HomeMy WebLinkAboutPolice/Fire Staff Reports - Presented at 4/9/10 Mtng ���"� CITY OF PALM DESERT
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CITY MANAGERS OFFICE
• MEMORANDUM
To: Honorable Mayor and Councilmembers
From: Stephen Y. Aryan, Assistant to the City Manager
Date: April 7, 2010
Subject: Police/Fire Budget Review by the Palm Desert Public Safety Commssion
Contents: Preliminary Verbatim Minutes Excerpt
Attached for your review are the verbatim minutes for the March 29, 2010, Public Safety
Commission meeting that outline the discussion on the Police and Fire Departments'
budget proposals and City Manager's recommendations. To summarize the
Commissioner's motion:
City of Palm Desert Police Department Budget
Commissioner Nethery moved, by Minute Motion, to approve City Manager's
recommendations, as wel/ as staff's Option #2. The recommendation could be reviewed
by City Council during its midyear budget process. Motion seconded by Commissioner
Kirkwood and carried unanimous/y.
City of Palm Desert Police Department Budget
Vice Chair Lebe/ moved, by Minute Motion, to recommend approva/ of the City Manager's
recommendations for the FY 2010/91 Fire Department Budget. Motion seconded by
Commissioner Nethery and carried unanimously.
The minutes have not been formally approved by the Commission, but staff feels they
accurately reflect the budgetary discussion that occurred. Please contact me should you
have any comments or questions. Thank you.
�
Stephen Y. A an
Assistant to the Cit anager
SYA:sya
cc: Palm Desert Public Safety Commission
Lt. Andrew Shouse, Palm Desert Police Department
Division Chief Dorian Cooley, Palm Desert Fire Department
John Wohlmuth, City Manager
Paul Gibson, Director of Finance
Rachelle Klassen, City Clerk
PRELIMINARY MINUTES
REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010
Chief Dorian Cooley stated that he was making note of Vice Chair
Lebel's suggestions.
Mr. Aryan asked if the recommendations could be modified before
being submitted to City Council. Chief Cooley responded that that
would not be possible.
Chief Cooley was interested in improving the Report and making
changes for ne� year's report. He said they have already been in
discussion about the changes that need to be made for next year.
He understood what Vice Chair Lebel was looking for in the Report
and he was in agreement with Vice Chair Lebel's comments.
Vice Chair Lebel moved, by Minute Motion, to 1) direct staff to forward the Fire
Department's 2009 Annual Report to the City Council as an informational item; 2)
receive and file the Report. Motion was seconded by Commissioner Kirkwood and
carried unanimously.
Verbatim minutes from this point.
JL - James Larsh
RL - Rick Lebel
GK - Gloria Kirkwood
JB - James Butzbach
MN - Martin Nethery
CF - Cindy Finerty
SA - Stephen Aryan
AS - Lt. Andrew Shouse
DC -Chief Dorian Cooley
H. Consideration of Proposed Fiscal Year 2010/11 Police Department
Budget
SA Honorable Chair and Commissioners, would it be okay if I just kind
of gave an oral overview of what the City Manager's
recommendations are? Have you all had a chance to read our
budget and after that we could go over questions and answers with
Lt. Shouse.
As you'll note, the current budget for FY 2010/11 as recommended
came in at $16,400,000, which is approximately a $1 million dollar
increase over last year. When the Police Department went into
discussions with the Finance Director, myself and the City
Manager, there were a couple of recommendations that came out
of that meeting. The first was to close the Washington Street
substation. That is a minimal savings of $6,500. Why we
recommended this was that the new Sheriff's station will be
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opening up pretty soon here Andy, about May I assume, so they
will be moving in sometime by June. At that time, our existing Civic
Center Station will be the new substation for the City, so we felt
there was no need to have that existing station on Washington
Street remain open.
The other recommendation was to eliminate a vacant CSO I
position. That is a $74,000 savings. This action, again this is a
vacant position, where there is a remaining CSO I position that is
staffed. The idea was to have that position staffed here at the Civic
Center. As there is one person there they would have limited
hours, which I believe are four days per week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
However, one thing that was important to the City Manager was
that as we transition to the new station was to have full hours here
at this current station, so that when people come here they can be
redirected to the new station and the Police Department would
handling that more than likely with the CSO II position to kind of fill
in for the extra staffing so that does have a slight impact to their
patrol services one day a week, I would assume. Cause the CSO I
operate typically Monday through Friday.
