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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-28-1983 Adopted CC MinutesADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING - APRIL 28, 1983 An adjourned regular meeting and study session of the City Council of the City of Dublin was held on Thursday, April 28, 1983 in the Dublin Library meeting room. The meeting was called to order at 7:40 p.m. by Mayor Peter Snyder. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Councilmembers Burton, Hegarty, Jeffery, Moffatt and Mayor Snyder. Representing the County were: Assistant County Administrator Steve Hamill, Undersheriff Dan Vohl and Captain Keith Boyer. REVIEW OF CONTRACT WITH ALAMEDA COUNTY SHERIFF's DEPARTMENT FOR THE PROVISION OF POLICE SERVICES The City Council proceeded to evaluate the Sheriff's Department following the evaluation format developed by the City Manager. Community Needs As perceived by the.City Council, how well has the Sheriff's Department performed in responding to the police needs of the community? What effort has been made by Dublin Officers to become familiar with the community? Cm. Moffatt indicated that the communication between the police department and the community needed to be improved. He cited the call forwarding arrangements that the City had made as being confusing to some members of the community. Cm. Jeffery indicated that she had talked to a number of business people who were very supportive of the police service. Cm. Hegarty indicated he would like to see officers get out of the cars more often and become more familiar with the public. Cm. Burton indicated that the police need to work more at identifying themselves with the community. Mayor Snyder had no comments. Public Relations Keeping in mind that there have been approximately 15,000 contacts between the police and the public in the first 9 ~nonths of the contract, have Dublin Officers attempted to foster good public relations in the City of Dublin? Mayor Snyder indicated that the police officers need to be more "small townish". CM-2-65 Adjourned Regular Meeting April 28, 1983 Cm. Burton indicated that he had heard some complaints that the police officers were insensitive and indifferent in giving citations. Cm. Hegarty indicated that he had a few complaints as to how traffic stops were handled. Cm. Jeffery indicated that she thought the department was doing a good job with respect to public relations and was especially looking out for the business community. Cm. Moffatt indicated that the police needed to improve their public relations especially in light of what happened at Bonniewood. Do Officers treat the public in a courteous manner whenever possible? Cm. Moffatt indicated that he thought the police were courteous. Cm. Jeffery indicated that she had received no complaints. Cm. Hegarty had no comments. Cm. Burton indicated that traffic enforcement should not be used as a revenue producer and suggested consideration of a warning citation. Mayor Snyder thought that the police treated the public courteously. Responsiveness to the Public Do the Police respond to requests for service in a timely manner? Does the City Council believe that most citizens are satisfied with the disposition of their requests? Cm. Burton indicated that he felt the police department was very responsive. Cm. Hegarty said from his contact with the public that, for the most part, citizens are happy with the response time. Mayor Snyder indicated that responsiveness was good. Cm. Jeffery indicated that the perceived responsiveness was good, and that the service has improved since incorporation. Cm. Moffatt said that the responsiveness was good. Working Relationship with City Government Does the Sheriff's Department make an attempt to cooperate with City officials? Cm. Moffatt indicated that the police had been very cooperative. Cm. Jeffery indicated that cooperation from field service personnel was good, but that the cooperation by Sheriff's Department administrative personnel could be improved, particularly with respect to the timeliness and CM-2-66 Adjourned Regular Meeting April 28, 1983 responsiveness to local requests. Cm. Hegarty indicated that the cooperation was satisfactory. Cm. Burton said that the working relationships with the City had been good and indicated that he would like to meet officers in an informal setting, such as a picnic. Mayor Snyder cited the problem of coordination between the County Administrator's office and the Sheriff. Visibility Does the City Council perceive the patrol units are visible enough to provide a deterrent to crime? Cm. Burton indicated that the police need to get more visible in terms of better car identification and uniform identification. He also suggested a phone sticker which would assist the public in contacting the police department. Cm. Hegarty indicated that the visibility was good. Mayor Snyder indicated that visibility needs to be improved, particularly with respect to local