Latest / Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement / #140- "Wade Steen Turns Government Financials Into Bargaining Power"

Transcript

#140- "Wade Steen Turns Government Financials Into Bargaining Power" · Blue Grit Podcast: The Voice of Texas Law Enforcement

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: If you run the math, which has happened in the state of Texas many times when I've worked with TMPA, the number's 40 or 50 percent.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's a quick sign right there that they're pretty well funded.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: They've got money.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's the first real test.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: Then it goes into a number of analyses we do, looking at balance sheet items, looking at revenue trends, looking at what things are increasing and by how much and what things are not.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back, viewers, watchers, listeners.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Tyler O, and hope all is well.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hope your summer is coming to an end and those kiddos are back to school.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: I know that I was pretty excited today, or excuse me, a couple weeks ago to send mine back.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I pulled into the the uh pickup pull our drop-off line at about 80 miles an hour and kick my kids out, ready to go back to Wimberly uh ISD.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Super excited about the times that are going on right now in the fall.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely love fall.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: You and I are going to talk a little college football here in a minute.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of my favorite times, really, uh the whole the whole season.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: The fall season is pretty pretty pretty special to me.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: For those who don't know, all right, we have a special guest today, Wade Steen.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we do some contract work with you, and we're gonna talk a little bit about that today and the importance of it and why it's important to know and understand what you do for TMPA.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: But number two, the appreciation we have for you and what you've been able to do for some of our some of our members.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome to Blue Grip.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: Well, well, thank you.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate the chance to be here.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: I thought we were gonna start off with uh you talk to college football.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Your listeners might as well know I'm an Ohio State buckeye.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Big game this weekend.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Big games.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh UT's playing Ohio State, and I've got faith in the horns that we're gonna take them down.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that Wade's gonna extend his stay here in the Austin area for a couple days.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Got some friends and family that he's gonna go see and also come root on the Longhorns as they whip uh Ohio State's ass.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: We'll talk about that one later.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about contracts first.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure, for sure.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about who you are, where you grew up, how you got really introduced into the industry, and then what the benefits are that our law enforcement members or association leaders that are listening or watching this podcast really can benefit from.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Sure thing.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my name is Wade Steen.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up in what I'd call a rural part of Ohio in Northwest Ohio, farm and country.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Went to the Ohio State University.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's what they say up there.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: I don't really buy into the, it was Ohio State University when I was there.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh held different political offices, and then I lost election in 2002, unfortunately.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: But I was always a friend of the FOP and they were a friend of mine and endorsed me.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: And they needed some help, the Columbus FOP.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: Their police officers were in contract negotiations and said that we're having a tough time understanding the finances of what's going on here.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: And that relationship started in 2003.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been 23 years now that I've been helping law enforcement officers across the country.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: So why is it beneficial if they don't they didn't understand really the the the finance portion of that?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because when cities come in and say, hey, man, we're broke.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have any money, it's your job and and really a passion.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just call that what it is.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think if you if you love what you do every day, you'll never work a day in your life.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: At least that's what my grandma or grandpa told me.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: But it seems like that.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And just talking with you and having your class this morning, that's exactly like that.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's exactly what it is.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so you dive off into the finances and figure out, okay, well, you say you don't have any money, but XYZ is pointing that otherwise.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Is that pretty much it is?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's pretty much it.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love I love numbers.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: I've been good at math since I was a kid.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a CPA by profession, and I can read an audit report just like other people can do things, and I can get it real fast.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: Is there money?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: Is there not money?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Where is it?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not that the governments try to hide it, it's there.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: You just got to know where to look for it.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: And when they say, hey, we want to give you an increase, we just don't have any money.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: You want to be able to say, Yeah, you do have money.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: We had our person look at it, and uh Wade said you've got this much money in this fund and this much money in this fund, and you transferred money here, and all of a sudden the negotiations take a different uh different turn.