Community voices support for police

WESTMORLAND — The city of Westmorland is in the final stages of finalizing an agreement with the county Sheriff’s Office to allow a sheriff’s sergeant help supervise the Police Department while the city looks to fill the retiring chief’s position.

Once the agreement is finalized, the sheriff’s sergeant is expected to begin working with the department on Monday, said Mitch Driskill, attorney for the city.

“The Sheriff’s Office offered to provide that sergeant at no cost to the city for up to 60 days,” Driskill said. “They agreed to help the city out in a pinch.”

Current Police Chief Fred Beltran Sr. is expected to retire at the end of the month after 38 years with the agency.

Beltran’s pending retirement, the anticipated arrival of the sheriff’s sergeant and the department’s officers’ recent request for salary raises dominated the City Council’s special meeting on Wednesday, which drew a sizable crowd.

Many of the community members present appeared to be under the misconception that the Police Department was at risk of being disbanded by the City Council and replaced by the county Sheriff’s Office, Driskill said.

“The council told them they were misinformed about the imminent takeover by the (county Sheriff’s Office),” he said.

Much of the confusion appears to have stemmed from media reports that had highlighted growing frustration within the Police Department’s ranks about the alleged lack of wage increases in recent years and the perception that the sheriff’s sergeant’s arrival represented an initial push to disband the department, according to a community member with knowledge of the situation.

Following Wednesday’s meeting, much of that controversy appears to have subsided.

Consideration of the officers’ salary request was taken up Wednesday during closed session and appeared to be heading in a positive direction, said Cpl. Luis Aguilar.

Concerns about the perceived dissolution of the department among Aguilar and the department’s five other officers have also given way to a profound sense of gratitude to community members who turned out on Wednesday to voice their support for the department.

“It was unbelievable how many people went,” Aguilar said. “This is why we enjoy working in Westmorland, because the community is like a family out here.”

Wednesday’s meeting also included discussion related to the city’s fiscal year 2017-2018 budget, which is in its initial stages of being reviewed, Driskill said.

Consideration of potential pay raises for police officers will be deliberated in light of the overall budget review, as well as the department’s budget, he said.

A recent check of city records going back 10 years also revealed that Police Department personnel had received pay raises in recent years, contrary to previously published claims, Driskill said.

The city of Westmorland, which has about 34 employees, currently is operating with about $3.7 million in funds, according to its FY 2016-2017 budget. The Police Department projected about $242,000 in revenue for the year, with an estimated $526,000 in expenditures, the budget stated.

The city had climbed its way back from a deficit more than 10 years ago and has since been governed by council members who have taken “cautious and conservative” fiscal actions, Driskill said.

Although the city had gone through a period when pay raises were “few and far between,” council members have been willing to provide salary increases when funding is available, he said.

The budget constraints for the small city of about 2,500 are no different from the financial challenges that other small cities across the country often contend with.

“It’s kind of a fundamental problem that any small community faces,” Driskill said. “It doesn’t have a big tax base.”

The city is expected to soon advertise for the pending chief of police vacancy. There is also an expectation that the county Sheriff’s Office will request compensation for its sergeant should their assistance be needed beyond the agreed upon 60-day period, a timeframe the city is hoping it can abide by.

“I would expect that position to be filled before the 60 days expire,” Driskill said.