I apologize for putting out my annotations after the meeting; I had only received the agenda at 3pm on Tuesday for the Wednesday meeting and had a previous commitment with my UNI students Tuesday night. I was able to read through the documentation and ask a few clarifying questions to city staff Wednesday, but I regret not having time to write up my thoughts and solicit your input. So for what it's worth, here are my annotations after-the-fact! ~Rob
Call to Order by the Mayor
Roll Call
New Business
1. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Agreement with Wantman Group, Inc. (WGI) to perform parking consulting services relative to a College Hill Parking Study.
This resolution would commit $44K of city funds to a similar study and recommendations for what was recently completed for the Downtown Parking Study. The Downtown Parking Study offered a comprehensive and actionable approach to addressing our short-term parking needs; I trust that the College Hill study will offer similar solutions. Considering that we have a potential major project on the hill that would impact these findings and recommendations, I'm glad that we're moving this project forward sooner rather than later. No concerns.
2. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of a Memorandum of Understanding with Teamsters Union, Local No. 238 relative to shift scheduling.
As I look at this contentious issue, there are several distinct parts, which I’ve come to appreciate after many conversations with residents, current and former firefighters, police officers, PSO's, senior city staff, and other emergency management professionals. One of my main concerns with the existing PSO Model approach has been the assumption by the city that a single Public Safety Officer can handle the demands of two separate career fields -- law enforcement and emergency response (fire/rescue/medical). In the Kalamazoo model, which the city frequently cites, all city responders are Public Safety Officers, and they bid to be primarily assigned to law enforcement or fire/rescue. Unlike Kalamazoo, Cedar Falls has followed the approach of first supplementing the career firefighters (i.e. cross-training to Firefighter 1 level) and now, directly replacing the significant number of firefighters who have resigned in the past year.
I remain skeptical that a single PSO can be reasonably expected to obtain and retain the knowledge, traits, and skills required to be both a highly effective police officer and a highly effective firefighter. That said, I believe the assignment of PSO's to fire/rescue for 'tours of duty' of at least one year is a step in the right direction. This will allow PSO's to focus on gaining high proficiency with one role while being ready to serve in the other as needed. Ideally, the PSO would be in the fire/rescue position for several years to gain broad experience in these specialized operations. This new "tour of duty" approach for PSOs has merit and would answer some of my concerns about the city's expectations that PSO's be both expert police officers AND expert firefighters simultaneously. A change to the Police Union contract appears to be a necessary step for to enacting this change. But, I would also expect significant police effort as needed, on TOP of dedicated fire/rescue work, in order to justify the $10K+ extra we’re paying PSO’s. Otherwise, why not just hire firefighters at less cost?
For this “tour of duty” strategy to be successful, we must hold our elected officials accountable for ensuring that all of our public safety personnel (police, firefighters, and PSOs) can do the physically demanding and mentally taxing jobs they've been hired to do. Not just meeting minimums, but exhibiting true proficiency through certifications and thorough proficiency examinations at regular intervals. This competency review must include an objective auditing process which can pass external scrutiny. And finally, we must ensure that attrition is a non-stigmatized option for those lacking the consistently high physical and mental stamina required for these critical safety roles.
My acceptance of the “tour of duty” approach doesn’t allay my greater concern, however -- the lack of clear direction for the future of the Public Safety Services Department. How does this "tour of duty" strategy help the department accomplish its desired goals? This strategy -- and other Public Safety initiatives -- must be captured in a Public Safety Strategic Plan with a publicly-viewable and publicly-accountable implementation timeline, responsibilities, and performance metrics. Without clear, transparent direction, I will continue to be unable to support the PSO Model. I need to know what specifically I'm being asked to support....as do all the residents of Cedar Falls.
Adjournment
POST-SCRIPT:
In my mind, neither of the resolutions were of such urgency that a special meeting was justified....particularly since the timing denied the majority of working residents the option of participating. We had a regular council meeting on the schedule, only five days away. For this reason, I motioned to table both resolutions until the Monday night meeting; when both of those motions failed, I voted against both items. Residents must have reasonable access to participate in the decisions which affect them.
| Council Packet Link | |
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| Meeting Date | 02/27/19 |
