HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 06/22/05 WS MINUTES
Eugene City Council
Work Session
McNutt Room--Eugene City Hall
June 22, 2005
Noon
COUNCILORS PRESENT: George Poling, Jennifer Solomon, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Gary Papd,
David Kelly, Bonny Bettman
COUNCILORS ABSENT: Andrea Ortiz
Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. She noted that Ms. Ortiz was in
Puerto Rico attending a conference for Latino elected officials and would not be present.
A. WORK SESSION:
City Council Priority Issue - Restore Engine Crew to Valley River Fire Station
City Manager Taylor observed that one of the council's most enduring goals was to have a safe community
where people felt secure and respected. He said that staff had been working on the eight priority issues
identified by the council and the work session would address two of those issues related to public safety. He
introduced Fire Chief Tom Tallon to discuss the restoration of an engine crew at the Valley River Station.
Chief Tallon thanked the council for making restaffing Engine 9 a priority. He referred to materials in the
agenda packet that outlined the priority issue, set forth a timeline and action plan, and identified strategic
outcomes and progress to date.
Chief Tallon said that the Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Department recruited annually for a
class of between eight and twelve to fill vacancies. A national recruitment conducted in conjunction with
Human Resource and Risk Services had screened 224 applicants and reduced the list to approximately 80
candidates who passed the required tests. He said that once those candidates complete an interview and
background check successfully they are placed on a list of eligible individuals from which the department
could hire. He said that ten people were recently hired to fill vacancies in the department and in early
January 2006, another group of recruits would be hired to staff Engine 9 on a permanent basis. At that time
an engine that was in reserve status would be moved to front line status and would be staffed immediately.
He said that the $1.1 million approved by the council would be tracked separately in the department's
budget and used exclusively to recruit, hire, train, equip and pay a crew for Engine 9.
Chief Tallon reviewed the planning horizon and action items and noted that the council had directed the
department to pursue federal funds under the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response
Firefighters (SAFER) Act, reporting that a grant application would be submitted by June 24, 2005. He
thanked the City Council Intergovernmental Relations (CCIGR) for approving matching funds should the
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City be awarded a SAFER grant. He said that letters of support from elected officials at the local, state and
congressional levels were included in the application packet and the City would be notified in three months
whether its application was funded.
Mayor Piercy called for council questions and comments.
Mr. Pap6 clarified that the CCIGR did not approve the budget; it approved the grant application and
assumed from the budget deliberations that the Budget Committee was supportive. He thanked the chief for
a good plan that accomplishes the council's goal and asked why Fleet Board approval was an element of
procuring an additional engine. Chief Tallon said that all fire apparatus was in the Fleet Services budget
and the department needed to propose acquisitions and reserve status designation. He said that the
acquisition had been approved. City Manager Taylor added that all City vehicles were managed through
Fleet Services.
Mr. Pap6 referred to a drop in the Valley River Station's response reliability rate after redeployment of the
engine to Santa Clara and asked if there was a plan to increase that rate. Chief Tallon said the goal was to
restore the formerly high level of service and monthly measurements and reports would begin in January
2006. He expected the response rate to be restored the first month of operations.
Ms. Taylor asked why a national recruitment had been conducted for City employees. Chief Tallon
explained that was typical for firefighter and police officer recruitments. He said those employees were
highly sought after and there was not a sufficient pool of local eligible candidates for firefighter positions
because of the extensive education and credential requirements. He said the recruitment also addressed the
City's goal to improve hiring of minorities and females into those jobs and a larger applicant pool was
necessary to achieve that.
Ms. Taylor commented that there was a large number of unemployed people in the city and wondered if the
City was letting people know about training opportunities. Chief Tallon replied that the department
presented information at high schools, the University of Oregon, Lane Community College (LCC) and other
institutions on career days, made ride-alongs available and continually looked for ways to increase those
efforts to inform people about the significant schooling and preparation required of applicants. City
Manager Taylor said the City had been working with LCC to explore ways to encourage high school
students to consider fire service as a career.
Mayor Piercy related a conversation she had with Ed Coleman regarding City efforts to reach out to high
school students in the minority community to encourage careers in public safety.
Mr. Poling thanked the chief for the action plan. He reiterated that the fire equipment rotated from reserve
to front line status was in good condition and the Valley River Station was getting a high quality engine.
Chief Tallon thanked the council, the City management team and the community on behalf of the department
for having some of the best facilities, equipment and support for training. He noted that it was preferable to
acquire new engines gradually instead of buying many at once to avoid having to replace all of them at the
same time.
Mr. Kelly asked what was done differently in the recent recruitment to achieve diversity in hiring. Chief
Tallon replied that recruitment was done in partnership with Human Resources, which managed the process.
