By Sarah Gooding
Pittsburg Morning Sun – September 10, 2013
The Pittsburg community has seen a lot of growth and development in recent years, but in some ways the community is lagging years behind where it should be.
Despite years of growth and changing conditions, the city’s emergency services, including police and fire, have continued to work with some elements, such as staffing levels and equipment, respectively, from the 1980s.
“We do have a problem and the best way to address it is head-on,” said Daron Hall, city manager.
He said he had hoped to hold off on any new funding initiatives until a public safety sales tax of 0.5 percent is set to expire in three years, but that it has become apparent that is too far in the future.
“We need to address the crime that’s going on here,” Hall said, adding that the city’s proximity to Interstate 44 means there are methamphetamine problems, which bring with them property crime situations.
“The property crime is just so vast,” Hall said. “If you don’t get your hands on meth, you’re not going to address property crimes.
He said this requires additional funding, and a committee met together to determine how best to address the situation.
“The option that floated to the top was the sales tax,” Hall said, adding that this is because of the university and rental populations, and because of the number of people who come to Pittsburg from around the area.
“It’s a bigger problem than the locals, so the sales tax is a better option,” Hall said.
He then gave police chief Mendy Hulvey and fire chief Mike Simons the opportunity to share.
“The issue for us is that our staffing standards haven’t changed much since the 1980s,” Hulvey said.
She said in 2012, 37 percent of her shifts were worked by one commander, three officers and one dispatcher, which is the minimal acceptable staffing level.
Hulvey said this means that if two priority calls – such as domestic cases or injury accidents – happen at the same time the department is maxed out.
“I’ll tell you, that happens with great frequency,” she said.
She outlined some of the staffing factors in her office, and said the goal would be to have one commander, five officers and two dispatchers on each shift.
“We want to increase our staffing levels to what we believe should be our optimum targeted staffing level,” Hulvey said.
Additionally, she has goals of growing the department’s investigations unit considerably and add a three-person narcotics unit to work on substance abuse locally.
“For the first time ever, we will have that aggressive anti-drug narcotics street unit,” Hulvey said.
She said one of the challenges has been a reduction in help and grant funding from the state and federal levels, and she said the consequences are present.
“I see social problems on a level I’ve never seen them before,” she said. “It’s a huge challenge.”
She added that increasing the staffing, developing the specialty teams and updating equipment will help with many of the community’s crime issues.
“We hope that our response will be much better than it has been,” Hulvey said.
For the fire department, the concern isn’t as much staffing as it is aging and expensive equipment.
Simons said the aging correlates with increased maintenance costs.
“One of our apparatuses is actually 29 years old,” he said of the fire trucks.
Additionally, bunker gear has a five-year life cycle and then expires and is not safe to wear in a fire.
Simon said it is critical for the safety of the firefighters, and he would like to begin looking at replacing seven sets of gear a year.
Additionally, the SCBA breathing apparatus have a 15-year life span, and Simon plans to begin replacing 10 sets a year.
In the past, FEMA grants have helped with some of these types of costs, but that agency’s funding has dropped 47 percent since 2009, and grants are becoming more scarce.
“It’s very, very difficult to get them,” Simon said. “The funding is really dropping off quite significantly.”
Finally, Simon said department-wide training is important.
“One of the big features we’re going to be able to do is, for the first time we’re going to be able to do full department training exercises,” Simon said, adding that severe weather and large fires could be among the topics covered.
Hall outlined the proposed money train if a 0.5 percent sales tax were approved by voters.
He said the amount is expected to raise about $1.8 million, of which $200,000 would go to the fire department for equipment-related expenses. $800,000 would go to the police force for extra officers, and an additional $300,000 would be used for technology.
The remaining $500,000 would provide a buffer to help cover pension increases and other expenses throughout the proposed tax’s 10-year lifespan.
Hall also said the city currently has a total sales tax of 1.25 percent, and the proposed tax would take the total to 1.75 percent. However, in three years a 0.5 percent tax is already scheduled to sunset, and the city’s total would drop back to 1.25 percent.
Locally, the current total sales tax is 8.4 percent, including the city’s 1.25 percent and the county’s 1 percent. The remainder is state sales tax.
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