City Desk ~ An insider’s view of the policies and politics of Colorado Springs city government

Archive for the 'Colorado Springs Police Department' Tag

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

Police and fire pension plans will cost $15M in 2012

January 13th, 2012, 10:56 am by

Mayor Steve Bach convinced the City Council this week to pass a resolution in support of a bill that would allow local governments to force their civilian employees to pay a greater share into the Public Employees’ Retirement Association.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, was introduced in the state Senate on Wednesday. Brian DelGosso, R-Loveland, is the House sponsor.

Lambert’s “proposed bill would change State law to allow employers in only the local government division of PERA to decrease the employer contribution rate and increase the member contribution rate by an amount to be determined by the employer. The decrease in the employer annual contribution is not to exceed 2.5 percent,” city documents state.

“For 2012, a 2.5 percent decrease to the employer contribution rate would have saved the City and its enterprises (excluding Utilities and Memorial Hospital) approximately $1.625 million,” documents state.

In 2012, the city of Colorado Springs expects to contribute $9.35 million into PERA.

While the amount of money that the city pays for the pensions of civilian employees could fix a lot of roads and turn on a lot of streetlights, the pension plans of police officers and firefighters will cost taxpayers almost 60 percent more than for civilian employees this year.

“The All Funds total for sworn pension plans is approximately $14,889,100,” Budget Manager Lisa Bigelow said in an email.

Sworn personnel make up the biggest number of city employees.

The city employs about 1,630 people, including about 768 cops and 372 firefighters.

“The only reason (police and fire pensions) cost the city more is they make up the majority of the employees,” City Councilman Bernie Herpin said on Facebook.

“Our contributions to their pension plans, on a percentage basis, is less than to PERA. We contribute 8 percent for those sworn police and fire that are in the statewide plan (which most are now) as opposed to 13.7 percent for PERA. Police & fire sworn also contribute 8 percent,” he said.

In an interview this week, Bach said he would address the pension plans of police officers and firefighters in coming months, though he didn’t go into specifics.

“We will be talking with the police and fire departments about their pension plans as part of our budgeting for 2013 through 2015,” he said.

(To watch the interview with the mayor, click here.)

Bigelow said the city has three pension plans for sworn personnel.

“The City has a closed sworn pension plan, the Old Hire Pension Plan, that has only one active member,” she wrote.

“In 2012, the City’s contribution to the Old Hire Pension Plan for Fire is $1,491,283 and for Police is $1,407,209.  With the exception of the one active member in the Old Hire Pension Plan, current sworn employees are either a member of a closed pension plan, the New Hire Pension Plan, or the FPPA State-wide Plan. The employer and employee contribution rates for these Plans are determined based upon actuarial studies.  These studies take into account all accrued liabilities.  For the New Hire Plan, the employer contribution rate is not currently broken out by specific categories of liabilities such as active and retired employees.  However, the City is working with FPPA to break this out.  For the State-wide Plan, the employer contribution rate is not broken out by specific categories of liabilities such as the City of Colorado Springs Municipal Government retired employees.”

Posted in: City Administration • City employees • • • • • • | 16 Comments »

Will mayor keep Pete Carey as police chief?

January 12th, 2012, 6:34 pm by

Mayor Steve Bach said Thursday that he’ll decide “within the next several weeks” whether or not to launch a national search for a police chief or give the job to Pete Carey on a permanent basis.

Carey, who has been interim police chief for about three months, apparently has made a good impression on the mayor.

“He’s just doing a great job. He has the respect of the force. I believe he has respect in the community. He certainly has my respect,” Bach said.

“As of this morning, I could not be more delighted with Chief Carey,” he added.

According to the city’s website:

“Carey joined the Colorado Springs Police Department in 1984, after serving with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office for two years. He has been assigned to Patrol, Metro Vice, Narcotics and Intelligence, Tactical Unit, Training Academy and the Major Crimes Unit.

Interim Chief Carey holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business from Saint Joseph’s University and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.”

