At Monday’s (Dec. 7, 2009) regular meeting of the Belleville City Council, Police Chief Gene Taylor vowed he would do everything possible to keep the School Resource Officers in place in the Van Buren Public Schools.
Brian Spitsbergen and Elizabeth Treen of RACY (Resources for Assisting Community Youth) had given the council a report on RACY, telling how it used to fund part of the SRO program. Now, those funds are depleted.
Newly sworn in Councilwoman Kim Tindall asked about the school officers, saying as a mother of two daughters that have attended Belleville High School, she knows what the officers do and how valuable they are.
Spitsbergen said RACY actually had begun its life in 1988 when the tri-community police departments organized a group to provide drug education and combat gangs. The Substance Abuse Task Force eventually morphed into RACY, which was the fiduciary unit for the DARE program. Walt Michal’s in Van Buren Township had done lots of fund-raising for DARE.
As times changed, DARE was eliminated and Spitsbergen said he wrote a successful federal grant to secure funding for the SRO program and used it for the last three years for prevention and early intervention.
He said they still have programs in the elementary and middle schools on violence prevention.
“We had a fund balance and we burned it all up … The issue is how to continue to fund SRO,” Spitsbergen said, noting he is looking at how to get grants for the program. “It’s up in the air.”
He noted the school board has funded a share of SRO costs, but that is good only through the first semester.
He said Wayne County has state Child Care fund money that perhaps may be used to fund SRO and that is being investigated.
“The program needs to stay,” Spitsbergen said, adding that 3,000 students come into school in Belleville that don’t live here. “They need a connection with the officers.”
Police Chief Gene Taylor said he became a Belleville police officer before the DARE program was instituted and he has seen the value of DARE and now the SRO.
Currently Belleville Cpl. Kris Faull and Van Buren Township Officer Ryan Bidwell serve as SROs for the local schools.
“As long as I’m chief, the City of Belleville Police Department will not fail the program,” Chief Taylor said. “We’ll do everything in our power to fund and support the program.”
Former Mayor Tom Fielder, who is active with RACY and other juvenile programs, said the SRO was funded half by Belleville/Van Buren Township and half by RACY’s fund balance, now being provided by the schools for the first semester.
Councilwoman Tindall asked if anyone has approached Canton, Ypsilanti, and Sumpter townships to help with the cost, since those communities send students to BHS.
She was told they had not been approached, but Plymouth/Canton has its own officers for its schools. Sumpter had dropped out of funding the DARE program in 2000 because of economic difficulties.
Spitsbergen enumerated the many services RACY provides for local juveniles and said, “I want to keep it all. I don’t want to lose any of it.”
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the council:
* Heard a presentation by four DTE representatives explaining their updates to electrical service to the city. When Mayor Pro-Tem Rick Dawson’s wife Mary Jane asked if the brownouts at her house would not happen again, they offered to install a monitor at their home that would trace the voltage profile for a month. Dawson’s electrical service had been fluctuating and burning out appliances, with problems in place just six weeks earlier;
* Approved the three-year AT&T local service contract for seven lines into City Hall at $173.09 monthly, a better rate than the city currently is paying. City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said the city is planning to purchase a new phone system in about a year and they will be looking at different carriers;
* Approved Mayor Richard Smith’s appointment of Councilman James Shrove to the Zoning Board of Appeals with a term to expire Dec. 5, 2011;
* Pulled the proposed District Library Agreement from the agenda since it is not ready to be considered;
* Set a public hearing at the Dec. 21 council meeting for the 2010 Community Development Block Grant allocation;
* Approved an amendment to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Contract, which adds Exhibits A and B, having to do with the city’s water flow;
* Approved the removal of former Councilman George Chedraue’s name as an official signatory for the city and added Councilman Shrove’s name;
* Approved a special joint meeting with the Downtown Development Authority at 6 p.m., Dec. 16, at Victory Station to conduct long-term strategic planning for the two groups. This will take the place of the regular DDA meeting scheduled that night;
* Approved Wayne County annual maintenance permits;
* Announced the 2009 Home Decorating Contest, which will be judged from 6 to 10 p.m. on Dec. 16 and 17;
* Approved accounts payable of $235,689.03, which includes the following departmental purchases in excess of $500: to DEQ, $978, for annual water supply fees; to Hennessey Engineers, $7,027, engineering fees; to Republic Underwriters, $1,050, rewrite of policy; and to Service Electric, $2,400, for replacing pole and other repairs at Horizon Park (paid by DDA, but reimbursed by contractor’s insurance);
* Heard City Manager Kollmeyer announce that for the 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10, meeting of the planning commission, everyone is invited to sit in on the presentation by the architect on the new Belleville High School building;
* Heard Mayor Smith say there were an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people who turned out for Saturday’s parade. He read a letter from Cathy Horste, who had dreamed up the Whoville entry that was shared by the museum and the city. Councilwoman Tindall said she, playing the part of Cindy Lou Who, was “one cold Who-ette” since she had to wear a skirt and couldn’t be bundled up like the boys;
* Heard Fielder report that State Rep. Dian Slaves said there were more people out in Belleville for a winter event than she has ever seen in Plymouth or Canton in winter; and
* Heard Kollmeyer report that Sunday’s Angel of Hope event at Hillside Cemetery was “a lovely ceremony.”
Before the regular meeting on Monday, a special session was held for orientation and training of the council members elected in November. Tina Brooks Green, chief 34th District Court Judge, then conducted the swearing in ceremony for Councilmembers Kim Tindal and Brian Blackburn.