While a St. Paul business advisory council told Mayor Melvin Carter and the city council Friday they believe adding more officers is important, many residents who weighed in to Carter have said otherwise.

The issue arose June 20, when Police Chief Todd Axtell answered questions from the city council by saying he wants to add 50 officers to the department’s ranks over the next two years. He said they’re needed because of the city’s growing population, and the additional staff would allow new cops to have time to get to know the community before hitting the streets.

The Business Review Council, which has 22 members and is one of the city’s advisory committees, wrote in Friday’s letter that some businesses are facing “real public safety challenges,” which “can have a negative impact on doing business in the City of St. Paul.”

“Some St. Paul businesses are incurring significant costs of hiring off-duty officers or private security to protect their business operations,” the letter continued.

BUDGET PROPOSAL COMING

Carter will unveil his proposal for next year’s city budget on Thursday. It’s his first since becoming mayor in January.

In July, Carter held seven sessions with community members to discuss the 2019 budget, and more than 300 people attended.

Participants were given a worksheet and the task of hypothetically closing a $7 million budget gap through cuts, property tax increases or other ways of finding revenue.

About one-third of participants suggested eliminating five to 10 officers, Liz Xiong, Carter’s press secretary, said Friday.

People could also opt to make new investments, which would widen the budget gap, and the top choice was investing in affordable housing.

“We’re not arguing the data we’ve collected is statistically significant, however from what we collected, adding five to 10 officer positions was the least supported option (for widening the budget gap) by participants at the events,” Xiong said. “… The mayor took to heart the conversations he heard from residents. A lot of his budget proposals are informed by the feedback.”

On July 18, 31 community groups wrote to St. Paul city leaders and asked them to oppose any new funding for police officers. They called for the city to build safety by investing in youth and communities.

CONCERN ABOUT 911 RESPONSE TIMES

At the Business Review Council’s July meeting, a member brought up officer staffing “as they see this impacting their business and the public safety concerns,” said Brianne Hamm, who chairs the committee.

The group gathered more information, reviewed it and voted at their Wednesday meeting to send the letter, Hamm said. One concern brought up was an increase in dispatch response times.

911 calls have increased by about 30 percent over the past five years, Axtell told the city council in June.

“Delays can cause minor incidents to escalate into significant challenges,” the Business Review Council wrote in its letter to the mayor and city council. “We want to work with you on addressing these important issues and welcome our role as part of the solution. We believe adding more officers is important, and we also feel that keeping our police department fully-staffed is essential to our community.”

City Council Vice President Rebecca Noecker, whose area of representation includes downtown, said she’s also heard from others about response times.

“I think it’s good to explore it, rather than assuming what the answer is,” she said. “I know our officers are really focused on … having intentional conversations, and that can sometimes mean calls take more time.”

Noecker said while “an answer may be more officers, that’s not necessarily the case.” They could look at other options, such as adding more co-responders — people with a social service background who work with officers and can stay behind on calls to try to troubleshoot solutions, Noecker said.

LOOKING AT PUBLIC SAFETY FROM BROADER SCOPE

The public safety concerns raised by Business Review Council members came from different parts of St. Paul, “ranging from Midway to East Side to Grand Avenue … so it’s not a downtown-specific situation,” said Hamm, who is Securian Asset Management regional vice president-institutional solutions.

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With new shops and street improvements, Saturday’s ‘Rice and LarpenTOUR’ showcases three cities The costs of hiring private security “affect the bottom line and those business owners’ ability to improve and reinvest in their businesses,” the Business Review Council letter noted. “The costs also negatively impact employment opportunities and other financial support to community and charitable organizations that business owners like to provide as stewards of their community.”

Public safety is one of Carter’s top priorities, and “he absolutely shares that priority with” the Business Review Council, Xiong said.

“The scope of this strategy is broader than the number of officers we have in our department,” she said. “Mayor Carter’s public safety strategy supports building safer neighborhoods through investments in our parks, recreation centers, and libraries to connect children and families to opportunities.”

The Business Review Council — which has 22 members and is one of the city of St. Paul’s advisory committees — sent this letter, which was dated Thursday, to the mayor and city council members on Friday.