Robin lives in Stillwater. Robin walks with her friend at Load Star Park every day. Robin and her friend both had their car windows smashed and their purses stolen. Robin dialed 911. Robin waited 40 minutes. Then Robin continued to wait an additional 20 minutes for a second
officer to come with a camera. 60 minutes.
Robin knows that when need arises - response time matters.
I know that Load Star is just over our border. So why bother mentioning it? Proximity.
Where you live in Stillwater may determine how vulnerable you are. High consentrations of people living in a small area will bring more issues than a single home set several hundred feet off the road. Areas off a main artery like route 94 see a much higher volume of transient traffic than a neighborhood road.
Stillwater is made up of county roads, township roads, lake communities, single homes on building lots right on up the scale to large farms with acres of land.
Where you live in Stillwater determines what you receive for your tax dollars. If you live on a county road the township is not responsible for services. If you live in a lake community, the residents are responsible for their own services.
When you dial 911 the Stillwater Police Department responds - no matter where you live.
100% of Stillwater Township residents are served by our own police department. 100%.
A budget is a guide to spending. An overall blueprint of anticipated as well as fixed costs. A budget doesn't always mean ACTUAL dollars spent.
We need to re staff our Stillwater police department now. It is premature to assume we will not be able to pay for it before we even investigate options available to us.
Yes the state took away a lot of our funding. They also gave us an option with priority consideration because of our size. It's called SHARE - SHaring Available Resources Efficiently.
Before we leave our residents vulnerable, let's be responsible. We have options.
Vote...