The other... biggest recommendation is to reduce the overtime
budget by 50% , which is a $154,000 savings. Typically each year
the Police Department's budget is an estimated 2% salary savings.
However, the City Manager recommended that iYs probably better
to reduce the overtime budget as it is a more manageable cost, and
if we need to we can come back at the midyear point and kind of
look at where we are at the overtime budget and make a
recommendation based on those numbers.
So, the total reduction, after coming out of that meeting, was
approximately $235,000, which brings in the new budget less by
that amount.
That concludes my report. If you have any questions, staff would
be happy to answer them.
RL Those were good recommendations and observations made by
Manager and staff. I did have some questions regarding cost
estimates on Page 1 in the detailed budget appropriation request
SA I'm sorry if I may. There was two budget reports that you received.
One was the original one, which was on the March 10. The other
one is based on the information that came in after the meeting with
the City Manager. The only true differences between those two;
you no longer have the recommendation for the Washington Street;
that was removed. It will show a reduction of that in your
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contingency line item by $6,500.00 and your overtime budget will
be less that much too; $154,000 by 50%. Otherwise, everything
else remains the same.
AS The latest revised budget says "revised" on the cover memo and it
is dated March 15, just to make sure that you have the revised
budget.
RL Under the Detailed Budget Appropriation Request; that first page.
The second section of that page starting with line items 18 and 19.
There are cost estimates for the Palm Desert Station Facility Fee
and a Records Management System. I wondered how those cost
estimates were developed or who they were provided by. Whether
those were done within the county level or whether those are done
in-house.
AS Those are done in downtown Riverside. The Sheriff's Contracts
Unit develops the facility fee. The facility fee includes such things
as, dispatch, sheriff's administration facilities, some of the other
support operations that go along to support the overall police
function. They take those costs and basically add them all together
and then distribute those costs among the contract cities in the
county. The facility fee also includes the Palm Desert Station, so
that portion of the Palm Desert Station is basically used by the
Palm Desert Police Department; is included in that fee.
RL Line item 21, the Jail Booking Fees indicated that it was 35% state
cut. Does this provide a reduced amount of $51,648.00? Is that
reduced from the prior year'?
AS This is an increase from the prior year. Last year the State only cut
the budget by the overall booking fee fund that they allocate to the
various cities by 10%, this year they reduced it by 35%, and so the
booking fee for that category increased. It was, I think, $12.12 and
went up to $43.04.
RL On line item 23 Mileage Cost for Patrol Units indicates $.97 per
mile. Is that the same rate for the motors?
AS No. This fee is a fee that the Sheriff charges contract cities for the
black & whites and/or the stealth cars, the Crown Victoria stealth
cars. It includes the cost of the car, the maintenance of the car,
and so forth, and the fuel. The motors are city owned assets. The
City purchases those motors, the City pays for all of the
maintenance and one of the line items in the budget there is a
motor maintenance fund and the City also pays for fuel for the
motors. So this fee is for everything other than the motors.
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RL Thank you.
RL On line items 26 & 27, with refationship to the motors, one indicates
9 motors the other indicates 10 motors.
AS We do have one motor that is a back-up. A BMW, so we have 9
motor officers right now; all those positions are filled. We have 1
motor sergeant, a riding motor sergeant, so there are 9 active
motors in the field and we have 1 back-up.
RL So the maintenance cost of that back-up is calculated at the same
rate as the remaining motors?
AS That's correct. Obviously these are pretty rough estimates. I think
the last couple of years, the motor maintenance fund we have been
right around that figure so this is our best guess for the next fiscal
year.
RL Thank you.
MN I have a couple of questions. I wanted to talk about, I don't know
how maybe you or Steve, either one of you can help me with this. I
want to talk about some of these options and ask a couple of
questions. I think the staff recommendation I support, but I am
wondering what's the advantages of having the substation open
here other than, I understand there is convenience for the public.
