Sandy Springs Wants More Officers, Firefighters To Live In The City

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The city of Sandy Springs wants more of its public safety personnel to live within its borders.

With that goal in mind, Police Chief Ken DeSimone, Fire Chief Keith Sanders and City Manager John McDonough have been working on a plan to transform that wish into a reality.

The first step in that plan -- a proposed Housing Stipend Trial Program -- was revealed during the Sandy Springs City Council’s work session on Tuesday.

The initiative would make five stipends each available to both the Sandy Spring Police and Fire departments.

This $500 per month stipend would be applied to any form of residency in Sandy Springs, including houses, apartments, condominiums and townhomes. Applicants would be required to show proof of residency within the city.

Brookhaven offers a similar program to its officers, which gives a first-year housing allowance of $400 per month. Dunwoody’s amount is set on an annual basis, but does not drop below $300 per month.

McDonough said the pilot program would be available on a first come, first serve basis to public safety personnel who’d like to relocate to the city.

If implemented in the month of November, the program would cost $3,500 per individual over the remainder of fiscal year 2016.

Collectively, the fiscal impact to the city would be $35,000 over that period of time.

McDonough said that time frame would give the city the opportunity to see if the program could work. It would also support Mayor Rusty Paul’s desire to see more city employees and public safety personnel reside in Sandy Springs, he stated.

McDonough added the program would also enhance the efficiency of both agencies when it comes to having off-duty personnel living in close proximity to the places they serve.

“We’ve had numerous situations where we need to recall people and obviously the closer they are, the quicker that they can respond on relatively short notice,” he said.

Out of the 128 full-time sworn officers, 14 currently live in the city of Sandy Springs, DeSimone said. Sanders said two fire inspectors recently relocated to the city.

Some of the stipend can be offset by a reduction in commuting mileage. For example, officers are allowed to take home their patrol vehicles if they live within a 20-mile radius from the city. That allows officers to drive to places as far as Henry County, Cherokee County, Paulding County and Cumming.

For officers who work 12-hour shifts, a 45-minute one-way commute adds more time to an already long day, McDonough said.

Paul stressed the importance of having these public servants living close to the citizens they are sworn to protect.

“Some of you know that this has been a major issue for me,” he said. “I think it’s very important that we provide our public safety employees the opportunity to live in our community. I feel not only it is a great force multiplier, but it also helps cement our public safety people into our community. And as you probably heard me say before, I think it’s almost immoral to ask police officers and firefighters to lay their lives on the line for a community in which they cannot afford to live.”

The city manager added the city will also begin to look at other areas -- namely salaries -- where they can become more competitive.

Council member Graham McDonald stated he’s always heard that police officers are hesitant to reside in communities they serve, and asked if there would be a “demand” for the program.

DeSimone stated officers are like everyone else: they hate battling metro Atlanta traffic and if they had the opportunity to live in the in the city, they’d take advantage of that chance.

The saying that officers don’t want to police inside the communities in which they reside stems from the feeling of having to write one’s neighbor a ticket, not a dislike of the area where they work, he said.

DeSimone added that it’s imperative the city remains competitive in an effort to retain its officers. With the push to incorporate cities in DeKalb County, the chief told the Council, “I can tell you where they’re going to come and get their police officers.”

“They’re going to come to Sandy Springs because we got the best police officers in the state,” he said.

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