CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
TWENTY SECOND COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. R-16-142 ENACTMENT NO. ________________________
SPONSORED BY: Dan Lewis, Ken Sanchez, Isaac Benton
RESOLUTION
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Calling For A Study Of The Need For, Feasibility Of And Methodology Of Implementation Of Consolidating Public Safety Services Within The Incorporated And Unincorporated Areas Of Bernalillo County; Designating Funding For The Study (Lewis, Sanchez, Benton)
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CALLING FOR A STUDY OF THE NEED FOR, FEASIBILITY OF AND METHODOLOGY OF IMPLEMENTATION OF CONSOLIDATING PUBLIC SAFETY SERVICES WITHIN THE INCORPORATED AND UNINCORPORATED AREAS OF BERNALILLO COUNTY; DESIGNATING FUNDING FOR THE STUDY.
WHEREAS, Bernalillo County has reached a population of 675,000, with the vast majority of that population (96%) residing in urban areas; and
WHEREAS, since 2008, the gross receipts and property taxes revenues that fund the services delivered by the City of Albuquerque and the County of Bernalillo have experienced slow, flat, or in some cases negative growth, straining the ability of these governments to provide necessary services; and
WHEREAS, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, the Bernalillo County fire department, and the City of Albuquerque police and fire departments serve constituencies with similar demographics and often overlapping boundaries; and
WHEREAS, due to criteria set through national standards the aforementioned departments use substantially similar equipment to carry out their day-to-day tasks - from vehicles to service revolvers to firefighting equipment; and
WHEREAS, the provision of public safety services is among the most challenging tasks a community faces and expenditures for public safety are a substantial share of the budgets of both the City of Albuquerque and the County of Bernalillo; and
WHEREAS, these shared attributes between the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and the Albuquerque Police Department and the Bernalillo County Fire Department and the Albuquerque Fire Department provide an excellent opportunity for consolidating these four Departments under a regional public safety agency; and
WHEREAS, consolidation of service delivery by local public safety agencies has been a historical method of improving service delivery in growing urban areas starting from the consolidation of the City of Las Vegas, Nevada and Clark County Public Safety Agencies in 1954 to the merger of the Charlotte North Carolina Police Department and Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office in 1993; and
WHEREAS, consolidation provides a higher volume of police services, lower response times, reduced overtime expenses, the elimination of duplication of effort, and lower overall operating costs. Consolidation allows first responders better access to needed resources, more training opportunities, greater flexibility in staffing, the ability to afford specialized apparatus equipment and to establish expert units; and
WHEREAS, the quality of delivery of public safety services is expected to rise under consolidation of agencies as a result of more efficient and coordinated use of staffing, more flexibility to meet hours of peak demand, enhanced training opportunities, improved management and supervision and more opportunities for advancement for first responders; and
WHEREAS, consolidation strategies can be tailored to a region’s needs. Different variations include:
- Functional: agencies combine certain functional units, such as
emergency communications, dispatch, or records.
- Cross Deputizing; establishment of mutual enforcement and response zones where agency jurisdictions overlap.
- Pooled Resources: agencies authorize each other’s officers and fire fighters to pool resources and improve regional service delivery for example, permitting a city police officer to make arrests in the county and a sheriff’s deputy to make arrests in the city.
- Unification: uniting all police, fire, and emergency medical services agencies under one umbrella into a single new entity.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE:
Section 1. The Director of Council Services is authorized to procure the services of a contractor to initiate and complete a study of the feasibility of consolidating the City of Albuquerque Police and Fire Departments, the County of Bernalillo Fire Department and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. The study shall include, but is not limited to, the following;
1. A needs and cost/benefit analysis of consolidating public safety services in all of Bernalillo County;
2. An analysis of opportunities and challenges of consolidating public safety services;
3. An analysis of how such a consolidation could occur in a manner that is complementary to or improves the City’s compliance with the provisions of the federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement;
4. Recommendations as to whether consolidation of public safety services should occur and, if so, in what manner.
Section 2. The Director of Council Services shall direct the contractor to work with both City and Bernalillo County staff in the course of the study, including representatives from the office of the Chief Administrative Officer, the Bernalillo County Manager, the Bernalillo County Sheriff, a member from an association or union representing police officers and a member from an association or union representing fire fighters.
Section 3. The amount of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) is hereby designated within the Council Services FY/17 general fund budget for the purposes of funding the study referred to in Section 1 above.
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