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Home My WebLink About12/18/2007, C2 - AUTHORIZATION TO OVERSTAFF TWO COMMUNICATIONS TECHNICIAN POSITIONS council M�„ngD December 18,2007 ac,En& aEpont . CITY O F SAN LUIS O B I S P O FROM: Deborah E. Linden, Chief of Police Prepared by: Kerri Rosenblum, Communications & Records Manager SUBJECT: AUTHORIZATION TO OVERSTAFF TWO COMMUNICATIONS TECHNICIAN POSITIONS CAO RECOMMENDATION 1. Authorize the CAO to utilize funds from the General Fund balance to overstaff one of the Police Communications Technician positions beginning in February 2008 and a second position if needed to avoid critical staffing shortages due to upcoming retirements in 2008. 2. Appropriate funding for this overstaffing from the General Fund Balance in an amount not to exceed $90,370. DISCUSSION Background The Police Department Emergency Communications Center is staffed by eleven Communications Technicians (dispatchers) and two Communications Supervisors who handle all emergency telephone and radio communication for Police, Fire and other City departments. At least two dispatchers are working at all times and some shifts are staffed with additional personnel due to the volume of calls and activity. The emergency communications function is critical to the public safety of the community and to the City's emergency personnel in both the Police and Fire Departments. When a dispatch position is vacant, or until newly hired dispatchers complete their training, vacant shifts must be filled using overtime in order to maintain minimum safe staffing. When a new dispatcher is hired, they undergo a rigorous training period lasting approximately six months before they are able to work as a solo dispatcher and fill a shift slot on the schedule. This training period is often extended for a new dispatcher to attend a three-week dispatch academy and other training, or because additional training is needed to ensure skill proficiency. Therefore, it often takes seven or eight months to train a new dispatcher to the point they are able to work a solo position. Law enforcement agencies throughout the State, including the City of San Luis Obispo, have been experiencing significant difficulty recruiting and hiring new dispatchers. The training and job duties are extremely demanding and highly technical and the pool of interested candidates is relatively small. Even though the City has streamlined the hiring process, it still takes approximately two months to conduct the appropriate recruitment, testing, and background investigation. c�i Authorization to Overstaff Two Communications Technician Positions Page 2 Current and Anticipated Staffing of Police Communications Technicians Currently, the Police Department has one vacant communications technician position and recruitment is in process to fill this position. In addition, one of the current communications technicians is in training and one of the communications supervisors is on modified duty due to a medical issue that prevents her from working a dispatch position. Because of these staffing shortages dispatch personnel have already worked over 2,100 hours of overtime this calendar year (2007). Officers who formerly worked as dispatchers have also been used to staff vacant dispatch shifts on overtime. Two communication technicians have declared their intention to retire in 2008. One employee is certain about retiring on or about September 15, 2008. The second is fairly certain she will retire in September 2008; however she is unable to commit to a date at this time. In addition, one communications supervisor tentatively plans to retire at the end of 2008. Because the hiring and training process for a new dispatcher takes approximately eight months, waiting until these positions become vacant to fill them creates significant staffing shortages that must be covered by existing personnel using overtime. This is not only very expensive, it also leads to fatigue and "burn out" of employees who must work excessive amounts of overtime to cover necessary shifts. Additional unanticipated vacancies due to separations or illness would further exacerbate the situation. Staff is seeking Council approval and funding from the General Fund Balance to overstaff one communications technician position for a period of seven months beginning in February 2008, and a second position in 2008, should the current employee decide to retire in 2008. By hiring and training new employees before the positions become vacant, staff can avoid the need to use overtime to fill vacant shifts and minimize the burden on existing dispatchers. The cost of overstaffing the positions will be less than the cost to fill the vacant shifts with dispatchers or officers on overtime. Major City Goal In adopting the 2007-09 Major City Goal to improve Public Safety Service Levels, Council acknowledged