Proposed budget includes hiring ninth police officer

by Frank Lee

operations@thenewsleaders.com

The St. Joseph City Council approved the 2017 budget and levy at its meeting Dec. 5, which included hiring a ninth officer in July for the police department after failing to receive a hoped-for grant.

The general fund budget for next year increased from this year by almost $187,000 and was approved at the meeting at $2.9 million. (Council member Renee Symanietz was absent.)

“Is there still a need then for hiring part-time with a full-time?” Mayor Rick Schultz asked Police Chief Joel Klein, who had requested last month the city council hire a ninth officer.

Klein replied, “If we go with a full-time officer, that would dramatically cut those part-time hours and really limit them to probably major events, like Fourth of July, maybe some of the big weekends with the College (of St. Benedict in St. Joseph) and maybe emergencies.”

The 2017 levy saw a 4-percent increase from the 2016 levy, which was set at $1.8 million. The levy was also discussed at the Dec. 5 meeting of the St. Joseph City Council.

“We’re at a point where it shows a 4 percent over increase in our rate, but the reality, on their tax statements, people will see a negligible increase because of the school and the county,” said St. Joseph City Administrator Judy Weyrens.

Chief Klein had spoken up at the Nov. 14 meeting of the city council and made an impassioned plea for the city to somehow find more money in the budget to pay for another police officer.

“Police officers are expected to be everything to everybody,” Klein said at that meeting. “And that takes a lot of training, that takes a lot of time. We’re not just the Andy Griffiths anymore.”

Klein talked about how a recent application for an Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant to hire a ninth officer for the department was denied. It was hoped the grant would cover about 75 percent of the new officer’s salary for about three years.

“Our demographics are changing,” Klein said at the Nov. 14 council meeting. “Obviously, I go out and talk to people, and their main concern is being safe. They want to be safe, and in order to keep doing that is by you providing people for our department.”

The St. Joseph Police Department has eight full-time officers, two part-time officers, a records specialist and six reserve officers, but Klein had hoped to add additional staff because of increasing population growth in the city.

“In 2015, we were rated the safest city in Minnesota,” said Klein, who was referring to reports released by Alarm System Review. “In 2016, we were rated the second safest city in Minnesota.”

The population of St. Joseph was 6,534 at the 2010 census and according to 2015 census estimates is now 6,864, but the population of the city is expected to increase with new senior housing, including Country Manor and Fortitude Senior Living of St. Joseph.

“There’s a lot of people who are happy here with the way things are going, but as we grow I want to keep that going,” Klein said of the new city-government building, which is expected to be completed in February and will house the St. Joseph Police Department.

“Right now, our facility that’s being created, there’s no issues there. We’ve got the room, we’ve got the vehicles right now to do it,” Klein said in regards to a ninth police officer. “And we have people who can be promoted who have been working well with our community.”