City of Corona
Staff Report
400 S. Vicentia Ave.
Corona, CA 92882
File #: 22-0103
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 03/02/2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Police Department
SUBJECT:
Resolution and Memorandum of Understanding with the California Department of Justice to accept funds through the Tobacco Grant Program and authorization of an additional School Resource Officer to focus on tobacco education within the community’s intermediate schools.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The City Council will consider a California Healthcare, Research, and Prevention Tobacco Act of 2016 grant which would allow the Corona Police Department to create an additional SRO position. The Corona Police Department has established an ongoing partnership and working relationship with the Corona-Norco Unified School District. The Corona Police Department currently provides CNUSD with four Police Officer II’s who serve as School Resource Officers (SRO) at the three high schools and two continuation schools. The purpose of accepting this grant is to create a fifth SRO position for a three-year period to begin on July 1, 2022.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
That the City Council:
a. Adopt Resolution No. 2022-009 accepting $539,130 from the State of California’s Department of Justice for the Tobacco Grant Program Fiscal Year 2021-22 for a three-year period. b. Approve the Memorandum of Understanding with the State of California Department of Justice for the award of funding through the Tobacco Grant Program, and authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to execute the Memorandum of Understanding. c. Authorize one Police Officer II position for three years to act as the intermediate School Resource Officer with budget supplemented by the grant funding and the difference being funded by the City of Corona’s General Fund.
d. Appropriate $72,298 from the unappropriated General Fund balance for the purchase of a City of Corona Page 1 of 4 Printed on 2/24/2022
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File #: 22-0103
d. Appropriate $72,298 from the unappropriated General Fund balance for the purchase of a vehicle and equipment needed for the position and not provided for in the grant.
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
The Office of the Attorney General established the California Department of Justice Tobacco Grant Program in 2017 to provide funding to local enforcement agencies throughout California. For Fiscal Year 2022, a total of $26.8 million in grant funding was available statewide for local enforcement efforts to reduce the illegal sale of tobacco products to minors. Allowable enforcement efforts concentrated on retailer compliance checks, retailer training programs, public education, parent engagement and education, retail tobacco inspections, prevention of tobacco products in impermissible areas, and hiring an officer to focus on tobacco enforcement and education. The Corona Police Department applied for the Proposition 56 grant in April 2021 and received award notification in November 2021, in the amount of $539,130. The grant monies were awarded to the City to fund an additional School Resource Officer to provide tobacco education and training at the intermediate schools for Fiscal Year 2023 through Fiscal Year 2025.
ANALYSIS:
The Corona Police Department has established an ongoing partnership and working relationship with the Corona-Norco Unified School District (CNUSD). The Corona Police Department currently provides CNUSD with four police officer II (POII)’s who serve as School Resource Officers (SRO) at the three high schools and two continuation schools. The purpose of accepting this grant is to create a fifth SRO position, which will offset a majority of the costs of this position. This new SRO position would be for a three-year period and begin on July 1, 2022. This new SRO will work exclusively with the four intermediate schools and one academy within the community to increase awareness of the dangers of tobacco use among minors and provide tobacco education classes for parents within the school district.
This position is justified based upon research concerning the attitudes of intermediate school students regarding tobacco use. A 2019 California Healthy Kids Survey identified that 59% of seventh-grade students felt it was unharmful to smoke cigarettes occasionally. Another 60% of seventh-grade students agreed that vaping was not dangerous to their health. While a 2018 California Health Online Survey showed an overall decrease in teen drug use, vaping device usage had increased within this population group. The study revealed that 17.6% of all eighth-grade students reported vaping within the last year.
The performance measures for this grant require the SRO to engage in education and intervention techniques by leading an education campaign designed to engage a wide range of stakeholders. The SRO will make multiple presentations annually to students, parents or guardians, and school faculty.
Additionally, the SRO will facilitate formal discussions with local service groups to promote additional community engagement regarding this critical topic.
