AMHERST — Town officials expect to call for an in-depth assessment of the Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service department, a review that will come as two positions within the department designed to provide an unarmed police alternative will remain unfilled in the fiscal year budget beginning July 1.

In formally presenting the $103.3 million municipal budget last week, with six full-time positions frozen on the town side, including one apiece in fire, police, Department of Public Works and Town Hall, and a part-time position in Recreation, Town Manager Paul Bockelman told the Town Council that the CRESS department will be temporarily reduced from 10 to eight positions, in part due to uncertainty around a state Department of Public Health grant that has supported its operations.

In addition, Bockelman said a detailed assessment will be done of the department that launched in September 2022.

“That will inform us about what CRESS is doing, and what it can be doing,” Bockelman said.

CRESS was created by the Town Council following recommendations from the Community Safety Working Group, a panel formed by councilors following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, and is designed address racial inequities in policing and to serve as an alternative to police responses in certain situations.

“I believe in CRESS, I believe in its mission,” Bockelman said. “It needs a frank analysis of what it can be doing better and what sort of staffing levels it deserves.”

Town’s overall budget

At the initial presentations, CRESS became one of the focal points for the spending plan. A public hearing on the budget, in a virtual format, took place Monday night.

“We think that this budget is realistic, a no-nonsense budget,” Bockelman said.

Bockelman said the budget emphasizes resilience, while meeting collective bargaining agreements, cost-of-living adjustments and the rising cost of health insurance and has a “spread the pain” philosophy.

Freezing positions means no money is available to fund them. “That means there’s no funding for that position this year, but the position is still on the books,” Bockelman said.

Fiscal responsibility is critical, Bockelman said, even though he didn’t want to reduce staff. The budget is balanced through difficult decisions, yet the town’s overall financial condition remains strong, he said. This is important to keep a strong bond rating as the town goes out for borrowing for various items, including the elementary school and library projects.

Yet freezing 6.4 positions means being unable to deliver on all council goals.

“Supporting our working staff has been a guiding principle through this budget process,” Bockelman said.

Bockelman said police already were reduced by two positions when CRESS began, so this means a third unfilled position, adding that fire is having difficulty bringing on qualified recruits. “Every one of these frozen positions is needed and we will work to fill them in the future,” Bockelman said.

One of the other changes in the budget is to change the planning director position to one also focused on economic development. The town is already recruiting for this “retooled” position, he said.

District 1 Councilor Ndifreke Ette said it’s important to make sure that positions return and are funded “so what is frozen doesn’t melt and disappears.”

At Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke observes that in each department, the lost positions, based on a staffing summary tracking document provided, seems to imply they are gone, not frozen.

Bockelman said these must show up as a reduction in the head count because there is no money for the positions.

In addition to CRESS, Bockelman said he is looking at streamlining operations through reducing the direct reports to him and targeted management restructuring. This will take a lot of time and communication for it to happen, Bockelman said, and will be a major policy change.

Bockelman said even with the challenges of preparing the fiscal year 2026 budget, that future years will be no less difficult.

“When we look back I think we’re going to see this as being an easy year,” Bockleman said.