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Different turn.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: The city all of a sudden goes, Wow, I guess they did their homework, and so now they have to deal with you on a different level.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what happened in Columbus for years.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: All the groups I work with, cities are always surprised when all of a sudden the Lodge, the TMPA, the FOP, whoever it is, knows as much as they do.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: And that's my goal.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Just help you have all the same information so we can have an honest discussion about what we should be paying our police officers.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Give some examples, you know, for those for those out there, we live in Texas, and and listen, I mean, I'll I'll be the first to admit it, we in Texas view different sides of things as far as, man, this city's not really a pro-law enforcement, this city's not really, you know, the finances made, we talked about that earlier today about certain cities within Texas that we thought uh were not in a bind, and it ultimately they were.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: From your perspective on a national level, because you're nationally recognized, how is Texas kind of how do we how how do we fare in in the law enforcement salary range or the support range when it comes to kind of what you found across the nation?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh from what I see across the nation, I'd start first with the financial reporting.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: Texas local governments do a good job of doing financial reports on an annual basis in accordance with GAAP.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: Now I'm getting into the the detailed stuff, but that's generally accepted accounting principles, not cash basis.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: So they're doing a good job with that.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: That means there's lots of information available.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: And the cities that we've looked at that we've worked with here in Texas, by and large tend to be in pretty good financial shape.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: The cities are pretty good stewards, they're not wasting money.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: They've got it hidden in rainy day funds, stabilization funds.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: Call it what you want, but they have it.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: And what I found is police officers aren't saying, hey, we want it all, we just want a fair wage.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: We don't want you to, you know, uh tell me we don't got any money when you do and expect me not to get a reasonable increase for the people that are out there doing this job every day.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: And so I want to bring that to bear.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: I want to get in there and dig in and find it.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: And um, that that's what I find fun about it.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: But uh your question about Texas, Texas, the cities are in pretty good financial shape.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: They they pay their officers well too.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: The pay scale here is better than many of the other states I work in.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and you you had pinpointed, I'm not sure if we want to mention the city or not.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure they don't care.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there was an example of who you used of a Texas agency that happens to be TMPA.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And when you ran the numbers, the average median household income was significantly higher than the national average.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then you looked at the national average of house the the highest how uh house prices, I believe, significantly higher.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then the city came back and was like, hey, we're we're not we don't have any money.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then you worked with the POA leadership and TMPA, and we figured out, yeah, you do, and got those guys really a decent raise, and and that's kind of what you do.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was uh it was League City.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't know where League City is, but I know their financial statements, and I was surprised by the average, the median home value in League City is so much higher than the Texas average.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I looked at the Texas average just to compare it to Ohio, and the median home value in the state of Texas is about 313,000, I think, if I remember correctly, off the top of my head.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: And in Ohio, it's about 250.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it just shows you, and then League City was higher than that.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Wages were higher than that.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: This is a city that's well off, so that's the first indicator that there's probably some money.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: And then when the city says we don't have any money, come on, come on, and you're you're jerking me now.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: Come on.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right, for sure.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think comment on this.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think your political background and your political um career path has strengthened your ability to kind of do what you're able to do now because you've seen it from both from both lenses?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I I know it has.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: I uh, as I shared with the class earlier, and we we were talking about before we came on the air, I started my career, I'm a CPA, but I was the fiscal officer for a large county in Ohio, and I saw right away where, hey, where can we put money if we don't want it to show up in the budget, we want to hold it for later.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: I was a city council member, I was a fiscal officer in Cleveland, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, which is the second largest county, and you really get to see how you move money in and out and how you transfer it in and out.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's really helped me because when I walk into a situation now, I know exactly what to look for in those financial statements.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to make it sound like I'm doing anything wrong, but I did the same thing.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: If I wanted to transfer money, set aside some money for a pet project for someone, if they came to me, I knew how to do that, so I know where to find it.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: To the listener out there that's that's watching or listening to this podcast, what what number give me kind of a number one through five importance of kind of this is how you start.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And these are some lessons from Wade on if you've got some concerns that your city may may be having a hidden rating, you know, a rating day fund, or if your city is saying they don't have any money and you want to get to the nitty-gritty of it, is there a standard of kind of what the cities have to maintain and what records they have to maintain and who can obtain those and at the relevant records request or might be online?