Chief um we develop and we we developed uh several committees one of them being a community outreach committee and a recruitment team um our recruitment team uh has they the folks that are part of that team are very excited to connect with folks um one putting this video together um over several months um getting over to colleges um getting uh folks that are um calling us to inquire about Community Service Officer positions um which we which we've had several people inquire about the community service officer position in the last couple weeks Alone um so uh We've we've been staying in contact with those folks and reaching out to them getting them here and getting them giving them a tour or getting them getting them to go on a ride along um and then just Word of Mouth um you know uh whatever events that we go to law enforcement wise or non-law enforcement wise a lot of us are just saying you know to the folks that are interested in commun uh policing or currently in policing um hey are you happy where you're doing are you happy where you're at you know come check us out um uh since I started in April the end of April um we've had a handful of applicants um which is r I mean we haven't we we didn't have that in the past as many applicants as we as we have now so it's good to see that maybe our rec our efforts are are paying off so that's kind of what we've been doing okay yeah and uh thank you city manager uh it's uh we restructured how um if you're a lateral um we restructured how our fto program field training program is so if you're coming in as a lateral um there's now uh an expedited process for those on on field training typically our field training process would take you know four months um so if you're coming in with experience or as a lateral um that might be cut to two months um just because you've been a cop you know what it it takes to be a cop um now you just need to know the nor north paulway um so that process gets cut in half which is very attractive to a lot of people that are already a cop somewhere else and don't want to go through a whole another field training process um and so that was another thing that we implemented yeah yep with a couple roles that you have ideal that you like ideally to have can any of those be combined I'm sorry can any of those roles that you had thrown out there just recommending the crime analysist um or analyst excuse me yep um um your second in comand can any of these I'm just throwing those out there for now I can't get to the power point but um can any of those be combined with a current role or you know having a crime analy and a second in command for you could that be combined um have you explored any of that yeah um it it's very it's possible it's heavy um but with our current staff we don't have anybody we don't have anybody that would one have the time to take on these trainings that would be required um as opposed to bringing somebody in that already is in tune with what that job role uh entails um would be more ideal um and probably more money saving on our end than anything um we we have the two administrative staff and Kristen Churchill which is one of our records persons um being a crime analyst um is a full-time gig your your job is uh you know to try to find out what the current uh Trends are um and then to also um you know interact with multip multi- agency relationships so we have the resources on hand right away this person um if if they have other duties like Kristen has duties in records so she's you know doing a lot of gun permits she's doing a lot of off uh stuff at the front desk uh that would probably you know stall her from getting the information that she needs to get as a crime analyst um so I would say I'm not going to say no um but it would it would just be it would be snail like Pace um you know for for that if we if we went that route sure so um can you explain to me your shifts you said your daytime you have a daytime am b and a nighttime am B yeah yeah we currently work 12-hour shifts um there is uh each each team is four days on and four days off um our our our day team starts at 6:00 a.m. and our night team starts at 600 p.m. so our day team will go 6: a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and then 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. will be our night teams okay and um because we're down for we would typically be running one Sergeant per shift uh along with three officers per shift um we put you know if we get if we get if we get the power cars you now you have now you have an extra officer a patrol officer um on the street with the three with the three other Patrol officers which is great because our right now our sergeants are taking on a lot of Patrol work which sets them back in their Sergeant duties MH yeah are there opportunities to collaborate with other um agencies say you know um uh having that extra person being able to float around basically um would it be feasible to say hey Maplewood and Oakdale do we all want to go in on some somebody um to float around all three um or looking at it from a different looking at it through Partnerships sure um I know you know some agencies uh henpen County agencies have done that um I don't know in Ramsey County if if any have done that um you get into a lot it gets messy because uh when you intertwine with other agencies and you make that deal like that now you are they going off of our policy book are they going off of their policy book um so a lot of that comes into play um but then also um you know what what is their status are they are they part time with us are they full-time with us um are they under our benefits are they under their benefits um whose uniform are they going to be wearing um there's there's a lot of logistics that go behind it but ultimately um you know we do we want to bring an outsider into our agency that is working um not by our standards but by the standards of their agency that they're coming from which then creates a whole mess of tension between these folks that are coming in on as part-time or full-time helpers per se um so yeah there's there's a lot to go into that um is it is it possible uh I'm not going to say no um but I I think it would be doing a disservice to what we've buil as an as our culture um and then also a disservice