CITY OF SUNNYVALE
City Council Study Session Summary
DPS Recruiting Hiring Training
April 6, 2004 - 5:30 PM
West Conference Room
The City Council met in study session at City Hall in the West Conference Room, 456 West Olive Avenue, Sunnyvale, California on April 6, 2004 at 5:30 p.m., with Mayor John Howe presiding.
Council Members Present:
Mayor John Howe
Vice Mayor Dean Chu
Council Member Fred Fowler
Council Member Otto Lee
Council Member Melinda Hamilton
Council Member Julia Miller
Council Member Ron Swegles Call to Order: 5:40 PM
City Staff Present:
Amy Chan, City Manager
Valerie Armento, City Attorney
Michael Maehler, Acting Director of DPS
Chuck Eaneff, Public Safety Captain
Mark McLaughlin, Public Safety Lieutenant
William Bielinski, Public Safety Administrative Assistant
Mary Bradley, Director of Finance
Mark Gregersen, Director of Human Resources
Rumi Portillo, Human Resource Manager
Visitors/Guests Present:
No public comment was presented.
Mayor Howe called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m.
Study Session Summary:
I. How does the recruitment, selection and initial training process work in Public Safety?
Director Maehler opened the presentation with a description of the time frame for recruitment, hiring and training of Public Safety Officers. Copies of the presentation materials are available on file in the office of the City Clerk. He explained how this could be a process that takes up to two years to complete, with the training aspect accounting for fourteen months. Because of the length of this process, it is often necessary to have overlapping cycles of hiring and training.
Director Maehler explained how the management of this process involves an estimation of expected attrition from the department through retirements and non-service separations. Replacements must be hired fourteen months in advance of these expected openings. The number hired must actually be greater than the expected attrition because there is a further expectation that approximately 30% of the trainees fail to make it through to the end of the training cycle.
II. Current status of numbers of personnel in various classifications.
Multiple variables lead to the possibility that, if estimations prove incorrect, there is the likelihood of over hiring leading to a staffing level that exceeds funding. This is the situation that DPS currently finds itself in. When this occurs, the excessive staff must be managed in such a way as to reduce the budgetary impact. This is currently being done by using the extra personnel to fill vacancies caused by workers comp., long term disabilities, and other absences.
III. History of activities/impacts that caused Public Safety to have this level of staffing
Director Maehler explained the impact of the Air Time bill that was passed by the California Legislature last year and went into effect on January 1st. This bill seems to have had an effect of stopping expected retirements for the short term while personnel evaluate their ability to utilize this benefit. The net effect of this action has been to slow expected retirements. This, coupled with less than the normal average of non-service separations and a higher than average success rate of recent trainees, is what has lead to the overstaffing currently being experienced.
IV. Options for the future
Director Maehler closed by explaining that even though we are currently overstaffed, we have personnel in the training process. Director Maehler showed how these people were hired when the trends and predictions showed they would be needed to fill staff vacancies. Director Maehler illustrated the amount of money that had been invested in these trainees and how it would not make sense to lay off these personnel since they would need to be rehired to offset the upcoming vacancies that are anticipated.
V. Council discussion
The meeting was opened for discussion.
The Council inquired as to whether the “aging demographic bubble” had passed. Director Maehler displayed a chart illustrating the rate at which department member will turn age 50, broken down by fiscal periods.
This was followed by a question as to whether any over staff of personnel could be used to fill positions, particularly within the traffic and NRO units, that had been lost in previous budget cuts. Director Maehler indicated that while this was a possibility, management of personnel is an ongoing issue that will require further study as personnel come out of the training process and should be discussed as part of the budget process.
City Manager, Amy Chan, closed the meeting with some final points:
- She stressed the need to perform surveys of expected retirement dates closer to the hiring dates to make sure the most accurate information is being used to make hiring decisions.
- In the future, all hiring requests will need to be sent through the OCM for review.
- There is a need to re-examine allowable staffing levels. The Finance Department is currently working on the “optimal staffing plan,” with an expected completion date in one to three months.
- Minimum staffing does not translate to actual staffing. The OCM is looking at the staffing relative to demand represented by calls for police services. The OCM will open discussions with DPS and PSOA regarding current patrol scheduling with a goal of optimizing this relationship.
- The OCM supports the idea of not laying off personnel currently in training. The eventual cost associated with this move would make it unwise. We must examine how best to manage theses resources to reduce budgetary impact
- This Saturday, OCM will produce preliminary budget figures for council. This should allow Council to see what the dollar figures associated with budget issues will look like.
Follow up questions to be answered:
Prior to adjournment there was a request made to identify the impact of over staffing on the reduction of overtime.
An additional request was made after adjournment for hire dates for all recruits( hired in last two years), dates offer letters were sent to these recruits, and the number of officers off on disability, both when the FY ‘03/’04 budget was approved (6/17/03) and when the ten most recent recruits hired.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark McLaughlin, Public Safety Lieutenant