Posted in: City Administration • City employees • • • | 1 Comment »

Police: ‘They’re having lunch for crying out loud’

December 16th, 2011, 1:48 pm by

District Attorney Dan May, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, interim Colorado Springs Police Chief Pete Carey and Pueblo Police Chief Lou Velez were among several law enforcement types seen having lunch today at MacKenzie’s Chop House downtown.

“It was like law enforcement central,” a source said. “I don’t think they were there celebrating the Hooters case victory.”

Exactly what was going on?

Was it a liquor code investigation?

Was it a sting?

Was it a Christmas party?

Colorado Springs police spokeswoman Barbara Miller apparently didn’t appreciate being questioned about the purpose of the lunch.

“They’re having lunch for crying out loud,” she said.

After former police spokesman Sgt. Steve Noblitt intervened, Miller reluctantly agreed to look into the lunch.

A few minutes later, Miller called back to say that Carey was attending the Pikes Peak Quarterly Law Enforcement Luncheon. Miller said she had an agenda for the luncheon and that the group “discussed several items.”

But Miller, who was recently hired by the Police Department, refused to provide the agenda, saying it wasn’t part of the initial request for information.

Miller also refused to say whether the police chief — or taxpayers — had paid for his lunch, saying again that the question wasn’t part of the initial request even though the question was raised during the initial phone call.

“Send me a request with everything you want so I don’t have to go back 15 times and ask the chief for all this information,” she said.

Posted in: Uncategorized • • • • • | 12 Comments »

Councilman: Hooters case factored into chief’s ouster

November 14th, 2011, 10:47 am by

Councilman Bernie Herpin

Before he retired, former police Chief Richard Myers said the controversial Hooters case had nothing to do with his departure.

“For those who have assumed that the controversy about a case at a local Hooter’s restaurant was responsible for my retirement, I can easily dismiss that one,” the chief wrote in his final Facebook post as head honcho at the Colorado Springs Police Department.

“Day in and day out, the Office of the Chief deals with so many sensitive issues, whether personnel related, crimes, public policy, fiscal….this one doesn’t even register on the Richter scale,” he wrote.

But City Councilman Bernie Herpin said the Hooters case was part of the reason that the chief lost his job.

“Based in part, on this incident, Colorado Springs Mayor (Steve Bach) asked our police chief to retire,” Herpin said in an email to Landon Miller, a California man who accused the Police Department of corruption after watching a story about the Hooters case on ABC’s 20/20.

Here is the full text of Herpin’s email to Miller:

Dear Mr. Miller,

Thank you for your email on the 20/20 story on the Hooters incident.

Based in part, on this incident, Colorado Springs Mayor asked our police chief to retire. And, as the 20/20 story stated, he has requested an investigation into the conduct of the liquor enforcement investigation of local businesses that serve alcohol. The task force that conducts these investigations, as is done in many cities, involves several different tactics, including using underaged confidential informants and undercover officers.

Like the Mayor, I am very concerned about how this case was handled and I support the Mayor’s call for an independent investigation.

However, to make a life changing decision on where to move your family based on a single incident does not seem to be very prudent to me. Colorado Springs is a great place to live and we are routinely listed near the top on many “best of” lists. The fact that our city administration took decisive action in this matter should reassure you that we do not tolerate inappropriate action by city employees. Our low taxes, clean air and water, great recreational opportunities, reasonable cost of living, and cultural venues make our community the destination of choice for many people and companies. For example, the Fortune 500 number 1 company, Walmart, is building a multimillion dollar data center here when they could have gone anywhere.

While, like Walmart, you apparently can move your family anywhere you want, I can assure you that you could do much worst than Colorado Springs and I would welcome you and your family to actually visit us and see first hand all that we have to offer.

