Council cops to it

Votes 4-1 to fill police officer position

It appears as though the war of attrition is over.
At its regular meeting Wednesday night, Mammoth Lakes Town Council, by a 4-1 vote, decided to hire a new police officer to replace the departing Matt Graeff.
Graeff has served as the Mammoth Lakes Police Department ‘s (MLPD) School Resource Officer for the past three years.
MLPD Chief Randy Schienle urged Council to replace Graeff, regardless of whether it chose to continue to fund a position at the schools.
Schienle noted that his department has already experience an 18% staff reduction (dropping to 23 full-time employees from a one-time high of 28). Not replacing Graeff would bump that number to 22%.
A loss of another position, he said, would compromise public safety and lead to officer fatigue as the rest of the department tried to pick up the slack.
Last month, said Schienle, 47 of 84 MLPD shifts were manned by the minimum number of officers (2).
He also pointed out that Graeff’s position was included in the current budget, so it wasn’t like Council had to go look for the money to make the hire.
Councilman John Eastman said that Council should wait until the 2010-2011 budget cycle in June to consider filling the position. Bishop, he said, no longer funds a school resource officer position, and in these tough economic times, perhaps Mammoth shouldn’t either.
“The reality today in Mammoth Lakes is different than the national story which says this recession is over,” said Eastman.
Eastman also took issue with the staff report in the agenda bill, which stated that, “Current department staffing is at the minimum level to continue to provide adequate police services to this community.”
Who can argue with that? he asked rhetorically. Voting against filling the position then makes any Councilmember look callous and insensitive to public safety needs.
“But I just don’t think [that statement] is correct,” he concluded.
Councilman Skip Harvey and Mayor Neil McCarroll sided with the Chief, both citing the increasing seriousness of the crimes being committed these days as the overarching reason to maintain current staffing levels.
McCarroll did say that he expects the school district to begin contributing financially if it would like to continue to have the services of a resource officer. If not, the Town will reconsider deployment of said officer.