Tuscaloosa Mayor Seeks Council Support To Establish Department Of Public Safety

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is asking the City Council to consider the establishment of a Department of Public Safety to more effectively combine and better utilize the services of the city's fire and police departments.

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Maddox made his initial pitch during the Council's Public Safety Committee meeting Tuesday, where city leaders agreed to begin the process of considering the change.

Maddox pointed out that while the city's population has grown drastically over the last 40 years, the issues facing the city have changed, too, especially amid new fears of everything from school shootings and cyberterrorism to increasingly destructive weather events.

"Today, when I'm making a recommendation to you, it's about taking all those things that we as a city are ultimately responsible for and figuring out what is the best methodology, what is the best approach, what is the best model to take on all of those challenges," he said. "Today, in talking about the creation of the Department of Public Safety, there are five key reasons why I'm making this recommendation to you."

These five reasons are: Unified response, maximizing resources, shared innovation among departments, event management and mental health.

Perhaps the biggest policy change, however, would be the creation of an executive director of public safety to oversee the new department if the Council chooses to move forward.

"In terms of the (Southeastern Conference), you see the cities in the SEC that have this model," Maddox said. "In Alabama, there are already two cities that have this model, both Auburn and Mobile. I talked to Mayor (Ron) Anders and Mayor (Sandy) Stimpson yesterday, and they told me, in fact, one of their comments was, 'you'll never regret it.'"

When he detailed the new public safety director position, Maddox explained that the fire chief, police chief, and 911 would report directly to that department head, whose responsibility it would be to ensure the complete coordination of all three of those entities.

"Our fire department, our police department, are larger than most cities' in Alabama," he said. "Their budgets are larger than most cities in Alabama. They are huge entities, and so having someone that wakes up every day and thinks about not only the financial management, but the personnel management and the capital resource management of equipment and vehicles. ... I think it would be very good to have our chiefs more focused on the operations side, and have an executive director that's focused on the whole picture like you're focused on the entire picture of the city."

While Maddox's proposal received vocal support from Committee Chair and District 2 Councilor Raevan Howard, District 4's Lee Busby voiced his concerns before the Council's Administration Committee will take up the proposal on Aug. 15.

Busby pointed out that there will be numerous decisions and issues to be worked through regarding how all of the services will be brought together under one administrative umbrella.

"I can't even think through the things that are going to have to be involved in melding the training, the equipment, the rank structure of two organizations," he said. "We lump them together under public safety as though they are a common being. The reality is that they are two very different beings. ... If the logic's there, then the admin and policy stuff, finance stuff, all of that can be worked out. I just would hope that we get some experience from others who have done it and find out what they've encountered."

District 6 Councilor John Faile, a retired police officer, suggested city officials visit other cities who have adopted this model and said he would like to know more about how this proposed structure will help the city maximize its resources, before mentioning that 40% of the city's budget goes towards public safety.

"Having one person who can tell us what vehicles and what items we have for our public safety department in an efficient way is important," Faile said. "And also, event management. I know this summer we had Live at the Plaza and a concert going on at the amphitheater. So, that's got to be a lot on our public safety department. So, if this will help our public safety department, I'm all for it, because we need our public safety department just as much as any other department in the city."

In terms of a timetable for Maddox's proposal to go into effect if it's approved by the City Council, he said the start of the new fiscal year would be ideal.

"Certainly, I don't want to say that if you don't do it on Oct. 1, it can't happen," Maddox said. "I believe Jan. 1 is also a very good start time for that to happen. What I want you to leave here today, though, to know is that I'm not saying this is something that demands what's got to be done by Oct. 1. I believe for the long-term future of Tuscaloosa, this is the model we need. And I want to work with you in working towards that goal so that we get as many assumptions right as possible."

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