the critical role of dispatch staff in providing public safety services by authorizing an 11" communications technician position. Overstaffing two communications technician positions will help ensure the communications center and its personnel function efficiently and effectively to provide excellent service to the community, which is consistent with the goal. CONCURRENCES The Director of Human Resources and the Fire Chief concur with the recommendation. FISCAL IMPACT Staff has calculated the cost of overstaffing the communications technician positions based on the following assumptions: �z -2 C Authorization to Overstaff Two Communications Technician Positions Page 3 1. Hiring Timing. One new employee will be hired on or about February 15, 2008 and a second one only if needed during 2008. 2. Overstaffing During Training Period. The positions will be overstaffed for seven months, which is the approximate duration of their training period. 3. Salary Calculation. The salary for a communications technician will increase when an agreement with the San Luis Obispo Police Officers' Association (which represents communications technicians) is ratified in 2008. Therefore, the overstaffing costs were calculated at a step 5 salary. Communications Technician at Step 5 Monthly Salary $4,658 Benefits 38.59% $1,797 Total Monthly Compensation $6,455 x 7 months $45,185 TOTAL OVERSTAFFING COST FOR 2 EMPLOYEES 1 $90,370 Based on current and anticipated expenditures, the Police Department is not able to absorb the cost of overstaffing these positions in its regular budget. Therefore, staff is requesting the funds be appropriated from the General Fund Balance. This appropriation will not cause the fund balance to drop below the 20% level required by City policy. ALTERNATIVES 1. Do not approve the overstaffing request. If this request is not approved, staff will fill the positions as they become vacant. This will result in significant lag time (eight months or more) between the time the tenured employees leave and the replacement employees are trained and able to work solo. The resulting shift vacancies will need to be covered with overtime by both dispatchers and trained officers which will be more expensive that the costs of overstaffing the positions. The significant amounts of overtime will likely lead to employee fatigue and burn-out. In addition, staff anticipates additional vacancies in 2008 and 2009, but we have only requested overstaffing for two in order to help mitigate the impacts. This alternative is not recommended. 2. Approve overstaffing only one position at this time. Council could choose to appropriate funds to overstaff one position now and not authorize the overstaffing of the second position. Staff will then return to Council with an additional funding request should the second employee decide to retire in 2008. � 7 RECEIVED DEC 18 2001 SLO CITY CLERK DATE: December 18, 2007RED FILE MEETING AGENDA TO: City Council DATE la r>< ITEM FROM: Deborah Linden, Chief of Police SUBJECT: Additional Information regarding Dispatch Overstafring Costs December 18,2007 Council Meeting,Item C2 Staff received a request from Councilmember Mulholland for data comparing the cost of overstaffing one Communications Technician position for seven months with the cost of filling the vacancy for seven months using existing staff on overtime. The following table details the overstaffing vs. overtime costs for the same amount of time: Communications Technician at Step 5 Overstaff Overtime _ (time+'/z) Monthly Salary $4,658 $4,658 Benefits_@38.59% $1,797 N/A Total Monthly Compensation $6,455 $4,658 x 7 months $45,185 $489909 Although the direct hour-for-hour cost of overstaffing is less expensive than filling the same shifts with overtime, it is possible that the actual overtime costs would be somewhat less because some shifts may only require partial staffing with overtime. Unfortunately, staff has no way to accurately predict this cost since it depends on the number of employees needed and already scheduled for each particular shift (which fluctuates depending on the day of week and time of day), as well as other vacancies due to retirement, illness, vacation leave, etc. In addition, when considering filling vacant positions with overtime for months, staff has significant concern about the impact on the existing dispatchers who are already required to work overtime to fill behind illnesses and leaves, as well as other unanticipated vacancies. With such a small pool of employees to draw from, adding more overtime could increase employee "burnout" which often leads to increased illness rates, decreased morale, and concern about employees leaving for other agencies. fj&COUNCIL CDD D P CAO :p FIN D!R ;jACAO �FIRE CHIE; 41 ATTORNEY Pah' DIR I $CLERK/ORIG POLICE ^-i= ❑ DEPT HEADS 09EC DIF ir 7/ ,C�c61JEr -1-H DIF � ou.veF r G .4Q