Thursday, May 10, 2007

Oskaloosa council discusses future police needs

by Kenneth Lassiter

With the future of a new city hall in limbo as the city moves forward with a large sewer project, police chief Rick Jones decided the time was now to bring concerns about future space needs for evidence and records to the city council’s attention.

Jones met with council members May 3 at the start of the council’s regular meeting to discuss his concerns and ask for permission to make some small purchases as well. Jones said the city’s police records are currently kept at the sheriff’s department offices, with evidence being kept on city property.

Jones said as the county’s space needs for its own law enforcement records increases, the city would need to find a place to store its own records, and that place doesn’t currently exist. Council members had planned to lease-purchase a newly constructed building at the city’s lot along Delaware Street just south of the square but the need for sewer improvements put the city hall project on the back burner.

Jones said security is the main obstacle in storing the records as they would need to be kept safe and only accessible to the correct personnel. He said the county has background checks conducted on each person that deals with records, and the city should probably follow suit. He recommended that city clerk Patty Hamm and city treasurer Polly McInroy be authorized to access the records and undergo the necessary checks. He said both could likely be trained to realize what information can and can’t be made public knowledge in the case of a request to see a police record.

“Right now, we’ve got no secure place to put those,” Jones said of the records. “As far as evidence goes, we’ll be hurting there but we can get by with a safe for now.”

Jones recommended the purchase of a “mid-sized” safe at a rough cost of $500. He said the city hall plans had included more than enough space for the police evidence and records storage but he understood that the project had to be pushed back. He said he didn’t mean to alarm the council members but the issue of the records and evidence storage is one they need to consider.

Discussion continued on police matters as Jones said the city’s police car is in need of a new lightbar system. He recommended the purchase of an LED light kit for $300 and council members indicated they had no problem with the purchase of the light kit or the safe. Jones pointed out the city could use the safe for other security needs in the future.

Mike Hayes said part of the reason the issue of storage has arisen is that Sheriff Roy Dunnaway had been “very kind” to municipalities in terms of cooperation and, should Dunnaway decide to retire, a new sheriff may not carry the same attitude. Jones said he decided that, since the city had decided not to move forward with city hall at this point, he needed to let them know the situation.

Council members thanked Jones for coming in and he said he would give them a firmer price on the safe when he had one. Council members also authorized a smaller purchase of batteries the police department needs.

Mayor Judy Miller and council members Kelly Hattemer and James Malsbury were sworn in to their new terms during the meeting as well.

The council ran through its laundry list of appointments with no major changes taking place. Janet Wise of rural Oskaloosa was appointed to the city zoning commission, Linda Smatla and Gladys Capesius were appointed to the library board, Michael Goodell was appointed to the tree board and Capesius was also appointed to the Jefferson County Service Organization advisory board. Miller took council member Lisa Cross’ place on the zoning board and Eric Bowser was appointed to the parks and recreation commission.