Sincerely,

Bernie Herpin
Council Member District 4
City of Colorado Springs

Posted in: City Administration • City Council • City employees • Politics • • • • • | 5 Comments »

Colorado Springs bashed after Hooters case hits 20/20

November 13th, 2011, 10:55 am by

Photo by Metro VNI

A California man who was “seriously considering” moving his family to the city of Colorado Springs said he changed his mind after watching a story about the botched Hooters case on ABC’s 20/20.

“I write tonight to congratulate Colorado Springs on your corrupt police force, as displayed on tonight’s episode of ’20/20,’” Landon Miller said Friday in an email to City Council members.

“To see sworn officers drinking on duty, and framing innocent restaurant employees, combined with the fact that the (City Attorney’s Office) prosecuted on such patently false evidence, shows that Colorado Springs is as corrupt a city as one might find,” he wrote.

City Councilwoman Lisa Czelatdko responded to Miller’s email.

Her response infuriated Miller.

“Councilmember Czelatdko’s reply is arrogant and personally insulting,” Miller said in an email to The Gazette.

“I appreciate that my message to the council members is blunt; however, to receive the council member’s response below was rather a shock.  One would think a public official would be rather more diplomatic, and would certainly not resort to insulting a potential resident, taxpayer, and voter of Colorado Springs,” he said.

Czelatdko accused the news media of getting the story wrong.

“Seemingly these days, all media stories presented are missing accuracy, truthfulness, and fairness,” said Czelatdko

“I think most people realize that when reading a paper or watching television, or they should,” she said.

Czelatdko has become leery of reporters after reports that she — according to her Facebook page — “pulled the city Councilmember card” to score concert tickets. Czelatdko later claimed she was being a smart-aleck.

The Gazette has written numerous stories about the police investigation against Hooters and waitress Illysa Medina. None of those stories has required a correction.

Here’s the email that Miller sent to City Council:

Good Evening,

I write tonight to congratulate Colorado Springs on your corrupt police force, as displayed on tonight’s episode of “20/20″.  To see sworn officers drinking on duty, and framing innocent restaurant employees, combined with the fact that the District Attorney prosecuted on such patently false evidence, shows that Colorado Springs is as corrupt a city as one might find.

The reason my opinion should matter to you, is that I am looking to relocate my family from Southern California.  Until tonight’s broadcast, Colorado Springs was one of three metropolitan areas I was seriously considering.  I will now never seriously consider Colorado Springs as a potential hometown.  Congratulations on allowing such corruption to flourish in your city.  I for one will now never visit, based upon what I saw tonight.

Sincerely,

Landon Miller

Here’s Czelatdko’s response to Miller:

Lisa Czelatdko

Mr. Miller,

Seemingly these days, all media stories presented are missing accuracy, truthfulness, and fairness. I think most people realize that when reading a paper or watching television, or they should. Our police department has many intelligent, committed, staff that protect this community and have the willingness to put their lives on the line dealing with individuals that choose to break the law, choose to harm others, choose to no longer care about this society.  Im assuming if Colorado Springs was one of your family’ s city choices it was because of the incredible weather, surrounding aesthetic beauty, top educational choices, and incomparably low property and utility taxes. Colorado Springs is a city of over 400,000 plus people and like any City, we have problems. A corrupt police force is not one of them.

Sincerely,
Lisa Czelatdko (sa-lot-ko)
District 3 City Councilmember
City of Colorado Springs

Here’s Miller’s response to Czelatdko, which he also sent to interim Police Chief Pete Carey, council members and The Gazette:

Good Day,

I live in Southern California, and am planning in the long-term to permanently move my family out of California.  Colorado Springs was one of the areas on my short list of possible relocation destinations, until I saw the ABC 20/20 segment last night about the Illysa Medina prosecution.  I grew admittedly angry at the Colorado Springs Police Department officers in the story, for their fraudulent account of the incident at Hooters.  In my anger, I searched last night for the CSPD Police Chief’s e-mail address, to share my disgust.  While I could not find his address, I found the e-mail address for all city council members on the city’s web site, and sent the council members a blunt message, which I enclose below, indicating the depth of my disgust at the behavior of the CSPD officers.

