MOUNT VERNON – Mount Vernon Police Chief Robert Morgan disputed a claim that he was sending paid officers to provide security for City Council meetings as “payback” for not getting a recommended raise.
The City Council discussed security and panic buttons for its chambers during the Monday meeting.
“I just think in this day and age, I think we need to have safety or security here while we're meeting for City Council meetings,” Councilmember Mel Severns said.
The issue came up after the City Council learned it was being charged a minimum of $90 per meeting for a Mount Vernon Police officer to provide security only during the legislative portion of the meeting. Police Chief Robert Morgan had been attending meetings without a charge.
“I was warned if the chief couldn't get his raise, we’d have to start paying for security,” Councilmember Mike Hillier said.
He said councilmembers Severns and Josh Kirby said it would be cheaper to give Morgan the raise than pay $90 per meeting to officers for security.
Morgan told the Mount Vernon News in a statement requested after the meeting that he understood a councilmember heard this comment from someone else.
“My response is simply that I am frustrated that a member of City Council would suggest in an open council session that my recent absence is somehow ‘payback’ without discussing the issue with me or the administration,” Morgan said.
He said that with the exception of formal requests from the administration to attend council meetings to discuss police department topics, his regular attendance has been voluntary and outside of his normal working hours.
“I do not believe any other city department head has attended as many meetings or has devoted as much time as I have over the past two years,” Morgan said. “At this point, I believe that it’s important that I spend my time working in other capacities for the police department.”
He said he will always attend meetings and discuss specific topics when asked by the city administration. His schedule may allow him to attend more often.
In the past, on-duty officers would be assigned as security without charge, Hillier said.
“I think this is payback,” Hillier said. “And I think it's ridiculous.”
Morgan said the department has never provided continuous security with on-duty patrol officers.
“Many years ago, we had a special-duty officer assigned to every council meeting,” he said. “This officer was not pulled from the on-duty officer ranks, but it was a ‘special duty,’ which is a voluntary assignment. This stopped several years ago.”
Several City Council members made it clear that they don't support taking officers off the street for any reason, he said.
“I have worked to arrive at a reasonable solution to provide security for council meetings at the request of several current members of the council by having officers volunteer for special-duty assignments as was done previously,” Morgan said. “These special-duty assignments are considerably less expensive than paying officers overtime to attend.”
He said the special-duty flat pay rate per officer for a two-hour meeting is $90. This is less than the $158.31 it would cost for an average patrolman to cover a two-hour meeting (that figure includes overtime).
During the meeting, Councilmember John Francis asked if panic buttons to call for help would be feasible.
City Attorney Rob Broeren said the panic buttons set up for the court system in its courtrooms and some offices cost several hundred dollars each.
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