Someone comes here they don't know about the new station, but
what the advantages of that because it seems to me, maybe, it's a
bit of a luxury now. In other times it's not such a luxury, but if we
are looking hard at the budget, wondering if we shouldn't eliminate
that second CSO and just not have a substation open here. At
least for this fiscal year or part of this fiscal year. So I'm wondering
what you think the advantages of having....
AS Well, certainly good point and quite honestly the Police Department
would function fine without a substation. The substation really
simply provides access, ease of access, to the public. And that is
really all it does. It provides the public with an opportunity to
access some limited police services over here, but you make a
good point. I mean, in these economic times, the public could
easily be diverted to the new Gerald Ford Station and access the
same services there. So, its really a matter of providing access to
the community. I think you characterization that it is a luxury is
true, is accurate, it is a luxury. But, then again, its a matter of....
the question is how much access do we want to give members of
the community. Do we want to afford them an opportunity to go to
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the substation while they are here at the Civic Center Complex and
access some police services, or in these economic times we think
they can get the same services by driving five minutes down the
road. So it's a question of...its a question that you all have to make.
Honestly, we could live without it. We can operate just fine we
have for years and years without having substations in every nook
and cranny of the City. So, you know, our goal and our aim is to
hopefully maintain a police presence here, whether or not it is
having office hours or not. The Sheriff is currentfy negotiating with
the City to take over the lease of the building over there to leave
our dispatch center there. We also plan on, whether or not we
have office hours or not, maintaining a portion of that building as an
office space for officers to come, write reports, use the restroom,
and take care of business so we will have black & whites in the
area. So, there will be a police presence here, but your point about
office hours is accurate and there is a significant cost to that..you
know staffing that.
MN ...I like the idea...l live in South Palm Desert and so convenience
factor is important, but I like the idea of police presence around City
Hall and I am sure that city staff and the Council does too. But if
we are going to have that anyway, and all they are talking about is
office hours, you know $75,000 savings if that is the only reason
that CSO position is being maintained it seems to me that maybe
we ought to think about not having this year and we can always
bring it back next year or the year after if conditions warrant.
Anyway, that's the question.
And the other question I have...Option 3 — Eliminate three CSO II
positions. We really don't want to do that but there is no discussion
about what would be the impact if we eliminated one of those. I
know if we eliminate the three you say will negatively affect
operations and obviously that's the key words. We don't want to do
that if at all possible. But, if we eliminated one, is that somebody
who is out on the street actively policing?
AS Yes, we have seven CSO Ils. One of those is assigned to the
traffic bureau and the other six are assigned to every shift. There
are three watches. Each watch has two CSO Ils that are assigned
to that watch and they basically split the work week with an
overlapping Wednesday. So, if one of those were eliminated if
would either impact patrol, I would obviously not have that CSO on
patrol, or we would have to remove the CSO from the traffic
bureau. So, the downside to the CSO II off patrol is that if there is
not a CSO II working, say right now on day shift, and you are a
patrol deputy that makes an arrest, apparently you can take the
arrestee to the Palm Desert Station, meet the CSO there or the
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CSO II can meet you in the field, and the CSO transports that
person to the jail. The time that it takes to transport an individual to
the jail, book them in and come back, can range from anywhere
from a 1 %z to a couple of hours depending on the circumstances.
Sometimes these individuals require medical clearance prior to
getting booked so they have to transport them to JFK, they get
seen by a doctor and then, so, what I'm saying is if you have a
CSO that deputy is able to go back out into the field and be a
functioning member of the patrol force without that delay. The CSO
Ils also take non-criminal reports, they take minor traffic collision
reports, and they take minor criminal reports with no suspect
information, (unc/ear) so they do relieve the sworn peace officers
with some of the extra workload that is out there on a daily basis.
So, elimination of one CSO would have some impact, elimination of
three would obviously have more significant impact, but, so yes
there is some impact that would occur.
MN So if we eliminate one we would be taking a sworn officer out of the
field for some period of time depending on circumstances...
AS Yes.
MN ...during the course of the week or the course of the year.
