As some of you may have already heard, the City Council of Vergennes is holding budgetary meetings to decide on the 2020 budget for the city. This year's process is a challenging one, considering the impact of the school tax and increased health care costs for city employees. However, it has been proposed for consideration by some members of the City Council for a significant reduction of the Vergennes Police Department budget which will require a reduction in force of two police officers.

As Chief Merkel informed us at last night's meeting, it was his responsibility to represent what he believed is the best interests regarding the safety of the City of Vergennes and the operation of the Vergennes Police Department. While we all understand the financial dilemma facing us as the City Council, any reduction in the staff of the police department would be disastrous. While we also understand the future goals of the City Council in regards to desired improvements to the city infrastructure, we have a greater obligation to take care of our current employees, who have risked their lives and protected Vergennes each and every day. We also have an obligation to keep our police officers safe. Reducing our staff size will seriously compromise officer's safety and the safety of Vergennes. They will be forced to reduce their hours of operation and consequently we will not have the extent of police coverage that we have now.

Law enforcement is a unique profession. It is the only profession, outside of the military, in which you put on a ballistic vest and firearm and go to work knowing you may have to take someone's life or risk yours to protect someone else's life. Each officer is hired, trained and entrusted to make split second decisions which, if made incorrectly, would cost our city far more than the cost of employing these two officers the city is considering releasing.

Your police officers have performed in a most professional manner over the course of the past ten years, and far exceeded the capabilities of much larger departments. They are a source of pride to our city. Some of us can still remember when and why we started the police department's rebuild process ten years ago. Despite our department's relatively small size, they have investigated and solved homicides and bank robberies. They have thwarted bank robberies from taking place. We have not seen one highway fatality in our city. They have developed our own narcotics investigation capability and arrested numerous illegal drug offenders, taking them off our streets and in some cases, provided them assistance in treatment and rehabilitation. They have collaborated with other municipal, state and federal law enforcement agencies over the years to prevent crime and apprehend violators. They have worked diligently, on duty and off, to cement our bond with our community and those around us, even dedicating their time to coach and mentor our kids on the high school football team.

Vergennes is not immune from dealing with the same dangerous incidents we hear of in surrounding communities. In the past, our officers have been involved in some extremely dangerous situations, particularly during single officer responses, and fortunately the officers were not injured. Unfortunately, in one of those incidents, the victim was severely injured, and if the officer had not handled the situation the way they did, the victim may have suffered an even worse fate. I cannot emphasize enough single officer shifts are not safe. We must not go backwards in our staffing. I can tell you our officers regularly encounter situations such as these during which the climate can change very quickly and dangerously so. The peaceful outcomes we have seen are a testament to the quality of our officers and the professionalism of our department.

The Vergennes Police Department in 2019 represented 36.5% of the city's budget. Our budget was $865,680.00 out of a total budget of $2,369,755.00. If you add the $72,000.00 police facility bond principal to the budget, which is being considered, the percentage increases to 38.4. As an agency, we provide services to the City of Vergennes 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 19-23 hrs. a day. During those hours we do not physically have someone on duty in Vergennes, we can and do respond to calls. This clearly explains why we represent the greater percentage of the city's budget, along with the fact the City Council built this department as such. I have been approached by a number of Vergennes residents to explain why these cuts are being proposed, how they will impact the police department and how they can voice their opinion to the City Council. I have suggested emailing or calling myself or other City Council members, ask questions of them and I, and let them know how you feel, regardless of whether you support or don't support the proposed cuts to the police department's staffing. Next meeting 6-25 city hall at 5:30PM