In the second year of the grant, the Corona Police Department, in conjunction with CNUSD, will conduct a detailed analysis of program outcomes and decide if the program should continue beyond the initial grant period. At that time, if the intent is to continue the intermediate SRO, the Corona Police Department will be returning to City Council before Fiscal Year 2025 with an assessment of the program and a possible cost-sharing agreement with CNUSD. This agreement would share the unfunded cost of the third year equally and provide an equal cost-sharing agreement in the future. If City of Corona Page 2 of 4 Printed on 2/24/2022 powered by Legistar™
File #: 22-0103
unfunded cost of the third year equally and provide an equal cost-sharing agreement in the future. If the program is ended in year three, the officer will either be absorbed into a vacant budgeted position, or a staff report will be presented to Council with a request to permanently add the officer position to be utilized in the Field Services Division.
The grant is a reimbursement grant and will fund a School Resource Officer position’s wages and most of his or her benefits, with the unfunded portion being covered by City funding. The grant does not provide for any vehicle or equipment needed for the position. The grant performance period is December 1, 2021, to June 30, 2025. The City Attorney has reviewed and approved as to form the proposed Memorandum of Understanding.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Approval of the recommended actions will result in an appropriation of $72,298 from the unappropriated General Fund Balance in Fiscal Year 2022 for the vehicle and equipment needed for this position and not provided for in the grant. This will be in preparation for the new SRO position that will begin in July 2022. Beginning with Fiscal Year 2023, the SRO POII position and associated costs and revenue will be included in the Fiscal Year 2023 Proposed Budget. The General Fund has approximately a $140,000 obligation over the three fiscal years for the position, with the possibility of a cost sharing agreement with CNUSD in the third year, and approximately a $72,000 equipment costs. These costs are detailed below. For Fiscal Year 2022, the appropriation is as follows:
City Estimated Onetime Costs Fiscal Year 2022:
Police Vehicle $42,675
Upfitting of Vehicle 20,988
Portable Radio 6,641
Mobile Data Computer 1,994
Total Costs: $72,298
GENERAL FUND
Adopted Budget - FY 2022 Estimated Revenue Over Expenditures $ 14,593,660 Less Measure X Reserves (13,144,418)
Previously Approved/Revised Budget Adjustments (Net)* (35,547,527) Current Estimated Revenue Over Expenditures (34,098,285) Tobacco Grant - Vehicle and Equipment Appropriation (72,298) Revised Estimated Revenue Over Expenditures $ (34,170,583) Budget Balancing Measures Reserve - Actual 06/30/2021 43,614,486 Estimated FY 2022 Change in Budget Balancing Measures Reserve (34,170,583) Estimated Budget Balancing Measures Reserve - 06/30/22 $ 9,443,903 * Approved through Council Action or other operational process.
For the future fiscal years, the costs are estimated as follows:
SRO Costs Estimated:
Fiscal Year 2023
DOJ Tobacco Grant
Amount:
General Fund
Amount Total
POII Wages 111,193 $ 111,193
Benefits 84,861 17,273 102,134
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File #: 22-0103
SRO Costs Estimated:
Fiscal Year 2023
DOJ Tobacco Grant
Amount:
General Fund
Amount Total
POII Wages 111,193 $ 111,193
Benefits 84,861 17,273 102,134
Motorpool 10,819 10,819
Total 196,054 28,092 $ 224,146
Fiscal Year 2024
DOJ Tobacco Grant
Amount:
General Fund
Amount Total
POII Wages 113,162 $ 113,162
Benefits 84,861 17,273 102,134
Motorpool 10,819 10,819
Total 198,023 28,092 $ 226,115
Fiscal Year 2025
DOJ Tobacco Grant
Amount:
General Fund
Amount Total
POII Wages 86,198 21,906 $ 108,104
Benefits 58,855 49,203 108,058
Motorpool 10,819 10,819
Total 145,053 81,928 $ 226,981
Grand Total 539,130 138,112 $ 677,242
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CQEA if the activity is covered by the commonsense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. This action only increases police staffing levels by one officer to increase tobacco education among Corona youth, and there is no possibility that this action will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: JASON MORRIS, LIEUTENANT & MICHELLE ADAMS, MANAGEMENT ANALYST II REVIEWED BY: ROBERT NEWMAN, CHIEF OF POLICE
Attachments:
1. Exhibit 1 - Resolution No. 2022-009 State of California DOJ
2. Exhibit 2 - State of California DOJ Memorandum of Understanding City of Corona Page 4 of 4 Printed on 2/24/2022
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