AS During some instances, yes. The CSOs...and Dan couldn't be
here, he got married and he is on his honeymoon and so he is
having fun, but he definitely sees...one thing I should say that you
get a lot of bang for your buck with these CSOs as opposed to a
peace officer. These officers...regular patrol deputy is about
$220,000 a year calculated at the patrol rate and the CSOs are
about $90,000 per year so they do give you significant work without
the economic impact of the peace officer.
MN Sure.
�� Now can they take residential burglary reports and commercial
burglary reports where there is a potential of evidence?
AS They can take reports where there is collecting of evidence. If its a
minor burglary and they have to dust for fingerprints they are
trained to do that.
�� They are trained to do that?
AS Yes. What we don't want them doing is investigating calls where
there is suspect information. We want peace officers doing those
calls.
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�� I was wondering about the lingering potential evidence that might
be at a burglary.
AS They are trained to handle those calls with evidence to some
extent.
JL So they are trained for fingerprints and all that.
AS Thank you.
MN That's all I have.
�B Actually mine were answered over the last several weeks of
conversations with Steve and Lt. Shouse and the one thing I would
ever hate to see is the compromising of the level of service and
safety in the City by cutting sworn positions and certainly (unclear).
Where does the maintenance and manning come in for the Town
Center Station?
AS The utilities and so forth are paid by the City. The City pays for the
phone lines over there, the electricity and so forth. The regular
maintenance cleaning and so forth is done currently by facilities
management.
�B Maintained by personnel?
AS Oh. Basically what happens...right now we have the Washington
Street substation is open and this 111 substation is functioning. I
only have or�e CSO I; the other position is vacant. So, that CSO I
spends three days a week, sometimes four days a week,
depending on her work week, she works a 9-80 so she works five
days one week and four days the next. But she will spend one day
over at the 111 substation maintaining it restocking printer paper,
making sure the place is kept up to snuff and the remainder of her
time spent at the Washington Street station.
�B So its really all inclusive then?
AS Correct. And we don't maintain office hours over here...
JL I noticed that...
AS ...so the public cannot go in there and get a report or anything. And
we decided not to do that last year if you recall we had two CSOs at
the time, we were capturing data on the number of walk-ins and it
really was not worth it. There were a minor number of people
walking in, they were asking direction questions, where is the
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Chamber of Commerce and really not accessing police services so
it was not worth while maintaining office hours over here.
GK One quick question on staffing. All positions we have are filled,
currently.
AS We do have one CSO II position that is vacant. We have the one
CSO I position that is vacant. All of our special team's positions are
filled. All of our peace officers are filled, all the motors, traffic, set
guys, all those are filled. We do have what you might technically
call vacant patrol positions that we are filling with overtime on
patrol. The City contracts for 176.4 hours per day. We are not
100%. We think we are going to be close to that maybe right
around 95+% filling that, so in technical terms we have a couple of
vacant...
GK How long have those been vacant?
AS For...we have been running overtime to fill our patrol contract for
the last couple of years. We haven't been able to staff our
patrol..our number of patrol deputies 100%, but we maintain
that...come close to achieving that 100% level through overtime.
Now, the overtime is not billed to the City as overtime. The
overtime that we're budgeting for in this budget is not patrol
overtime. If we have to pay a deputy overtime to work regular
patrol, that gets billed out at the same rate as if we were paying a
guy on straight time. So, our overtime problems and staffing
problems are not the City's. The City contracts for a certain
number of hours, at a certain rate, and thaYs all they get billed.
Just want to make that clear. The overtime that we are budgeting
for here in line item no. 17 on page 1, that's overtime for
unavoidable overtime for either extended shifts, where an officer
gets a late arrest, has to take that person to jail, write a report and
gets held over for a couple of hours. IYs for investigator overtime
when we have a crime that occurs after hours and we call out
detectives to handle that. Those detectives obviously are on
overtime and that's part of that. Central Homicide Unit overtime,
knock on wood we've been doing very well in not having to call
them out, but as an example, the Toys R Us event, just about
everyone out there was on overtime and significant amounts of
overtime. It only takes one of those instances to really drive up
those costs. So that is what that overtime is. I wanted to clarify
that.
GK The CSO II position has been vacant for how long?