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He said the department was committed to continuing and increasing its efforts to attract minority and female
applicants. He said that one idea was a scholarship program for minority youth, although limited funds
were available.
Mr. Kelly asked how the group that was recently hired compared to previous recruits. Human Resource
Division Manager Helen Towle replied she did not have complete statistics but the first ten recruits were
similar to previous classes. She commented that the recent recruitment was primarily in the northwest
region with some national ads in publications targeted to paramedics. She described the extensive outreach
efforts, including work with LCC to diversify the pool of students in the require classes. She said that the
new affirmative action plan would emphasize those efforts.
City Manager Taylor said he believed it was necessary to start recruitment at the high school level and
support students through a community college cooperative program to encourage local applications.
Ms. Bettman thanked all those involved in restaffing Engine 9. She reinforced City Manager Taylor's
comments regarding recruiting at the high school level to take advantage of local training available through
LCC. She asked what percentage local residents represented in the applicant pool and on the hire list. Chief
Tallon said that he did not have those statistics but they were available through Human Resource and Risk
Services.
Ms. Bettman asked if those hired tended to move to Eugene or commute from their current homes if not
local. Chief Tallon replied that a majority of the ten new hires were local residents and the rest would
relocate to the community.
Mayor Piercy said that the issues was raised at a recent Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce event that the
council should tend to the business of fundamental services in the community and the current discussion
affirmed the importance of public safety to the council. She expressed the council's appreciation for the
challenges of public safety jobs and the stress and demands they placed on employees. Chief Tallon noted
that firefighters could take advantage of the City's Employee Assistance Program and there were other
services as well to help them deal with job-related stress.
B. WORK SESSION:
City Council Priority Issue - Complete and Consider Police Department Reviews and Implement
Appropriate Changes
City Manager Taylor said the item was a continuation of discussions he and Police Chief Robert Lehner had
with the council over the last year as a result of the International City-County Management Association
(ICMA) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) report and the City's preliminary action plan
response. He said that the issue before the council was a two-year action plan for implementing activities.
He asked Chief Lehner to review the action plan.
Chief Lehner reminded the council that the Eugene Police Department (EPD) was dealing with several
reviews simultaneously, one of which was the ICMA-PERF review that contained the majority of the
recommendations. He said that the Police Commission planning process underway for the past year would
produce a report to the Mayor and the council on July 25, 2005. He said the department's strategic planning
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process would bring all of these initiatives together in a single plan. He said the plan would be released in
July 2005 and incorporate short-, mid- and long-term initiatives and he expected a majority of staff time and
energy for the remainder of the year to be spent fleshing out the shorter terms items first, then the mid- and
long-term items later. He expected to have a well-developed and adopted strategic plan going into the next
budget year. He reviewed the organization of the strategic plan and noted that proposed initiatives were
categorized in one of three ways:
· Improve organizational capacity
· Improve organizational effectiveness
· Improve organizational accountability
Chief Lehner highlighted the following action items and provided updated information:
#2. Obtain Oregon Accreditation Association (OAA) accreditation - meeting scheduled on July 21,
2005, with the OAA board to obtain application materials. The OAA process is directly tied to
the national process and there was some controversy developing over those national standards and
process. The outcome of that controversy could have some affect on the OAA process and time-
frame.
#3 Complete and consider Police Commission recommendations. Develop and implement new
complaint handling process - some recommendations tied to Internal Affairs processes, which
was a department initiative; however, the subject of governance and civilian oversight was also an
ongoing initiative outside the direct scope of the strategic plan.
#8 Develop a neighborhood-based community policy strategy - continue to meet with neighborhood
groups and the Patrol Division was exploring the issue of potential districting and geographic as-
signment of commanders. Much work had already taken place and progress had been made and
district boundaries would be available for discussion by September 2005.
# 11 Develop a supplemental basic training program - effective January 1, 2007, the State would
change how basic training of police officers was certified and could profoundly affect how the
City trained its officers. The new process would be challenging to implement but could provide
benefits as well.
Mayor Piercy solicited council questions and comments.
Mr. Kelly said that the success of the plan would ultimately be judged by how the department was perceived
by the council, police staff and the broader community two or three years in the future. He commented that
the City's preliminary action plan response looked good and was pleased that many changes were already
being implemented and neighborhood-based community policing was being pursued. He asked how the
staffing workload analysis would fit with the strategic plan and the policing model embraced by the
community. Chief Lehner responded that the strategic plan was attempting to prioritize the types of
responses or calls the department had and tie that fairly directly to the budget and the resources required to
handle any particular type of call. He gave the decision about whether to respond to non-verified burglary
alarms as an example and said that decision would be based on a determination of whether there was a
cost/benefit. He said the process would expose many of the types of calls received would be subjected to
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that same level of analysis. He said a criticism of the Hobson Report was its assumption of a level of
service that had not been verified by the community. City Manager Taylor added that the capacity for
problem-solving policing where the officer made decisions and collaborated had to be considered in level of
service assumptions that drove staffing needs.