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Give us kind of a step-by-step process of how somebody can research the information.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: The the first thing you'd want to do for those that are listening, if you're curious, what's the financial condition of my city?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: They say we're not in good shape.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: If you can get their most recent audited financial statement, which would be called the annual comprehensive financial report, ACT first, the term should be on the city's website and open it up and find the general fund.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_02: That's the city's fund that covers most of the activity.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: It typically will cover a police officer, or if you're in a county, it'll cover a deputy.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: And look at how much cash and investments, what's that balance, whatever that number is, divide that into what the annual operating expenses are.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: And if that percentage is between 15 and 25 percent, and that's not magic, 25% would mean you have about three months of cash in the bank, in this case in the city, uh related to the annual expenses.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's considered best practice.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: Now, when you do that, and if you run the math, which has happened in the state of Texas many times when I've worked with TMPA, the numbers 40 or 50 percent.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's a quick sign right there that they're pretty well funded.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: They've got money.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's the first real test.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: Then it goes into a number of analyses we do, looking at balance sheet items, looking at revenue trends, looking at what things are increasing and by how much and what things are not.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like revenue may but not be rising as fast as healthcare costs.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, is that important?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it depends what both numbers are and what's going on in the contracts.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: But back to your first question, find out how much cash and investments they have and look at what your annual expenditures are and get a feel for how much are they carrying as a carry-over balance, rainy day fund, uh, reserve fund.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: It can use any term.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: Once you know that, then we can go.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: And if you call me and say, hey, wait, we did that quick math, ours is 72%.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: We think they have money, I'd say, yeah, they do, and let me help you.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: If they go, wait, it's only about five percent, I'd go, hmm, I'll take a look.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: But if you're right, then it's you're gonna see they're in a bind.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have a tough time in those negotiations.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things we see at TMPA, and this this is not something new, we've we've had we've seen a problem with this for many years, is that the discrepancies between a sheriff's office and a municipality are vastly different.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I I I to to my point, I think the average sheriff's deputy in Texas, they choose to work in a rural environment, number one, because they they love it.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, I think it's just a different mentality, and it's you've got to have that sheriff's office mentality, and those listeners out there that are that are in law enforcement, you know exactly what I'm talking about, but the pay disparity is vastly different from a county deputy to a sheriff to a to a police officer.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see the same thing in Ohio and or or is it kind of a nationwide trend for that to happen?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: And why is that?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Why do counties have less money than cities?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um for the pay disparity, let's start with that one.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I do see that across the country, specifically in Ohio, because counties tend to be more rural.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: Now, where I've seen the gap close is I would go to Franklin County, which is Columbus, Ohio, the capital city.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: Their deputies are paid on par with the City of Columbus police officers.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's the only county I see that.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: I I also think some of it goes back to often the county office, uh, the the county sheriff's deputies also handled corrections.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: And for whatever reason, I work with corrections officers.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: The whoever the decision maker is do does not want to pay someone working corrections as much as a road patrol officer or uh a street patrol officer, and I don't understand why, because I think the job is dangerous.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I working in a jail all day with uh with people that have committed crimes, but I think some of it ties to that corrections.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: And if you break those pieces out, I know for a fact, and all the work we've done, corrections officers are running substantially below whether it's a sheriff's deputy or a police officer.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_02: And for that that's one of those areas that I I don't know if TMP works with a lot of uh officers in the corrections area.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: We do.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: But we need we need to get their wages up.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: They do they do a tough job.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, a lot of people couldn't do the job, and we need to get them paid commensurate with the others.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so there was a if you probably don't know this, there was some a piece of legislation passed several sessions ago, Citaville 22 or Citaville 2, I can't remember, but it was passed out of the other out of our legislative, and it assists with sheriff's office's salary specifically.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: The problem with it was is that the primary of kind of how how they enforced it or how they implicated it, uh, the sheriff's offices of the counties themselves, it's kind of up to them on how they implement it.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's almost like a grant, but it's not a grant, and so it increases the salaries across to assist with some of these sheriff's offices trying to maintain good wages for their sal for their for their deputies.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: I just think that we we collectively, TMPA and other police unions and associations out there, could go back to the legislative uh branches and say, hey, let's let's not shave off a little bit of this, but let's get more clarity on kind of how we want this to be spent you know spent and um give us some more structure on on how we could accomplish that.