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AS We have a CSO II resign probably about two months ago; I am
guessing. And we have been filling that vacancy...were recruiting
and trying to fill that vacancy. We have not been directed by the
City Manager not to fill that. That is our every intention is to fill that
because of the impact of patrol. But we have been filling those
vacant days without overtime with other CSOs. So the City has not
seen the negative impact. We have been filling that with overtime
again, not at additional cost to the City, the City still pays the same
flat rate.
RL I'd like to ask a question regarding that flat rate for overtime. You
indicate that the overtime is billed that same amount and at the
same cost that the standard deputy would be billed...
AS Correct.
RL ...if I understood correctly. Even though the burden of the overtime
rate is less expensive than the full service rate?
AS Two different...l guess let's clarify. There are two different overtime
rates that we are talking about here. One is...the overtime, the
extended shift overtime investigations call out CHU Investigations
on line item 17, which is a reduced rate. And I have the information
in here somewhere I could find it for you. It's right around $54 to
$55 an hour. It's not the $121 an hour rate. Right. It is salary only;
no benefits. The other overtime we are talking about where I have
to pay somebody overtime to maintain that minimum staffing that
the City contracts for...the County is paying overtime for that deputy
to work it, but the City is paying only that same contract rate, that
$121 per hour. Does that make sense?
RL It does make sense. But the City is paying for the full burden as if it
were an hourly employee as opposed the reduced version of an
overtime rate...
AS Correct.
RL ...because of the overtime rate the primary burden for that salary
has already been paid.
AS That is correct. The City is paying the regular full rate and we are
paying the deputy overtime because we can't fill the position or the
position is vacant and we need deputy's to work; that is true.
RL Atl right. So the City is paying a couple bucks extra for that
overtime rate.
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AS I wouldn't say that, no. The City is paying the same flat rate.
RL I know. The flat rate is an inflated rate basically.
AS I'll defer to somebody with an accounting degree.
RL If you figure the benefit cost on the regular hour is going to be at
one rate and you figure the benefit cost on an overtime hour it is
going to be the reduced rate.
AS Okay.
RL Because the majority of that benefit cost has already been paid at
the regular rate.
AS I see what you're saying.
JL Alright. If you're overtime budget is reduced by 50% what is that
going to do with the holidays and Christmas programs you have
had for the last several years?
AS The Holiday Theft Suppression Program is all Cal COPS funds; all
grant funds. So, that will still be in place unless Council decides
that they would rather spend the money elsewhere.
RL Okay. Very good.
MN Are you good Andy, with staff recommendations that Steve outlined
in his cover memo to your latest budget?
AS Yes.
�N In other words, we can look again obviously at the overtime as you
said...depending on what happens may or may not work. But we
can look again at that at mid-year.
AS Yeah. I think the City Manager...the option was to either, you know,
cut it out somewhere. I think cutting out overtime...will we be over
that? Probably. But I think we will have enough salary savings in
that 2% leeway as far as salary savings that we'll pretty much break
even.
MN Perhaps if something unusual happens or unexpected happens...
AS Correct.
MN I move the staff recommendation, but with...l'm sorry.
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CF I just have a question. On closing the Washington Street
substation. There had been talk of maybe renting an apartment in
The Fountains, those apartments on Michigan, because of the high
incidents of crime in that area. Is that still being looked at? And
what impact of ctosing the Washington Street substation would
there be? Do you feel that is any kind of a deterrent because the
Palm Desert County Club area is one of our high crime areas? Is
that going to negatively impact the residents that are out there that
are very concerned? I attended neighborhood watch breakfast a
week ago Saturday with seven deputies and there are a lot
residents that are worried out there.
AS We have not explored the renting of an apartment at The Fountains
lately. I think that initially RDA was going to look at some property
out there but the idea of having a police substation right ne� to
somebody's apartment...we thought maybe not be the best idea
after all. We...l think that the residents make a good point, you
make a good point, about having the police presence out there. Is
that a deterrent? I think it is somewhat of a deterrent having the
police presence out there. I think that...
RL No more than increased patrols...
