BY KATHY WILLIAMS

HERALD DEMOCRAT

SHERMAN -- Although their agenda was short, Sherman city councilors pinned down the details on several programs that will affect future financial decisions.

In the end, they approved applying for a grant to get federal economic recovery funds for a civilian intelligence officer for the police department. They also gave staff the go ahead to draft a new ordinance to charge fees to recoup costs from one-time online or phoned-in credit card payments. And they approved a resolution in favor of helping the U.S. Census Bureau get the word out to the public on the importance of returning their census forms next year.

But in low-key ways they grilled Police Chief Tom Watt, Census Bureau partnership specialist Pat McCoy and Sherman Customer Service Manager Angela Gurley on the proposals they brought forward.

The meeting began with joking about setting a "Guinness World Record" for the shortest meeting, and ended with Councilor Willie Steele's deadpan joke, "I think we set the record for the world's longest meeting on the shortest agenda."

But all of the councilors appeared intent throughout on nailing down details that might be misunderstood by the public or come back to bite them or another council financially in the future.

McCoy explained that an accurate census is vital to cities because it governs three aspects: apportionment, redistricting and allocations. Apportionment looks at how many U.S. House of Representatives (and some state legislatures) each state gets. When numbers are relatively higher in one area, that area gets more representation, so population movement is key.

Second, once the apportionment is determined, district lines, for many layers of representative government, are determined. New lines will be drawn for county commissioners and voter districts, up through state house and senate districts to U.S. House districts.

Third is allocation. Much federal funding is allocated based on population, and some on the nature of that population.

To help with determination of the population's nature, the Census Bureau has another, much longer survey it sends out to a scientifically selected sample of people to complete. This asks questions about income, education levels, ethnicity, languages spoken, credit issues, etc. At one time this type of survey was conducted on a longer form at the same time as the decennial census.

That made for large problems in compliance. Completing the decennial census forms is required by federal law. The longer form is not required, but, McCoy said it is helpful to cities that the Census Bureau receives as many of those, completed, as possible.

McCoy asked that the city appoint a Complete Count Committee, composed of people in the area who represent various groups, especially those who are members of hard-to-reach demographics and those most reluctant to participate.

Encouraging participation gets harder every 10 years, McCoy said, and in 2010, it will be much harder because of concerns about protecting personal information and the intensity of the immigration issue.

"Whichever side of the debate you are on, I hope you will work for a full and complete count," McCoy said. "The law says we must count everyone who resides in the United States."

After McCoy, Sherman Police Chief Tom Watt asked for permission to join with Denison and Grayson County to apply for a federal Justice Assistance Grant. The grants have been around for a long time, Watt explained, but the amounts being awarded are beefed up this year from the federal American Recovery and Relief Act. And because it is part of the stimulus package, for the first time it allows funds to be spent on personnel. In the past, the JAG money could only go to equipment purchases and similar items.

Watt asked for Sherman's $74,510 to go to creating a civilian intelligence officer position to bolster the work of the sergeant who currently sifts information from 10 databases to find criminals. Watt said that until 2004, Sherman was a totally reactive police department: It waited until crime happened and then went after the bad guys. The current program occupies 80 percent of the sergeant's time.

Watt said the program takes information gathered from sources officers cultivate and lines that up with computer databases. As an example of how it works to benefit the public, he said that the one officer from his desk had helped solve major burglaries in Sherman, Richardson and Garland.

He also said the officer, through a contact at an apartment complex, learned of a sexual predator. He learned the offender had not registered. The sergeant was able through the system to find the guy and information to get him prosecuted and imprisoned before he could hurt someone.

Councilor Joe Smith referred to the council meeting two weeks ago when the council had approved a grant application for four traffic safety officers. He asked if this new position also would be a civil service officer. And Smith wanted to know what would happen to that position if the federal government didn't fund it in future years. Councilor Chip Adami added that he, too, was concerned about hiring someone for a year; that person uproots his life and then the job goes away after a year.

Watt replied that he thought the federal government would continue to fund the position for three additional years. However, if not, he, with the permission of the city manager, would cut somewhere else if other funds weren't available. The position is that important, he said.

Watt also said that the police department is like any other part of the infrastructure: It must grow with the city to continue to protect it.

The council voted unanimously in favor of applying for the grant. Watt will come back to the council for permission to accept it if awarded.

Gurley said that the INCODE online system for customer payments to the city will save $17,000 with increased use of automatic payments by credit card or bank drafts. And charging a convenience fee (only on one-time credit card payments online or phoned-in) would bring in $18,000 more to help offset some of the $87,000 cost to the city of the online services.

When Gurley presented her recommendations to accept both American Express and Discovery credit cards and to charge the fee, Mayor Bill Magers said he was concerned about raising fees, as another kind of tax. However, he said, if this is just passing through the cost of the special service, that was okay.

Gurley assured the council that the fee will not be charged on automatic drafts either of bank accounts or of credit cards. It will not be charged to those who pay by check, cash or credit or debit cards presented at the customer window or payments in the locked drop box. The idea is to encourage people to sign up for the automatic pay system. The one-time pay services, online or by phone, are a convenience to that particular customer and cost the city for each transaction. That is the cost that will be passed on.

Councilors voted unanimously in favor of asking the staff to draft an ordinance for the convenience fee.