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2022-07-25 CCPD Minutes
©CITY OF SOUTHLAKE SOUTHLAKE CRIME CONTROL AND PREVENTION DISTRICT BOARD MEETING MINUTES: JULY 25, 2022 LOCATION: Southlake Police Department Headquarters 600 State Street, 41Yi Floor Southlake. TX 76092 TIME: 6:00 p.m. CRIME CONTROL AND PREVENTION DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Ken McMillan (President), Robert Williams (Vice President), William Meddings, Frank Powers CRIME CONTROL AND PREVENTION DISTRICT BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Kara Clubb, Jay Demas, David Barnes STAFF PRESENT: Police Chief James Brandon, Fire Chief Mike Starr, Sharen Jackson (Chief Financial Officer) & Erika Fletcher (CCPD Secretary) 1. REGULAR SESSION WAS CALLED TO ORDER: 6:00 PM 2. PUBLIC FORUM: (This is the public's opportunity to address the board about non -agenda items. During this proceeding, the Board will not discuss, consider or take action on any items presented by the public. We respectfully ask that anyone stepping forward to speak during public forum limit remarks to three minutes or less.) The forum was opened. Comments by Mr. Yan were shared. The forum was closed. 3. CONSIDER 3A. APPROVE MINUTES FROM THE MAY 10, 2022 CRIME CONTROL AND PREVENTION DISTRICT BOARD MEETING APPROVED (4 — 0) Motion: CCPD Board Member proposed a motion to approve the minutes from the May 10, 2022 CCPD Board Meeting. Second: CCPD Board Member 4. APPROVE THE CRIME CONTROL AND PREVENTION DISTRICT FY22 AMENDED BUDGET AND ADOPT THE FY23 BUDGET AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN APPROVED (4 — 0) Update given by Chief Financial Officer Sharen Jackson: The items included in the FY23 budget include the items that were discussed at the last meeting on May 10, 2022. 1 will go over the fund summary and the overall picture of the fund, starting with the FY22 amended budget. The original adopted budget has $2.0 million in revenue. We recommend an increase in the revenue amount to $2.4 million due to the increase in sales tax. We do not recommend an increase to the expenses or the transfers of the originally adopted budget, they will both stay the same. For the FY23 City of SOuthlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability ♦ Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork Minutes: July 25, 2022, Crime Control and Prevention District Board Meeting Page 2 of 7 proposed budget, we are proposing the total revenue of $2,426,000. We propose the total expenditures of $2.5 million which includes every item discussed at the May 10th meeting. Additionally, Chief Brandon made one additional request regarding the School Resource Officer program. Chief Brandon will go over that request in detail during today's meeting. Chief Brandon's request is included in today's Fund Summary. In conclusion, the total proposed expenses are $2,566,000. The operating transfers are $97,000 to transfer the indirect charges to the General Fund. Lastly, a CIP transfer of $1,130,000 is designated to complete the renovation of the EOC. This represents the total proposed budget for FY23. As far as the EOC renovations, in FY22, the cost to begin the renovation of the EOC was $1.1 million, plus, $1,130,000 in the proposed FY23 budget brings it to a grand total of $2,230,000. This will complete the renovation of the EOC. Comments made by CCPD President: What cost remain on the EOC after FY23? • Response given by Chief Financial Officer Sharen Jackson: None. • Comments made by CCPD President: Our ending balance will be $4.9 million. There are extraordinary expenses this year because of the EOC. Response given by Chief Financial Officer Sharen Jackson: Yes, we are dipping into fund balance, but we have numerous one-time expenses and we have an adequate amount in reserves to carry us through. Included in the proposed budget is the CIP that is a one-time transfer of $1.1 million and the $250,000 expense for police radios. The police radios are replaced every 5 years. Again, there are many one- time expenses that are included in the proposed budget. Comments made by CCPD President: With all of our assets, including the beginning balance plus revenues for the year, it totals $8.78 million. We're expending $3.79 million, leaving us with a balance of almost $5 million dollars. City of Southlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability 4 Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork Minutes: July 25, 2022, Crime Control and Prevention District Board Meeting Page 3 of 7 • Comments made by Chief of Police James Brandon: The equipment included in the FY23 budget pertaining to the first six items in your memo, are the same six items that Assistant Chief Casey talked to you about in May 2022. Are there any questions on the first six items that I can go over for you? The seventh item is new. To give context to this, in 2013, shortly after the New Town mass shooting, Mayor John Terrell reconvened the School Resource Task Force to determine how we can keep our kids safer in Southlake schools. This prompted the expansion of the current SRO Program. As a result, we have put one (1) SRO into every Southlake school. In 2018, after the shooting in Florida, Mayor Laura Hill reconvened the Task Force to include one (1) additional SRO in every high school along with the installation of additional protective measures. In 2022, shortly after the Uvalde shooting, Mayor John Huffman asked that the Task Force reconvene