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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Sfty Cmsn - 03/29/10 �^T--� � � CITY OF PALM DESERT REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING APPROVED MINUTES Monday, March 29, 2010 - 11 a.m. Administrative Conference Room I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Larsh called the meeting to order at 11 a.m. II. ROLL CALL Present: Commissioner James Butzbach CITyCOUNCILACTION Commissioner Gloria Kirkwood appROVED _ DENIF,D Chairman James Larsh RECE[VED„���_ �pTHER Vice Chairman Rick Lebel Commissioner Martin Nethery MEETI G DATE "T-�7-�-c�i o AYF,S: " � "�� +� �" , III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS NOES: N u��c� ABSENT: ���� > �n None AI3STAIN: �� �- � VERIFfED 13Y: IV. PRESENTATIONS Original on File with City Clcrk's Oflice None V. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Minutes of the Public Safety Commission Meeting of February 10, 2010 Rec: Approve as presented. B. Palm Desert Fire Services Monthly Report for January 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. C. Palm Desert Special Enforcement Team Monthly Report for February 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 D. Traffic Team Report for February 2010 -- Includes Traffic Collision Statistics for January 2010 and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Statistics for February 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. E. Business District Team Report— February 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. F. Coachella Valley Narcotics Task Force Report for February 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. G. Canine Report— February 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. H. Coachella Valley Violent Crime Gang Task Force Report for February 2010 Rec: By Minute Motion, receive and file. Vice Chairman Lebel moved, by minute motion to approve the Consent Calendar as corrected. Seconded by Commissioner Kirkwood and carried unanimously. VI. CONSENT ITEMS HELD OVER None VII. NEW BUSINESS A. Recommend that the Palm Desert City Council Declare the City of Palm Desert's 1972 Oshkosh Snorkel Reserve Fire Truck as Surplus and Authorize Disposal as Proposed Stephen Aryan stated that the recommendation would be to receive and file, as this item has already been heard by City Council at its March 25, 2010, meeting. The City Council action was to approve staff's recommendation with the understanding that staff contacts local date groves to see if there was any interest in acquiring this unit. Commissioner Butzbach moved, by Minute Motion, to receive and file this item. Motion was seconded by Commissioner Kirkwood and was approved unanimously. 2 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 B. Request to expend funds for Various Traffic Collision Investigation Courses (Basic, Intermediate and Reconstruction) Mr. Aryan stated that the Basic Traffic Collision course has already taken place on March 15-19, 2010. Upon inquiry by Commissioner Butzbach, Lt. Andrew Shouse responded that this was the same as the "P.O.S.T. for reimbursement;" however, "P.O.S.T. Plan IV" is not reimbursed tuition. The request is to only expend funds for the tuition. The Department pays for training on the County side and then an invoice is generated that does not include any post-reimbursement that was received, and that invoice is sent to the City. Commissioner Butzbach moved, by Minute Motion, to authorize approval of an expenditure of $2,508 in CAL Cops funds for Various Traffic Collision Investigation Courses. Motion seconded by Commissioner Kirkwood and carried unanimously. C. Request to utilize $706.88 in CAL Cops funds to purchase a K-9 Ballistic Vest for the City of Palm Desert's Police Officer "Van Snapp." Mr. Aryan stated that this item was previously approved by the City Council at its March 25, 2010, meeting. Commissioner Kirkwood moved, by Minute Motion, to receive and file this item. Motion was seconded by Chairman Larsh and carried unanimously. D. Request to expend funds for Radar Operator and Laser Operator Courses at the Ben Clark Training Center (Riverside, CA), April 19- 22, 2010 Commissioner Butzbach moved, by Minute Motion, to authorize the expenditure of $246.00 in CAL Cops funds for a Radar Operator and Laser Operator Course at Ben Clark Training Center. Motion seconded by Commissioner Nethery and carried unanimously. E. Report on CrimeReports.com Upon inquiry by Chairman Larsh, Lt. Shouse responded that there was not a cost to the City. Lt. Shouse said this has been implemented county wide for the areas in which the Riverside County Sheriff serves. The cost to the County is very minimal. 3 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 Upon inquiry by Commissioner Butzbach, Lt. Shouse stated that there were no limitations to what is entered onto the site. Any crime that has a corresponding address would be entered into the database. The addresses are edited so you would not be able to view a specific resident's address; for reasons of confidentiality. Calls received that are not address specific will not be captured by the database. The site does offer sex registrant information, including a photograph. Commissioner Kirkwood moved, by Minute Motion, to receive and file the report. Motion seconded by Vice Chair Lebel and carried unanimously. F. Consideration of Police Department 2009 Annual Report Vice Chair Lebel said the Report was excellent and he appreciated the section on Mission Strategy. He recommended that the Report be shared with the City Council, the Public Library and the Criminal Justice Department at College of the Desert. Lt. Shouse stated that the Police and Fire Reports were on the City's website last year and requested that that be done again for this year's reports. Mr. Aryan