Mr. Pryor observed that reports had been focused on systems, procedures, policies and plans as appropriate.
He asked how the work would impact the organizational culture that currently existed within the department
and how well would it be integrated. Chief Lehner acknowledged that systems problems played a role in the
current situation and organizational recognition of the interplay of various systems had improved during the
process. He said that the department recognized that solutions could not be done in isolation and had ties to
the entire system; solutions should be prioritized and implemented in a planned way. He said the department
was not a system unto itself but rather a system unto the entire community and one of the eventual goals in
the strategic plan would be a recognition that the system was also part of a bigger system. He did not sense
great resistance within the department to change or developing the process.
City Manager Taylor said there was a framework for action that resulted from the ICMA-PERF report and
specific recommendations would be forthcoming from the Police Commission. He said there was leadership
commitment from both himself and Chief Lehner that this was a priority and resources were available to
implement recommendations. He said that leadership, expectations and outcomes had a fundamental effect
on the organization.
Ms. Bettman related the efforts of the Police Commission to complete its work. She appreciated the
department's ambitious short-term plan for the next two years that emphasized a number of key components
of the ICMA-PERF recommendations. She shared Mr. Kelly's concern regarding the staffing analysis to
update the Hobson study and wanted to see a comprehensive review of the department, including administra-
tive and support services, with respect to priorities and interplay among functions.
Ms. Taylor asked to what extent neighborhood organizations would be involved in community policing.
Chief Lehner said the department's draft recommendation to adopt a community policing program was
based in part on his early meetings with neighborhood associations, which repeatedly emphasized the level
of involvement they wanted in community policing and the department. He said the strategic plan had
selected a community policing model that made the neighborhoods primary partners in the delivery of
policing services in the community. He gave several examples of neighborhood concerns and said that
neighborhood leaders had been asked to participate with command staff to develop strategies for deploying
resources, which was a typical approach to community policing. He expected that the vast majority of
proactive work done by police patrol officers would be done in full consultation and partnership with the
neighborhoods in which they worked.
Ms. Taylor remarked that neighborhood associations and neighborhoods were not necessarily the same and
suggested it might be necessary to split neighborhood associations into smaller groups for consultation. City
Manager Taylor said that issue would arise during discussions of neighborhood initiatives and neighborhood
capacity. He said the entire city was covered by certified neighborhood associations and the community
policing model might require some ~tweaking" of geographic assignments. He said the City's new portal for
internet access envisioned a neighborhood page that would portray law enforcement activities specific to
neighborhoods.
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Referring to the culture of the police organization, Ms. Taylor related comments she had heard that the
culture was affected by the fact that many police officers did not live in Eugene. She asked if that was a
problem and if the department had considered recruiting from Eugene or requiring officers who were hired to
move to Eugene. Chief Lehner said that had not been considered in the course of developing the plan. He
said he had not seen a problem he considered to be associated with residency of officers. He said that
residency issues in general were very problematic for police departments - economically and demographi-
cally - and raised very significant issues for public employers. He did not believe there would be an
adequate applicant pool if hiring was restricted to the City.
Ms. Taylor suggested it might make a difference in organizational culture and officers' involvement in the
community if they were required to live in Eugene, particularly with community policing. Chief Lehner
replied that could be true in concept but based on his experience most police officers, in Eugene and other
communities, did not live in the areas in which they patrolled.
Ms. Taylor asked if the department did not pay enough for officers to move to Eugene. Ms. Towle replied
that many police recruits, particularly experienced officers, moved because of the large surrounding area
and many department employees lived outside of the cities. She noted that residency requirements were
fairly unique and would likely have to be bargained. She speculated that a residency requirement could be a
deterrent to recruitment efforts.
Ms. Taylor related that she had recently attended a kindergarten graduation where many of the youngsters
expressed a desire to be a police officer. Chief Lehner commented that a comprehensive recruitment
philosophy also included recruiting parents to encourage their children to consider law enforcement careers.
Mr. Pap~ concurred with previous comments regarding the Hobson Report and encouraged a new strategic
examination of the department. He noted that the plan did not address the conflict between the Police
Department and Human Resource and Risk Services in terms of recruitment, hiring and discipline that was
raised in the ICMA-PERF report. Chief Lehner replied that in the areas of recruitment and hiring Human
Resource was an active partner. He said some of the conflict may have occurred because procedures were
not as formalized as they could have been and that would be addressed during accreditation as formalized,
maintained and updated procedures were required. He felt the problem identified in the report was a system
issue that would be resolved when procedures were formalized; that was also true with respect to discipline
procedures.
