Police Commission

POLICE COMMISSION March 24, 2022 PRESENT: Chairman Jim Sponaugle, Commissioner Trish Hansen, Commissioner Liz Starr, Commissioner Cheryl Michales, Commissioner Michael Whitlock, Chief Paul Sandy, Deputy Chief David Guerrera, and Tracey Hatfield. Also present Kevin Smith from the Cortland Voice. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Police Commission was held on March 24, 2022 in the Mayor’s Conference Room at City Hall. Chairman Sponaugle called the meeting to order at 9:01 a.m. A. MINUTES – On the motion of Comm. Whitlock, second by Comm. Hansen the Commission approved the minutes of the January meeting. (February meeting was cancelled). B. BILLS –The Commission reviewed the January ($17,114.23) and February bills totaling $8,875.94 and were approved on the motion of Comm. Michales, second by Comm. Starr. Nothing notable to discuss. C. REPORTS –The January reports as approved on the motion of Comm. Whitlock second by Comm. Hansen. The February reports as approved on the motion of Comm. Hansen second by Comm. Whitlock were highlighted as follows: 1. Invoice list for month – January-nothing notable to discuss. February-brief discussion on cost of keys for building. 2. Year-To-Date Budget – January-nothing notable to discuss. February-Brief discussion on various budget lines, encumbrances, etc. Per the Mayor, we have a new way of doing requisitions/Purchase Orders. Instead of waiting for invoices to arrive and submitting requisitions at that time, the Mayor wants requisitions/purchase orders issued at the time of purchase. When reviewing the YTD budget report, we need to pay attention to YTD actual and MTD actual vs. Available Budget and percentage used. These figures include requisition amounts and open purchase orders which will make the percentages used higher than they actually are. We also discussed the Covid Relief Funds. 3. Training Report – some officers still need to get caught up. 4. Vehicle Maintenance – Brief discussion Cars 5, 15 and 16. 5. Overtime/Sick Time Comparison – no questions. Brief discussion of Covid time used. 6. Overtime Breakdown– Short shift down slightly. Younger officers are picking up a lot of the available OT. Downtown Detail is back. 1|Page  7. Other Activities Report –Domestics, mental health still at the top. Drug calls have been down. Personal use of Narcan could be part of the reason. 8. SPCA Report –The SPCA report was reviewed. Call up, lots of after-hours calls. 9. Detective Bureau Cases – Nothing notable to discuss. Quiet month. 10. Officers Injury Report – Nothing to report. 11. Officers Activities Report – Brief discussion on desk duty. 12. Parking Ticket Report -- Midnight shift writing a lot of parking tickets. 13. Bike Patrol Report –Nothing to report. Activity will increase with better weather coming. 14. Arrest Breakdown – Nothing notable to discuss. OLD BUSINESS A. HIRING- • Hired 7 in 7 weeks. 8th started March 23. • 3 in Corning Academy, 2 in Syracuse Academy, new recruit heading to Broome. • Transfer from Homer just completed field training and is on his own. • New Phase I hire and completed Phase II and is now in field training. Will be on his own end of May or early June. • Still have 7 vacancies • Will have a very young department. More officers starting field training end of May. B. ACCREDITATION • Committee was here for 3 days. • Met with various individuals • The Committee was able to finish early due to Sgt. Guerrera’s prep. • We have been approved for re-accreditation • We have new internal processes that will allow us to “keep up” in the future. C. KNAPP-RETIREMENT –no news. D. RECRUIT UPDATE – new Civil Service exam coming up in April. 2|Page NEW BUSINESS A. NEW K9 – We have permission to get another K9. We are looking at an explosives/firearms K9. We may be able to get a grant to maintain the program once we have the new K9. We will be holding Officer Interviews for a new K9 handler. B. SRO MOU– The school wants a part-time SRO and they will pay 100% of his salary. The Mayor will allow us to hire an additional officer since the school is covering his salary 100%. Officer Reyngoudt will be retiring and then going part-time. He will be following the school calendar. C. NEW CIVIL SERVICE TEST APRIL --We have done a lot of advertising; pamphlets, billboards, SUNY Blast and TC3 Blast, to announce the upcoming exam to the public. On March 18 there were 41 people signed up; 8 don’t qualify to take the exam so there are potentially 33 taking it. The Sheriff’s Department needs to fill 3-7 positions. OTHER BUSINESS A. COMMENDATION, APPRECIATION, and CORRESPONDENCE REPORT – Brief discussion of the Thin Blue Line sign that was donated to the PD> B. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS – no comments ADJOURNMENT At the request of Comm. Sponaugle, seconded by Comm. Hansen, a request was made to go into Executive Session at 10:10 a.m. to discuss Personnel matters with the Chief. DC Guerrera and Tracey Hatfield were excused from the Executive Session. Respectfully submitted, Tracey Hatfield Sr. Account Clerk 3|Page