City Council - Regular Meeting

Maybe. It's Okay. It's not. All right, the time is 7 p.m. I will go ahead and call this meeting to order. Will the recorder please call the role?

Councelor Urban here. Councelor Height here. Councelor Lamman here. Councelor Merid here. Councelor Settlemire. Councelor Wilson here. Mayor Silsby

here. I'll rise for the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. Items to be added to the agenda. There are none. We have a special presentation tonight. Police accreditation and annual report. Police Chief Corey Chase.

All right. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh, tonight we're gonna talk about uh the accreditation process and um I have a report to hand out to all of you so you have a copy of of our accreditation report. And then we also have um a guest with us tonight uh Scott Hayes who is the director of the Northwest Accreditation Alliance. So, I'll hand out the report and then we'll let uh Scott introduce himself and uh talk a little bit about the Northwest Accreditation Alliance. All right. So, I'm going to go ahead and introduce Scott Hayes. Um, he's joining us remotely tonight and he is the director of the Northwest Accreditation Alliance. So, take it away, Scott.

Thank you. I just want to make sure that you everybody can hear me. Okay. All right. Super. Uh, good evening counselors and members of the community. As introduced, I'm Scott Hayes. I'm the executive director for the Northwest Accreditation Alliance. I appreciate the opportunity to address the council and present the Cottage Grove Police Department with its first award of accreditation under the leadership of Chief Corey Chase. Law enforcement is experiencing a changed uh society with increased demands for police accountability and transparency. As in our past, our profession must face these challenges and work with our communities to address their concerns. Accreditation is one step towards building community trust. The Northwest Accreditation Alliance board is comprised of members from the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police, the Oregon State Sheriff's Association, and the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials. and we provide accreditation services for 117 law enforcement agency and communication centers. Oregon um excuse me, accreditation goals are straightforward. They are there to support continued improvement of law enforcement services, establish best practices through professional standards, to promote agency accountability and transparency, and enhance overall operational management. For the Cottage Grove Police Department to become accredited, it had to adhere to 110 law enforcement standards. Compliance is generally expressed through policies and procedures and adherence to Oregon state law, the Oregon administrative code, constitutional provisions, and county pro county and city policy. Our standards are established based on best practice nationally and through

changes in federal and Oregon law. In addition to meeting each of the 110 standards, the agency must also demonstrate compliance by following established policies and current best practices. Then reacreditation occurs every 3 years. This is truly a monumental step for any agency to be evaluated by an independent outside organization and have its policies and practices scrutinized. I am aware that several staff members were involved in the process, but I would like to acknowledge accreditation manager B Crowe and the chief for their diligent work in preparing the agency for the assessment review. So, Chief Chase and City Council, uh, on behalf of the Northwest Accreditation Alliance 24 member board, I would congratulate you on receiving your first award of accreditation. Right. Thank you, Scott. Um, mayor, council, um, yeah, I just want to add a little bit to that. Um, this was a an extremely challenging and difficult process. Um, it's not easy to do this. And in in Oregon, there's, um, some agencies are required to do this. uh under um under Oregon law. Um and that's based on the size of the department. Some of them are required to do it sooner um than others, but the size of our department is is one that's it's not a requirement for us to do this under state law. Um, we took this on as a challenge and an opportunity um to do this um voluntarily, not because we had to, but because this is something that we felt was right for our police department and we felt was right for our community to be able to show that um that we're not just talking about uh some of the things

that we wanted to do or some of the things that we were doing, but we were going to um kind of walk the walk. So, a lot of work went into this. Um, and as uh Scott said, you know, Brooke Crow was our accreditation manager. Um, so there's a lot of work that goes into the role of accreditation manager and um, she dedicated a lot of her time. This wasn't something that was in her normal job duties uh, when we took this on. So, this was all in addition to um, and as with everything that that uh, she does, she kind of tackled this and um, did a phenomenal job. So, um, a huge thank you to her and her support throughout all of this because, um, we wouldn't have been able to do this without her kind of taking the reigns and helping to manage this. Um, the stuff that I did behind the scenes, um, was really, um, you know, a lot of the policy work and updating policies and things like that, but but really the day-to-day in this, and it took us almost 10 months to do this from the time we started our self assessment until we finished it. So, um, it was almost something that we worked on just about every single day. So, in addition to everything else that we had going on in the police department. So, huge, uh, thank you to Brooke for that. Um, and, uh, um, there's any questions about this process, um, for either myself or Mr. Hayes. Um, we'd be happy to to take any questions you might have.

Any questions? We want to share our gratitude for you guys taking this on and as you said it's not a requirement but it speaks volumes for what you are doing moving forward in Cottage Grove and keeping that level of professionalism and we thank you for that. Thank you mayor.

All right. Well, thank you, Scott, for joining us tonight. Appreciate it. And thank you for your uh help and support through this process as well. And to your staff there at the Northwest Accreditation Alliance. Greatly appreciated. Thank you. And have a good night,

Mayor and Council. I'd like to take just a moment to get um Chief's Chase photograph with Baroo and Captain um next to the certificate of accreditation. Yeah. Would you like to join him as well? Yeah. Thank you.