again. They were charged with taking a holistic view of our schools to determine what we can do better knowing that there is always more we can do. The Task Force asked the important question of how often a Southlake school campus is not covered by an SRO? I can easily answer that because we are dealing with a workforce where someone is either out of the office sick, out training, or hurt, or with a sick kid, etc. When we pulled the data for the SRO attendance, we discovered that about 10 percent of the time, a Carroll ISD campus is uncovered. When we looked at what it would take to ensure the campuses are fully covered, it would take an additional 1.7 full-time SROs. So, the recommendation that I bring to you is that we recommend hiring 2 additional SROs. Additionally, we attempted twice to put an SRO into Florence Elementary, which is a Keller ISD school that sits within our City limits. Both times, Keller ISD declined. They have now accepted our offer under the same conditions that we operate with Carroll ISD. By adding these three (3) positions to the program, it expands our SRO program to 18 officers. At this point, our SRO Division is larger than our Criminal Investigations Division which has 12 detectives. With that, I also recommend that we add an SRO Captain to the SRO Division to provide Command Level oversight in a high -risk environment. When I say high -risk, I don't necessarily mean active shooter or physical threat. What I mean is police officers functioning in an educational setting, on a daily basis. As police officers, sometimes they also must walk as coaches, mentors and friends while knowing how to walk that line. So, the total you see of $550,000 includes the vehicles, training, and equipment that we will need to support the four (4) new SRO positions. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. • Question asked by CCPD President: This amount includes both personnel costs and capital costs, correct? Response given by Chief Financial Officer Sharen Jackson: Yes, personnel costs and capital costs are included within the $550,000. City of Southlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability 4 Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork Minutes: July 25, 2022, Crime Control and Prevention District Board Meeting Page 4 of 7 • Question asked by CCPD Board Member: When you pulled the data, and concluded that 10% of the time schools were uncovered, did you share the "when" of that with the community? Response given by Chief of Police James Brandon: When the committee meets again, I will share that information with them. The last meeting was cancelled due to committee members being out of town. In my opinion, I think it's more than 10% because if we have occasions where an SRO retires, the hiring cycle to fill that position could last for months. The two (2) added SROs will be there to ensure that a school with no coverage doesn't happen. We will utilize these SROs in areas that are considered high -risk. For example, if School A has a large assembly or if School t3 receives a threat from a student, we will utilize the new officers at these locations where high -risk events might occur. Comments made by CCPD Board Member: You answered my question. I was just wondering whether information was released to the public regarding when the shift change occurs at the schools? We would not want that information released to the public. Response given by Chief of Police James Brandon: No, we purposefully don't do that. We meet with our SROs on Microsoft Teams. I'm referring to instances when an SRO wakes up with a stomach flu and can't report to work. Question asked by CCPD Board Member: What's the security like at the high schools, is anyone able to walk into the lobby? Response given by Chief of Police James Brandon: I'd rather not answer that question in a public setting. I am more than happy to follow up with you after the meeting. • Comments made by CCPD President: It seems that any absence of an SRO, whatever the percentage is in today's environment, is unacceptable. I would think the public would agree with that, too. It seems like an obvious thing to do to fill in the gaps. Comments made by CCPD Board Member: We should add the three (3) new SROs. We can't have what happened down south (Uvalde, TX) to happen here. City of Southlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability ♦ Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork Minutes: July 25, 2022, Crime Control and Prevention District Board Meeting Page 5 of 7 Question asked by CCPD Board Member: I'm assuming that we are in a different circumstance than other schools, other districts, and communities in terms of our order of command. Is that correct? Response given by Chief of Police James Brandon: I am as confident as can be that our officers will not behave in a manner consistent with what you saw on video in Uvalde, neither the officer nor the leadership within the police department. We conduct active shooter training regularly, including last Saturday at Carroll High School. Two weeks before that, at another school. That training is meant to prepare them for that moment. We discuss with them ahead of time that their lives are second on the list, everyone else is first. And if they can't keep that straight in their heads, then I will help them find the door, to be as direct as I can be about it. When we go over things like Uvalde, officers are on the verge of tears, not