14 - CITY ORDINANCE 26-1 COMPOSITION OF DEPARTMENT

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Item No. 14 memorandum TO: City Council John Godwin, City Manager FROM: Bob Hundley, Chief of Police SUBJECT: CITY ORDINANCE 26-1 COMPOSITION OF DEPARTMENT DATE: September 1, 2017 BACKGROUND: City Ordinance 26-1 establishes staffing levels for the police department. Currently the ordinance provides for a chief, one assistant chief, three captains, eight lieutenants, four sergeants and forty three officers. STATUS OF ISSUE: Two issues require amending the ordinance. The loss of three officers to the newly formed North Lamar Police Department requires a reduction in the total number of officers from forty three to forty. Secondly, a lieutenant is scheduled to retire on October 31. Upon amending the ordinance this lieutenant position will be changed to a sergeant position. This reduces the number of lieutenants from eight to seven and increases the number of sergeants from 4 to 5. Reducing the number of lieutenant positions by attrition is part of the strategic plan for the department. BUDGET: The three officer's salaries and benefits were paid for by the NLISD contract. There is no impact to the 2017-2018 budget for the loss of these positions. There is a modest reduction of personnel cost by changing the lieutenant position to a sergeant position. RECOMMENDATION: Amend the ordinance to reflect the changes in both the total number of officers and the police officer category and become effective on November 1, 2017.