By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
With budget crunches becoming a common occurrence and crime climbing upward, Whitewater officials have signed off on a plan to embark on a long-range study of the city Police Department’s operations.
The Common Council on May 3 began preliminary discussions of the study, which could be included in the city’s 2017 operating budget. Council member Patrick Wellnitz had asked the issue be discussed at last week’s meeting.
“This is not about current management,” Wellnitz said. “It’s about where we can improve.”
Wellnitz compared his proposal to the multi-year study on the future of the city’s fire and rescue department, which recently incorporated and has fallen under the umbrella of municipal management.
One issue that likely will be studied at length in the police department operations study is staffing numbers, structure and overall compensation. As a community built around a university, Whitewater faces unique issues that are not easily comparable to other cities, villages and towns across the state.
Council President Patrick Singer said he believed the study would be a good roadmap toward the department’s future.
“You can only enforce so many issues with so many officers,” Singer said.
Police Chief Lisa Otterbacher said she also backs the study and suggested “intriguing information” could come out of any such review.
“I don’t bring any ego to the job,” Otterbacher said. “I like to think I bring a great deal of integrity, character and passion to what I do. I’m all about any type of study.”
City staffers will likely develop a request for proposals, or RFP, to prospective firms in advance of engaging in the study.
