FINCOM 03-16-2010

Source page 1

,~ / 1
C;
Town of Canton Finance Committee ~ ,
Meeting Minutes f~
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Opening:
The regular meeting of the Canton FINCOM was called to order at 7:09 p.m. on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 in the
Salah Meeting Room of Town Hall by Dave Emhardt, Finance Committee Chairman.
Members Present:
Dave Emhardt, Alan Hines, Pat Johnson, Mark Porter, Jim Sims and Diane Wolff.
Guests Present:
Ken Berkowitz, Police Chief
Dr. John D'Auria, Superintendent of Schools
Ken Leon, School Business Administrator
Elisabeth Salisbury, School Committee Member
Reuki Schutt, Chairman, School Committee
Cindy Thomas, School Committee Member
James Murgia, Finance Director
Ellen Jones, FINCOM Secretary
A. Approval of Agenda
Mr. Emhardt reviewed the agenda and welcomed Police Chief Berkowitz.
Announcements
There were no announcements made.
B. Approval of Minutes
There were no minutes approved at this meeting.
C. Old Business/Open Issues
None.
D. New Business
Police Department -Clarification on the use of Police Details
• Police Chief Ken Berkowitz had made a request to come before the FINCOM to clarify facts and to clear up any
misconceptions regarding the use of flagmen versus police officers. There is an FY11 debt capital request for
valve and hydrant replacements in which details are part of the specifications for the work. Chief Berkowitz is
in favor of using police officers for traffic control because of the financial savings to the Town and for public
safety. Chief Berkowitz' conversations with Town Administrator Friel and members of the BOS came to the
same conclusion.
• Chief Berkowitz checked with counterparts regarding rates. Flagmen can cost greater than $53.00 per hour in
comparison to police officers in which the highest detail paid is $48.00 per hour. Canton has made $35,000 on
service fees for billing police details. The money is then turned over to the general fund.
• Chief Berkowitz is confident that Canton is doing a great job keeping up with managing the employees for
details, maintains that no police officers are sitting in cars as is sometimes perceived by the public, and stated
that the Police Department has a good relationship performing valuable functions for other Town Departments,
such as Fire Department and DPW.
• Money received for details comes from the contractor and goes into the general fund, as per state law. The
Finance Director stated that details are charged to an agency fund, amount to cover officer's salaries gets
credited to services account. The Town collects 7.5% more than the police officer is being paid, the remainder
goes into an agency fund.
Canton FINCOM Minutes 03/16/10 Page 1 of 3 3!29/2010