To my surprise, I received a response this morning from Lisa Czelatdko, District 3 City Councilmember.  Much of my surprise results from the fact that the response is not an auto-generated, “We’ve received your e-mail message” reply, but rather personally written and focused.  The remainder of my surprise results from the fact that Councilmember Czelatdko’s reply is arrogant and personally insulting.  I appreciate that my message to the council members is blunt; however, to receive the council member’s response below was rather a shock.  One would think a public official would be rather more diplomatic, and would certainly not resort to insulting a potential resident, taxpayer, and voter of Colorado Springs.

It is also noteworthy that Ms. Czelatdko copied her reply to all of her city council member peers, as well as Peter Carey, the interim CSPD police chief.

I read Daniel Chacon’s September 21st story this morning, which confirms my view, namely that the bringing of fraudulent charges by CSPD sworn officers is tolerated by CSPD leadership.  Indeed, Mr. Chacon’s article provides confirmation of this state of affairs, per the comments of CSPD spokesman Sgt. Steve Noblitt, and the referenced comments attributed to interim chief Carey.  It is shocking that a public official’s response to this state of affairs is so arrogantly unapologetic, and in fact was intentionally rude.

Landon Miller

Posted in: City Council • Etc. • • • • • • | 79 Comments »

Quote of the Day

November 7th, 2011, 10:38 am by

Mayor Steve Bach was quoted in the Wall Street Journal today in a story about “a small but growing number of cities” that have deactivated their red-light cameras.

Bach got only one sentence in the story, but it’s still worthy of today’s Quote of the Day.

“The red light cameras have not demonstrated that they result in a material decrease in property damage and bodily injury,” Bach told the Wall Street Journal.

Last month, the Police Department announced that it was getting rid of the red-light cameras despite hailing them a week earlier as a high-tech way to make the city’s streets safer.

Fines collected from red-light runners cover the $5,200 it costs every month to use the equipment.

But interim Police Chief Pete Carey said the cost of employing two officers to review the photos and a half-time sergeant’s position to supervise was too expensive.

“That’s over $200,000 for that program that we hopefully will put it in a more urgent need area,” Carey said. “Right now, there’s lot of issues downtown. If I had 2½ officers I could plug into some downtown problems, it would be highly, highly beneficial for everybody.”

Carey said “public opinion” also factored into the decision.

Posted in: Budget • City Administration • • • • | Post a Comment »

City will lose $530K in revenue next year with elimination of red-light cameras

November 2nd, 2011, 10:22 am by

Mayor Steve Bach wanted a $1.5 million contingency fund for 2012.

The year hasn’t even started and his proposed contingency has been whittled down to $300,000.

The city’s Budget Office says there are various reasons for the decrease in the mayor’s proposed contingency fund, including the decision to get rid of the red-light cameras.

That decision is going to cost the city $530,000 in revenue.

The cameras were expected to generate about $65,000 in revenue monthly, or about $780,000 for the entire year. But expenses for the program totaled about $250,000, so the net revenue for 2012 was projected to be $530,000.

The City Council’s recent decision not to collect certain past-due stormwater accounts through property tax bills is also shrinking the mayor’s proposed contingency fund.

The council decided not to send accounts owing less than $20 to the county treasurer this year. Accounts under $20 total $65,000, not $50,000 as originally reported by the city, Budget Manager Lisa Bigelow said.

The council also decided to figure out a different way to collect on properties with unpaid stormwater fees that have changed ownership on or after January 2010. The city stopped billing stormwater fees in January 2010, and the council wants to hold the previous owners, not the new owners, accountable for their past-due fees. Those accounts total about $95,000, Bigelow said.

For new owners who already paid past-due stormwater fees on properties they purchased on or after January, the city plans to issue refunds. The refunds total about $85,000, Bigelow said.

In addition, Bigelow said the city doesn’t anticipate collecting from the federal or county government or nonprofits. Those accounts total $155,000, she said.
“We don’t think we’ll be collecting those,” she said.