reported that the City Council has received the Police DepartmenYs 2009 Annual Report. Commissioner Butzbach moved, by Minute Motion, to receive and file the Report. Motion was seconded by Commissioner Kirkwood and carried unanimously. G. Consideration of Fire Department 2009 Annual Report Chair Larsh stated that this was also an excellent report. Commissioner Kirkwood was in agreement. Vice Chair Lebel stated that he was uncertain whether the Report showed everything that the Fire Department was doing or how they were doing it in terms of comparisons to prior years. It was hard to judge the complete value of everything that was being done without those comparisons. He said an overview of expectations and goals for the next year would have helped. He added that the charts show what types of calls, but they do not show comparative losses per capita for fire calls compared to national averages. He believed that would be an added benefit and 4 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 give them a benchmark of how our department is doing compared to other agencies nationwide. 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 next 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 5 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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 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 it's 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 6 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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 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, 7 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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. RL Thank you. RL On line items 26 & 27, with relationship 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 alt 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 8 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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 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 currently 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 9 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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 tra�c 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 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, (unclear) 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. JL Now can they take residential burglary reports and commercial burglary reports where there is a potential of evidence? 10 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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. JL 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. JL 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. JB 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. JB 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 one 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. JB So its really all inclusive then? 11 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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 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 that's 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 12 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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? 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 t 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. 13 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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 All right. So the City is paying a couple bucks extra for that overtime rate. 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. MN 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. 14 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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. 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 closing 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 next 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 15 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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... AS 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 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. JL 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. 16 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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. MN Correct. 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. JL Reconsider mid-year. Yes. JB There's two parts to the motion then, basically. GK There's an amendment to the motion. JB 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. 17 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 MN Yeah. Well, you know I think the Council needs to decide whether that makes sense. But I think it's, 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. JL AII in favor. RL Aye. J B Aye. GK Aye. M N Aye. JL Aye. Carried. For purposes of clari�cation: 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. 18 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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 (unc/ear) receive those 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 mini�mal 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. 19 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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 iYs 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 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 it's 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. ThaYs 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? 