AS ...however, yeah, I know that RDA was going to look at trying to
approach the owner out there at The Fountains again to see what
we could do about that cause they have done such a great job with
the California Villas. Talk about the broken windows theory. They
have made such a great transformation out there at the Villas.
Before we used to be out there all of the time and now we are
virtually never out there at the Villas. Half of them had to do with
them getting rid 25% of the tenants out there that were problem
tenants. I think that...yeah I suppose that there is some peace of
mind that residents get by having a police substation there and
knowing that there is police presence around the corner at some
point. However, does the cost outweigh that; I don't know.
CF I guess I was looking at when you're looking at a $16 million dollar
budget and that cost is $6,500 to keep it open it just seemed...
�°►S The owner of...l've been approached by FKC Properties. I don't
think they would be inclined to give us another year lease for $1,
which is what they did this year. They did indicate to me that they
wanted the ability to show the property because he is looking to try
to lease it if he can get some money for it. The property has been
renovated and apparently that's spiked some interest in some
people. FKC Properties did say that they had some smaller space
and wanted to know if we might be interested in having small office
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and smaller square footage there and I told him we would discuss
that and that in fact happened. So there might be an opportunity to
have something on a much smaller scale, we're not paying a lease,
maybe minimal utilities, or something to that effect down the road.
And having said that, I guess, the other issue is the Gerald Ford
Station probably is a lot...it's going to be a lot quicker for us to get
to Palm Desert Country Club and that whole region than it is now.
Fred Waring is typically very congested and it's kind of hard to get
over there. I think our ability to respond over there to the northern
end of the City, the eastern end of the City is going to be better
now. So, I know that probably answer your question to the point,
but I think we will be able to make due. And if we need to look at
things down the road, if it's not working...and then we are pretty
flexible and will be able to do that.
CF Thank you.
MN I was going to move staff recommendation plus Option 2
recommend to the Council that it consider Option 2 that is the
elimination of the additional CSO I the effect of which would be to
not have a substation here based on Lt. Shouse telling us that there
is going to be a police presence just means no office hours. Under
the circumstances it seems to me to be something that we ought to
ask the Council to look at. In fact, from my point of view,
recommend...so that would be my motion.
GK I'll second that.
�� Any discussion?
RL That would not preclude the Council from looking at reestablishing
Option 2 mid-year if they found the need or necessity to do so.
MN Absolutely. We can even include that in the motion. If the
Commission wanted to we could include it in the motion. I would
amend it to suggest that the Council...we recommend Option 2, but
again look at it mid-year budget consideration as to whether it
should be reinstated.
GK I'll second that amendment.
SA Could I just have a clarification? Part of the City Manager's
recommendation was to have a transition period here at this
substation.
M N Correct.
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SA We eliminate that and there won't be anyone here. Is that
something that you are also recommending we don't need to
pursue anymore is to have a transitory period?
RL That's our recommendation.
SA Okay.
RL Council can always reconsider that.
SA Sure.
�� Reconsider mid-year. Yes.
�B There's finro parts to the motion then, basically.
GK There's an amendment to the motion.
�B Okay. I agree with Steve. There is a transition period, you're
eliminating that position that they have recommended for the
transition period.
SA Correct.
MN Actually, the transition period was to not eliminate the first...vacant
position in order to have full office hours; if I understand this. Of
course it's a vacant position so...
SA The CSO I still in place. The idea was that that position could stay
here and work the same hours, the 9/80 shift, that would
supplement that position whether its vacant, or sick, or vacation for
the first six months with the CSO II.
MN Yeah. Well, you know I think the Council needs to decide whether
that makes sense. But I think iYs, at least from my point of view,
seems to me it is a bit of a luxury and maybe if we're looking hard
at the budget this is the year where we eliminate that. If the Council
decides to keep it...
SA That's what we are looking for; your recommendation.
MN ...yeah, and Council can certainly...can decide to keep it two or
three months or six months or whatever, but that would be my
motion in any event.
GK I second them (unclear) both.
�� All in favor.
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RL Aye.
�B Aye.
GK Aye.
MN Aye.
JL Aye. Carried.
For purposes of ciarification:
Commissioner Nethery moved, by Minute Motion, to approve City Manager's
recommendations, as well as staff's Option #2. The recommendation could be
reviewed by City Council during its midyear budget process. Motion seconded by
Commissioner Kirkwood and carried unanimously.
