Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/07/2009, C9 - 2009 OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES (COPS) HIRING RECOVERY PROGRAM GRANT APPLICATIO Councit 4/7/09 j acEnaa Report ' °®Fumbw c C I T Y OF SAN LUIS OBISPO FROM: Deborah Linden,Chief of Police Prepared By: Melissa Ellsworth, Senior Administrative Analyst SUBJECT: 2009 OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES (COPS) HIRING RECOVERY PROGRAM GRANT APPLICATION RECOMMENDATION 1. Authorize staff to submit an application for a 2009 Federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Recovery Program Grant application in the amount of$863,732 to fund two entry-level police officer positions for three years to staff the Neighborhood Team community policing program that was not implemented due to budget reductions. 2. If grant is awarded, authorize the City Manager to execute necessary grant documents. DISCUSSION Grant Program Information On February 17, 2009 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law in order to stimulate the Nation's economy. Included in the Act is $4 billion to support state, local, and tribal law enforcement through various grant programs, including $1 billion for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Recovery Grant program. The COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) is a highly competitive grant program that provides funding directly to law enforcement agencies to create and preserve sworn peace officer jobs and to increase community policing capacity. There is no local match requirement for CHRP funding. However, funding will be based on current entry-level salary and benefits; consequently, any additional costs for higher salaries for hired individuals will be the City's responsibility. CHRP funding will cover 100% funding for entry-level salaries and benefits for three years (36 months) for full time swom officers, including filling existing unfunded vacancies or rehiring officers who have been laid off(or are scheduled to be laid off at a future date) as a result of local budget cuts. CHRP funds can be used only to supplement (increase) a grantee's law enforcement budget for sworn officer positions and cannot supplant (replace) state or local funds that a grantee otherwise would have spent on officer positions if it had not received a CHRP award. Therefore, Council's budget reduction decisions must be made independent of the availability of the grant funds. In addition, the program requires that at the end of the three year Council Agenda Report — Application Submittal for 2009 Community Oriented Policing Services/Hiring Recovery Program Page 2 period, the City must retain all sworn officer positions awarded under the CHRP grant for at least one additional year. These positions will need to be added to the Police Department's budget, over and above the number of locally-funded positions that would have existed in the absence of the grant. If staff determines before the end of the grant period that the City cannot retain the positions due to fiscal hardship, the City must submit a letter to the COPS office requesting a retention exemption. Obtaining an exemption results in an agency's ineligibility to acquire any new COPS funding that contains a retention requirement for a one-year period. Failure to obtain a retention exemption prohibits the City from receiving additional funding for at least three years. There is no limit on the number of officers a city may apply for; however the program is highly competitive and the total number of positions funded will be limited by the grant funds available. Should staff apply for a grant,the City may receive all,part or none of the funding requested. April 14, 2009 is the grant application deadline. Proposed Use of Grant Funds In 2007, Council adopted a Major City Goal to improve public safety service levels, with an emphasis in police services on neighborhood patrols (particularly at night) and traffic safety. For the neighborhood portion of the goal, staff developed a work program that included the creation of a new Neighborhood Team consisting of four patrol officers to specifically focus on neighborhood issues by increasing outreach and education and improving response times on the busiest nights. Council approved the addition of three new police officer positions to staff the Neighborhood Team. In 2008, as the Neighborhood Team was about to be implemented, the City's fiscal situation triggered the need to implement a hiring chill, followed by a hiring freeze. As a result, the Neighborhood Team was put on hold in order to keep core services staffed. Currently all three of the police officer positions added in 2007 to staff the Neighborhood Team are vacant and are included in the Police Department's list of potential operating budget reductions needed to close the anticipated $10.4 million annual gap for fiscal year 2009-11. Although final recommendations to Council about operating reductions will not be made for several weeks, staff anticipates that at least two of the police officer positions (and possibly others) will need to be eliminated in order to close the upcoming budget gap. Should this occur, the Neighborhood Team will not be implemented. The City Manager's recommendation of what positions to eliminate, and Council's final decision in this regard, must be made independent