to the community if we end up you know hiring somebody or getting somebody that really doesn't you know want to abide by how we operate but you know not be as proactive as we want them to be so there's a lot there's a lot of that in there too so to consider so you had indicated that you have some officers that are going through some background checks or potential I should say they're going through background checks so I believe the number was three so if you if they were to be we got them cleared we would just need one more yeah to fill yes okay and um typically you know from start to finish uh the hiring process you know from the time the person submits an application to the time if they make it through everything gets on a street could be several months MH um with this with the laterals it's a little different um because they're coming from another agency and they've already had either a background and a psych and everything done um their process can get uh be sped up a little bit more so um you know it might be cut down to like two months but you're still looking at a very you know large window between when they apply and to the time they actually get on the street right um so with these folks that are in the process right now um hopefully October okay if every if everything goes well for them um October or November so we still have that hurdle of between now and then um to manage with the staff that we have so for a new officer that then needs to spend time with like an fto out in the field that doesn't have that lateral experience right right how long is that process that's about four months good four months so um for them to learn the policing uh operations so um and then on top of it um with that you know field training we we have uh we have a handful of field training officers um but then they have to take turns each phase there's four phases and they have to take turns with that new recruit um and that can be stressful so it's a it's a tough job being an fto I I was I was one uh and uh it's it's challenging um it's a little different teaching somebody that has been a cop to somebody that hasn't never been a cop and is just coming out of school so um it takes a lot of work how about the Mental Health crisis I mean that's something where um I did Pham workk for a bunch of crisis centers and different things like that is that something that's going to be um more out you have a team there how how was that going to look as far as that now great question mayor uh right now you know if we if we get called and and um if you guys are looking at your um your pie charts there and you see the uh area where it's the person in crisis um or um welfare checks those those calls can be combined uh they might it might the call might not come out as what it is and then it might be a crisis call but it's it's not being noted as a crisis call so the stats are are are off um in that area uh but if right now if we if we have to deal with a person in crisis um and we get called to that um person we're the first to meet with this person and we realiz we recognize that this person may need some help um with the crisis team now we got to call that crisis team hopefully they're they're going to answer hopefully they have staff on um and if they do it could be anywhere from you know a few minutes to a few hours before that person might receive uh the help they need and typically if it does uh take our officer out of service for a long amount of time then we might reach out to our medical team uh our ambulance or fire and say is there any way you guys can come out and evaluate and he or she might get transported to nearby hospital that's a long process right um this a third party now that you're talking about when you're saying calling to get a crisis team is that some other unit might be Ramsey count Ramsey County okay and then our officer has to stay there until somebody from there shows up exactly um by by incorporating this embedded worker um now he or she that's embedded uh we can go to their office and say we got this call would you like to come out with us or can you come out with us they come out with us right on the spot do their evaluation we don't even we don't even have to be in the picture now but we will stand by um but for a lot of folks that are in crisis and they see our uniform it it it could escalate it could it could make them uh more stressed um as opposed to having somebody that's in plain clothes uh go out um and uh handle the matter and just have our services stand by um but e either way that embedded social worker is going to be able to make a decision a lot quicker than our current situation so whether that be yep we need to get you trans we need to get you to the hospital or we have other resources that can come out right now and and help us out so yeah is that something we could look at teaming up with a group on because then it's not the what you're saying the culture and things like that yeah yeah um I will say I met with uh the sou St Paul PD uh a few weeks ago and they have an officer that's designated to working specifically with their embedded social worker um and this officer is always in plain close um and they have a great uh program going where the folks that they consistently deal with they go out and check on them um just randomly um they don't get they don't necessarily wait for a call to come in but that engagement uh the feedback has been phenomenal um for C St Paul so it sounds like they're doing a really great job at managing um the folks in their community that might be suffering from you know crisis so is this like a Monday through Friday it doesn't sound like it's 24 hours it's one person right how does that work right uh so they do have uh they do have the Monday through Friday person but they have an overnight person too so they have two then yeah yeah and I don't quote me I it's I uh I forgot the name of the program but it's they're through Dakota County okay um yeah so I see I see everybody thinking any other any other questions here Patrol um on light duty obviously I get an idea of what that is do you suspect that they'll be back uh in 3 to four months okay excellent and what are they can I ask what they're currently doing they are assisting our investigations unit okay yeah with