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And and we are working on that as we did last session.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, that's that's how Texas did it, which was a significant piece of legislation because you had county deputies out there making$12 an hour, which is ludicrous.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, especially nowadays.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: The the same is happening in Ohio and some of the rural counties, they just don't make much.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: 17, 18 bucks an hour, they can make more working uh at a Walmart stocking.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: And again, that's no disrespect to someone working at Walmart, but you don't have a badge on, you don't have a gun on, and you don't have someone who might want to do you.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: A can of tomato a can of tomato soup's not taking a punch at you or or or firing a round off at you, trying to kill you.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: So exactly.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: And the one thing that that uh I mentioned earlier, I served as a city council member, so I was on the other side of the negotiating table.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: We also got the chance to hear from residents on what they want, and I don't think they hear this enough, they being a city mayor, manager, county executive who's making pay decisions.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: Residents want to be safe.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, they support law enforcement and they support fire and other services.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so when they say, well, that costs so much, well, that's because that's what residents want.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: And if you want good, safe streets, a good, safe community, a good, safe county, then pay the right way just so you've got a good, safe community.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: And um that that's the part that always frustrates me is that that's what the taxpayers want.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: Or for some reason the decision makers don't always get that around, get that through their head that hey, this is where I should be spending my first dollars, not my last dollars.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Give us give us two more success stories of other cities.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: It may not have to be in Texas, but other cities out there or counties that you've worked with that you really walk away going, man, I feel really proud about how this all unraveled and and what I was able to bring to the table and assist this local FOP lodge or association.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Give us two examples of of what to kind of comes off the top of your head.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: The the first one would be the very first job I had, which was with the Columbus Police Department.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: And the city was saying we don't have money and uh police officers were fighting for a better wage.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I early in my career had audited the city of Columbus, and we were trying to figure out where the money was because Columbus was a growing city.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's very much like Austin, growing city, young revenues.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um and over the course of doing our forensic work, we found money being transferred from the city's general fund to the trash burning power plant.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: The city of Columbus had about 25 years ago or so had this idea that we're gonna burn trash and use it to make power.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it didn't work.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: It didn't generate power, it was costing money, and the city was slowly transferring money out of the general fund over to the what became known as the cash burning power plant.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's where the money was going.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: And we were able to highlight that and use that, not to embarrass the city, but so lodge leadership, FOP leadership could go in and talk to the city about, hey, look, we don't want to embarrass you, but we know you got money and you need to fix this, but more importantly, you need to give us salary, you know, give us a wage increase, a commensurate wage increase.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so they were successful by that.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: Another group was there was a a small community, Anderson, Indiana, and Anderson's officers were underpaid compared to all their peers.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: And we looked at a cutting it a couple of different ways, and so finally we put together some good analysis.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: This didn't have to do with the financial statement, but for the city, and I said, Hey, can you tell me who you're losing officers to?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Sure.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so we took all those wages, put them on a chart, they presented it to the city, and it became real clear that they were losing officers and they were going to departments making you know 20, 30 grand a year more.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: And one city council member goes, Yeah, but I want is this real data?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: He goes, Because no one's leaving to go to an entity that makes less money.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess the room kind of went silent.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: And the police officers looked at him like, uh yeah, you wouldn't leave a job.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: But it became real clear to the city leadership in Anderson that our police officers were underpaid compared to neighboring communities related to people that we're losing officers too.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: And so if we're going to retain officers, we need to do a better job of building a pay scale that we'll keep them here.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so I felt good because I and to to come full circle, when I get a chance to run into police officers at conferences, national events, and they'll tell me, hey, 10 years ago you helped us and we're still following that pattern or we're much better off.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: I like those stories.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: I like knowing that something has what I would call um sustainability.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's nice to get in and get that quick win, but to know that, hey, to this day, you're still getting paid well.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: You still use the analysis.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's helping you.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I did something.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome, man.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Wade, do you got anything else for us on this uh this podcast?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I was just gonna talk a little bit about some football first.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: Can we talk about some football?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, here's my breakdown on the game.