Fairfield Wants To Change Scope Stipend

Thu., Dec. 21, 2000

By Trinity Hartman trinityh@spokesman.com

Fairfield SCOPE members came to Tuesday night’s town council meeting prepared for a fight.

The rumor had circulated through Fairfield that the council wanted to sell the SCOPE building and dissolve the community policing group.

The rumor, said council members, was false.

“We won’t change the locks on you guys, trust me,” said councilman Rick Taylor.

But the council does want to stop paying SCOPE volunteers.

The council proposed ending the group’s stipends, which pays a member $40 for 12 hours of work. In its place, the council voted to give the organization $150 each month to help volunteers pay for gas.

Fairfield SCOPE members are the only SCOPE volunteers in the county paid a stipend based on the number of hours they volunteer.

The town paid approximately $4,500 in stipends to SCOPE members this year. That’s part of an annual budget of just over $10,000 paid to fund Fairfield SCOPE.

“The $40 doesn’t mean squat to me,” SCOPE member John Moore told the council.

Several members launched into speeches about the imporant work the group does in Fairfield. They check on people’s homes while they’re on vacation. They put in thousands of volunteer hours each year to keep their community safe.

SCOPE members said they’d accept a monthly stipend instead of hourly pay. They were relieved to get something.

“The stipend is a moot point to me,” said SCOPE volunteer Helen Frankart. “It can go by the way. We just need money to carry on patrols.”

Group members use their own cars to do citizen patrols.

Council members said they wanted SCOPE members to stop spreading rumors that the council was going to shut down SCOPE.

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