administrative work perfect taking uh phone call reports excellent I ask one other thing now um we have another another school that's going to be opening up in September do you do you see anything as far as I me I shouldn't open up moving from uh yep from Maplewood into yeah um we myself uh Joe Allen and myself uh officer Allen who's a school resource officer we got to go over to the school and get a tour and meet the staff over there and we also got to meet the new uh assistant superintendent Andy Beaton I believe is his name um very nice gentlemen uh and very nice staff it sounds like uh they're they've got everything in good order um they've got a real good strategic plan in place um we do uh we did you know cuz we're cops so you know we're always with about the wh ifs um and they had an answer um for all of our wh ifs um so it's all new to them and it's going to be new to us so we're going to just evaluate as we go along and collect our data and then make the appropriate uh uh changes as needed so um officer Allen will be spending most of his time at North High um which he has done in the past um and they're going to work out an agreement between uh Webster and the Webster staff in um North High to uh so you're still comfortable with with one SRO at this time at this time okay yeah at this time we feel pretty we feel pretty good okay I'll I'll let you know in the middle of school year how far along is Brandon um he is what's that process I should say like how long do you have to yeah can he yeah he's he's doing the law enforcement uh degree through um Community College and then um it's a two-year program um so he'll be graduating in summer 2025 M um and the nice thing for him is I mean when I when I graduated 1% of my class was getting hired as a cop he is going to basically be coming in um right into a cop job um but he's coming into an agency that he's familiar with people he's familiar with Community he's familiar with he's already well known in our community um so he's he's way ahead of the game mhm cool yeah top quality guy yeah yeah he is out of these uh Staffing as out of your Staffing wrad ahead what is your number one what would you really like on this list second in command okay that's all I have you have a excuse me a second one second one all of the above all the yeah deputy chief would be great a deputy chief and then um would you and then what um other position would you prioritize after that that is a wonderful question um I I think the power officers would would be a huge addition um the the CSO the the extra CSO the investment in that is I mean more and more agencies are adding csos just for this purpose of that investment knowing that you know when they're done with college as long as we say hey um go to school work with us learn our way and learn our community after you're done you'll have a cop job with us um it's it's a great recruitment it's a great recruitment tool um and it's a great retainment tool too um so the deputy chief and the power officers would probably be my the top two picks out uh this group but you're number one number one today would be one today would be the deputy chief uh the second in command position okay we've been very fortunate um we've been very fortunate um in our critical incidents um I think strategic communication is a huge it's it's critical um we got to have it when we have critical incidents you folks need to be in the know the community needs to be in the know our team needs to be in the know um the media needs to be in the know when we have these big the big events um so having the second in command um you know when I when I got the call for the uh Casey Lake uh shooting um and responded to the scene and um the sergeant uh Patrol Sergeant at that time was running the scene um I it just made me think about this and why we don't have someone above uh the sergeants and below me able to take on these incidents like this and be available um it should have it would have been great to have and don't get me wrong I heard I got endless phone calls um and compliments about how Sergeant gson handled that whole incident um she did a great job uh but she got taken away from her duties of managing the scene um we would had a we would have had the deputy chief respond he or she would have been able to take on the role of managing the critical incident and then myself managing the Strategic communication aspect of it um so that cry and that streamline needs to that that could have happened we managed it well um but we you know we were were forced to cram all of these um steps into certain areas um and I think you know this could be alleviated and eliminated and and uh definitely relieve some stress on everyone that's involved in these incidents so yeah I have a question about the SRO you're adding one more so we have one now so you want two running at the same time is what you would prefer I'm sorry mayor can you run two people at the same time you want to have two SRO right have two yes so it'll be two going because right now this kid's going to graduate oh I said wrong I'm sorry my badun CSO too many initials sorry I apologize c yeah so right now we have the one how long is this I'm just trying to understand a little bit more how long is the program again for them to usually two years two years y typically you'll have a CSO the reason you hire a community service officer is because he or she is pursuing law enforcement correct um and typically they're either in school at the time they apply um or hired or they're just starting school so right now Brandon's in the middle uh well he's pretty close to being done um so if we were to have another CSO um he or she would now be able to take on the Reigns um and we would we wouldn't have to go through the whole process of um Brandon uh at the end of his uh uh CSO career here coming up learn teaching somebody um in a span of two weeks this person could learn the whole time this other person so it's kind of like just a Lea frog effect and that's what a lot of the agency a lot of surrounding agencies are doing they're just bringing in a CSO at uh um in the middle of another csos um you know Midway through school uh completion and then they just they keep utilizing their csos for future cops um well that's what I I'm looking at that as