identification. Cm. Jeffery indicated she had no information to indicate whether the visibility was satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Cm. Moffatt suggested a higher level of visibility utilizing a foot patrol once or twice a day. Community Relations Program~ Do the police make an effort to develop a good rapport with'the schools, business community and community groups? Cm. Moffatt indicated that the community relations programs were good. Cm. Jeffery stated that the crime watch was a good idea and more programs were needed for business, along with more publicity for a ride-along- program. Cm. Hegarty indicated that community relations programs were satisfactory, but suggested that the police make a greater effort to talk to seniors. Cm. Burton thought that the community relations programs could be improved. Mayor Snyder said the community relations programs have been good. Professionalism Cm. Burton indicated that the police service was very professional and efficient. CM-2-67 Adjourned Regular Meeting April 28, 1983 Cm. Hegarty indicated he had no problem with professionalism. Cm. Jeffery suggested more training that was geared to local needs. Cm. Moffatt suggested more training in the area of traffic enforcement, but also indicated that the attitudes of the police officers were very professional. Mayor Snyder indicated that professionalism was satisfactory. Staffing & Equipment As perceived by the City Council, is staffing, equipment and office space adequate in the performance of the following police services in Dublin? Cm. Moffatt indicated that more traffic enforcement was needed, particularly with respect to speeding. He suggested that Staff look into the use of radar. He also indicated that he would like to see more involvement in the area of crime prevention programs. Cm. Jeffery indicated that she did not have enough information to make a judgement. She did suggest that the appearance of the police business office could be improved. Cm. Hegarty indicated that a greater emphasis needed to be placed on narcotics and traffic enforcement. Cm. Burton indicated that more staff was needed in the area of traffic enforcement and also crime prevention. Mayor Snyder had no specific comments with respect to staffing and equipment. Overall Performance How would you rate the overall performance of the Sheriff's Department in its provision of services to the City? Cm. Burton indicated that the service was very satisfactory. He also indicated that the police should have a greater focus on public relations and circulate more with the public. Cm. Hegarty indicated that the overall performance was good. Cm. Jeffery suggested developing lines of communications with the public. Cm. Moffatt indicated that the police service should continue to work on communication with the public. Mayor Snyder indicated that more local visibility was needed, but the overall performance was generally good. CM-2-68 Adjourned Regular Meeting April 28, 1983 Mrs. Montemayor, 7670 Bonniewood Lane, was critical of the Sheriff's Department performance and spoke in favor of having a City police department. RECESS The City Council completed the performance evaluation and took a 10 minutes recess. The meeting reconvened at 10'15 p.~n. with all Councilmembers present. Police Staffing The City Manager discussed the recommendation that the City Council approve in concept the addition of a Clerk and Detective Sargeant for Fiscal Year 1983-84. The City Council discussed With representatives of the Sheriff's Department the merits of each position. Captain Boyer indicated that the clerical position was needed because Eden Township clerical personnel were presently performing tasks which should be performed in Dublin, and which the City was not being billed for. In addition, the Dublin clerical position was working a considerable amount of overtime and still not keeping up with the workload. If the additional clerical position was funded, this workload could be met and the business office could be open additional hours to serve the public. The additional Detective Sargeant position would be used to reduce the excessive investigative caseload by handling'bad check cases. The Detective Sargeant position would also function in the capacity of a juvenile and crime prevention officer. The City Council directed Staff to include these additional positions in the 1983-84 preliminary budget. Contract Issues The City Manager discussed several problems with respect to the 1982-83 contract and recommended that provisions regarding replacement of injured personnel and training be included in the 1983-84 contract. The Sheriff's Department agreed that it would be willing to provide the following contract provisions in the 1983-84 contract' 1. In the event that any Sheriff's personnel are absent from duty for more than 10 working days as a result of illness or injury, those personnel shall be replaced at the end of that 10 working day period. 