More than 58% of St. Pete Beach residents voted “Yes” November 6 to repeal the City Charter Section that established the Police Department as a Charter Department and allowed the City to transfer law enforcement activity to an outside agency [Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO)].
The Commission unanimously approved the interlocal agreement with the PCSO at its November 13 meeting, with Chief Deputy George Steffen and Lt. Joseph Gerretz, who will be the SPB Community Liaison Officer, representing Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. The changeover will occur at 7:00am on January 6, 2013.
The budget for the new fiscal year starting October 1 had to include the current Police budget of $4.56 million. After the Police Department is closed, annual operational costs will be reduced by about $2.5 million, the difference between the current Police budget and the cost to contract with the Sheriff’s Office. Total FY 2013 net saving is estimated at about $1 million.
In early September, a majority of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 43 that represents the SPB force voted to support the referendum. “None of the men and women of the St. Pete Beach Police Department want to see the end of the department,” union representative Sgt. Bruce Johnson said in a news release. “However, after much research and investigation, we recognize that this opportunity is mutually beneficial for the city, the citizens and the employees.”
Commenting after the election and the PCSO agreement, Sgt. Johnson told Paradise News, “Our members are happy over how the transition is going. The Sheriff has done everything in his power to make the transition as smooth and easy as possible. He joined his HR folks at the first meeting after the agreement was confirmed, which made our members very pleased. Officer Linda Fletcher will be retiring but it looks like everyone else will be going. The Sheriff also extended job offers to all dispatchers and other civilian employees.”
Sheriff Gualteri Comments
“We’re very excited to add St. Pete Beach,” Sheriff Gualteri tells Paradise News. “We know that we’ll provide them with great law enforcement service and safety for the community. We’ve been doing this for a long time – since Madeira Beach contracted for PCSO services in 1971, and St. Pete Beach will be the 13th city in the county that will have our coverage. All the displaced SPB employees, whether sworn officers or civilian positions, have been offered jobs in the Sheriff’s Office. We asked the officers to give us a preference for patrol duty or bailiffs in court security by November 30. For other personnel, including dispatchers and secretaries, there’s no time frame as we’re looking for other suitable positions for them.
“We take over on January 6 and all officers will have to go through a six-week orientation program. Then they’ll be assigned to our 16-week field training program, but depending on their experience, some may accelerate through that program. From there they will be assigned to patrol sectors and since we change shifts twice a year, their first opportunity to go back to SPB will be in July.”
He emphasizes, “There are no out of pocket start-up costs for the City, as these are offset by the transfer of Police Department assets to the PCSO. Overall, the city will have as good or better services than they have now, with the additional benefits of all the PCSO resources at our disposal.”
Other Pinellas County municipalities that contract for primary law enforcement services are Redington Beach, North Redington Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, Belleair Beach, Belleair Shore, Belleair Bluffs, Dunedin, Oldsmar, Seminole, Safety Harbor and South Pasadena, as well as the unincorporated areas of Tierra Verde, East Lake and Palm Harbor.
City Manager Update
SPB City Manager Mike Bonfield provided a timely update on the changeover: “On November 15, Sheriff Gualtieri met with our Police department and explained all the benefits, talking to some officers about their specific requests. At this point, all our people are transferring to the PCSO. During this interim before the changeover, the Sheriff will identify those Sergeants and Deputies who will be coming here. Our officers will go through an abbreviated PCSO orientation as they are all experienced law enforcement people, and a 16-week training program. It will be about six months before any of our former officers can return to SPB.
“The total full year budget saving would have been about $1.35 million, but about a quarter will be expended in the three months before the changeover, and there are occurred leave payouts of about $200,000 on the balance sheet. Net saving the first year will about $1 million, with no decision on how to budget about $50,000 for extra duty and holidays. The PCSO start-up costs of about $601,869 will be credited dollar for dollar with the transfer of our Police Department assets to the Sheriff’s Office.”
Bonfield emphasizes that nothing had been discussed about any shift of City Hall offices to the current Police building. He explains, “Our new interlocal agreement with the Tampa Bay Regional Plan Association (TPRPA) is likely to include how the City Hall and Police building will fit into the redevelopment of Corey Avenue,” he said.
Current and future savings from the PCSO changeover will have a positive impact on long delayed SPB infrastructure projects. “The Commission has about $1.7 million available from the Capital Improvement Program, and another $925,000 from our Penny for Pinellas share,” he notes, “with our only major obligation about $450,000 for the annual Recreation Center loan installment. This will give us about $2.5 million for infrastructure needs this coming year alone.” (See accompanying story.)
Police Pension Answers
“The Police Pension Board will be active for some time,” emphasizes Bob Rogers, Chair of the SPB Board. “I expect this to be a smooth transition after the changeover to the PCSO on January 7. A function of a pension board is to invest the assets available to pay for the earned benefits of the police officers covered by the plan, with pension payment disbursement determined by a negotiated contract between the City and the officers. At the end of the fiscal year ended September 30, 51 people were covered by the plan, with 31 members retired for pension purposes who have begun receiving or will receive their benefit in the near future. The remaining 20 members are currently active sworn officers who may choose to convert to the PCSO and the Florida Retirement System when that option becomes available.
“As Chair I have been asked by retired officers if their benefit will be paid. The answer is unequivocally all currently retired officers will receive their benefit. Since the population of retired officers is fixed, the current assets of the plan (market value about $10,434,329) along with future city contributions will provide for the benefit earned. Any additional city contributions will be determined by an annual actuarial calculation.
“Another frequently asked question concerns the future pension for the 20 active sworn officers who may convert to the Sheriff’s Office. Each will be handled on a case by case basis and they will receive their earned benefit at the time of their retirement. There are some officers who are very near retirement that may decide to stay in the current retirement plan until they are eligible to receive a retirement benefit.
“In summary, along with all the citizens of St. Pete Beach I commend the service of the officers who have faithfully served our community with the highest integrity and honor. As a Marine, I greatly respect their service and I think the USMC motto “Semper Fidelis” is an appropriate appellation for recognition of their service.”
Mayor & Commissioners Views
“Looking at this transition from strictly a business model comparison, this merger clearly benefits the residents and our municipality in many ways,” Mayor Steve McFarlin says. “The PCSO specializes in providing exclusive ‘hometown’ service to a dozen individual municipalities such as ourselves that will provide us with the personal service to which we are accustomed. Due to the increased magnitude of resources that the PCSO offers, we will now enjoy the benefits of state of the art technologies and expanded intelligence resources at a dramatically reduced cost. “Many residents have asked why we haven’t made this transition before. Honestly, it was the long standing relationship this city had with its Police members. With changing times, a reevaluation was in order that clearly identified a tremendous savings we felt obligated to explore. After determining the many benefits, the Commission and the community decided to make this transition with the understanding the PCSO would offer positions for our Police members with limited requirements, compared to a new hire.
“The Sheriff not only sent his ‘top brass’ along with his human resource officers to our station, but also attended extensive interviews with our members, addressed any concerns or technicalities, and followed up with an open house orientation for our officers and their family members. Since these events, I have received nothing but positive feedback from our members and personally could not be more pleased. I truly believe we have put our public safety and quality of life, along with our Police members’ futures in the best of hands.”
Vice Mayor Marvin Shavlan observes, “I am convinced that besides realizing significant savings, the City and its residents, despite the concerns expressed by some, will experience a higher level of service by contracting with the Pinellas County Sheriff. Combine this with the fact that everyone in the SPB Police department is being offered a job opportunity (with most seeing more money in their paychecks and a better pension) and you have a win/win situation that is rare in today’s world. This was certainly an emotional issue but I am proud to have been part of bringing this transition to fruition and firmly believe that it was the right thing to do.”
District 1 Commissioner Lorraine Huhn notes, “I have lived fulltime on St. Pete Beach since 1985, and while I’ve had no occasion to contact the police personally always felt they were a department of professionals who provided a service to the community. They became an integral part of the City and to see what has just transpired is nothing more than an evolution that has been directed by economics. I wish everyone in the department who was serving the community nothing but the best as they go on to hopefully bigger and better things.”
Although she was opposed to the changeover, District 4 Commissioner Beverly Garnett says, “I think they’ll do a great job and at the end of the day people will be glad we’ll have the Sheriff here. One of the many benefits for the residents and the City is that we had contracted out for some of the PCSO resources, and now we’ll have access to all these and more, under one roof. I will be one of many who will miss our Police Department and the men and women who served us so graciously over the years.”
“I think the voters made a good decision,” says Jim Parent, District 2 Commissioner. “This move saves our taxpayers well over $1.3 million dollars every year. City boundaries are meaningless to crime and criminals, and my inquiries, research and judgment indicate to me that our police services will be improved in efficacy, flexibility, depth and value. I feel good to know that I catalyzed the SPB Commission into finally getting a real estimate of the savings and then collaborated with my other Commission members to put the effort before our voters.”
“You have to believe in the process,” City Manager Bonfield summarizes. “Now is the time for the PCSO changeover to happen and it would not have gone this smoothly in the past. Our people realized that budgets are tougher every year, and that we would be contracting with a very professional law enforcement agency.”
[Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, City Manager Mike Bonfield, Sgt. Bruce Johnson, Bob Rogers, the Mayor, Vice Mayor and Commissioners.]
[Steve Traiman is President of Creative Copy by Steve Traiman in St. Pete Beach, offering freelance business writing services. He can be reached via email at straiman@mindspring.com.]
Story by Steve Traiman
Date: January 2013