All right. Um so again, mayor, council, um the second part of of this uh presentation tonight is the um presentation of our 2025 annual report. And so the report in front of you um is 35 pages. Um I've kind of condensed that down tonight with our presentation. And I think we have about 13 or 14 slides, but um there's a lot of information and detail in this annual report and I and so I wanted to kind of condense this down and and hit some of the highlights in this presentation and then allow some opportunity for some discussion and some questions uh at the end of this. So um so we can go ahead and and start with the the first slide here. So when you know when we met um last year we had our retreat with the council and and you know we came up with what um you know the council's goals were going to be um and so one of the things that I want to highlight is that you know we you know as the staff and um you know employees of the city you know we're we're looking at those council goals and figuring out how the work that we do um is is matching with what the goals are of the council. So, um, the things that we looked at, one of the council goals is a safe and thriving community. Um, and so, you know, the the accreditation process was a big task for us. And I think that was one of the things that that ultimately um fits into that category um of creating, you know, this safe and thriving community by making sure that our policies and procedures and um and the way we conduct business is is up to industry standard. um not just at a state level but at a re at a regional and and national level as well. So um again that was a huge accomplishment for us. Um so um along those lines as well um trying to kind of rebuild back the staffing in this police department over

the last couple of years and in 2025 uh we took some big steps forward. So, one of the things that we haven't had since I've been here is this first line supervision. And we were able to uh fill um our three sergeant positions and um and really um not just fill those positions, but create um a path of career development and uh training and mentorship for those first line supervisors. So each one of them as they were promoted into that position or as we brought them on, they have kind of a training syllabus that that um I've created for them that kind of checks some boxes as we go through that to make sure that they're getting the training that they need um informally through mentorship w with myself or with Captain Pasadori um and also um some uh formal training as well. So, and we've invested in in making sure that we're providing them with proper leadership uh guidance and and mentorship along the way. So, a huge accomplishment for us um in doing that and the three supervisors are doing a really a really good job for us right now and I'm I'm really happy with with the results that we're getting so far. So, um and it's kind of fun for me as the chief to be able to share kind of some of my experiences and um what to do and what not to do. um some of those things that I remember when I was a new sergeant. So, um it's been uh it's been a really positive thing for our department. Um our FBI task force um one of the things that we talked about when when I first got here was, you know, we were kind of hearing um rumblings of, you know, the potential for human trafficking and child exploitation um specifically going on in Cottage Grove. Um and we were seeing some reports of that coming in. and we're investigating some of those things. And one of the things that I

explored was the opportunity for us to partner with our federal agency um with the FBI um to work on some of those cases and to have some support where there's a lot more resources than most local law enforcement agencies, especially smaller agencies have. So, um, we were able to partner with them and we are part of their child exploitation and human trafficking task force and our detective um, Sole Gordon uh, was recently credentialed as a part-time um, FBI task force officer. So, what that means is she has the ability um to work part-time on cases as cases come up. she can partner with um federal agents from the FBI and she can present cases to the US attorney's office um uh for federal prosecution. So um it also gives us the opportunity to uh be reimbursed for some of our overtime expenses related to those cases um from the federal government. So there's a lot of um advantages to that. We also are able to get more specialized training for her. The FBI will will help us out with that as well. So, it's a really good partnership. It's not something that she's doing every day all day long. It's one of those things that as an investigation comes up, we've got um kind of a a force multiplier by having those resources available to us and having the FBI um available to help us do those investigations when they come up. And some of those can be um particularly challenging and especially if you've only got one detective working in the case. So, um, when we get into, um, the other goals here, community engagement and trust, that was one of the things that I emphasized when I was applying for this job and one of the things that, uh, that I have really emphasized since I took this position, trying to build relationships in the community and um,

and really making sure that we're connecting in ways other than just in in law enforcement. uh we want to have a relationship with our community members, not just those who are um breaking the law or those people that we um have to hold accountable through arrest or or whatnot, but we want to have a relationship with everybody in this community. And we've done that by um hosting a number of different events, uh participating in different events, and just building partnerships throughout the community. And so there's a few things highlighted in there. um coffee with a cop, um the shop with a cop, and then our our books and badges program, which um there's a little bit more information about that program in here as well. Um and that um you know, that program in particular is uh one that we you know, we're trying to uh expand on that and and offer it uh a few more times. staffing has been a little bit challenging the last couple of months, but uh it was really rewarding for us to be able to go into Bohemia Elementary and and take those uh those kids uh some books and have one of our officers have a story time with them in the library, read them a book, and then leave them all with a copy of that book. So, um, the other programs that we have right now that we're working with, the trauma intervention program, they provide support to us during traumatic incidents and events. Uh, we've done a lot to kind of help them build that program here in Lane County or to grow that program. Um, just kind of getting the word out and and um, also utilizing their program. And this year, one of our officers was recognized as um one of the top utilizers of that program uh for the 2025 year, I believe it was. Uh we went to a banquet uh this past summer. So, I was able to present there and talk about the TIP program and then also be there when Officer Blac was given an award for uh

utilizing those services um in Lane County. So, we also have a partnership with Working Dogs Oregon, which has done a tremendous, uh, amount of work for us, uh, supporting us in our in our K9 programs, um, being able to, uh, provide us, um, donate, uh, dogs to us and to help us with training and things like that. So, um, we continue that partnership with Working Dogs Oregon. We value that partnership, um, and and we will continue to to work with those folks there. So financial uh sustainability is another goal that we talked about. Um and I think in doing the you know financial um sustainability the things that we look at again our leadership development our accreditation um being good stewards of our resources as well I think is is very important for us and um we do u keep a close eye on the budget um pay close attention to that. Uh I I look at it often uh so does Brooke. So, um, as we're managing the finances and and the business side of the police department, um, we're definitely, um, keeping our eye on things and making sure that we are being good stewards of the resources that we are getting. So, um, datadriven decisions that that we're that we're making. We're we're trying to do more analytical work with our with our data. Um, it is challenging because we don't have like a crime analyst or or any data analysts on staff. Um, but what we're doing in putting together this report is trying to pull some of the data out that uh that we're putting into the system on a daily basis and then being able to share it and be transparent with the community. Um, we do that also by um by sharing that out on our social media sites uh every week. And so, you know, um we put together that weekly update and send that out so we can keep the community informed on on our our um activities and just to provide a level of transparency and to share some data as well.

So, the next slide is our calls for service. Um, and we're what we try to do in these reports is is do like a kind of a three-year look. And, um, so if you skip ahead to page five in your report, it'll kind of match up to what this slide is here. And what we saw was um you know in 2023 the calls for service were right around 14,000 and the past two years they've been right around 17,000. So, uh, one of the reasons that I mean that I think and and it's hard to kind of track why the calls for service go up in every, um, category, but, um, one of the things that we do know happens is is there's under reporting and also a lot of those, um, calls for service can be selfinitiated. So, back in 2223, uh, there were some significant staffing shortages in the police department. So when that happens, there's less time for self-initiated activity. So that's one of the things that can drive up your um total number of incidents or or your calls for service. The calls for service being up uh in my opinion um shows a couple of things. One, that our officers are out there being proactive, and two, that the community is is willing to call us and to report um activities to us. So, um, it's it's one of those things that is is not an alarming number to see when I look at the calls for service. So, what when we try to look down at some of the data um, and we can move to the next slide. There we go. So, these are are the call types and and on page six of your report there, we can look at these call types. So these the numbers on here um

when you go and look at those um there's not a lot that really jumps off the page so to speak but there are some things that that I think are worth mentioning. Criminal mischief calls which is vandalism um you know destruction of property and things like that. with your calls for service going up as much as they did, um those criminal mischief calls have gone down um in 23, 24, and again in 25. So a couple years ago we had 226 incidents reported of criminal mischief, and in 2025 we had 144. So, um, the one if you go down a couple lines where we look at our motor vehicle crashes, and we'll talk more about this when we get to, uh, the portion on traffic. Uh, that was something that was, uh, a bit concerning to me when I got here. Um, and again in 2024, and I thought we would see a different number in 2024, and we didn't. Um, we saw a significant increase. Um, so to see that number go down uh in 2025 um I think just kind of shows that us continuing to be uh proactive and and you know um traffic enforcement, traffic safety uh looks to be paying off. So I'm optimistic that we can kind of um maintain that trend in the next couple of years. Uh some of the other things that we look at, our burglary calls um are down significantly from uh 23 to 25. Um and our assault uh calls are down uh significantly. They ironically stayed the same in 23 and 24. Um and then they dropped uh in 25. So those things are encouraging uh for me to see. uh the drug activity um is up and I think one of you know one of the things that could be driving that is some of the changes

in in Oregon legislature that uh um with the uh recriminalization I guess if you will of hard drugs. So our officers are are being proactive in in uh seeking out um uh drug possession and things like that. And um you know a lot of our officers when they started in this profession uh they haven't really known a time where user quantities of cocaine were illegal. Um it's a little bit odd for me to say because it wasn't that way when I started. It wasn't that way for the majority of my career. Um but I saw that happen and now I saw that kind of reverse again. And I think uh uh it's important that uh that that that decision was made. And you know, along with that comes our participation in the deflection program here in Lane County, which is one of those things that uh didn't exist uh when I was a patrol cop either. But uh we've seen some successes there that uh that I think our officers can be proud of. And um so we know that that uh having that as an option has also been beneficial to us. So, um the the last number on there, we'll get to this one again when we get to the traffic portion because I there's some things that to me are um concerning with this one, which is DUI enforcement. So, uh we'll put a placeholder on that one and and I'll talk a little bit more about that. So, um I want to go to the next slide.

So, our our arrest detail Yep. Quick question on the calls. Do we know how many uh resulted in uh court visit, court fines or or anything like that? Is there a ratio uh call types to enforcement?

So, uh Mayor Counselor Irvin, um as far as like diving that far into the data, we we haven't done that. Um but the next slide I think we'll I'll I'll show you the next slide which is our arrest details and if you go I'll I'll tell you um it's on the 11th page of the report that you have. So this is I think kind of along the lines of what you might be looking for without getting really down into the weeds on on what happens when they go to court. But this is the number of arrests that we've made um in the last couple of years. The reason why we don't have the three years of data here is just simply because there's not really enough room to put that graph together with with how we want to share this data. So we only put two years of data in here. Most of the time throughout this report, you'll see three years of data. But what what I think um partially answers your question is, you know, are people being held accountable? We're responding to these calls. Are we are we clearing these cases with an arrest? Are we are we arresting people and holding people accountable? And the answer to that is is yes, we are. And when you look at um the numbers in 2024, there were 56 five adult arrests. And then you look in 2025 and there were 968. So when we talk about accountability and we talk about making arrests, those aren't all physical custody arrests, but those are clearing cases with an arrest. Those are holding people accountable either by taking them into physical custody and booking them into the Lane County jail or citing them in lie of custody and and requiring them to be held accountable in our municipal court here in Cottage Grove. So that is a pretty big number and that is a pretty big jump to make in one year to almost double the number of arrests that we're

making. So, um, to see that our calls for service didn't really I think they were actually down by maybe a hundred, but they kind of stayed even. And to see some of the offenses um, in in some of those person crimes like assault, um, to see burglaries down, uh, but then to see that of the cases that we're taking, uh, we nearly doubled the amount of arrests that we made. Um to me that shows a positive trend that uh we are out there being proactive and that we are out there working the cases that we get and and being very diligent in holding people accountable and making arrests when it's appropriate. That kind of answer your question. I I know there's more to it, right? And I know it's it's for us it's I mean you and I have had these conversations before about about data and and I love that stuff as much as you do. It's just really hard for us to get down into you know because I ask those same questions of myself, right? And and just kind of you know I'm I'm curious about that stuff too. It's just unfortunately we don't really have the mechanism or the resources to be able to dive into all of that data and then be able to present it. So, um, but it's something, you know, in the future I would like to talk with our, especially with our municipal court judge and see if we can't share some of that data and maybe put together something, um, you know, in the future that that kind of dives down into the weeds on on how as a whole how the criminal justice system is working in Cottage Grove, not just, you know, the the court stats and the police stats, but but kind of more along the lines of the effectiveness of all of that, if that makes sense. So, next slide. Council Sodomire.

Is there I know other but is there something that characterizes kind of Mayor, Councelor Settle Meer. Um, so the stuff that you're looking at is the national incident based reporting system. There I I purposely left that out of the presentation tonight and there's a there's a couple reasons why. Um, the system that we report that to the numbers are not currently up to date for the entire year. So there's um some asterisks next to that in your report that you see there on page 10. Um that's actually only 9 months worth of reporting for 2025. So we don't know what the what the final numbers are going to be. Um, but as far as all other incidents in that group B, um, those are without diving into those specifics and and I haven't done that until we get all of the numbers, um, to kind of look at that. Um, those are going to be just some of the things that that are more of the proactive stuff that our police officers are are doing um, and things that may have been under reportported in the past. Those are some of your lower level offenses. those aren't um the group B is not up there with the group A. So, I I I try to focus on the group A stuff um for the most part because those are the more serious offenses. The group B stuff can be anything from, you know, when you look down there, it could be anything from, you know, littering to um trespassing or things of that nature. So, um it's it's all of those things. So, and when you look down there and you see in the neighbor's reporting that there's it's showing a zero for the year in trespass and that's so that doesn't

really line up um with the numbers that we have in our uh records management system and and in our CAD system. So, there's some challenges with looking at that 2025 number. One, because they've already told us that there's some issues with their reporting and they haven't got the year-to-date numbers yet. So, and I'm, you know, I'm not convinced that these are 100% accurate at this point. So, that's why there's the kind of the caveat in there that um that these are are are not up to date. So, my plan is to stay on top of this and to try to report it out like we have the last couple of years. We've given the full years worth of data. Um, but we didn't want to just leave it out and leave those pages blank because it is one of those things where um the national incident based reporting system is something that's online and and uh community members can go and look at that. And so um we didn't want to appear like we're trying to not put that in there. It's just um I didn't really want to get into a big conversation about it tonight because I'm not sure of 100% sure of the accuracy with those numbers yet. And so once that comes out, we can do a deeper dive in into all of that. Um, and if there's if there's questions later on, our plan is to kind of update this and and put out um an updated version of this once those numbers become available to us and then I would be more than happy to to meet with you or to have a conversation about to go over it because, you know, I'm going to I'm going to do it as well, right? I'm going to look at it and and I want to be able to go through those numbers as well and feel confident about them. So, but that is why it's not in the PowerPoint presentation. So, if you're wondering why I skipped over it, that's why. So, I just want to be really careful about what I put out there that we're that we're being as accurate as possible. So,

councelor Lamberman. Madame Mayor, it's kind of loud. Sorry. Council Q Chase, can I ask why the numbers aren't updated yet being that we're almost into the third month of 2026? Uh, Mayor Councelor Lamman, um, I don't know. I don't it's it's not our system. So, it's the the federal government's uh incident reporting system. So, it's not our system. And so, something beyond our control. So you guys don't input any of that information in there. They just gather that on their own way.

We have a we have a reporting program that reports data to them, but um how they collate it and how they report it out um that's they handle all of that information. So um we send them things based on their coding and then they take those numbers and report them back out. So, right. So, the next slide is our uh child abuse cases. And these are something that uh are, you know, our our most vulnerable population in our community are our kids. And so um you know we're what we're sharing here is uh the numbers that uh that we that we get um I don't know that there's any direct correlation to to something we're doing differently to see that uh a drop in those number of cases but um those cases are reported to us in in a couple of different ways. Um they can come to us through uh the department of human services through child protective services. Um and we do get those reports uh regularly uh sometimes uh you know um more than one a day and those reports come into us. Each one of those is assigned out to a police officer for them to do an initial investigation. um if there's uh no criminal um element to the case, uh sometimes those can be cleared and closed um and they're handled through child protective services. Um it's more of a cross report to us as anformational report. Um if there is uh a criminal element to those cases, then then we take a report and and open the investigation. And a lot of times those are what end up going to our detectives. So the bulk of the child

abuse or the bulk of the case load for our uh detective is child abuse cases and other u major person felonies. So um these are the numbers. Uh this is what it uh it looks like monthtomonth and this is something that does take a significant amount of time not just for the detective but also for our patrol officers. So when these come in, if one comes in, you know, some point during the shift, um it's going to take a while for them to work through this and then close it out. So if that happens during their shift that day, there's not a lot of time for them to do other things, proactive law enforcement, traffic, and things like that. So sometimes, um these can take uh quite a bit of resources from patrol. So it takes quite a bit of time for our detective to work all of these cases. Councelor Merid.

Thank you, Mayor. Chief Chase. So, when we say child abuse, does that include neglect and um unsafe conditions at home?

Yeah. So, Mayor Councelor Merid, yes, that that does include neglect. That is one of the categories that's reported to us. Um, and a lot of times when we get those uh reports, we get a cross report from child protective services. Sometimes it is for neglect or unsafe conditions in the home. And what our officers will do, they take that, sometimes they partner with uh with one of the case workers from child protective services or sometimes it's just our officers go, but they go and and look at the home and make sure that it's safe and then they can document what they see. Um and if there's something criminal to that then um then they can start the criminal investigation. Y

councelor Smire Council Senator Meyer. Um, I'm not sure what what you're which one are you looking at there? So the CA the cases in group A are not broken down by age. So when you look at um forcible rape, um sex crimes, uh simple assault, uh things like that, um those are inclusive of all of them. So,

councelor Wilson, noticed a trend of u a significant increase in suicide threat on attempt on your call types. Um, is that mostly due to uh more reporting, you think, or is that actually a

So, Mayor, Councelor Wilson, um, when we look at that, it's an it's a threat or an attempt. Um, the the root of that or the why, um, I'm not sure. I mean I think there there probably um is more reporting uh that that is happening. I also think that um uh untreated uh mental health issues are a significant uh issue that we face not just here in Cottage Grove but everywhere. So um and when we do have uh untreated uh mental health and mental illness behavioral health issues um I do think a lot of that leads to attempts or threats of suicide. So, um, and the fact that, um, you know, that those are being reported, that our officers are responding to those, um, you know, I I think we're we're being as, uh, proactive as we can, and and I think that we're, um, you know, we're responding appropriately to those. I was thinking it might have something to do with the uh the uh community outreach that

there's more of a presence in the community and more of a relationship type of I think by the officers that

I think that certainly helps with the with the reporting and and uh and folks feeling comfortable calling and knowing that there's resources out there. So um and and reaching out to uh to our police department in particular to help with those cases. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, traffic stop data. Um, again, one of the things that was talked about when I got here was, um, traffic safety. One of the things that I wanted to emphasize was traffic safety. Um I I had a few discussions with our municipal court judge who also here's our traffic court here in Cottage Grove. Um just looking at the at where the numbers were and and what they had been in years past. And so um one of the numbers if you um in our traffic stop data um that we talked about was our our crashes. Um and so our traffic stops have um have gone up and that has been an emphasis for us and one of the reasons for that um you know is uh going to be attributed to having better staffing levels. So when we have more staff it it allows us to be more proactive and to do uh traffic safety enforcement. And it also um is a credit to our police officers that are out there um for kind of buying into to um the message of traffic safety is important and and um and them understanding that uh that it is a priority of of ours as a police department to be out there doing traffic safety enforcement. So um the numbers have have increased significantly uh in the last three years. So and

slide. So, here's some of the here's some more numbers um in the traffic uh enforcement uh traffic safety data. Um looking at um again the traffic stops and the citations. Uh those are up uh significantly over the last three years. There's a trend up. the crashes this year um I was happy to see went down because there was a significant increase from 23 to 24 um even though we had done a better job of doing traffic enforcement. So I think um you know just kind of being diligent and sticking with it and continuing to increase our efforts in traffic safety um we were able to see this year a decrease in traffic crashes. Um the one area to me that um shows that we definitely have an area of opportunity and and a an emphasis that that uh we can improve upon is the DUI enforcement. And when we go back to the call types and we look at our calls for service for the year, one of the numbers that kind of jumped off the page was the increase in um suspected DUI or reports of DUI drivers. and that was up significantly which means that again I think the reporting is there um and those can be people calling in and reporting what they're seeing on the street it can be um our officers being proactive um but it's not correlating to actual arrests of DUI drivers and so there could be a number of factors there um so one of the things that uh that I want to emphasize in the coming year is better training when it comes to DUI enforcement. Um making sure that our officers have um refreshers on the standardized field sobriety testing, how to recognize signs of impairment and things of that nature. Um and then also just making sure that