2. The Sheriff's Department agrees to continue to provide training to personnel assigned to Dublin which relate more to the provision of municipal Police service. Such training will be provided when needed by the City. With respect to the term of the agreement, the City Council expressed support for a multi-year agreement, but deferred consideration of the specific length of the agreement until the purchase of patrol vehicles could be discussed. CM-2-69 Adjourned Regular Meeting April 28, 1983 Patrol Vehicle Purchase The City Manager briefly discussed the comparative analysis prepared by Staff identifying the various options available to the City with respect to the provision of patrol vehicles. The City Manager indicated that Staff was unable to obtain a definitive estimate of private maintenance costs to police vehicles due to the lack of historical information available for identifying major repair costs. The estimate of $10,500 provided in the Staff report was a best guess based on discussions with a service manager from a local dealership. The City Manager recommended that the City continue to utilize County vehicles and request the permission of the Sheriff to paint these vehicles and ,place the City seal on the vehicle in order to provide greater local identity. Those vehicles that would be Painted should be new and that the term of the contract should be at least the length of the life of the vehicles provided by the County. The City Manager pointed out that if such a vehicle was totalled, the Sheriff would provide a replacement vehicle with standard County markings immediately. As soon as a permanent vehicle replacement could be acquired by the County and assigned to the City, it would be painted and marked with City colors and identification. The City Manager recommended this alternative for two reasons: 1) The cost of the County providing patrol vehicles is known, while the cost of maintaining City purchased vehicles locally is not known. The cost of maintenance could be substantially higher than the estimate provided by Staff. 2) If the City purchased its own patrol vehicles, the City would not have adequate backup in the event that one or more patrol vehicles were put out of service for any extended length of time. This would mean that officers would either have to double up or not be able to be placed into service. Cm. Burton indicated that he was in favor of purchasing and maintaining patrol vehicles locally. He indicated that the advantage of having City cars would be a reduction in travel time and down time when serviced. He also indicated that the City would have better control over the cars and that there would be a residual value left in the car once it was removed from police service. He indicated he would like to see a local dealer be given an opportunity to bid on the patrol vehicles and to maintain those vehicles. Mayor Snyder stated that the City would be better off if the County would provide and maintain the cars if the vehicle, color could be negotiated with the County. Cm. Burton wanted to have Shamrock Ford be given the opportunity to provide the City With the cost of purchasing and maintaining patrol vehicles. Cm. Moffatt indicated he was torn between saving money and buying locally. Cm. Jeffery thought the City would be better off having the County provide the cars. Chief Shores was asked to discuss the merits of having a mid-size vs a full-size patrol vehicle. CM-2-70 Adjourned Regular Meeting April 28, 1983 Cm. Hegarty asked if the City could purchase the vehicles locally and have the County maintain the vehicles. The City Manager indicated that was possible. The City Council asked the Sheriff's Department to resolve the following iSsues with City Staff' 1. If the City decides to purchase its own vehicles, will the County provide backup vehicles in the event that a City car cannot be used because of major maintenance or accident? If so, what would be the rental rates? 2. What are the County's maintenance rates if the City purchases its own vehicles and enters into an agreement with the County for maintenance only? The City would also like the County to provide maintenance rates with and without fuel purchase included if possible. 3. If the City decides to use County vehicles, is it possible to get new cars to replace existing high mileage vehicles? 4. If the City decides to use County vehicles and paint those vehicles with the approval of the Sheriff's Department, is the minimum contract period 3 years? The City COuncil also agreed to give Staff and Cm. Burton additional time to develop private maintenance costs for City purchased vehicles. The City Manager asked the City CoUncil if it wished to discuss the color of the vehicles at this time. The City Council indicated it wished to defer that issue until the issue of how the cars were to be provided was resolved. ADJOURNMENT After completion of discussion, at 12'04 a.m. the meeting was adjourned. ATTEST' CM-2-71 Adjourned Regular Meeting April 28, 1983