PHOTO BY MICHAEL D. DAVIS - A public meeting on the proposed merger of the Tama and Toledo Police departments will be held on Thursday, Aug. 27 at 5 p.m. at the Reinig Center in Toledo.

There’s no sign, no painted line, no fence, but if you’ve lived here long enough, you know where it is, the point where Tama starts and Toledo ends, the invisible border. For the Tama and Toledo Police Departments, that little line has been a very important detail for decades, but soon, things may change.

Nothing is final, but for months, it has been discussed and negotiated between Tama and Toledo to combine police departments. The Tama-Toledo Police Department would be a single entity that would be under the City of Toledo and serve both cities.

“Both public safety committees have been discussing and negotiating this agreement for a few months. We are getting close to an agreement that we are comfortable presenting to the councils. We have been using other sample agreements from communities our size that have successfully merged departments in the past,” Toledo Mayor Brian Sokol said.

The idea of merging departments is not new; in fact, the possibility has been discussed or brought up multiple times through the years, but for one reason or another never came to pass. In 2003, a law enforcement study was conducted on the Tama and Toledo Police Departments by the Institute of Public Affairs of the University of Iowa, and it suggested a merger of the departments.

So, what does this mean, and what will this look like? First off, when separate, each department had six officers when fully staffed. With one department, nine officers will cover both cities. This number was a negotiation, but it started with a recommendation from Toledo Police Chief Dan Quigley. Quigley attended Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command program, in which they taught a way of calculating how many officers are needed within a population.

The fully staffed Toledo Police Department has six officers; when joined with Tama, Tama’s only officer, Sergeant, and Interim Chief Tyler Ayala-Pagan, will be the seventh officer. This would still leave two positions open that would need filling. Like many details and specifics with the merger, the number of officers may possibly change after a significant amount of time has passed and the needs of the department can be properly reviewed.

Quigley will serve as the chief of the united department. Tama’s Interim Chief Ayala-Pagan will retain his position of Sergeant after the change.

The increase of manpower in a single department gives way to several advantages, including increased efficiency and a way to ease officers’ workload.

“Most guys (officers) are excited by the fact, just the increase in manpower allows more flexibility, staffing (and) time off, without having to overwork other people with overtime,” Ayala-Pagan explained.

Increased staff also allows closer supervision, which will lead to easier learning and training for new officers. With two departments comes two sets of policies, regulations, and the way things are done.

Ayala-Pagan explained that when he would respond to a call with a newer officer of the other department, he would naturally take on the role of mentor, but yet refrain from answering certain questions on policy and procedure as the two departments did things differently. Unified in one department with one set of policies and procedures, this issue will be eliminated.

When it comes to the city ordinances, there is no hurry or reason for them to be unified.

“No need for that to happen,” Quigley said. “If an issue comes up with the wording or some uncertainty over a city’s ordinance, they can simply look it up.”

The biggest thing existing officers will have to learn is that the invisible border between Tama and Toledo will disappear. The decades-long manner of the south side being Tama PD’s problem and the north side being Toledo PD’s issue will be gone, as the territories become one. “I’ve helped patrol Tama a few times, a handful of times over the last month. When I was down here assigned as the Tama officer, it was a little weird,” Quigley said.

This change may be confusing for the existing officers, but in the future, for the new hires, this should be an easy problem to tackle.

“When I first got here, I didn’t even realize sometimes when I was in Toledo,” Ayala-Pagan, who is not originally from the area, said. “There were times where I’m like, I think I’m in Toledo now. Cause you just don’t even know where you’re at sometimes, especially when you’re on the border.”

An advisory board made up of Toledo’s City Administrator, Toledo’s Mayor, Tama’s Mayor, and members of each city’s existing Public Safety Committee will keep an eye on the department. The new board will be in charge of reviewing the department’s operations and finances, among other details.

Other city workers’ jobs will change slightly with the merger as well.

“The city Clerk’s office will be handling the payroll and tracking of citations, so they will see an increase in workload. Toledo’s City Administrator shall be responsible for direct supervision and management of the Department in accordance with Toledo’s Code of Ordinances, policies, and practices,” Toledo City Administrator Kendall Jordan said.

The merger will save both cities and taxpayers money, with Jordan conservatively estimating that the first year is estimated to save between $300,000 and $350,000 between the two cities.

“We can’t guarantee what the future holds, but with both cities sharing the cost, I can’t imagine where a joint department would cost more than two single departments; that’s certainly the goal for both councils,” Sokol said.

Sergeant Ayala-Pagan summed up the merger savings in his own terms.

“There will be savings upfront. Just think about it like starting a new business, right, where you do not know the most efficient way to handle things, but as you continue through production, everything like that, things become more efficient and you’re saving more money,” he said. “So, as this progresses, we should become more efficient with what we need and actually understanding what the true expenditures are going to be, because in the beginning you want to be conservative. You don’t want to promise the world, and then come up short. Even with our conservative estimates, both towns will save money.”

There seems to be little doubt among the elected officials that the merger will be a benefit to the community.

“I don’t believe there’s very much reserve from the council or I. Given the situations and trends, especially for small towns and communities across Iowa, everyone understands eventually adapting will be key to success,” Tama Mayor Danny Robinson said.

The proposed merger is a study in reducing redundancy. There will be a single police department, the current Toledo Police Department building, while only the garage of Tama PD will be utilized. A new station is not being considered at this time and “is not in the near future,” Mayor Sokol said.

As for rebranding with the new name, that will come in time. It will be taken slowly, as it is not a priority or a must for the success of the merger.

Chief Quigley and Sergeant Ayala-Pagan have researched many other communities that have undergone similar mergers and have put their heart and soul into the proposal of this merger. “We’re a service trying to become more efficient for the citizens that we serve,” Ayala-Pagan said.

Chief Quigley can sum up his argument for the merger with one simple sentence: “While we are two cities, we are one community.”

So, if you have any comments, concerns, or questions about the possibility of the merger of the Tama and Toledo Police Departments, attend the Town Hall meeting on Thursday, Aug. 27 at 5 p.m. at the Reinig Center.

Nothing will be decided. This is a place and time for the citizens who will be affected by this to speak on the issue as well as learn about it in more detail.

A portion of the 2003 study on the Tama and Toledo Police departments has retained its relevancy 23 years later as a similar decision looms for the two communities. It discusses the five conditions needed for a successful merger: the perceived need to act, the interest in efficiency and effectiveness, the belief in investing, mutual benefits, and mutual trust.

“The arguments provided against a merger of the two police departments are normal and what might be expected in any community. It is never easy to make changes,” it reads. “Tama and Toledo are at a unique point in their history. The probability of the positions of chief of police in both communities being open at the same time again in the near future is slim. If the elected officials in both cities can put the history of any differences in the past and focus on these five conditions of success, Tama and Toledo will become Iowa’s next ‘shining star’ for intergovernmental cooperation.”