I am a senior so I do not drive after dark any more. HOWEVER, I want to let you know that I am opposed to any lay offs of Chesterfield Police Officers.
This is strictly a scare tactic by some elected officials.
David Joseph, please know that I am with all of you on Tuesday night and I stand for a strong Chesterfield Police Department. Hester V. Regan

Laying off Police officers is wrong. Chesterfield is not so broke that we have to do this. It is a political ploy by the supervisor to get a tax increase. I vote HIM to be laid off not our good Police Officers.

I can't believe Mr. Joseph is trying to play advocate to the Police Department and innocent in this debacle. What he is not saying is that he and the Clerk have already contacted the Sheriff's Department to contract with them. HE said he wouldn't support another millage and that there had to be cuts made. WHERE did he think the cuts would be made???? Please, don't insult everyone by acting innocent now. Has anyone paid attention to what HAS been done to cut costs at the Police Department to no avail?? Common sense tells you staff is the last resort not the first. Go to the Township like I did and get a copy of the paperwork that tells you how much money is coming in and how much is going out. It is great Menards has built in the township but one store is not going to pay enough taxes to fix the problem. Let's face it. When the Police Department asked for our help we told them no so quit acting like this is such a surprise. Ms. Hester says "Chesterfield is not so broke that we have to do this". Is that what we want? To live in a place that is broke and has no services available to us?? Or maybe, just maybe, that is the goal. Then the county could take over all the services and we all lose ANY say in what happens to our community. THINK PEOPLE!!! Have any of you watched the board meetings??

First and foremost the budget should be laid bare for all to see. What are the deciding factors at play here? Are legacy costs sustainable? Whats the status of our fleet? What are the office expenses? Equipment requirements? NONE of this is know to the taxpayer, who is only asked time and time and time again to blindly support this. Sadly, many do just that...

You want/need more revenue? Make your specific case to your employers. Hopefully the days of blindly supporting this constant expansion of government that has our entire nation trillions of dollars in debt is coming to a close. The sooner the better.

And of course we should all be told how much the *last* chief(s) cost us all when Jim Ellis was picking them...

Wipe out the whole department and contract the sheriffs dept. Sick of seeing the cop on my blocks car sitting running for hours in his driveway.

It is my belief that sometime in 2013 the citizens will once again have an opportunity to vote on a Police Department millage. What baffles me is why the citizens voted the Police Department millage down yet voted in favor to renew the Fire Department’s Equipment Fund. A fund that was already overtaxed and despite the department purchasing more new trucks over the last several years than several other area departments all combined, it still enjoyed a $6,000,000.00 surplus. The only reason I can think of is that the citizens wanted to see a date on the millage that gave them an opportunity to revisit the tax at a later date, aka a “sunset clause”. With that being said I think you’ll see an expiration date on any new proposal that will come before us. I also think that it’s time to reinstate the “Citizens Advisory Board”, (PFAB) “similar” in fashion to what we used to have. It’s always good to have checks and balances, it’s very possible this voting down of the Police millage could have been averted in the first place.
Mr. Prime, I think that you are way off base with your statement regarding Dave Joseph and if I were you I’d check my facts before you spoke. I have an idea…why not speak directly to Mr. Joseph and see what his position is. I did have conversation with Mr. Joseph regarding this subject. He is not in favor of contracting out to the Sherriff’s Department and he has said that he would support a Police Department millage.

Concerned Citizen, I voted yes on all of it. The zoo, Smart Bus, DIA, Fire, and Police. Can't blame me. All that and living on 1950 wages.

All surrounding communities are patrolled by the Macomb County Sheriff because they figured out that it works just fine.

For less money

People are taxed to the hilt!!!! With all the new restaurants and buisnesses, housing etc that erupted over the last ten years, why is chesterfieild broke??It has become a cesspool for lowimcome and overridden with amoral transients and city escapees living on government assistance.

Wall Street Stole Cities Bond Money! That's Why We're Broke!

Anybody who thinks the sheriff's department will provide the same service as Chesterfield, your crazy! First of all you get what you pay for. Second after their initial low ball estimate to get you in the door, the real price comes after your police department is dissolved and you are stuck with it because there are no other options! Plus look at Sheriff Wickersham's budget. Last time I checked he was millions in the red. He can't figure out his current situation!

Guess thats what is bugging me Scott. The last time a millage past for the police Chesterfield did not have much in regards to large business like it does today. Waterside Park, WalMart, Motels, Restaraunts all opened after. Currently there are 56 homes under construction and Menards is opening with Olive Garden, and another large chain motel to break ground this fall. The easiest thing to blame is the economy or is it just lack of interest from board members? Not sure how the employees of these departments can keep an upper chin throughout all of this mess. For god's sake look at how New Baltimore's police and fire are treated by its citizens and board. They stand behind them all the way.

All of those businesses require more police work, not less.
The near total collaspe of our economy caused housing values to fall every year which dropped everyones property taxes...you all paid less to everything on your tax bill...less money coming in squeezes all departments.
The Tea's have come into the township to turn it into what they see as the answer to all problems...less taxes. That doesn't work in the real world. If you want to live in a safe place where an officer will respond quickly to your call, you have to pay them and have enough of them to cover the township.
Obviously, many have not bothered to pay attention to what has occured to the fund balances of any of the departments, especially police. Their problem was not caused by anything other than reduced revenue from falling property tax value.
This isn't rocket science, it is all on paper that anyone at any time can obtain from the township and read. It has been talked about, studied and action must be taken.
I see Monday morning quarterbacks with little real knowledge about the issue, they just think all government is corrupt and taxes should be abolished..Tea Party!!!

Citizen, you say Tax bills are lower now than there were a few years ago but everything else has gone thru ther roof. Every politician from here to DC has his hand in my wallet. Most of us cant afford another increase IN ANYTHING!! The sheriff can do it just as well for way less.

somebody does their homework good job concerned citizen .I agree 100 percent maybe are Board needs
to do their homework as well

Thank you Pavel Bure, I was not aware of that. I hope people reading this blog take that into consideration when they think the Sheriff's Department is the answer.

This is our National, State and Local government's problem. The only answer each and every one of them have to our spending problems is never to cut expenses, but always to raise revenue. It is simply unsustainable.

"Most upsetting about the report is not that America is running a deficit with no serious discussion of how to cut down on spending, it’s the candid revelation that even with a balanced budget, the astonishing amount of debt America has means that we must run consist surpluses to pay even pay off the interest on the loans. And with America having accrued so much debt so quickly, it is likely that our economic model will be seen as unstable by potential lenders, so borrowing money to be able to make the payments on the interest on our debt will likely be out of the question in the near future."

http://tpnn.com/goa-obamas-economic-policy-not-sustainable/

Our budget is not balanced = not enough have been cut. It's pretty simple.

Oak Park could not wait to get rid of the Chief so of course we hire him. Plus his employees did not like him and that speaks volumes. The sheriff department is a terrible idea when I lived in Harrison Township they had 1 car on most nights but of course Hackel at the time promised the world if taxpayers would just open their check books . Keep our local police. Also when I lived in Detroit and had to wait 2 hours plus for a police officer because there was not enough.... Do I need to say anymore why don't you move just look at Detroit and last time I checked crime population business were all on the rise in chesterfield not a good time to cut police.