recruitment as exactly as something that's a little bit higher in the list because what happens if you hired somebody out of school let's say you hire a new officer that wasn't our our guy how long would it take before he's effective as far as being learning our stuff and you know nor St Paul if you just hired somebody out of a program somewhere and hired him in North St Paul how on would it take him to learn our ways uh we it's they if it's a traditional um officer coming if it's someone that brand new brand new I'm saying brand new four weeks or four months four months okay yeah so with this new one coming out of that program I'm assuming that four months is a lot less or CS the CSO CSO yes yeah the CSO would be the same the would be four months yeah okay okay but he he knows a lot more yeah about it so there might be certain areas here or she's going to excel in sure because they already know certain task um within each phase and you already know if they're a fit as far as cultural yeah that's a big thing too how are they going to get along you know how is that going to work with us where that four months you're trying to figure that out with a brand new person yeah yep so that's where I was going where council member schwe is you know this is more of a recruitment thing because you know we put that time into them and it does make sense to not start all over have somebody half semester like with a school program we out new ones in the other one's halfway through yeah and that does make sense because I don't know what kind of a budget when it comes to us for a c CSO is we used to have two two csos yep okay yeah CSR in my world is a customer service me I got all screwed up sorry but I I really see that as a as a benefit for everybody yeah because they look their culture all right thank you I have a question in terms of like scope of response and skills sets and services that scso provides how much of it overlaps with say a patrol officer or another role I I would say you know percentage wise I would say 80% of what CSO does our csos do is going to is going to translate into their cop World um you know everything they do they learn to multitask they learn to respond to calls they learn to talk with people uh they learn to make an arrest they learn to use our CAD system they learn to write reports um yeah it's it's a huge chunk yeah so um there that's why I say there Brandon's going to be way ahead of the game when he comes um because some folks that are in school and that haven't had that opportunity to really be engaged the way he is um and just learn what they've learned in school or skills um and not really have that communication factor in place um plays a huge role so Brandon uh Brandon knows you know a lot of our community members he knows how a lot of folks like to be talked to and how a lot of folks don't like to be talked to um so he knows a lot of our crime areas he knows a lot of our you know not so much crime areas and um our community events he knows all the community events so yeah he's a very familiar face they are very the csos are a very familiar face in our community y take somebody jail yeah what are they not what can they not do uh Brent he can't take uh any police reports or any police calls where there's a suspect um or there's a victim um so you know animal complaints okay she goes too uh parking complaints she goes too does he uh but carry a weapon does he you no he uh he carries a taser and mace and uh is a baton um he does a lot of our police trainings with us okay um so he stands in as a role player on some of them which he probably doesn't like so much doesn't like to be the tackling guy tackled guy yeah so he can assist when there's he can come to assist you if there's something as backup kind of yeah or he might transport a suspect to jail for us okay which now is able were're able to keep it off the cop on the streets a instead of leaving the city um which is huge so and he does work a lot of overnights or a lot of night shifts so help our night people out yeah okay I mean I see I see the burnout in your role as well so I I mean there's there's a lot I see where the need for a deputy chief police is there as well yeah um I really like the idea of the power officers um yeah so you know if I can speak uh on a personal level as being your Chief um I I miss the opportunity to get out and engage with the community um it's something that I was hoping to do more of coming in this role um administratively um just get a little bogged down um so this second and command position can alleviate um a lot of the administrative work which typically that's their role um so I also feel like I miss out on getting the officers more attention to the issues that they're dealing with um I think it's it's a it's a big part of my job um and I haven't been able to do that so um yeah I I you know I wish I could be out there more and get to know the business owners and get to know you know the folks at the churches and um you know just get out on a you know a walk on sth Avenue and just go say hi to folks um and just be engaged more in the community itself um is challenging so I love I love what I do um it's a it's a lot of work but it's a lot of fun um and um I just wish uh I had the opportunity to I hear a lot of other Chiefs uh getting the opportunity to do such things that um like getting on the community and being a part of that um yeah so I can say we miss you at the car shows yeah we miss the officers down at the car shows yeah and we you know we that's another thing you know we we we put out the overtime but uh everybody's so uh you know exhausted they they don't want they don't want to work the overtime so yeah I'm wrapping my head around just this second in command for you and what that would look like strategically as this person would support you um would this person be an evenings person what obviously when you're on vacation um they would support admin atively uh if we are short of officers on staff I mean everyone jumps in I mean it's just all hands on deck I think that's where everybody wherever we work we're all like that yeah um can you speak to that a little bit more like could you have anything that you would have you brainstormed as to if you were to receive this position what that would look like