Roanoke Rapids City Council voted to allow the city manager and city attorney to begin negotiations with the city’s school system on a proposal in which two traffic control officer positions would be created to work at school crossings to bolster the current system of off-duty officer assignments.
The council Tuesday night unanimously agreed to begin talks with the school system after a proposal to use third party contractors was rejected by the panel in September.
City Attorney Geoffrey Davis told the panel that he hasn’t drafted the full proposal but presented them with the main points.
“I am very excited to see the city council talking about it and bringing this issue up,” Roanoke Rapids Graded Schools District Superintendent Julie Thompson said following the meeting. “I’m very pleased with interim Chief (Harold) Phillips and the coverage from the Roanoke Rapids Police Department and look forward to seeing the proposal that the city attorney will share with us so we can talk about it and see what the pleasure of the board is.”
The summation
According to the action request form contained in the agenda packet, the city attorney’s proposal would involve the city creating two new part-time traffic control officer positions. While they would not be law enforcement officers, they would be designated TCOs under provisions included in state statutes.
As a consideration for providing these services, the city attorney will propose that the full cost of the salaries be reimbursed by the RRGSD, the document says.
With the city preparing to enter budget deliberations for the upcoming fiscal year, Davis said he wanted to bring the issue back to the council’s attention.
The current system
The current system for crossing guards is that off-duty officers provide these services. “It’s off-duty work where we’re asking officers who have presumably worked full shifts to sign up voluntarily for this duty,” Davis said. “That may have been a good system 10 years ago to 15 years ago, but the modern way the workplace is the lives that our officers want to be able to live is to see their families and other things where this kind of off-duty work isn’t as attractive.”
When this school year started there were coverage issues, Davis said. When the third party discussions came up in September Davis reminded the panel he told them, “ … We have no duty to provide these services to the school. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t consider trying to help another public board out within the city. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have concerns for the children that are crossing those streets and the families that are driving through areas.”
While the city would have no liability if something occurred in an area where there are no crossing guards, he said it is a public safety concern “and I do think it’s something that the council should consider and balance.”
The TCO proposal
Former police Chief Shane Guyant brought up the solution of traffic control officers who are not law enforcement officers but get the power to control traffic. “As employees of a jurisdiction they could be given uniforms, vehicles with wraps to give them some kind of appearance of authority to the public and the public would be required to obey their traffic directions,” Davis said.
If the public didn’t consent to the directions of the TCOs they could be subject to citation and arrest.
While there was no discussion of compensation, the city attorney said they would not receive law enforcement pay or retirement. “Essentially what they would do is help bolster the current system. I don’t think it would be anything that we have to maintain permanently. It could be something that we try on a trial basis for a year through a negotiated agreement with the school district.”
Liability
As far as liability, Davis said the school system had concerns about putting their own crossing guards at crosswalks. “If we're having the liability discussion, I’ll tell council what I probably said back in September. My opinion is with a law enforcement officer working off-duty, if some occasion happens and somebody comes blazing through and commits a criminal act such as striking a child, failing to obey their directions, at that point the officer becomes an officer of Roanoke Rapids even if he's off-duty.”
If an officer is injured, it’s the city’s workman’s comp claim. “If that officer, despite the fact he’s off-duty, acts outside his authority and does something that makes him liable under the show of authority and that badge and being out there as an off-duty officer, that’s still our problem. We still have liability for that.”
Creating the TCOs, Davis said, would not mean the city is accepting any more liability than it already has. “In fact, because these would be part-time individuals and so many things like workman’s comp are adjudged based on your wages, if those positions aren’t getting compensated as much, your liability isn’t as much with the scenario that I’m proposing.”
Belmont
Responding to a question from Councilman Rex Stainback, Davis said the needs of Belmont Elementary off Bolling Road are the most acute. “That is where the youngest children go. All of us are familiar with Roanoke Rapids and the streets and the way that folks drive.”
Belmont is located at one end of Bolling Road which comes out of country driving in a 45 zone to 35 to the school zone with very few stop signs or lights. “Or anything kind of slowing traffic down on that road. I think for those reasons and others, Belmont is the most acute. I think as we negotiate this the priority of the different crossings given, that will be something that the school needs to have input in.”
Davis said in the impending discussions a priority system can be set up. “If the priority needs to be that Belmont is the most acute, we want our off-duty law enforcement to go there first.”
Warren Keith Bell made the motion to begin negotiations with a second from Stainback.
