CITY OF SEBASTOPOL
CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA ITEM
Meeting July 19, 2022
To: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
From: Cherie Johnson, Human Resources Advisor, Regional Government Services Kevin Kilgore, Chief of Police
Larry McLaughlin, City Manager
Subject: Personnel Staffing Actions for Police Department Staffing Recommendation: That the City Council:
Approve a Resolution to Continue Council approved Temporary Upgrade Pay for the Police Technician retroactively from 7/1/2022 through a December 31, 2022, or as soon as a more permanent solution can be affected, whichever is earlier.
Funding: Currently Budgeted: __X*____ Yes __ ____ No _____ N/A Net General Fund Cost:
*The total cost of $5,000 (5% of the Police Technician pay) will be absorbed in the current budget and covered by salary savings.
Costs authorized in City Approved Budget_ AK __(verified by Administrative Services Department) INTRODUCTION /PURPOSE:
This item is to request that the Mayor and City Council Approve a Resolution to continue Council approved Temporary Upgrade Pay for the Police Technician retroactively from July 1, 2022 through a December 31, 2022, or as soon as a more permanent solution can be affected, whichever is earlier.
BACKGROUND:
On February 15, 2022, at a regular meeting, facing an impending retirement of a key employee in the role, Council authorized the City Manager to revise and retitle the then classification of Records/Dispatch Supervisor creating the Police Records and Support Services Manager. This change in title added significant responsibility for oversight and administration of all Police Support services. At that time, staff had been meeting with the Sebastopol Police Officers Association regarding a title and upgrade to the current Police Technician classification as well. However, in deference to the impending staffing study, the meet and confer sessions were temporarily suspended pending results from the study and Council wisely allowed temporary upgrade pay for the Police Technician to provided support to the newly retitled position through the assignment of expanded and more complex duties and responsibilities such as:
• Property and Evidence Coordination, Evidence Processing, Chain of Custody • Administration of the Property and Evidence Room
• Live Scan Fingerprint Coordinator
These duties have not subsided and there are no immediate alternate solutions to perform them. The temporary upgrade pay for use of the Police Technician in completing them has expired on June 30, 2022. This item requests Agenda Item Number 8
Agenda Item Number 8
City Council Meeting Packet of July 19, 2022
a retroactive extension of upgrade pay from July 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022 or an earlier solution based on discussions surrounding the staffing study whichever is earlier.
DISCUSSION:
The Police Technician works closely with and is supervised by the Police Records and Support Services Manager carrying out the day-to-day transactional technical and support services in the Department. In addition to the growth in administration of compliance, reporting and parking enforcement needs, for which the allocation for the position was expanded to a full-time equivalent, there is a more pressing need for cross training and redundancy in some aspects of operations to provide for adequate coverage of criticalservices and roles,sustainability of services, continuity during absences and training, and succession. The duties of this position have increased in scope and complexity through temporary assignments. Taking on the day-to-day administration of the evidence room has been critical support for the department as the part-time employee who previously completed this work is separating from employment as well. While it is not customary for Council to approve temporary upgrade pay, this is normally within City Manager authority, in February 2022, Council approved temporary upgrade pay for this purpose through June 30, 2022, with the thought that the recommendations from the staffing study would resolve the ongoing need for assignment of the services by then. The staffing study lagged and is just now being reviewed.
The need for day-to-day administration of the LiveScan processes, evidence room, chain of custody, evidence processing, release, and intake, and management of property and evidence inventory will continue to be a critical support service. At this time, the Department has no one other than the Police Technician trained and able to perform the work and an extension of temporary upgrade pay will allow staff to discuss options, review the staffing study recommendations, meet and confer over impacts, and bring a more cohesive plan forward to Council in the future.
The Department has reviewed alternative options for these services and continues to work toward a more permanent staffing solution.
Recently the department recruited for and hired a new Police Records and Support Services Manager. This role is a key department role who will supervise the work, weigh in on permanent solutions and provide managerial oversight of critical Department programs and support services. As a result of ongoing and unforeseen staffing issues, Police Records and Support Services Manager is being tasked with providing primary dispatch duties both during regularly scheduled shifts and on an overtime basis. This is impacting her ability to focus primary attention on the new duties and responsibilities. In order to manage that workload, the Police Technician is continuing to regularly assist with Front Counter Duties, LiveScan Fingerprinting services in addition to their normal duties regarding managing the Property and Evidence room, animal control related calls for services and parking enforcement duties which include the ongoing monitoring of RV parking issues throughout the city. A recruitment for Police Dispatcher has been opened with testing and selection taking place during July. It is anticipated that a Police Dispatcher will be hired and onboarded by October 31st. That said, the person hired may be an entry level employee and that will necessitate a significant amount of training before that person can function in a solo capacity as a dispatcher to help alleviate the staffing concerns in the dispatch center. Based upon those factors, the Police Records and Support Services Manager may be required to continue assisting with dispatch shifts through the end of the year, though we are hopeful that amount of assistance will be alleviated thus allowing the Police Records and Support Services Manager to focus more on their primary duties. • Records Program and System Manager, including records retention, indexing, destruction, transfer, purging, redaction, and release
• Property and Evidence Manager, Oversight of Evidence Processing and Chain of Custody • Administrator of the Property and Evidence Room
• Department Administrative Affairs Manager
Agenda Item Number 8 Agenda Item Number 8
City Council Meeting Packet of July 19, 2022
• POST Electronic Data Interface (EDI) Administrator
• Department Human Resources Liaison
• Administrative Liaison Officer for Federal, State, and Local government entities • Processor for Subpoenas, Release of Information Requests, Discovery requests • Manages and oversees the Police Department public counter • Live Scan Fingerprint Coordinator
• Liaison with Sonoma County Humane Society for animal control services • Custodian for criminal justice records
• Department’s California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System’s Coordinator • Special projects as assigned by the Chief
• Compiles, prepares, and submits statistical reports on crimes, property and evidence and attends meetings and trainings for or by
Summary
Key department duties such as administration of evidence, property, and the evidence room continue to need to be performed by a trained and qualified individual. The Police Technician has been successfully completing these duties and has been paid a Council approved temporary upgrade incentive of 5% for these duties. The Department would like to continue these services while it works through a permanent solution including review of the staffing study recommendations and meet and confer with the appropriate labor organization. The temporary upgrade pay for use of the Police Technician to perform higher level duties has expired on June 30, 2022. This item requests a retroactive extension of the upgrade pay from July 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022, or earlier at such time as a solution is found.
Compensation Recommendations
The Police Technician is a journey level technical position. This provides authority for funding to pay temporary upgrade pay to the position.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
As of the writing of this staff report, the City has not received any public comment. However, if staff receives public comment from interested parties following the publication and distribution of this staff report, such comments will be provided to the City Council as supplemental materials before or at the meeting. In addition, public comments may be offered during the public comment portion of this item.
PUBLIC NOTICE:
This item was noticed in accordance with the Ralph M. Brown Act and was available for public viewing and review at least 72 hours prior to schedule meeting date.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
There is no budget adjustment required to continue the temporary upgrade 5% pay for the Police Technician. The estimated cost of $5,000 from July 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022 will be absorbed in the current budget from pay and benefit savings.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends City Council Approve thisitem isto request that the Mayor and City Council Approve a Resolution to continue Council approved Temporary Upgrade Pay for the Police Technician retroactively from July 1, 2022 through a December 31, 2022, or as soon as a more permanent solution can be affected, whichever is earlier.
Attachments:
Resolution
Agenda Item Number 8 Agenda Item Number 8
City Council Meeting Packet of July 19, 2022