PUBLIC SAFETY & EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
STANDING COMMITTEE MEETING
Monday, March 11, 2024
1:00 – 2:30 P.M.
City Hall – Conference Room 1
130 Cremona Drive, Suite B
Goleta, California
Mayor Paula Perotte
Mayor Pro Tempore Luz Reyes-Martín
Robert Nisbet, City Manager
Jaime Valdez, Neighborhood Services Director
Ryan Kintz, Assistant to the City Manager
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AGENDA
I. Public Comment
II. Meet the new Community Resource Deputy and receive an update from the Community Resource Deputy assigned to Goleta Schools
III. Receive an update on the Traffic Motor Unit from the City of Goleta Police Department Americans with Disabilities Act: In compliance with the ADA, if assistance is needed to participate in a City Council meeting (including assisted listening devices), please contact the City Clerk's office at (805) 961-7505. Notification 48 hours prior helps to ensure that reasonable arrangements can be made to provide accessibility to the meeting.
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: March 11, 2024
TO: Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness Standing Committee FROM: Robert Nisbet, Assistant City Manager
Jaime A. Valdez, Neighborhood Services Director
Ryan Kintz, Assistant to the City Manager
SUBJECT: March 11, 2024, Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness Standing Committee Meeting
Item I. Public Comment
Receive public comment.
Item II. Meet the new Community Resource Deputy and receive an update from the Community Resource Deputy assigned to Goleta Schools
Item III. Receive an update on the Traffic Motor Unit from the City of Goleta Police Department
BACKGROUND:
On September 19, 2023, the City Council approved the new Law Enforcement Services Agreement (New Agreement) with the County of Santa Barbara (County) with a term from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2027.
As part of the previous Law Enforcement Services Agreements and since FY 2011-12, the City’s Motor Traffic Unit (“Motor Unit”) has been composed of four individuals: one (1.0) Sheriff’s Sergeant, one (1.0) Sheriff’s Deputy II (also known as “Senior Deputy”), and two (2.0) Deputy positions. However, one of the two Sheriff’s Deputy positions of the four-person Traffic Motor Unit (“Motor Unit”) has been vacant since October 2022. At that time the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office (SBSO) notified staff that this position could not be filled due to challenges with recruitment and notified City staff that when they were able to fill the position, they would assign it to the fourth City of Goleta Motor Unit.
When the County calculated the base year contract amount for FY 2023-24 for the New Agreement, it included only the existing filled positions for general law enforcement services and Menu Items at the time of negotiations. The Menu Items shown in Table 1 below,
sourced from Exhibit E of the New Agreement, total seven (7.0) FTEs. This removed the City’s historic fourth Motor Unit position from the Menu Items; had it been reflected in Exhibit E, the “Sheriff’s Deputy” FTE Count would have been two (2.0) and the Total Menu Item FTE Count would have been eight (8.0).
Table 1: Motor Unit FTEs from Exhibit E of the New Agreement Position Title FTE Count Assignment
Parking Enforcement
Officer
1.0 Parking Enforcement
Sheriff’s Deputy 1.0 Motor Unit
Sheriff’s Deputy II – Spcl 1.0 Motor Unit
1.0 Community Resource Deputy
1.0 Community Resource Deputy, formerly
School Resource Deputy
1.0 Narcotics Detective
Sheriff’s Sergeant 1.0 Motor Unit
Total 7.0
Staff is recommending the Committee:
- Review the information provided regarding the reduction in traffic and school enforcement due to the loss of the fourth Motor Unit.
- Review the estimated cost of adding the fourth Motor Unit for FY 2025 (if the option is made available by the SBSO).
- Provide guidance to either pursue the option of adding a fourth Motor Unit for FY25 and subsequent years or keep this service level at three Motor Units.
Discussion:
Reduction in Traffic Enforcement
The Motor Unit conducts motorcycle-based traffic enforcement, collision investigations, community outreach, and education programs. The deputy’s enforcement is focused on common collision factors within the incorporated limits of the City. The goal of the traffic deputy is to reduce the number of traffic collisions, and persons injured in collisions and improve the overall safety of motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Duties include but are not limited to handling traffic collisions, working traffic enforcement, handling citizen complaints regarding traffic issues, working school zones, and bus pick-up/drop-off areas. Motor Units also handle requests to provide educational programs to schools and other organizations requesting their assistance.
All Motor Units are also assigned to the Sheriff’s Major Accident Response Team (SMART) and investigate fatalities, major injury collisions, collisions involving possible Felony/Misdemeanor prosecution, and any collision with civil liability to any of the four contract cities patrolled by the Sheriff's Office (Goleta, Carpinteria, Buellton, and Solvang).
With only three motors for the last year and a half, the SBSO has reported that enforcement numbers have dropped dramatically, and their resources have been stretched thin.
Currently, the SBSO has reported that they only have one deputy who is handling enforcement, in between collisions, while the two other Motor Units, which include the senior deputy and lead investigator, try to get out when they are not working on administrative duties, such as reviewing and approving collision reports, reviewing and adjudicating contested parking citations, administering the SBSO’s Office of Traffic Safety Grants, and training department personnel on issues related to traffic, including DUI’s.
In addition, the SBSO has reported that the fully equipped BMW Police Motorcycle and its associated Radar/Lidar equipment have mostly gone unused. This motorcycle needs to be ridden and the SBSO attempts to take it out often, but it is not occurring often enough to properly maintain the vehicle and ensure its proper functioning. Finally, the SBSO has reported a reduction in citations due to the reduced number of Motor Units reporting the following data:
- All four motors wrote 1,311 citations in the calendar year 2022 (October of 2022 the fourth Motor Unit went vacant).
- All three motors wrote 638 citations in the calendar year 2023. - As of February 15, 2024, the Motor Units have written 155 citations.
Reduction in Enforcement at Schools
The SBSO has also reported a reduction in enforcement at the four elementary schools in the City of Goleta due to the reduced number of Motor Units. Typically, the SBSO assigns one school to one Motor Unit; however, due to the only three Motor Units available, they have had to rotate their school safety enforcement activity resulting in reduced enforcement at all four schools.
Currently, the Motor Units are spending 45 minutes in the mornings and 45 minutes in the afternoon at each school. In addition, the Motor Units must patrol Dos Pueblos and Goleta Valley JR High, again when time permits. When providing enforcement at the schools they are not performing traffic enforcement or working the school bus routes.
Estimated Cost for Fourth Motor Unit
The estimated cost for adding a fourth Motor Unit is $235,200 for a full fiscal year, according to the SBSO and as shown in Table 2 below.
Table 2: Quote for Goleta Motor Deputy
Item
Estimated
Costs FY
24/25
Sheriff's Deputy 207,600
Workers Comp 10,600
Liability 9,000
Motor training 2,500
Motor Uniform 4,000
Helmet 1,500
Total 235,200
*Does not include fuel/motor costs, equipment,
indirect cost rate for 24/25, and overhead.