because they are sad, but because they are mad. They are mad because they are thinking, "Why it couldn't have been me standing there when that occurred?" We go through great pain to hire high quality people and to train them and to equip them properly. And I'm confident that an Uvalde type situation will be handled properly, at the line level and at the leadership level. • Question asked by CCPD Board Member: Do you feel that the way we are armed right now in the school, in the event that an assailant with a vest or with an assault rifle were to attack, are we adequately armed to handle it as best as we can instantly? Response given by Chief of Police James Brandon: Yes. 4B. APPOINT A SECRETARY TO SERVE AS THE CRIME CONTROL AND PREVENTION DISTRICT SECRETARY APPROVED (4 - 0) • Comments made by CCPD President: Our interim secretary has been Erika Fletcher. We recommend that Erika Fletcher be appointed as the new CCPD Secretary. APPROVED (4 - 0) 5. DISCUSSION 5A. UPDATE ON CRIME CONTROL AND PREVENTION DISTRICT SALES TAX Update given by Chief Financial Officer Sharen Jackson: As you can see it's still good to be in Southlake. Sales tax is still trending up. The most recent sales tax collection reflects a double-digit increase. We collected 47% above what City of Southlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability ♦ Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork Minutes: July 25, 2022, Crime Control and Prevention District Board Meeting Page 6 of 7 we collected for the same period last year. This is an increase of just sales, which includes inflation. Because when sales go up so does the amount of sales tax collected. We trend between 30%-40% on remote sales which are sales from online purchases that are shipped into the City. These sales are comprised of purchases made outside of brick - and -mortar stores, yet these items are being shipped into our City. • Question asked by CCPD Board Member: Amazon is charged tax by the state, do we get a piece of that? Response given by Chief Financial Officer Sharen Jackson: This is under dispute right now. The law was supposed to be changed back in October 2020, but the City of Coppell and others who have large warehouses, are disputing the change. Originally, if purchases were shipped from a warehouse location, that city would get the sales tax. The Comptroller recently changed the law, but it is currently under dispute. • Question asked by CCPD Board Member: You mentioned hotels, do we have a good uptick on hotel taxes? How many hotels do we have in the City now? Response given by Chief Financial Officer Sharen Jackson: We have four (4) hotels in the City right now. With COVID, that was a huge market that was hit substantially, but within the last two months, we are hitting above pre-COVID numbers. We have recovered, although it's not dollar for dollar, we have seen a substantial increase in Hotel Occupancy Tax collection. Question asked by CCPD Board Member: Chief Brandon, can you tell us more about the recent Gold Award? I think we need to help get the word out there on this. Response given by Chief of Police James Brandon: That is the re -accreditation that we receive every 4 years, we've been accredited for 20 years. The Gold Standard is the highest level of CALEA Accreditation that you can get. (Note added: This information is currently found on our department's social media sites) City of Southlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability ♦ Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork Minutes: July 25, 2022, Crime Control and Prevention District Board Meeting Page 7 of 7 5B. UPDATE ON THE SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER PROGRAM • Comments given by Chief of Police James Brandon: I recently had the pleasure of traveling to San Antonio, TX to be present at the Texas Association of Resource Officers annual conference. I was there because one of our SROs, Brett Roberson, received the 2022 SRO of the Year Award out of all the SROs in the state of Texas. As a reminder, in the last 3 years, we had an SRO to win the Valor Award on the National Level and our SRO Program won Program of the Year as a whole. Our SRO Program is doing very well. Question asked by CCPD Board Member: I noticed that the cost of the K-9 went up $22K, what happened to cause that to go up? Response given by Chief of Police James Brandon: It has to do with different equipment that is required. Ultimately, I don't think it will cost that much. Just as we hire staff, we are just as selective with our K-9 dog. The total cost includes several trips to several K-9 kennels to select a dog, up to 5 total trips. Our current K-9 is currently 10 years old. But, just because it is in the budget doesn't mean that we will replace him this year. I wanted to have the funds available this year in case we need to retire him this year. His retirement is performance based not age based, so if he gets to the point that he does not need to be out there, we will retire him. At this point I cannot say if we will retire him this upcoming fiscal year. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS Next CCPD meeting: October 11, 2022, at 6:00pm. 6. MEETING ADJOURNED: 6:27 PM ( On McMillan, Presidenf Crime Control and Prevention District Board Ed a Fletch r Secretary Crime Cont nand Prevention District Board City of Southlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability ♦ Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork