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Empty jail cells pose challenge for police budget
(by Sue Reid - February 09, 2011)
Empty jail cells pose challenge for police budget
By SUE REID
The future of the Solon Jail is one area that is yet to be determined when focusing on this year's budget, Police Chief Christopher P. Viland told City Council's finance committee during Monday's budget hearings.
The police department's's budget for this year is roughly $7.7 million.
Mr. Viland included running the jail at its current level in the 2011 budget, but the impact of changes at the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department is still unknown, he said. "The county sheriff has yet to make a final determination as to what its end usage of suburban municipal jails is going to be. That could be no usage of suburban jails, full usage or somewhere in between," he said.
"Since that usage is yet to be determined, it is difficult to plan accordingly," Mr. Viland said.
As a result, the correction officers' contract is still in negotiations, he said. The Solon Jail population has gone up and down over last six months, he said. "Right now, the population is higher than last year, but lower then it historically had been," Mr. Viland said. Full capacity of the jail is 26 prisoners.
Because of that, two full-time correction officer positions were eliminated last year. Due to the jail population decline, Mayor Susan A. Drucker abolished the two positions of jail supervisor. Those two full-time employees then were offered full-time positions as correction officers.
Mr. Viland noted that Solon recently reached an agreement to serve as the primary suburban jail facility for the Village of Orange. "We are actively doing what we can to maintain a large jail population," he said.
In the area of personnel, Mr. Viland reported that he and Mrs. Drucker are in the process of finalizing the department's "upper command staff."
Mr. Viland included an assistant chief's position in his 2011 budget. If that position is not appointed, he said, there will be a relative cost savings in the budget.
"Our most significant change between 2010 and 2011 is personnel," Mr. Viland said. Currently, the department is at 46 officers. Last year, several employees retired or resigned, he said, and some were not replaced. That included one full-time records clerk and one full-time dispatcher, as well as the two full-time correction supervisor positions.
As of Jan. 1, the department was at full staff, but it lost Police Chief Wayne Godzich, Detective Ross Faranda and a patrolmen to retirement. That has left the department three below minimum staffing, Mr. Viland said.
In the area of capital expenditures, he said the department must make its radio equipment compliant with Federal Communications Commission mandates in the amount of $50,000.
In addition, he said, the city is one of the few areas without video available at the time of arrest. He presented a rough estimate of about $130,000 to come up with some police video system.
Looking to the future, Mr. Viland said he is making changes to zone assignments and formalizing those to more effectively use the department's manpower.
"I think it's great to look at these things with fresh eyes," Councilman William D. Mooney said.
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