Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The city of Sweet Home Budget Committee agreed to add a police officer to the Sweet Home Police Department budget during its meeting on Thursday.
The committee reviewed the city’s proposed 2006-07 general fund, police fund and library fund last week.
Police Chief Bob Burford described the growth that Sweet Home is facing as well as the growth in call loads over the past 13 years, since the last addition of a sworn police officer.
The city has some 1,100 lots in various stages of development, from subdivision creation to actual construction, Burford told the committee.
In 1984, Sweet Home had 4,261 calls and 17 police officers, Burford said. In 1994, the department had 7,307 calls, and in 2005, it had 9,547 calls.The department currently has 14 officers.
The department has attempted to deal with the growth in calls using new technology to streamline the operation, Burford said, but that only goes so far.
Traffic enforcement is one of the most serious concerns people have when they talk with Burford, he said, but officers are so busy answering calls that they rarely have time to run radar.
“It’s one of the things I get beat up on, on a daily basis,” Burford said. He would love to run more traffic enforcement, but “when an officer clears off one (call), you have to put them on the next one waiting.”
It shows in statistics, Burford said. In 1990, Sweet Home had 6,032 calls, and officers issued 1,820 citations. In 2005, they had 9,547 calls and issued 671 tickets, including non-criminal citations, such as driving while suspended.
The call load per officer per year in Albany is 553. In Lebanon, it’s 616. In Sweet Home, it’s 682, Burford said. That counts all sworn officers, including supervisors and chiefs. Adding an officer reduces Sweet Home’s call load per officer to 636.
“We try to respond to all calls for service,” Burford said. “That’s our standard.”
If necessary, the next step to save money will be to stop responding to certain types of calls, Burford said. Unlike many other departments, his still provides fingerprinting service and unlocks cars when drivers lock their keys inside.
Sweet Home has had a lower rate of violent and serious crimes than Lebanon and Albany, Burford said, but that gap is closing now.
Councilman Rich Rowley asked Burford whether the city has considered using cameras to alleviate the traffic enforcement problem.
The ability to use cameras depends on population, according to state law, Burford said. Sweet Home is too small, he said.
Rowley suggested abandoning the philosophy that the Police Department should not write tickets to fund officers.
Burford’s philosophy is that police write tickets to change driving behavior, he said. “I want to be able to look at that person (getting a ticket) and say … I’m writing you a ticket because I’d like to give you a warning but you told me where to stick it. You need to see the judge to change your driving behavior, not to buy a new (patrol) car.”
The department has had a temporary officer in training for the last two months, Burford said. That temporary was hired initially to replace an officer who was likely to leave. Now the temporary officer will stay on permanently.
Parks Budget
In the general fund, the parks budget will increase personnel from .5 full-time equivalents to .75 FTE, Community Development Director Carol Lewis said.
That position will become permanent and part of the union instead of temporary. Also, pending talks with the union, it will become a maintenance I position instead of maintenance III. That change means the change will remain almost cost-neutral.
“We can’t keep up with the parks,” Lewis said. That’s why the city needs to expand the position. During the summer, the position will run almost full time, reducing to approximately quarter time in the winter.
In capital outlays, the parks budget grows from $4,000 to $16,500.
This year, the money went to rehabilitate Sankey Park bathrooms, Lewis said. A couple of other projects are in different stages but will be complete by the end of the 2005-06 fiscal year on June 30.
The big one next year is installing new plumbing in the bathrooms at Northside Park, Lewis said. The bathrooms need new fixtures, but the plumbing there is “so old, we can’t even hook new fixtures to it.”
That project accounts for about $10,000 in capital outlays. The remaining $6,500 will be used for projects across the city’s 10 parks and pocket parks.
At Sankey Park, “we definitely need to spend money on the bandstand, or we’ll lose it,” Lewis said.
The bandstand, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, is suffering from dry rot, and a tree has grown into and damaged the building.
The gazebo also needs repairs, Lewis said. When the project is done, both buildings will have power and a light.
Project improvements will include replacement of bark at playgrounds, Lewis said. This is something that needs to be done annually, but it’s been six years since it was last done.
The city also will add playground equipment to Strawberry Park, Lewis said. “We’re trying to make a reason to go there besides a wet patch of grass.”
The parks haven’t been maintained the way they need to be, Lewis said.
“Catch-up is the part we’ve been doing this year, and we’ve been trying to do something in every park.”