Bach, who is the city’s first strong mayor, wanted the contingency fund for “unanticipated or emergency items.” The contingency fund is separate from the city’s rainy-day fund, which essentially serves the same purpose.

Other factors that are taking a bite out of the mayor’s stash:

The costs of the streetlight program came in lower than budgeted, from $4.5 million to $3.8 million. But the city has taken a big hit with copper thefts and is budgeting $520,000 to replace the copper in the streetlights and get them working again, Bigelow said.

Who pays to replace the copper – the city government or Colorado Springs Utilities – is still up for debate, she said. But, for now, the city is going to budget the expenditure.

The city is also budgeting for a $120,000 study for “development standards,” though the city is also in discussion with Springs Utilities about who will pay for it, she said.

“We’ve been working with Utilities to look at development standards related to when a development occurs, how many streetlights do we really need, should we be looking at LED streetlights, things like that,” she said.

Posted in: Boards and Commissions • Budget • City Administration • City Council • Politics • Utilities • • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

Possible lawsuits against Memorial, Utilities and police on Tuesday agenda

October 24th, 2011, 9:47 am by

The City Council is scheduled to meet in closed executive session Tuesday to receive legal advice on matters affecting Colorado Springs Utilities, Memorial Health System and the Colorado Springs Police Department.

Two-thirds of the council members present must agree to meet in executive session.

If consent to meet in executive session is not given, the item or items may be discussed in open session or withdrawn from consideration.

“The issues to be discussed involve receipt of legal advice regarding three possible litigation matters pertaining to Colorado Springs Utilities, the Police Department and Memorial Health System, and legal advice concerning Memorial Health System and Stormwater,” according to the agenda.

Posted in: City Council • Meetings • • • • | Post a Comment »

Quote of the Day

October 19th, 2011, 4:17 pm by

“The City initially denied fulfilling the (Colorado Open Records Act) request on the basis that the email communications were protected communications that involved attorney work product, and might reveal legal strategies and tactics used in similar prosecutions.  Because the emails were later required to be provided by the City Attorney’s Office to opposing counsel in a different prosecution, the protection on those two emails was waived and they are now being released pursuant to CORA.”

— Chief Communications Officer Cindy Aubrey said today about the city’s decision to release the emails in the botched Hooters case despite the city’s initial refusal.


Posted in: City Administration • City employees • Colorado Open Records Act • • • • • • • | 5 Comments »

Arrests not imminent for demonstrators in Acacia Park

October 12th, 2011, 2:54 pm by

Photo by Wayne Laugesen

The Colorado Springs Police Department is taking a peaceful approach to the Occupy Colorado Springs protesters at Acacia Park.

Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Noblitt said the protesters aren’t creating a disturbance, so the issue isn’t a high priority.

“It’s one of those things where we’re not really receiving any complaints,” he said. “We have referred this matter to our Homeless Outreach Team. They’re the ones that deal with camping issues.”

The so-called HOT team is out of town on a conference and returning Monday, Noblitt said.

“When they come back, they’re going to go down and make contact with them. But at this point, we haven’t really received any complaints,” he said.

“But if we start receiving complaints, if they’re blocking paths down there, sleeping down there, we’ve made it clear to them that it would be in violation of our ordinances, and they can be arrested. We’re not saying we’re waiting until Monday. We’re just simply saying we made a referral to our outreach team,” Noblitt said.

Noblitt said police haven’t planned a crackdown on the protesters despite reports.

“It was misrepresented that we had some kind of ultimatum and that at 11 o’clock last night we were going out and arrest a bunch of people. That was never the case,” he said.

Earlier today, it was reported via Twitter that the protesters were working with City Council “on a solution.”

Council President Scott Hente said that was news to him as well as President Pro Tem Jan Martin.

“Certainly, you’re not going to tell me as a responsible journalist you’re using Twitter as an acceptable news source,” he said.

Posted in: City Council • Parks • Politics • • • • | 5 Comments »

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »