Village Investments...
I sought out some information from Kim Rath, Germantown's Director of Finance and Treasurer based on the article I read in the August 14th column in the Community Now newspaper. That mentioned that the village had some $25 million in invested funds and I was curious. That seemed like a lot of money for a community fighting through tax issues, and so on.
Ms. Rath was more than helpful, even responding when she wasn't in the office. She advised that the $25 million was the amount that the village had on hand on that date. It included current operating cash as well as the total of all funds. Those funds included the general fund, utilities, impact fees, special revenue funds, TIF funds and capital project (borrowed) funds.
I had also asked about the reserves carried by the village. She advised that, in round numbers, there is an estimated $1.5 million in general fund reserves, approximately $1.5 million in the water utility fund and about $5.4 million in the sewer utility fund.
I wondered how these amounts were invested, other than the cash accounts. Ms. Rath advised that the new organization, RBC would be managing some $3 million that was comprised of some general fund monies, impact fees, special revenue funds (canine and asset forfeitures), water and sewer utility funds and the health and dental plan funds. The current operating funds are held in the State Trust fund and by Associated Bank.
~~~~~~~~~~
Citizen Observer Program: More Thoughts...
I related a few of the things that happened in the first hour of my ride along. The accident required a significant amount of time for the gathering of witness information, photographs depicting the damage to both vehicles, diagramming of the scene for future reference, checking of driver's license and vehicle registrations, etc., etc. The team of officers that were on the scene seemed to understand what the officer in charge needed in terms of assistance. The fire and EMT crews operated virtually independently of the police team assuring that any injuries were dealt with quickly, and assisting with any spills, etc. that might have been present.
As soon as this was over, we were back on patrol. The officer to whom I had been assigned knew his area very well. If there were likely areas for speeding, he knew them. He predicted that we'd see a speeder after pulling off to the side of the road, and there couldn't have been more than a two minute time period elapsed before it happened. A young man came over a rise and was immediately tagged at something in the range of twenty miles per hour over the limit. He reacted almost instantly as he passed the squad and recognized it as a squad. By the time the officer had turned to go back in that direction, the truck was pulling over. As a matter of fact, there was no hesitation on the part of any of the drivers stopped during this tour. Everyone seemed to realize that he or she was the intended target of the flashing lights.
My observations of each incident was made from a few feet behind the officer as he interviewed the occupants, tried to make determinations about the presence of alcohol, etc. Several of the incidents involved people with prior records that were less than 12 months old. Several involved alcohol use by a person between the ages of 18 and 21. Several involved people driving with suspended licenses. I was quite surprised at the numbers and the officer confirmed that what I was seeing was more the norm than an exception.
We returned to the police building at about 10:00PM where the third shift roll call was being conducted. At the beginning of each duty shift, the officers are briefed on the things that have already happened on the preceding shift as well as any other special situations that may be important to them.
Each officer is assigned a patrol area, checks the assigned squad vehicle extensively to assure everything is in order, verifies the calibration of the onboard 'radar' system, etc. The trunk of a squad car is full of equipment including a GPS unit so that the dispatcher and other officers are aware of where each unit is at a given time. Laptop computers are found in each squad. There was a system 'bug' that evening and we were without the computer until the time of the accident when the Captain brought a plug-in air card with him. That worked well through the rest of the ride. The dispatchers were on top of their games as well. Requested data was relayed quickly using both plain language and the '10' language I grew up with when watching Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford (how's that for dating one's self?)
It is a very effective team that responds well under pressure.
More to come in the next day or two.
