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The position of School Resource Officer was discussed <br />and it was noted that the School Board did not fund the <br />position for the next year and instead earmarked funds for a <br />security study. After a discussion of the matter it was <br />agreed that Council would not pursue the matter since the <br />School Board had not included the position on its priority <br />list. <br /> <br /> Council expressed interest in increasing the overtime <br />budget by $30,000. <br /> <br /> The Comprehensive Assessment Team (CAT) concept was <br />discussed for addressing drug problems in neighborhoods and <br />Ms. Slaughter stated that she felt that only those employees <br />who were appropriate for a given circumstance needed to be <br />used and not the entire Team. <br /> <br /> Mr. Hendrix stated that Council needed to recognize that <br />existing employees would be used for the CAT who would be <br />leaving their regular jobs for this purpose since no new <br />staff are being hired. <br /> <br /> Councilors agreed that the Comprehensive Assessment Team <br />was a good concept. <br /> <br /> Mr. Toscano requested that Council discuss his <br />suggestion that the Commonwealth's Attorney office work with <br />the police department to develop guidelines to implement a <br />drug seizure procedure (using existing Commonwealth's <br />Attorney staff) and to support increasing the numbers of drug <br />users in drug treatment programs by either referring more <br />drug users to the CDI program or requiring treatment as a <br />condition of probation. <br /> <br /> It was the consensus of Council to agree with Mr. <br />Toscano's suggestion listed above. <br /> <br />FIRE DEPARTMENT <br /> <br /> Mr. Julian Taliaferro, Fire Chief, reviewed the staffing <br /> in the Fire Department and noted that volunteer participation <br /> has dropped off significantly. Chief Taliaferro stated that <br /> fewer people are going out on calls which is not only a <br /> safety issue but can affect insurance ratings for the City. <br /> Chief Taliaferro stated that it would take ten additional <br /> firefighters to have three people on a fire truck and seven <br /> additional to increase the number to two. <br /> <br /> Ms. Linda Peacock, Budget Administrator, stated that <br />$574,000 will be received from Albemarle County for fire <br />service next year and approximately $75,000 from the <br />University of Virginia. <br /> <br /> The possibility of adding two to four firefighters was <br />discussed. <br /> <br /> Captain Grover Smiley from Building and Life Safety <br />stated that housing inspectors have to spend approximately <br />50% of their time doing paper work due to a shortage of <br />clerical staff which makes it difficult to take a pro-active <br />approach to housing code violations. <br /> <br /> Ms. Slaughter questioned whether any savings could be <br />found by removing the firefighters who do dispatching in the <br />911 Center and Chief Taliaferro stated that issue will be <br />looked at in a couple of years. <br /> <br /> Ms. Slaughter questioned~whether~'it was possible to find <br />some~c~dlerical-help~from existing staff for Building and Life <br />Safety and Mr~-Hendrix stated"that 'he~WOuld~lo~k ~into the <br /> <br />matter. <br /> <br /> Th~ adjourned. <br />President ~ <br /> <br /> <br />