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County gets nearly $800K from feds
Who loves Erin? A
modern day `Romeo'
The night the
lights went out in Newberg
Police
issue heats up at
Dundee City Council |
While some councilors question why Chief Dan Hess axed the
Reserve police program, others recommend against
becoming involved in administrative issues |
By Gunnar Olson, Newberg Graphic
reporter
E-mail Gunnar at golson@eaglenewspapers.com
|
It warmed one’s blood, the item added to the agenda of
Monday’s Dundee City Council meeting.
The police chief of Dundee, Dan Hess, had eliminated the reserve officer
program, and not all of the council members knew about it. Regardless of whether the
action overstepped Hess’ authority, the council wanted to discuss what had happened.
Emotions were running high, voices quaking. The comments varied from complete
backing of the chief, to questioning of his motives and doubting his honesty.
The period for public comment foretold of the tension to come. One man stood
to speak about the cutting of the reserves. His name is Ed Casciato and he said, “I
think it’s probably one of the most irresponsible things this city has ever
done.”
He said city administrator Eve Foote’s quote in a newspaper article
— that she was surprised the officers were getting excited about the stipend they
hadn’t received, about $300 — was insulting. He called the officers dedicated,
and said the council, the chief and the city administrator owe the officers an apology. He
concluded by saying the city should be rid of Chief Hess, as well as Foote.
Old business
Facing the city council was a related issue, slated for discussion before the
reserve elimination. The agenda called for the discussion of possibly bringing to Dundee
voters a police levy.
Councilor Diane Ragsdale presented the different options for increasing
police coverage that she had come up with, ranging from 100 percent coverage with three
more officers (for a total of six officers plus the chief), to the 50 percent coverage the
city would have if the staff remained at current staffing levels.
“If we add just one more (officer) it would alleviate some of the
pressure,” Ragsdale said.
The question was raised: And if we do nothing? The answer: then, come summer,
the department dwindles further to two officers and a chief.
At this point Chief Hess turned to former Dundee police chief James
“Pete” Peterson to back him up. The former chief had just gotten out of his seat
along with Casciato, and the two were heading out the door when Peterson squared off to
address his successor.
Hess asked Peterson if he thought two officers and a chief was too skimpy a
staff to police Dundee. Peterson conceded, but took the moment to point out the dedicated
reserves Hess could have had on staff.
New Business
Before the council went forward with discussion about the possible police
levy, it opted to confront the more emotional item on the agenda.
Councilor Don Sundeen opened. He said it was obvious the city council was
largely kept in the dark regarding the elimination of the reserve program.
“I think there are very serious issues that were brought to bare in the
Oct. 26 article” in The Graphic, Sundeen said.
Sundeen suggested the council be filled in entirely of the situation leading
up to cutting the reserves. He called for the log book that went missing, the memos that
Hess wrote to the reserve officers, as well as for personal interviews with all parties
involved. And, he said, this should be done before the council proceeded any farther in
discussing the police levy.
“This levy is doomed,” Sundeen said. “We might as well not
waste our time.”
Foote volunteered responsibility for having not kept the council better
informed, and apologized for that transgression.
“It’s obvious in my mind,” Sundeen went on, “this is not
just a budget issue,” adding that the reserves, as he saw them from a citizen’s
standpoint, were “very, very good. I want to know what’s behind this.”
Ragsdale pointed out that the council, as a group, had decided to leave
administration to the administrators. She asked the councilors to consider whether it was
their role to question the chief’s actions: “Are we overstepping our
bounds?”
Regardless of the role the council played in the decision, Sundeen retorted,
the issue of police coverage was of such sensitive matter that it was perilous to the city
council to find out about the elimination of the reserves in the newspaper, and not know
more about the situation than their constituents.
Mayor Roger Worrall worked to keep the voices of descent from reaching too high a fervor,
and quieted Sundeen in favor of letting the chief offer the background of the situation.
Worrall reminded the council of what he considered was the issue at hand: What are the
bounds of the council? Is the issue of cutting the reserves a matter of administration of
policy?
He turned the floor over to Hess.
Hess told of the budgetary challenges he faced coming into the
department, and of his struggle to maintain a third officer on the force.
“All of you approved the budget,” Hess reminded the council, which
gave him the go-ahead necessary to adjust the budget as he saw fit, and he thanked them
for the budget approval.
Hess has maintained the third officer, and he said the people of Dundee were
happy for his success.
Hess then reiterated his sentiments about the reserve force. He said the
reserves were, unlike full-time officers, uncommitted officers, “who, whether you
believe it or not, were coming out randomly.”
Jeannette Adlong was the councilor to begin questioning the chief. She
pointed out the year the reserves served without compensation and questioned whether that
amounted to commitment.
Hess called the council’s attention to two requests for time off that
the two senior reserve officers had made. They were on the same day, he said.
Adlong further queried: What about the maternity leave (of former reserve
officer Travis Richard)?
Hess said it wasn’t maternity leave: The baby was 6 months old.
Adlong’s voice became shaky and she expressed that she was “very
concerned.” She said the chief had implied reasons other than budgetary for
terminating the officers.
“I think we need more information,” Adlong said, “(we) need to
see what exactly happened.
“I cannot be on a committee for a police levy until this issue comes
out,” she said.
Hess reiterated the lack of commitment of the reserves. “That’s the
truth,” Hess said.
“I’m sure if we talked to all the parties ...,” Adlong trailed
off. The reserves were not present at the meeting.
Mayor Worrall backed the chief, saying the reserve program was the Cadillac
of programs, and the officers were a Volkswagen representation.
Worrall again made an effort to bring down the level of tension, citing
“emotions running high” as he cast an eye toward Adlong.
The council returned to the issue of the police levy. The decision was
made to move forward with the levy, to go the the voters with the different scenarios for
expanded police coverage that Ragsdale had produced. The council agreed to address the
issue at the next council meeting, slated for Nov. 18 at the city hall. Public testimony
on the levy will be taken at the meeting.
The council, in the end, made no motion for further investigation into the
elimination of the reserve program. |
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From Nov. 5,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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