Following its Constable Committee recommendation, Clarkston will stick with the sheriff for police services.
‘The committee considered a range of police service, from a certified, full-time police officer to a code enforcement, parking-ticket officer working part time,? said Councilman Thomas Hunter.
‘The council would be free to select any of those alternatives or select as you say no action at all, but that decision is up to the council,? Hunter said.
The committee, also including Sharron Catallo, former mayor; Scott Meyland, past councilman and police liaison; former Councilman Mike Gawronsk; and Dennis Ritter, city manager, was put together last September. They had to give their findings prior to Dec. 31 2010.
The full-time police officer would have cost a total of $56,593 and a part-time code enforcement officer would cost $12-14 per hour.
‘Essentially I read the conclusion as all the services we would look for are provided for today with the contract with the township for the Oakland County Sheriff,? said Councilman James Brueck. ‘Unless there is some defined need that’s not being addressed properly, good information but no action required, and I appreciate their time they put into it.?
Hunter agreed.
‘Since there has been no particular pressure by the public or complaints from the public that code enforcement services are not being pursued and as far as I know there haven’t been any complaints about parking tickets not being written,? he said. ‘It seems like at this point why should we take any action and cause the village to make an additional expenditure.?
Councilman Stephen Hargis also concurred they didn’t need to ‘pursue the matter further.?
Councilman Richard Bisio asked City Manager Dennis Ritter if he thought there was a problem with enforcing code ordinances, or if what was being done currently was sufficient.
‘In reality we probably could get along the way we are,? Ritter said. ‘As much as we’d like to have the help, that’s to say that person could also walk around the city, walk into all the businesses and say ‘hi? to everybody and just be sort of a ombudsmen. At any rate the long short of it is I think we could probably do without it.?
Resident Michael Sabol suggested the council consider bringing the issue back at a later meeting, so other people who were interested in the constable discussion who weren’t at the current meeting could voice their views.
‘The only reason I suggest you do that is because I think what you’ll end up getting unless you try and do that is you’ll have people trickling in every meeting asking – ‘what happened with the constable project,?? he said. ‘It’s just something I think might be a good idea to try and get out there and let everybody know what’s going on and bring people forward for the discussion.?
Mayor Joe Luginski told Sabol they posted the agenda on the website Friday before the meeting and didn’t know how long the council wanted to continue discussing the matter.
‘If council wants to have it put on the agenda we can do it,? he said. ‘I personally think it’s time to move on.?
Councilwoman Peggy Roth agreed.
‘I think the bottom line was from Lt. (Dale) LaBair (Independence Township substation commander),? she said. ‘I think they’ve (OCSO) been very visible and I see them around town all the time.?
The council voted unanimously to accept the report. Luginski said the report should be used, not just kept on a shelf.
‘Let’s just keep this in mind. We always have the option of going to this,? he said. ‘There is nothing that says we can’t go to this down the road, but I think for now that would be my opinion.?