Police And Fire Chiefs Talk To Safety And Licensing Committee About Staff And Recruitment Plans

The Safety and Licensing Committee met 02/14/2024. Half the meeting was taken up with Directors Reports from Police Chief Polly Olson and Fire Chief Jeremy Hansen.

Chief Olson spoke about the Police Department’s plans to conduct a police staffing study to help them determine the need for future resources as the City of Appleton continues to grow and change.

Chief Hansen talked about the changes to the Fire Department hiring process that they were implementing.

I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:

POLICE CHIEF REPORT

Chief Olson told the committee that they wanted to conduct a study of the Police Department in which they would look at existing staffing and resources and what future needs the department might have as the city grows and changes. This would allow them to get some solid numbers and begin planning for future staffing needs.

She wanted to have an official, unbiased study conducted by experts because that way the recommendations would be defensible if the conclusions resulted in a recommendation that would require significant funding.

The Human Resources Department has been looking for potential consultants to conduct this study, and they intended to put out a Request For Proposals in the next few months. Chief Olson said the HR Department thought the cost of the study could end up being as high as $60,000.

Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) asked if the study would include ways to recruit police officers; however Chief Olson did not think that was necessary. Appleton has done a good job recruiting as compared to some other municipalities. Rather than look at ways to recruit she said, “I think the bigger thing for us is really just looking at how our resources are being deployed in the types of officers we might need, whether it’s adding to patrol or adding to specialized units, and just really how best to maximize the needs, to meet the needs, of this community in the way that this community expects, which is far different than any other community in the state.”

Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) asked if the study would also look at equipment. Chief Olson said that would be part of the study and noted that things such as squad cars would need to be increased if the number of officers were increased.

Alderperson Schultz asked if the study would look at Appleton’s needs during the status quo or if it would look at its needs during an emergent event such as a disaster or mass casualty event. Chief Olson said during those sorts of situations, departments generally rely on mutual aid from neighboring departments, so the study would “just measure what staff is required for day to day needs to be met”

Alderperson Van Zeeland noted that the department now sometimes uses drones in situations where in the past they would have used officers. She asked if the study would look at “how many bodies do we need, and how many pieces of technology or types of technology are available that can maximize what we already have?” Chief Olson was not sure of the answer but said that ask they explored consultants they would certainly consider whether or not the consultant to provide information of that nature.

FIRE CHIEF REPORT

Chief Hansen talked about changes to the fire department’s recruitment and hiring process. These changes were necessary because Fox Valley Technical College stopped providing a regional hiring process that they used to provide. For the last 12 years, FVTC in partnership with approximately 15 regional fire departments had conducted an annual hiring process. Appleton had been able to review around 100 candidates through that process.

FVTC, however, shut that down and pushed all the departments to utilize the National Testing Network, which was not a regional service but a national service. Appleton tried that but only got around 40 candidates.

As a result, the Appleton Fire Department has decided it will now try to run its hiring process completely in-house. They will do all the advertising, collecting of applications, etc. They planned to do some targeted advertising to colleges that offer fire programs and paramedic programs.

They will conduct written exams through a company that the city already has a subscription to, so that will not cost anything extra. They also arranged with FVTC to utilize their candidate physical ability testing equipment for the physical fitness exam.

They hoped that this would result in a recruit class of 2 or 3 by the end of September. If the internal process worked well, they hoped to start another round the following summer or fall.

He noted that they were anticipating 5-7 retirements by early 2025. [Hence the need to get new recruits.]

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1147938&GUID=9375DD3E-CF77-4DB8-AD02-10D3B1332BC8