FAIRHOPE,Ala. — Chief of Police Bill Press may have raised some eyebrows this week during his speech at the Rotary Club of Fairhope, but not those of club member Mayor Tim Kant as he was absent that day.

During recent budget committee hearings, Press prevailed in his attempt to insert a $260,000 appropriation in the Financial Advisory Committee’s draft budget for a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, over the objections of Kant, who included no appropriation in his budget for that item.

“I’m just confused where we’re going to come up with that money,” Kant said during the Sept. 10 budget meeting. His comments did not convince the City Council-appointed committee to delete the police chief’s quarter-million dollar request from the draft budget, which will be submitted to the council for adoption later this month or in October.

“He came and asked us for a 40 percent increase (in his budget), and I think he will probably get it,” said Councilman Mike Ford, a member of the budget committee and a Rotary club member who attended the Wednesday luncheon.

The city’s new police chief spoke bluntly this week about the challenges he has faced during his first 78 days on the job, and described some of the new policies he has implemented, according to several other people who also attended the Wednesday meeting.

“I heard the changes he wanted to make, and certainly, one could not disagree with many of them,” Ford added. “He did mention that the police department needed modernization and was not in all that good a shape when he took over. I don’t know how to really answer that without getting into personalities. I thought we had a fine police department myself.”

Press has spoken freely at other meetings, including at the Sept. 10 budget committee, about confronting a “good old boy” network, which he said has to change in order to bring the police department into the 21st century.

“They were told their days were numbered,” Press said this week, referring to comments he shared at the Rotary Club about several police officers and the message they had received prior to his arrival on the job. “They weren’t part of the clique. In fact, they were outside the clique. But they’ve become some of our best officers.”

Some of the new policies being implemented at the police department include how off-duty assignments are made, how internal affairs and personnel investigations are conducted, how jail operations are run, and and how communication systems will be upgraded, he said.

“Communications is something that we’re desperately looking to change,” said Press, referring to the reason for his budget request for a CAD system. “There’s a number of antiquated systems that we have. There’s no way (now) that we can accurately depict what our crime trends are because of the system that we have. It’s hand done by cards, and like everything else, cards get lost. So we are looking for a new CAD system, which is going to be a significant improvement.”

Press has also initiated a Citizen Advisory Committee for the police department, which had its first meeting earlier this month. The next meeting is at 6 p.m., Oct. 13, at the James P. Nix Center, and the police department is seeking members for the committee, a police department employee said.

“Oh, absolutely, we’ve changed our entire policy,” said Press, referring to internal affairs investigations. “Before, a case was investigated by whoever the mayor wanted to appoint as the investigator. Now, it’s strictly Sgt. Craig Sawyer who will do all investigations.”