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8 Jul 99 <br /> TO: Fellow Councilmembers <br /> SUBJECT: Make -up of the Proposed Tri -City (Centerville, <br /> Circle Pines and Lexington) Police Department <br /> At the last meeting of the Task Force for the proposed Tri - <br /> City police department, a sticky issue has come up concerning <br /> the make up of the voting police commission. The <br /> representatives from Centerville (myself) and Circle Pines <br /> (Councilmember Phil Korst) believe that the two commissioners <br /> from each city should be a city councilmember and a citizen at <br /> large. Lexington feels it should be two citizens at large, they <br /> feel that it would keep the "politics" out of the police <br /> commission. <br /> Circle Pines and myself feel that a serving member of the <br /> police commission is a concerned citizen regardless of what hat <br /> we may be wearing and yes althou we are concerned about <br /> budget items (The police budget is a very large percentage of <br /> our budgets — close to 40 %). We are there to serve the public <br /> first of all, but also to be able to report back to the council on <br /> certain issues and things happening within the department that is <br /> important to know about and direct along with the input from <br /> the other commissioners. We attempted to comprise with <br /> Lexington by saying, appoint however you feel is best for your <br /> city, whether it be two Councilmembers, one council person and <br /> one citizen at large and or two citizens at large, another idea was <br /> to have it one councilmember and one citizen and then after five <br /> years as the new "Tri -City Department" is rolling along, then <br />