FORT DODGE, Iowa — The Fort Dodge Police Department is pushing to hire more police officers, but that increase could come at a small increase in residents' utility costs.
According to Fort Dodge Police Chief Dennis Quinn, the proposed franchise fee would be used by the city’s police department to hire eight additional officers. The need for more officers was sparked by an increase in violence throughout the city in 2023.
"It was a pretty unprecedented level of violence here in Fort Dodge [last year]," Quinn told Local 5. "That's tough on the community."
While the department wants what's best for the community, Quinn says the violence increase has also impacted his officers, many of them working extra overtime to cover the needs for each shift.
"There's a lot of different things that they have to see and deal with, and they're humans just like everybody else is," he said. "We're trying to interrupt this level of criminal activity."
Known as "The Case for Eight" by the department, the franchise fee would allow FDPD to hire one new officer for each of the four patrol shifts and one new detective in the Investigative division.
The other three officer hires would be part of the "Community Action" team, a new initiative dedicated to solving key issues within the community.
However, hundreds of residents have signed a petition to hold a special election on the matter, so that those who would be paying the fee have a say in the decision.
The petition was created by longtime Fort Dodge resident Scott Davis, who has previously run for city council.
"At the end of the day, I thought that this was too big of a proposal the city was putting out there for them to dictate it," Davis told Local 5. "I felt that should be done by the voters of Fort Dodge."
Davis says he fully supports adding more officers to the department, and believes the initiative would improve public safety.
"My dad was a police officer for 25, 26 years here in Fort Dodge. . . I have their back and I believe they need more help," he said. "It was the other things that were tacked on with it that I had a little issue with."
The proposed 5% franchise fee would generate $2.4 million annually for the city. City Manager David Fierke says the average utility cost increase per household would be between $2 to $4 each month.
"It's not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, given the significant benefits it would bring to the city," Fielke said.
Fierke also told Local 5 that the cost of a special election is typically over $10,000, with taxpayer dollars going towards that cost.
The city council decided to table the final reading of the franchise fee proposal to pay for additional city services.