MERRILL, Wis. (WSAU) – Merrill Residents got to hear about the city's plan for the police department at a public information session this week.
Art Lersch from the UW-Extension went over the results of a six month planning session with the department. He says the aim for the project is to move all city departments to a performance based budgeting system, and that this strategic planning can help the city find a baseline for the department.
The session was similar to one from the Fire department earlier this year but Lersch says the police are in a better position financially. “They've been very good at getting grants and applying for state and federal dollars, something doesn't come easily.”
He says the department will be looking at keeping up with technological advances in protection and investigation in an effort to keep their high level of service to the community.
This plan along with the fire department's version will both have to be ratified and adopted by the council before becoming official department policy.
