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Proposed Staffing Chart for a Public Safety Coalition
During their monthly meetings in September, the Kearny and Hayden town councils heard a presentation about the possibility of forming a Public Safety Coalition from Major Michael Orose who is from the office of the director at the Department of Public Safety. Orose made the presentations to the councils as a way to start the conversation. The idea came up after the communities of Hayden, Kearny and Mammoth have all had problems retaining a police chief and police officers.
In his presentation Orose explained that the coalition cannot be viewed as a cost savings plan. “The concept is intended to increase the level of service and professional ism of the law enforcement services provided to each town at the current funding levels,” explained Orose.
In order for the coalition to be started there would need to be an interagency agreement set up and that agreement would cover what type of coverage each community wanted to receive; it would identify the funding commitments by each community. The agreement would also identify which town will be responsible for dispatching, administrative support and record keeping, what type of reporting does each town want and it would establish an oversight board that would oversee the operations. Orose suggested that each town have two representatives and they could be two government officials or one community member and one government official. The oversight committee would also have by-laws for the board to operate under.
Currently each town is distributing resources for vehicles, equipment, facilities, maintenance, supplies and personnel costs. If the coalition were to be developed these costs would be shared amongst the coalition. The development of the coalition could streamline operations and create efficiency; the coalition would hire one Chief of Police to manage the coalition department, along with three Sergeants and up to 22 officers to cover the four communities. This staffing level would provide for 24/7 coverage in each town. The public safety coalition officers, chief and sergeant would wear the same uniform and all cars would be marked to match the coalition.
Both councils heard the presentation in an open forum and allowed for questions and comments from the public. There was a concern about dispatching services due to the fact that Kearny dispatches for the Hayden-Winkelman police services. There were questions on whether or not the signal could reach Mammoth. Another topic of discussion was would personnel policies and codes be set up uniformly. Orose explained that these would be things that would have to be determined as the discussions continued but that it would be important to have consistency throughout the coverage area. He also indicated that it could take up to a year or more to get everything finalized for the coalition before it started to operate.
The Town of Winkleman currently contracts with the Town of Hayden for police services. There will be a presentation given to the Town of Winkelman and Town of Mammoth. Neither council took any official action on the matter but it did appear that additional research will be done. The Kearny council asked that residents be asked to see if how they felt about the coalition being formed. One resident in Kearny spoke out saying that he did not want to see DPS or Pinal County Sheriff’s Office involved in providing public safety services in Kearny.
Mila Besich is a resident of Superior with two children. She volunteers for many local organizations. She is an experienced fundraiser and event planner for Copper Corridor Economic Development Coalition. She covers some of the area town councils and schools.
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