they're able to uh work through those DUI investigations and and get them to prosecution and arrest people for DU. So, um I think that's something that we'll work on um in 26 and hope to see uh some improvement in in 2026 in those actual DUI arrest numbers because I think the cases are there. So, so training um that's something that has been an emphasis of ours in 2025 and continues to be um an emphasis of ours as we uh move into 2026. One of the things that that happens when, you know, we have the staffing levels that we had in in in 23 and late 22, um it's all we can do to kind of keep the doors open, so to speak. So, um and now we've had to get, you know, really get um um intentional about making sure that we're providing uh the right amount of training and that we're that we're emphasizing the proper training. um throughout the year we have minimum staffing or minimum training hours that we have to get um to maintain certifications through uh DPSSST um but we've really um kind of worked on putting together uh some really meaningful training important training that we needed to do beyond just some of the basics and as we move into 2026 we're we're already doing that again and so um we're working on some of our state uh required training right now in use of force and firearms, our our firearms training and and um and then uh looking at getting uh some some new tools out there on the street for our officers and then also putting together uh kind of a

plan for what we want to do for the rest of the year. And um so you know, you can see from the numbers in here, you know, at just the you know, the total hours there is 2,000 hours. Um, a lot of that is time spent at the academy and our regular K-9 training hours. Um, but we are able to meet all of our minimum requirements. Um but in addition to that, you can see in in some of the pictures that uh we've done, you know, some other things with defensive tactics and we partnered with uh with the regional um instructors from DPSST and had them come down and put on some uh use of force training uh some um defensive tactics training uh for our officers to kind of give them some of the latest uh tactics and techniques that they're teaching at the academy. So, um, and then there's a picture down here in the bottom left corner, and that is, uh, our two firearms instructors, um, Sergeant Bransteader and Officer Callahan. And the other, uh, person in that picture is, uh, one of the lead instructors for the firearms program with the Portland Police Bureau. And so, um, as we were working on our, uh, handgun transition and, um, to a new optic system and, uh on our firearms, uh, I reached out to the Portland Police Bureau and talked to them about their training and their their program and and, um, the curriculum that they put together. And they offered our officers the opportunity to come up there, our instructors the opportunity to come up there and train with them for free. So, um it was something that we were able to do rather than send them to a an extremely expensive class and and teach them. Uh the gentleman in that picture um has put together some of the probably some of the better training in the country and a lot of people are looking to him as a subject matter expert on on this particular system that we're using.

So they graciously offered the opportunity for our officers to come up there, our instructors to come up there and um see one of their um their training classes and to look at their curriculum and and uh see how they how they train and and uh and bring back some of what they learned to our department. So um very valuable partnership and we were definitely grateful to the Portland Police Bureau for extending that invitation to us as well. All right. So, community engagement. Um, one of the things again that we talked about is is building those relationships and the importance of having those relationships in the community. Uh, making sure that people see us in in um as being um members of this community, being people that they know and are comfortable with and that they um are willing to report uh incidents to. Um and then also partnering with with uh different businesses and um different community stakeholders to uh to support our law enforcement efforts here in Cottage Grove. So um these are some of the pictures and there's quite a few slides up here. So one of the things that I will say is that um some of these events, you know, happen on um on my day off or the officer's day off. um they prioritize these um because they they enjoy spending time with the community in a way that's different than their normal interactions as as just a law enforcement officer. Um and they also recognize the importance of building these relationships. So um we can go on to the next slide. So you know here's uh more of the stuff that that we participated in. um you know the spirit of Bohemia mining days parade um it was really important for us um to be able to engage in that and you know the the first year I was here it was kind of

whether or not it was going to happen and then we had this group come forward and it there was a lot of lastm minute planning um and this year you know we were able to to get out there and be part of it again and and you know we we plan to continue to help support that in in every way we can because it's an important event for this community. um the Wings and Wheels event. Just about anytime there's an event here in Cottage Grove, you're going to see the police department there supporting it and and interacting with the folks that are part of it. So, the Heroes with Heart dinner, um that was uh an opportunity for me to uh to speak at that event. I was asked by the director of Tip Lane County to come and talk about my experience with with that program and the importance of it and kind of share with the with the folks that were there. um why it's important to law enforcement. So, myself and uh Chief Rash from Springfield PD were the uh two of the guest speakers that night. So, um that was a great opportunity to get out there as well. Um and then the movie night at the firehouse, we always get invited to go do that and we love to go over there and hang out with our friends at the fire department. So, um you know, we we come out and uh and uh get to spend time with them and and interact with the community over there as well. So, it's hard to compete with the firefighters, though. So, everybody loves the fire department. Next slide. Um, again, some of the things that we that we support, um, the breast cancer awareness month. Um, these are all things that we can do just to kind of show some support in our community and kind of humanize the badge. Um, so we kind of uh we wear pink throughout the the month and and just kind of show our support for that cause. Um, picture in the top left, myself and Sergeant Carlton at the football game. And again, you know, a lot of these things that we do, we, you know, we come

