02 City Council Minutes 8-09-04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular City Council Meetrng August 9, 2004 Page 19 On the Chemical and Medical line item, which included bandages and wraps and chemicals to clean the jail, he proposed to reduce that by $500.00 and to reduce the Miscellaneous Supplies line item to $6000.00. He mentioned he had proposed to increase the Pound Supplies to $23,000.00, but he said they were doing better than they anticipated and he had reduced that to $20,000.00. He explained this is food for the animals and supplies for euthanasia. He also reduced the Photographic budget by $2000.00. He reduced the car allowance by $5400.00. In the Vehicles, Police Chief Louis said he had thirty-seven (37) vehicles that are total police vehicles. He said he has fifty-two (52) cars at the Police Department, of which six (6) are old and ready for auction, fourteen (14) are Narcotics seized vehicles. When these are sold, he said the total of vehicles would be thirty-two (32). Chief Louis said they normally sell the vehicles at public auction. Councilman Wilson asked if they could get rid of those vehicles quicker and quit paying insurance on them. Chief Louis said he reduced the budgeted travel expenses to $10,000. Councilman Bell asked when the Police Department hired people in the Civil Service, do they try to get people who are already trained and do they give them precedent over someone who would have to be trained. Chief Louis said no, they give an open and competitive test according to State law. He said that it does help out if they are already trained, but legally, it has to be based on the exam scores because of Civil Service. Councilman Bell wondered why the City is are always hiring people and then sending them to training and some cities hire people already certified. Chief Louis said some cities are not Civil Service. Chief Louis said the City's salary and benefits will entice people to come to work here. Councilman Bell countered that we couldn't compete with the