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4/10/2008
Grand Chute will most likely proceed with merger

Town of Grand Chute residents will not get the opportunity to vote on a proposed police department merger with either the City of Appleton or the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department.

According to Town Chairman Mike Marsden, the motion at Tuesday night’s Annual Town Meeting that would have required a referendum on the issue was purely advisory, as ruled by Town Counsel, Greg Curtis. Marsden is committed to bringing the merger forward on April 15 for a vote by the Town Board.

Town Supervisor Dave Schowalter has not publicly announced his position on the merger, but says he is sharing his thoughts one-on-one with constituents. From our conversation, it would appear he is supportive of the City of Appleton’s proposal. It would appear too, that a majority of the board will support the same proposal.

This is not to say Outagamie County Sheriff Brad Gehring isn’t working like the dickens to have his team be the one given the go-ahead to work with Grand Chute. The way I read it, his motives are pretty clear – to do what’s right by the taxpayer. Gehring believes his department, as well as Grand Chute residents, stand to gain from reduced expenses as a result of a merger with the county. Achieving efficiencies and economies of scale has been a continuing theme of his 18-year stint as the county’s top law enforcer.

The Outagamie County proposal, much more detailed than Appleton’s (pp. 6 - 27), includes an extensive budget, as requested; the Appleton proposal contains fewer financial specifics and, according to Gehring, indicates a 9% increase in wage and benefit costs in the first year. (Would that be acceptable?)

Both proposals talk about economies of scale, but Schowalter agreed that nowhere has an attempt been made to compare total costs of the three scenarios – either of the two mergers or Grand Chute continuing on its own. (Schowalter has requested a breakdown of the costs, should Grant Chute not merge with another police department.) A brief look at salary schedules would seem to indicate (to me – an uninformed eye) the County is the less expensive approach, but again, no comparisons have been attempted.

Schowalter’s understandings and perceptions:

Appleton and the County would provide comparable service, however because of contiguous borders, Appleton could serve Grand Chute best geographically.
Appleton’s proposed 9% increase in salary costs “would be covered by Grand Chute’s current budget.”
Many Grand Chute officers seem to prefer the Appleton merger option.
Under either merger option, Grand Chute won’t need to add personnel.
The county may be motivated by the need for a building. Savings of $6M was mentioned – where does that savings come from?
If the building space is “prematurely fill[ed] up,” what will the Town do when they need to expand?
Parking at the Town buildings is an issue now; again, what happens when spaces are prematurely filled with County Sheriff’s personnel (Appleton would not have a large contingent of officers in the Town building; the Sheriff’s Department on the other hand, would house the majority of its functions in the Town’s municipal complex.)
Appleton Police serve under a Police Commission, per state statutes. The County Sheriff’s department is accountable not to a Commission, but to the full County Board.

Gehring would see many of these issues differently – and has been actively taking his message to the Town. He is driven by day-to-day cost savings - and long term benefits generated by expanding to an existing building that today has abundant empty space.

Now…. if indeed Appleton is tapped by Grand Chute to begin a merger of the two municipalities’ police departments, what needs to be done by the City of Appleton to facilitate the merger?

As far as I can ascertain (I’ll update during the day if I learn differently), no action has been taken by Appleton’s Common Council or the Safety & Licensing Committee that would authorize Appleton Police Chief Walsh to move forward, implementing the plans sketched in the proposal. I don’t see approval by the City as a slam-dunk – not even close. If someone over there isn’t already talking to a few alderpersons here and there… they best be getting on it.

COMMENTS

Jo:
The Outagamie County proposal would seem the most logical as far as the taxpayer is concerned. Brad Gehring has listed specific savings in the merger, including a 6 million dollar cost avoidance savings of a new building downtown. The Appleton proposal doesn't claim any savings although you would think at least you could save the salary of one police chief.

Appleton just does not seem like an anxious suitor and frankly I would pass on this aspect alone. I feel that Brad Gehring's staff would do an excellent job and do not buy the fact that Appleton would be a better fit because they are used to "urbanization" service.

The county has proven itself with other contracts with villages and towns and they are very satisfied with the service and at a much reduced cost. As taxpayers we have got to stop thinking that we can have everything. As long as the service is comparable, I don't care what name you have on the side of the police vehicle. I know some people feel that they need that local identity, but it comes at a cost and I am not willing to pay for that luxury.

Mike Thomas (Thu Apr 10 09:10:45 2008)

JO, this should be a very important issue to everyone, the town, and city and the county. As you are aware I have consistently been a consolidation advocate. I have attended all of the meetings and would like to address several issues.

Should there be a referendum? I believe we vote for people to represent us, if every difficult issue went to a referendum nothing would get done, in this case the vote would be more of an emotional vote rather than a studied review of service, economics, and effect on town’s employees. Only about 20 to 25 residents have attended the Q&A's with the two departments. This would become a yard sign issue.

I look at this as a three piece pie, not equal pieces. Piece one and the largest piece is who provides the best service. Piece two, who is the most economical. Piece three, the effects on the town’s employees.

I believe that Appleton will provide the best policing services to the town, Grand Chute looks a lot more like the city that the county and have the same policing needs. I like the phase in approach because the town will be able the to see if the merger is working and is cost effective without disbanding the town department right away.

Cost is a difficult to access at this time and requires some additional information from everyone. The county is like going out to eat looking at a menu and ordering ala'cart. The Appleton proposal is a merged department, like eating family style. When people talk about a 6 million saving because the county is going to move into the GC Town hall remember they will be paying rent on 10,000 plus sq ft at a rate still to be determined.

Effective on the towns employees, with both departments all full time employees will stay employed some will even make more, it's not like a plant being closed a 200 people losing their jobs, and there may even be better opportunities for advancement in a larger department.

Finally I find it interesting that County Supervisor Jim Duncan thinks this is a referendum issue, is he afraid to make hard decisions, and is he upset that he lost his bid for Town Supervisor. Should not elected officials feel confident that they are able to represent their constituents with out having referendums on every issue?

Bruce Sherman (Thu Apr 10 13:52:09 2008)

I agree that we elect people to govern whether it be the police merger or other issues before the Town Board. The advisory vote of 89 for a referndum hardly represents a majorty of the township and that is why the town board needs to proceed.

Carol Diehl (Tue Apr 15 06:58:04 2008)

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