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City Cound Minutes Page 2 <br /> August 11,2014 <br /> ---------------------- <br /> in these other communities as compared to Elk River. Sgt. âś“awacki further reviewed <br /> the following: <br /> N Location/population/highways <br /> Overdose dead-is <br /> Benefits of partnership <br /> Past concerns of the Council <br /> Councilmember Morin liked idea of one of switching out Elk River patrol officers <br /> because they would have the hometown knowledge, and the three-year rotation on <br /> the task force would keep the officers experiences/knowledge in the community. <br /> Councilmember Westgaard noted it would make more sense to work with the county <br /> drug task force rather than the city having only one police employee working drug <br /> operations. <br /> Mayor Dietz agreed the city need to have the drug task force officer position. He <br /> noted most of the projected 2015 budget increase ($350,000 of the $400,000) is from <br /> the police department and questioned if anything could be cut or if additional <br /> revenue could be raised. <br /> Chief Rolfe stated most of the budget goes to personnel services and he had no <br /> suggestions for cuts if the Council wants to maintain the same level of service. <br /> Mayor Dietz further stated it is good news the Council can sell the budget to people <br /> better when they can say three-fourths of the budget increase is due to the police <br /> department. <br /> Police Pub&'Enaployee RelimmenlAssocialion (T,,.RA) Discussion <br /> Mr. Simon discussed the State increase of the PER-A contribution for police. <br /> Mi. Portner stated PERA retirement changes in state law air putting pressure on <br /> policing services throughout the state. <br /> Chief Rolfe stated the change is speeding up retirement of officers throughout the <br /> state. He stated officers who retire at age 50 before they reach full pension are going <br /> to incur a significant penalty on their pension at age 55 so many of them retired to <br /> beat the law before it took effect. <br /> Captain Nierenhausen stated a lot of police departments are starting to feel the <br /> crunch due to the retirements. He stated now that the new PERA law is in effect, <br /> there will be a trend for police officers to stay at a job longer,which can have the <br /> residual to the city. He stated with the rash of officer retirements in other <br /> communities there is much more competition to get good, quality candidates to fill <br /> positions. He stated metro area cities are hiring in advance knowing they have a <br /> certain number of vacancies to fill ill the future, wlu'ch causes more difficulty for Elk <br /> River to get good quality candidates. <br /> p 0 V I h 1 0 M V <br /> NAWREJ <br />