in and, uh, and spend our our time, you know, that normally would be maybe off duty, but we're, you know, we want to be here and and spend our time engaged with the community. um we get invited to participate in a lot of things and um you know sometimes it's you know it's easy to just say well no it's my day off or or but you know it's we end up having so much fun doing it. The the picture in the middle is is one that I really like is the BFW car show. And that was one that uh that's not even in the city of Cottage Grove. actually um we got an invite and and when the gentleman in the middle there called me and said, "Hey, we know we're just outside the city limits, but you're our police department, right?" Um and and that was on a Saturday afternoon and and they said, "Hey, would you be willing to come down here to our car show and hang out with us?" And I said, "Absolutely." You know, and and I I love going to car shows anyway. So, um, you know, we shined up our patrol cars and we went down there and I got to hang out with a bunch of guys at the BFW and look at cars. So, um, it was a lot of fun and and we had a good time that day. So, our Halloween event, which is probably my favorite here in Cottage Grove. So, um, Halloween's probably one of my favorite holidays. And when I got here, everybody told me, "Oh, wait till you see what the Halloween event was like." And the first year I was here, I had no idea what that was going to be like. and it was uh nothing I've seen before in any other community. So definitely we take the cake there. So it's a ton of fun. So So the Shop with the cop event um in one of the previous pictures there was uh the Walmart grand reopening and at that grand reopening this year um we were presented with a significant donation from uh Walmart and it was a big increase over previous years. Uh, one of the reasons why we got that is the turnout that you see there in that shop

with a cop picture. Um, our department comes out, um, everybody in the department, it's kind of all hands on deck to make that happen. So, um, you know, we we come out and shop with the kids and, uh, the families come out as well. There's people missing from that picture that aren't in there. So, as many people as you see there, um, there were other family members. So, it's not just people who work at the police department. Um, their family members come in to help with the wrapping and and um kind of managing the the day. So, um there's a lot that goes on with checking the kids in and and also helping to wrap the gifts and everything while the officers are are are out shopping. So, um it's a big event for us. Um the biggest one uh that that we put on or that we're a part of throughout the year. is definitely the the biggest one for us. So, um but it's it's extremely rewarding and and again, it's another opportunity. There's so many people throughout that day. We get more thank yous than we do probably any other day of the year when we're there at Walmart. So, and people just wanting to I mean, we're we go out and we we pre-shop for the shoppers. So, that's the day that the kids come in and shop for their families. Well, the kids that are the shoppers, they get gifts as well, but it's usually me, Brooke, a couple other people on the department about a week or two before we've got the shopping list for the shoppers. So, we go out and do the shopping. And we had probably three or four people walk up to us and say, "Hey, can we give you some money to donate to this program?" So, you know, we thanked them, but, you know, we we explained to them how how the program works and the donation we get from from Walmart, but they just they loved the idea of it. they thought it was great and and they really wanted to thank us and then um find out how they could support us as well. So So that's kind of the end of the of the

presentation of the slideshow. Um these are all of the ways, you know, we we add that in there. We have a a pretty good social media presence and uh Brooke does a really good job of of managing our social media accounts and um posting information that's uh relevant to the community. So, um, you know, we, um, we have a couple of different, uh, uh, Facebook and Instagram are our two big platforms. So, um, we encourage everybody if you're not following us on Facebook or Instagram to to jump on there and, um, keep up with what's going on with CGPD. Thank you, Chief. Do we have any questions?

Councelor Merid,

thank you, Mayor. So, um, in in the time when the staffing was short in the department, I believe you described it as running on fumes. And so, I was just wondering where are we at on the the personnel's be ability to cover shifts without the burnout? Well, Mayor Councelor Meriday, um, right now it's not great. Um, and there's there's challenges still with filling all of our shifts and and the reason for that is um when we look at what we're budgeted for and what our staffing is um you know, we've kind of hit the perfect storm recently and and what I say is that life happens. So, um, even when those positions on paper are are filled or we have those, uh, those people in the department, um, right now we have one in training. Um, we have another officer who's on a modified duty assignment. Um, we have another officer who's out on an extended medical leave and we have two vacancies. So, that leaves us with about five officers to work patrol. So right now our sergeants are covering patrol shifts and then you know during the day shift um which is it's busier during dayshift. It's not you know um it's busier with just kind of those um all day long calls that we go to. Um and so there's there's days where myself or the captain are are jumping in and and helping out with the call load as well during the day. So, um it is still a challenge for us um at at full staffing um or not quite at the level even if we were fully staffed and everybody was in the door um to still be able to honor vacation time uh or to

send officers to training and things like that or court time and and you know sick calls just everything that comes up and and then as we are seeing right now um we just have circumstances where officers aren't um in the on the patrol schedule. So, it it it does make it challenging for us. But um but from where we were when I got here in 23, we're definitely a lot more comfortable than we were back then. else.

