I. RECOMMENDATION:
The Police Chief recommends authorization to fund and fill a new Police Officer position.
II. BACKGROUND:
The department is currently funded for 17 sworn officers after the passing of Measure J, and the department's staffing level is currently at 16 sworn officers. The police department is actively recruiting for the last vacant police officer position and hopes to have it filled soon.
This additional position will provide the Department with 18 sworn officers and half of the funding would from from the COPS grant while the other half would come from eliminating the Reserve positions.
III. DISCUSSION:
With the department actively recruiting for the last vacant officer position, the department is requesting to fund an 18th officer position by using COPS Grant and part time salary funds. The current cost for a sworn officer is approximately $95,000.00 which includes salary and benefits.
The reserve officer positions have been vacant for over a year and with the current issues in finding good qualified full time officers, I request to use the money from the part time positions towards a full time position which I believe it would be easier to fill. Having 18 full time sworn officers would also help keep the overtime budget down and would allow the department to deploy 2 officers and a sergeant on every shift once all officers have completed their FTO training.
The current hurdle the department has in trying to fill the part time positions in the City, is the City's policy section 12.04 . Under this section part time police officers, are unable to be paid until they complete their FTO training. Most of the applicants are unemployed and live outside the city and use this money to help offset the cost of gas and meals while they are at work. If approved, it will take approximately 2 to 3 months to hire the vacant officer position.
The Department currently has $111,693.30 in it's COPS fund. The cost for a full time officer is between $90,000.00 to $95,000.00. I am requesting to use $36,000.00 from part time salary and $59,000.00 from the department's COPS grant funds to to fund this position.
IV. ALTERNATIVES:
Do not approve the request.
V. FISCAL IMPACT:
There would be no additional impact to the General Fund for years one and two. However, in year three, the COPS Grant funding will no longer be available and the $59,000 per year would need to be allocated to the General Fund. |