I. Consideration of Proposed Fiscal Year 2010/11 Fire Department
Budget
SA The budget you have presented before you...there are two numbers
here, so not to confuse, one of them is listed as a Schedule A
Budget Estimate and that basically is the State CalFire budget at
the top salary level. So, we wanted to look at something more
historical related thaYs why you have the Anticipated Budget
Estimate and the difference is the top salary level estimate that
comes in at about $9.9 million vs. a more historical look at the
budget, what those actual numbers would be; about $9.3 million.
So, what we are asking today to approve is actually the Anticipated
Budget Estimate amount of$9.3 million.
That being said, we met with the Fire Department and as you can
tell from last year, the budget has remained relatively flat. In fact,
it's about a $47,000 reduction over last year. That is directly
attributable to the fact that we don't have the start-up cost of the
Medic Unit that is over in Indian Wells, serving the northeast portion
of our city, and also, there was a reclassification of a Firefighter
Engineer Medic to a Firefighter II Medic because there was two
Engineer Medic at the Indian Wells Station so there wasn't a need
for that. So, that is where you got some salary savings and also
some start-up cost savings. That's were you get that number.
So we are recommending the budget as presented under an
Anticipated Budget Estimate. There is also some Capital
Equipment costs that the Fire Department is looking at...those
total...a reduced amount from what we (unclear) receive those
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PRELIMINARY MINUTES
REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010
totals $17,000; approximately. The City Manager would like to
remove two of those items, those that are specifically dealing with
the mattresses. I was able to identify a grant through RDA that we
can use to pay for a majority of these. The other amounts the Fire
Department is going to have one of their Chiefs to look at to see if it
really needs to be replaced this year, if not, we could hold off until
next year's budget. Or, if they do need to be replaced Chief Cooley
has identified some money in this year's existing budget that could
cover those costs so there won't be any additional cost to next
year's budget. With that grant money there is also a need to
purchase a new computer for Fire Station 67 and also a proposal,
that is moving along and looks fairly certain, staff is proposing to
relocate the Fire Marshall who is currently located in the Parkview
Office complex, just over here. And, what we would like to do is
relocate them to our former Code Enforcement Office, which is over
in the Public Works wing of the City. There is a benefit internally to
us in terms of staff communicating with the Fire Marshall on a
regular basis and also an extra for customers who come in to get a
Building and Safety Permit they can go right down the hallway and
get their plans inspected by the Fire Marshall. So, that is what we
are recommending. There is a cost to that. I'm still working on
outlining those costs. Roughly it's about $2,000 to get them all
squared away and moved in. It's a minimal cost. There is some
additional revenue that could be generated into our Enterprise Fund
as they vacate that old facility that opens up old space, about 1,300
sq. ft. to lease. The lease amount could be anywhere from $2,000
a year for a government entity to about $2,400 a year for a private
entity based on a sliding scale. So that's some additional potential
revenue that can come in. The reason they are coming here is not
a revenue issue, it is more of a customer service issue.
RL About 1,300 sq. ft. in the other facility.
SA About 1,360. Some of that money...l defer some of the transition
costs through the existing Grant Program. The carpeting in the
Code Enforcement is pretty atrocious, so this grant money will
cover that. Carpeting came out to about $2,400, so we are doing
some savings there with the grant money this year. I just need to
spend the money by next week, so. That's not a problem.
RL What's the relative square footage in the former building?
SA I want to say it's about 700 to 800 sq. ft. That being said, there are
freeing up some space, they have some large cabinets that are
going into our storage area they have adjacent access to, and they
are also going to have a conference facility that they can use for
their meetings. There are various conference rooms. And we also
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PRELIMINARY MINUTES
REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010
have our EOC, which ironically is right across the hall from them
that they can use for their training purposes. We have TVs and
computers set-up in there. So it is an excellent proposal; staff
thinks. And it benefits everybody.
RL How does it look from fire's standpoint?
DC We support it. It's good customer service and iYs something we
have done in some of our other county facilities as well, combined
with (unclear) and land planning. One stop shopping is the term.
