Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/15/1998, C9 - ESTABLISH THE STUDENT NEIGHBORHOOD ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP) AS A CITY OPERATED PROGRAM council. Mm"D° j ac En as wpont eN C I T Y OF SAN LUIS OBISPO B_ FROM: James M. Gardiner, Chief of Polic A Prepared By: Captain Cliff Chelquist SUBJECT: ESTABLISH THE STUDENT NEIG 1HORHOOD ASSISTANCE PROGRAM(SNAP)AS A CITY OPERATED PROGRAM CAO RECOM MNDATION Authorize the establishment of the Student Neighborhood Assistance Program as a city funded and operated program and appropriate a $2,400 increase to the Police Department budget for FY98-99 from Police Department general carry-over funds. DISCUSSION Background The Student Neighborhood Assistance Program ("SNAP')was established in 1993 by joint resolutions of the City Council of San Luis Obispo and the Associated Students, Inc. of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. It was designed as a collaborative effort between the two entities to deal with the problem of a steadily increasing number of student related noise complaints which, at that time,required the commitment of valuable police resources. It was felt that use of students in a"peer policing"program could be a more efficient and cost effective way of dealing with these types of calls. The original agreement called for six student participants. A team of two of the students would work each Thursday,Friday, and Saturday nights from 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM during the Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. The program shut down during the Summer quarter and during extended school breaks. Responsibility for staffing the program rested with the Associated Students, Inc. ("ASr). Student participants were recruited, selected, and paid by the ASI, with the City providing the funding for the salaries and associated costs. Administrative supervision, including scheduling,was the responsibility of an ASI program coordinator. Responsibility for functional supervision of the student participants rested with a Police Department program coordinator and the on-duty Watch Commander. Since its inception SNAP has provided all of the expected benefits and then some. Its members have acted as first responders on"routine"noise complaints, determined the validity of the complaint,made contact with the responsible party(ies), and taken appropriate action. The low- key,peer approach employed by the SNAP members has proven very effective in negating the individual noise problems as evidenced by the extremely low number of subsequent responses back to the same location after the initial SNAP contact. This has freed up police officers to deal with more serious public safety problems during peak activity hours. Public feedback on the program has been extremely positive and the students working the program have been excellent representatives of the City and the program itself. Council Agenda Report—SNAP Page 2 Current Situation In recent years we have experienced difficulty in recruiting SNAP members and resolving other administrative issues in a timely manner. The start of the last academic year proved to be particularly difficult and led to a series of meetings between the Police Department, ASI, and University representatives. The result of these meetings was the development.of a mutual consensus that SNAP would be more efficient and effective as a wholly operated City program. Other time demands and the fact that ASI is only functional during the academic year created a situation where ASI no longer had the human resources to continue their full support of the program. ASI did agree to continue the current agreement until a viable alternative could be identified and put in place. Given the fact that SNAP has proven to be a positive and cost effective program we are fully committed to continue this service to the community. We also feel that the time is right to carefully review the program and to make changes that will improve the overall delivery of services. In addition to taking over full responsibility for the SNAP program we are requesting that the program be operated on a year-round basis. This change will allow us to have SNAP employees recruited and trained prior to the start of the academic year for both Cal Poly and Cuesta College. This change is being driven by the increase in numbers of noise related calls during the summer months and the larger number of students who remain in the City year round. Proposed Program Description The primary responsibility of the SNAP Program will still be to utilize student resources to respond to first calls on most noise complaints as specified in the original agreement. The staffing level will remain unchanged at six members. However, the program will be opened up to participation by students attending Cuesta College as well as California Polytechnic State University. This opens up a pool of additional potential members and adds validity to the program being a true"peer policing"program to the entire college community of San Luis Obispo. The hours of operation will remain the same with the exception that the program will become year-round rather than just the three quarter program it is currently. The rationale for this is based on noise complaint statistics for the 1997 calendar year. There were 274 noise complaints in June, 229 in July, and 298 in August--a combined three month total of 801 noise complaints. These three months accounted for 27%of the noise complaints in 1997 and ranked as the fourth, fifth, and seventh busiest months of the year in the area of noise complaints. Additionally, in the past student participation was dependent on California Polytechnic State University's academic schedule,which does not coincide with Cuesta College's academic schedule. This left gaps in coverage that can be eliminated by a year-round program. C9-02- Couneil Agenda Report—SNAP Page 3 The recruitment, selection, and training of the SNAP members will become the sole responsibility of the Police Department. The members will be paid directly by the City as temporary part-time employees. Discussions have already been held with representatives of the Personnel and Finance Departments to address the issues involved with this switch-over. This proposal meets with the full concurrence of those representatives. Program Benefits The primary benefit of increased availability of police officers to deal with more serious public safety problems during peak activity hours will continue. The proposed changes in composition of the SNAP staffing and the months of operation will only serve to expand and enhance this benefit. As previously stated,the involvement of Cuesta College students will add additional validity to the program as one that represents all segments of the San Luis Obispo college community. By directly employing and paying the SNAP members,there will be greater fiscal accountability and the overall costs of the program will be reduced while the effectiveness will be increased. ProgramSuSupervision Administrative supervision of the program will be handled by a program coordinator,who will be a Police Lieutenant appointed by the Police Chief or his representative. Functional supervision will be handled by the on-duty supervisor during the SNAP members work shift. FISCAL EMPACT During the years that SNAP has been operational the cost has ranged from $6,000 to $15,000 per year depending on the number of people in the program and the hours worked. The City was billed for actual costs by the ASI. For FY98-99 we have budgeted$9,000. Because we anticipate greater participation due to the City playing a stronger role in the recruitment and retention of SNAP members as well as the expanded year round program, the program is estimated to cost approximately$15,200 annually. Because the program will be operating only 9 months in this initial year,the cost of the program should be approximately$11,400 so an additional$2,400 is needed. In projecting the costs of the program, a three-tiered hourly wage was developed which is consistent with the City's Temporary Employees Hourly Wage Schedule and most closely approximates the existing pay scale of SNAP members. Movement from one pay scale to another is based on time in service.As we cannot accurately predict the time a temporary employee will remain in the program, it is difficult to predict the costs. However, using this pay scale,the following are the estimated program costs to fully fund the program: C/9-3 Council Agenda Report—SNAP Page 4 Job Title Step A Step B Step C SNAP I $7.00 $7.50 $8.00 SNAP 11 $8.00 $8.50 $9.00 Projected Annual Costs * Salaries 13,100 * Benefits (Workers'Comp,Medicare,Unemployment) 1,600 * Maintenance/Equipment Costs 500 * TOTAL 15,200 * 9 month program(75%) 119400 * Current Funds Budgeted 9,000 * Additional Funds Requested $29400 Funds are available for this appropriation in Police Department general carry-over funds. ALTERNATIVES 1. Adopt Resolution authorizing the Student Neighborhood Assistance Program to operate only during the university academic year. This is not recommended because there is a need for SNAP during the summer months and the proposal would provide the additional coverage with minimal increases in cost. 2. Discontinue the Student Neighborhood Assistance Program. This is not recommended since the program has been successful and has achieved the primary objective of increasing the availability of police officers to deal with more serious public safety problems during peak activity hours. �9-�l