20 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 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. He said the Plan was very similar to the previous plan because that was a SEMS based plan and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) is based on SEMS. It has the same structure and organization. It is a more complete plan and puts the City in line with the Federal System and FEMA reimbursements. Upon inquiry by Stephen Aryan, Mr. Rosenblum reported that the City will be holding a management level, all day SEMS Training Class, which will include a table top exercise, next Wednesday, March 31, 2010. The table top exercise will not be simulating an earthquake. The focus will be on management procedures, rather than the actual earthquake disaster. We will run through our process of communication and management systems for planning, logistics and finance. We will be working on our management systems and getting our teams apprised of what they will be expected to do. The one thing you learn in the SEMS 200 class is that as a manager of a disaster, you manage the disaster, not the operations and the things that are happening in the field. The Emergency Operation Plan will be distributed at the meeting on Wednesday and it will be stored electronically on our server. It will be readily available. Mr. Aryan stated that Mr. Rosenblum was being modest. He found a very cost effective way to provide the training through Riverside County Office of Emergency Services (OES). Since the City contracts with the Fire Department; the training is free. The City will receive top quality professionals training staff at no cost. 21 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 Mr. Rosenblum pointed out that the City will be working with the County's OES office and training with them on disaster preparedness is a good fit. Vice Chair Lebel stated that he had an opportunity to go through and review the Plan. He had a couple of comments and would share those comments with Mr. Rosenblum some other time. Upon inquiry by Commissioner Nethery, Mr. Rosenblum responded that there will not be a test of the radios. The morning session will be lecture and discussion of the principles and the afternoon session will utilize those principles. Commissioner Kirkwood moved, by Minute Motion, direct staff to forward the Palm Desert Emergency Operation Plan — Parts 1 & 2 to the City Council for approval. Motion seconded by Commissioner Nethery and carried unanimously. VIII. CONTINUED BUSINESS None IX. OLD BUSINESS None X. REPORT ON CITY COUNCIL ACTION (S) Mr. Aryan reported that the City Council voted to retain the current regulations for swimming pool enclosures and safety devices. This was primarily due to the fact that there is an existing planning requirement for pool fences and they did not feel it was necessary to change those regulations. Mr. Aryan reported that upon the request of the Commissioners, he apprised Dave Erwin City Attorney, of the infringement copywrites with regard to the File For Life Program. Mr. Erwin's recommendation was to purchase supplies from the File of Life Foundation, which the Police Department did and that resulted in a savings of $707, which coincidentally is almost to the penny the cost of Van Snapp's vest. 22 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 XI. REPORTS AND REMARKS A. Citizens on Patrol Program 1. Monthly Report for February 2010 2. COPS Caller Newsletters 3. Correspondence from Supervisor John J. Benoit to Citizen on Patrol member Ruth Stevens. Mr. Aryan stated that Item No. 3 was for information only. If the Commission would like to recognize Ruth Stevens at a future meeting we could certainly arrange that. Chair Larsh stated that the Commissioner's would like to recognize Ms. Stevens for her good deeds. Vice Chair Lebel suggested that the Commissioners recommend that the City Council give recognition to Ms. Stevens at a City Council meeting. Vice Chair Lebel moved, by Minute Motion, to recommend that the City Council give recognition to Ms. Ruth Stevens for receiving correspondence from Supervisor John J. Benoit, congratulating her on her involvement with the "You Are Not Alone" program at its April 8, 2010, City Council meeting. Motion was seconded by Commissioner Kirkwood and carried unanimously. B. Legislative Update Mr. Rosenblum reported that there were no public safety legislative bills at this time. C. Police and Fire Departments Lt. Shouse reiterated a story regarding Sgt. Steve Rivera and Van Snapp with regard to a drug bust. D. Staff Mr. Aryan thanked all our public safety professionals for a very successful Family Safety Festival in Palm Desert. It was a great time and well attended. 23 APPROVED MINUTES REGULAR PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MARCH 29, 2010 E. Public Safety Commission Vice Chair Lebel thanked the Police and Fire Departments for the remarkable job they did in putting together their annual reports and budget documents. He believed that receipt of the documents by Council were meaningful when determining what they needs and goals are for the City. Thank you very much. Commissioner Butzbach agreed. Commissioner Kirkwood agreed, as well. Commissioner Nethery stated that as long as he has been on the Commission the Fire and Police Departments have really made an effort to try to address the cost and needs to the City. He felt that they have done a great job and the City could not ask for better services from them. He apologized to the Commissioners and staff for missing the last two meetings. He had a trial extended in February, which was supposed to be over the Monday prior to the meeting and it was extended. So, he apologized for that. And, this last month he was in Italy, his daughter is there for one semester and it just fell during the time that he was gone for two weeks. He apologized for that absence as well. XII. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Kirkwood moved to adjourn the meeting at 12:30 p.m., seconded by Vice Chair Lebel, and carried unanimously. � ���Vr� Lori imbish, Recording Secretary 24