Good evening, your honor and members of the council. Uh, this report and the accreditation is a phenomenal amount of work that it represents by Brooke. And I just want to take the opportunity to publicly thank you for all that you do and for the department. You know, you would say you do it behind the scenes, but the truth is that it reflects on daily activities in the department. So, thank you. Right. We really appreciate that.

All right. We do not have anyone signed up to speak tonight and we have no public hearings. Consent agenda. Council Urban. Move the council approve the consent agenda as presented. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion with a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Absolutely.

Bad voice. Madame Mayor Council. Uh so quick question in the consent agenda. They had the new liquor license uh for Jackson's. Says that's at 926 East Main, which is also the Cotch Road Public Market. Is that a food truck or is that a separate business in there? Miss Roberts.

Thank you, Mayor Councelor Lamman. So, it is going to be his location where he uh serves. It's my understanding in the public market, it's composed of a lot of different businesses within the location. So, I'm not sure whether it's a food truck. I'd have to look at it a little bit closer to see if it says mobile, but that would be the applica. That would be the address where he would be uh serving. Okay. Thank you. Councelor Wilson,

just a um point on the meeting minutes for February 9th, it has present in count present in council chambers that everybody was here within the chambers and I don't think that's actually accurate. I don't think cuz Jim was in Australia if I if I remember right. That's a little little ways away from the council chambers, but I mean you were present, you just weren't so it wasn't wasn't physically present within the chambers and there is a category for present via Zoom and I I believe you were not as here as well. So, um, not that that matters a great deal, but I don't know if that's

Mayor Councelor Wilson, I can, uh, make that change, uh, to the minutes before the mayor actually signs them, but I would like the U maker of the motion and the second to recognize that change. Thank you, mayor. I recognize that change. I heard councelor settleer on zoom but there was one other it was the February 9th meeting councelor settleer was on zoom as well as councelor hank I believe zoom as well

so with councelor settlemire and councelor hank listed under present via uh zoom webinar on the February 9th meetings and as a second counselor I acknowledge that change as well. Thank you. Resolutions and ordinances there. Do you need me to go to a vote again? Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I.

I opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Resolutions and ordinances. There are none. Concerns from council. Councelor Mary Day. um a constituent brought forth um a request or a report to me on the conditions of the bike trail stating that the they have noticed that there's cracking occurring along the the the trail that it will continue to deteriorate and there's a buildup of moss and other things. I did explain that we've lost u uh the support of BLM due to staff shortages and I'm not sure what we could be able to do but their their contention was that as as we seek to be a tourist destination if we lose the infrastructure the bike trail we will cease to have one of our crown jewels in attracting visitors. So, I don't know what we can do with our limited staff and and financial resources and the diminished support of BLM, but I did want to bring that bring that concern to the council. Anyone else?

Council Irvin.

Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to kind of reflat an idea uh for consideration as we move into budget season of uh engaging with the Cottage Grove Community Foundation Board in problem solving uh potentially in community engagement for various um things that are funded and supported primarily by the city that that may may be up for reconsideration. ation. Um along those lines, I had uh considered even the skate park uh fund uh that we have. I know there's some discussion probably with the foundation that supported that, but to if we have to back burner certain things um to have them bearing the money's reserved for them and that's been raised uh working for us in the meantime. Um but things like uh you know pool support, thinking of library services if we have to reimagine a model uh endowments uh you know that folks in the community can uh connect and donate to may become the vehicles that that continue with the services that we need. So, I just wanted to open open that conversation up and as people are uh having conversations in the community, um know that we do have a foundation that uh that receives uh donations with tax advantage and um that can allow money to grow. Right now, give a number of grants away each year within the community to nonprofits. I think around tw 20,000 in grants on that and a couple hundred,000 in scholarships uh for students. So it's grown a lot over the years and I think it just wanted to promote that as as an option for consideration as we

Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else,

Council Wilson? I'm just uh curious on um haven't seen much movement in uh the uh BMX track. Uh any continued uh work on that recently. It's been seems to have stalled. I was just wondering if we can get some community input at some point as to where that is. They were they were pretty active for a while and now it seems to have stalled out a little bit. It might just be the weather that's causing the problem, but curious if anybody's heard anything.

Mayor, council, uh, we can certainly look into that and report back to the council. Mr. Stewart, thank you, Mayor Councelor Wilson. Uh, they are currently working on trying to get the power connected. They've applied for permits. They are trying to um continue to make improvements but as you said the weather middle of the winter they're to the point where they need to uh fine grade and apply I think material to the track. So they are continuing to move forward. It's just weather related I believe is the biggest standill right now.

Thank you director Stewart. All right report from the city manager. Well, good evening, your honor and members of the council. Um, keeping in the spirit of keeping this meeting uh short, uh, couple of items I wanted to make sure I mentioned is the Elco dinner is going to be at the Armory on Friday, March 6th, and the Chamber Awards banquet is going to be at the Armory uh, on Saturday, March 21st. So, I encourage council members to attend both of those, and if you're interested, please uh, speak with the city recorder. That would conclude my report. Thank you. And we have no city attorney tonight and no items removed from the agend consent agenda. So we are adjourned.