Mr. Pap~ asked who should make hiring decisions with regard to police personnel. Chief Lehner replied that
technically the city manager made that decision and the manager had delegated that decision to the police
chief. He said he would not delegate that decision to anyone as he was ultimately accountable to the
community for hiring decisions. City Manager Taylor said the Police Department was an organization that
was part of the City system and human resource professionals were engaged to provide assistance in
recruitment and selection, validating procedures, ensuring that collective bargaining and discipline were
within State law and labor contracts. He pointed out that while there was shared responsibility, the ultimate
responsibility rested with the city manager. Human Resource and Risk Services Executive Director Lauren
Chouinard added that a certain amount of tension between Human Resource and the rest of the organization
was inherent in the relationship because the human resource function was focused on making sure the
organization followed all policies and procedures. He agreed with Chief Lehner that part of the problem
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was a systems issue, but it also reflected the normal dynamic tension between line operations and central
service functions that were more regulatory in nature.
In response to a question from Mr. Pap6, Chief Lehner pointed out that action item #9 addressed a
partnership with Human Resource to develop a new hiring and screening process, as did # 13 to expand and
enhance the background investigation program. City Manager Taylor added that the action plan also
required that all processes and functions be formalized.
Mr. Pap6 remarked that reports indicated the community did not trust the Internal Affairs process and it was
possible the same distrust existed within the organization. Chief Lehner said a new structure for the Office
of Professional Standards that would include new and additional supervisory and investigative staff was
being examined. He said the ultimate nature of structural changes was dependent on the outcome of the
Police Commission's work and recommendations.
Mayor Piercy called for a second round of questions and comments.
Mr. Kelly requested a formal response from the Police Chief and City Manager on programs to encourage
police officer residency in the community and improve neighborhoods through a housing subsidy for officers
who choose to live in the City. City Manager Taylor replied that there was a program through the United
States Department of Housing and Urban Development that provided housing incentives for police officers
and teachers.
Mr. Kelly expressed an interest in finding funding for such a program during the next fiscal year. He said
an issue that continued to weave through the community was that of profiling and targeting of minorities, the
homeless and youth. He asked how the department would approach that challenge. Chief Lehner replied
that some of the work the Police Commission was doing related directly to that issue through monitoring and
oversight. He said that the subject of law enforcement profiling activities would continue to be the subject
of national discussion and debate for a long time. He said that an initiative to improve the department's
cultural competence was a mid- to long-term action item.
Ms. Bettman agreed with Mr. Kelly's remarks regarding a housing incentive program. She said that other
communities had developed programs to subsidize housing for officers to encourage them to live in
neighborhoods, particularly troubled neighborhoods. She noted that the resources allocated by the Budget
Committee, both bridge and ongoing funding, were specifically targeted to certain areas and asked for
clarification that the group reviewing allocation of resources would adhere to that direction. Chief Lehner
acknowledged that the special project funds were limited to three affected neighborhoods and would not be
allocated elsewhere in the community.
Ms. Bettman asked if there had been a change in the hiring decision-making authority as a consequence of
the ICMA-PERF recommendations. Chief Lehner replied that it was a systems issue and while the formal
written policy that placed the responsibility with the City Manager had not changed, in terms of practice
there had been a change.
Mr. Pap6 commented that there might be a perception inside the department that in the past investigations
and discipline were handled somewhat differently for line personnel than for management in the organiza-
tion. He said that things needed to be fairly investigated across the board and discipline consistently
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administered. He said there was a %hicken and egg" problem where the department was given resources
and responded with what could be done with those resources. He hoped that the analysis that would be done
could provide a range of options and costs for the budgetary process.
Ms. Bettman said that many people were dissatisfied with the Hobson Report and felt that what was needed
was a comprehensive performance audit of the Police Department, comparing where resources were with
where they should be. She asked if definitive action by the council was required for the department to bring
back a proposal for a comprehensive examination of staffing, service and performance to be included in the
budget. City Manager Taylor said the first approach was to look at support and Communication Center
staff as well as investigation and other capacities. He said that would provide a range of options for the
strategic plan that could result in recommendations for fiscal years 2006 and 2007. He said it was not
necessarily envisioned that the strategic plan would recommend a comprehensive performance audit on that
level in the next two years, but was something worthy of consideration and could be brought to the council
for prioritization. Chief Lehner stated that information from the proposed staffing study could help frame
that question.
Ms. Bettman said she preferred a comprehensive audit instead of spending $40,000 on the staffing study.
Mayor Piercy called for a third round of questions and comments.
Mr. Kelly requested a memorandum explaining the scope of the proposed staffing study.
Mayor Piercy thanked everyone for a thoughtful discussion and adjourned the meeting at 1:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Dennis M. Taylor
City Manager
(Recorded by Lynn Taylor)
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