of the potential availability of grant money to fund police officer positions (as if the grant did not exist). The CHRP grant must be used to enhance community policing activities. The focus of the Neighborhood Team fits the grant parameters by strengthening the Police Department's partnerships with neighborhood groups and residents, and enhancing problem solving activities C9- Council Agenda Report — Application Submittal for 2009 Community Oriented Policing Services/Hiring Recovery Program Page 3 in the neighborhoods, especially with regard to student conduct. Therefore, applying for grant- funded police officer positions to staff a new Neighborhood Team is consistent with the focus of the grant. Because the grant program requires the City to retain and fully fund for a fourth year any police officer positions received through the grant, and because the grant is likely to be highly competitive, staff recommends applying for grant funding for two police officer positions to implement a new two-officer Neighborhood Team to improve service to the neighborhoods. Council could direct staff to apply for more than two officer positions; however all the positions would need to be retained and fully funded by the general fund for a full year after the grant ends. Since there is no way to know if the City's financial situation will be better or worse three years from now, staff recommends being conservative regarding the number of new officer positions requested under this grant program. CONCURRENCES The Directors of the Finance/Information Technology and Human Resources Departments concur with the staff recommendation. FISCAL IlVIPACT City matching funds are not required for this grant. Grant funding will pay 100% of salary and benefits for entry level officers (step 1) for 36 months; any costs higher than entry level must be covered by the City's General Fund. Additionally, the City must retain the positions for a fourth year after grant funds are expended. Pursuant to the grant parameters, staff proposes submitting a grant application for$863,732 to fund two police officer positions for three years (36 months). The cost to the general fund, representing the difference between the actual costs of the positions and the grant funding available, is estimated to be a total of$64,340 for the three year period. ALTERNATIVES 1. Modify the number of positions sought in the grant application. Council may direct staff to apply for more than the two police officer positions recommended, or fewer than two. Should the City receive funding for more than two positions, the general fund costs will be higher for each year of the grant, and for the fourth year retention period. 2. Do not submit a grant application. Council may choose not to submit a grant application for CHRP funding. This action would be appropriate if Council is concerned the City will not be able to retain the positions for a fourth year after the grant fiords are expended. (!R-3 Page I of 1 Council, SloCity From: Brett Cross[brettcross@hotmail.com] Sent: Tue 4/7/200 To: Carolyn Smith; Hampi :32PMan, Ken; Sandra; Cydney Holcomb;Tregenza,Ardith; Linden, Deborah; Council, SloCity Cc: Subject: Community Oriented Policing Item C-9 Attachments: Mayor and Council Members, I had planned on attending tonight's meeting but dinner arrangements have come up. I along with members of the Board of RQN and other community members are pleasantly surprised to see this item on the agenda. Although I'm certain that you will approve the item I cannot stress enough the importance of continuing to work hard at trying to improve the quality of life in the neighborhoodsfor permanent residents. As you're all keenly aware residents in the City's neighborhoods are experiencing the effects of too much noise, too much speeding, too little respect of various city codes, and now an increase in more serious crimes. In some respects we're tuming into Isla Vista.The owner-renter ratio is way out of balance and the impacts are seen throughout the neighborhoods. Cal Poly is going to have to build even more on campus housing to bring a better balance to the community or we will become Isla Vista. During RQN's board meeting I likened dealing with the decline in our citizens quality of life to that of a boat taking on water. You have a couple of choices. You can bail faster but at some point you tire and cannot continue.You can get a bigger bucket, or you can try and slow the leak. Creating a community policing program is somewhat akin to getting a bigger bucket. However, at some time the City is going to have to slow the leaks. The social host ordinance on your agenda tonight is part of slowing the leaks. Along those same lines the City needs to look at increasing the noise fines and changes to the premise list time frames.There also needs to be concerted look at holding property owners responsible for their tenants. Lastly, the amount of resources being expended on the downtown due to the number of bars has to be addressed. Some type of a cost recovery system needs to be looked at. Thanks for all your hard work. Brett Cross fYp?aF /7C�Tlz�g�n gzD7✓ Chair RQN. i i�UCDD DIR l37CA0 FIN DIR g CAIRE C EF RED FILE L'1 ATTDIMEEMG AGENDA r L3t-LEP I E CHF D PREDIRDA y �TEM'A - IL IR-T� R DiC https://mail.slocity.org/exchange/slocitycounciUlnbox/Community%o 200riented%20Pol icin... 4/7/2009