well it would uh it would make it easier to delegate task and responsibilities um it'll help ensure our officers uphold policies and procedures and maintain accountability um there's a lot of times where uh you know I just I just can't I can't look at every report um I can't uh be on every shift um uh city manager knows I tried to change up my schedule a few times here and there and um I like to uh work the overnight shift with the uh with the boys and girls at night and be here so they can see my presence um so having having that other that other person above the sergeants um would be great um I think um the foundation of an organization to be successful all around uh begins with the leadership and structurally um having your Chief and the four sergeants and not having that second that person that deputy chief that second in command makes it challenging to keep it in good order um having that deputy chief is someone who is basically a liaison um and can help manage the patrol unit the investigations unit the sergeants um and the administrative work um taking it all on um alone I won't say alone because right now I'm utilizing uh you know uh two sergeants heavily on some items but at the same time now I'm pulling them away from what they're supposed to be doing um so yeah it uh you know Del basically continu continuity delegation accountability morale Community Service uh all those things would Encompass the you know deputy chief position aside from Union details if any of us were to go to your staff and say what's one thing that you wish you had in this department what's that one thing that's been talked about that they may want more people okay yeah one more time more people more people yeah but then again you know we have four vacant spots that we got to fill you know so exactly uh we got to get we got to get across that first you know sounds like you're on the right you're on the right path though yeah so we we even even with the struggles right now um staff-wise the people we have here don't want to leave they love it here they love what we've what we've built as a culture um they love working for your C this Council for the city manager the organization um the community so it uh it it as their chief um you know that says a lot that says a lot um because there's so many other agencies out there that are willing to give uh lateral I guarantee one of our off officers $20,000 to come over to their agency um but you know they're they're they love it here they love our the family we've built so yeah says a lot for your leadership too thank you I don't have any more questions on my end all I have to say is thank you very much thank and thank you to your staff for everything that you guys are doing and have continued to do and for the moments of uncertainty and things that pop up like the Casey Lake situation um although it was minimal staff you guys rocked that thank you thank you thank you very much appreciate it thanks well as as we dismiss Ry see why so see why he had to go last yeah he did fantastic job there's one other kind of component and and it and you see it in his talk and the way he is he is who he is and you see that genuine person part of his leadership is he did not come in here asking in this year for FTE he's got a plan the reason why he didn't ask is because he does have those vacancies and he needs to play that out to see exactly what he has even though that that meant uh means that he's got a little bit extra of a load and he's not quite getting to where he is but he he's willing to make sure first get my staff taken care of and then I'll look at the other components as we move forward so I was pretty impressed in my conversation with him on his leadership style and how he he went about that and you know so kudos to uh Mr or police chief Rosales and thanking him very much for for being here so thank you sir are there any other questions related to any of the other budgets and then I have an Ask of of your homework since it's Labor Day weekend for all council members well I think the mainstage Act was great wasn't it I'd like to see the the opening act pick it up a little bit I would too oh you're still [Music] [Laughter] here um so my if there's no other questions my ask is that you really do go through um the budget documents um and be prepared on Tuesday in the workshop to be able to any questions that you have any outstanding questions that you may have any insights onto you know where you want to be with that that maximum Levy um and um the presentation for the workshop is now posted um so you'll have that um to look at as you'll see I've got a PowerPoint presentation I do have listed a few unknowns um that were in the budget um and so I want you to be able to be prepared that to be able to give me direction on what you want to see on that 17th um and I'm going to be pushing you to give me that direction um on the third because I'm going to need it because it's going to be a quick turnar around to get all the documentation ready and prepared so are we good with the normal time for the meeting on on Tuesday can you fit it in the 5:15 to 6 yeah my my part I've got the presentation going through I want to share information it's got tax impacts it's got some other information I want to get from you if by chance we run all the way through could we add it to the end of the city council meeting just if it needs to be carried over that way if that way we don't hold up city council but then can can carry it Forward afterwards um because we really do need to get that just want to make sure we don't cut some short right I agree absolutely fantastic idea thank you mayor all right I thank you very much for your time thank you all once again this is absolutely a pleasure I'm uh very ha happy to work for the city of nor St Paul underneath your leadership underneath the leadership of Brian frandel and as you can see our department heads are getting better and better and better and we really have built one heck of a great team um here in North St Paul so I thank you very much thank you thank you all all the great all the great presenters today appreciate it all right it's time to have Mr Cole get ready so so moved second second second council member Wong all those in favor say I hi we will see you on September 3rd