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: First off, I think Arch Manning's good.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: He is he's good, and he's gonna have a good game.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: Careful, Wade.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: We are in Austin, by the way.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: I know he's gonna have a good game, but I think he's gonna throw a pick.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know where.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_02: I think he's gonna throw a pick because uh we got a pretty pretty good defense.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think the guy that's gonna show out this time, and Texas has done a good job with him, is Jeremiah Smith.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh if I was a pro football team owner, um, he would be my first draft pick.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: I know Arch as a quarterback and some other guys are coming out.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: I think Jeremiah Smith at at the wideout is as good as they get, and Ohio State's gonna find a way that that guy can actually get some things done that Texas has kept him from doing the last two times we've played.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: You've done a great job with him.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that's my call there.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think Jeremiah Smith is gonna show out big.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I think the Buckeys are gonna win.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be a tough game.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: Give me a prediction.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh score-wise, I would say I think the Buckeyes win this one 21-17.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going 24-21, Texas, three-point lead.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think Texas is gonna take the lead and beat Ohio State at home.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned this earlier.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: The weather, I think, is gonna play a tremendous part in the heat because I think it's gonna be 102 on the field during that game.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's gonna be a good game.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're excited to be down here just to watch.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be talking a whole bunch of shit via via via text whenever the game's going on.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Just to let you know.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, as I mentioned, my son lives in my son lives in Austin.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: He's got a business out on Lake Travis.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: So if there are any law enforcement officers that are looking for a place to go get on the water, do a little paddleboarding and kayaking.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's called APK.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: In the graveyard ice house where he serves some nice cold beers and you can get pedalboards and pedal kayaks and kayaks and have fun out on the ice.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: I may I may end up there on Sunday after after our little youth football game.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: So can't thank you now for our partnership and uh the work you do before TMPA is greatly appreciated as your.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we I can I I heard many, many, many compliments during the you know today's class, and a lot of the field reps that have worked with you also in the past just talk about just what a great job you do.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I we greatly appreciate it.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: We start off, we end our podcast by doing three rapid fire questions.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Even though you haven't been in law enforcement, you've been around around law enforcement long enough, and I hope I hope you can you can nail these down.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: You ready?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Ready.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: What is your favorite cop car, your favorite line from a cop movie, or your favorite cop movie, and your favorite drink of choice when you're chilling and hanging out with your fam?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, favorite cop car, crown vic.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: I'm old.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: What's number two?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: What is number two is favorite line from a cop movie or your favorite cop movie of all time?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh favorite line from a cop movie.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's gotta be Clint.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: Clint East would go ahead and make my day.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I love it.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then what is your favorite drink of choice when you're hanging out with the fam?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: Favorite drink of choice.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: I got a cup full of those, uh, but probably a nice, ice cold Labat Blue beer.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: I never heard of that.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is that is it like a IPA type?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh no, it's a lager.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's a Canadian beer, but we get it in Ohio, but now they make it in the United States, so I guess they won't have to worry about the tariffs.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: It was hard to put your Canadian beer, but Labat Blue is the beer of choice up in Ohio for me.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Shameless plug.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Where can people find you at?
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: How can people contact you if they have any questions?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: And how can people get a hold of you?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, people can find me at wade at steamcompany.com.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that's also our website, steamcompany.com.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: Email address?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: W.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: Email address is wade at steamcompany.com and the email www.steamcompany.com.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: You guys have any questions or if you want to get in in touch with Wade, feel free to reach out to TNPA.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: We can also put you in connection with him and all the great work that he's doing.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: I can't thank you enough again for stopping by here in Austin and teaching, come and teach this class for some of our, not only our staff, but we have a lot of association leadership that stopped in and dropped in today from Houston to Tyler to Dallas Fourth Mexic area.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a great class.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: I got a lot out of it and greatly appreciate you stopping by.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, you guys take care, stay safe.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: God bless you.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: As always, may God bless Texas.