Trying to make it more convenient for the customer.
SA So to summarize. The budget we are looking at recommending is
$9,351,340.06, and that amount excludes any of the ladder truck
reimbursement and fire tax credits we have. Once we get that, just
for your knowledge, the net estimates about $3.3 to $3.4 million.
That's our net cost we are estimating, but we're asking you to
approve the budget under Anticipated Budget Estimate of $9.3,
plus the additional Capital Equipment items at $3,000 for the Mini
Muster supplies and $8,700 for the Fire Marshall Code updates.
The other stuff we will cover through grant money or this year's
budget. That includes my recommendations and I would be happy
to answer any questions you have.
RL Sounds real good.
JL Sounds great.
MN Any comments from the Fire Department?
DC Over the past year and a half, the fire department has worked hard
to cut our expenses across our support services components. In
doing so, we are able to help keep costs down for our contracts.
We know it is important to help our cities hold the line in these
economic times. We are being austere in our approach, and are
proud of our efforts.
Vice Chair Lebel moved, by Minute Motion, to recommend approval of the City
Manager's recommendations for the FY 2010/11 Fire Department Budget. Motion
seconded by Commissioner Nethery and carried unanimously.
J. City of Palm Desert Emergency Operation Plan — Parts 1 & 2
Gary Rosenblum gave a brief history on the background of the
Emergency Operation Plan. He stated that the City received
written accreditation for it's Plan from the State of California.
20
�"'�'� CITY OF PALM DESERT
/ �
CITY MANAGERS OFFICE
MEMORANDUM
To: Honorable Mayor and Councilmembers
From: Stephen Y. Aryan, Assistant to the City Manager
Date: April 7, 2010
Subject: Relocation of Fire Marshal's Office
As part of the FY 2010/11 Palm Desert Fire Department budget proposal, staff
recommends that the Fire Marshal's office be relocated from its current location at the
Parkview Office Complex to the Civic Center. Specifically, the Fire Marshal's office
would occupy the former Code Compliance space that was vacated last year.
This action is recommended in an effort to improve internal/external customer service. It
will provide a "one stop shop "for permitJplan approval. County, Fire, and City staff have
met to identify potential costs/revenues associated with this proposal, as follows:
RELOCATION COSTS
Item Expenditure Notes
Estimate
County Data $1,C?00 This item is to relocate 'the County data network
Network Costs cannection to City Hal�.
Phone Lines $300 This item is to port over the Fire Marshal's Office existing
phone lines.
New Carpeting $2,655.37 Staff identified exis#ing grant funds that the
Recievetopment Agency currently has ta pay for this
c�pitaf equipment purchase.
Data $500 It may be necessary to install additional data connections
Connections for some workstations.
Staff Time TBD The Fire Department identifred existing fumiture that they
can utilize for their reloca#ion. These items are located in�
Temecula and City staff would assist in delivering them to
the new location. Although there is a cost of staff time, we
will be getting some fumishings.
Fire Marshal Relocation
Aprii 7, 2010
Page 2 of 2
PARK VIEW OFFICE COMPLEX
POTENTIAL LEASE REVENUES (1,360 SQUARE FEET)
Lease Payment Government Tenant Private Tenant
Mon#hiy $2,040 $2,448
AnnuallY $24,48� $29,376
Five Year Period $122,400 $146,880
Relocated Fire personnel will also utilize the City's new phone system; therefore,
Riverside County would no longer charge the City a monthly telephone equipment lease
fee of approximately $168 (or$2,016 annually).
Although there are costs associated with this relocation, they are minimal when
compared to the potential revenues generated. More importantly, this proposal will
enhance customer service between the Fire Department and the community they serve.
It also has the support of both City and Fire Department senior staff. ff approved, this
relocation would likely occur in July 2010. Thank you.
.
St phen Y. Aryan
Assistant to the City N��nager
v
SYA:sya
cc: Palm Desert Public Safety Commission
Lt. Andrew Shouse, Palm Desert Police Department
Division Chief Dorian Cooley, Palm Desert Fire Department
John Wohlmuth, City Manager
Paut Gibson, Director of Finance
Rachelle Klassen, City Clerk