The Chula Vista Police Department will use Measure A funds to hire a new public information specialist and IT technician.
Because neither position was included in the original Measure A expenditure plan approved by voters in 2018, the police department needed the City Council to amend the plan. On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously approved the department’s request and amended the expenditure plan without public discussion as part of the meeting’s consent calendar.
The COVID-19 pandemic and recent episodes of civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylors’ killings underscore the importance of a dedicated public information specialist, the police department argued in a staff report.
“Failure to provide timely and factual information that addresses public concerns, and that stays ahead of rumor or misinformation, can have drastic consequences for the safety of the community and for its trust in the agency,” the report states. “This can lead to unrest in the community, reduced effectiveness of the agency, and increased risk to the City and its employees.”
Between 2004 and 2011, the police department had a civilian public information specialist. But that position was cut during the Great Recession. Since then, the responsibilities of that position have fallen on a police lieutenant as an addition to that role’s normal duties.
Currently, the lieutenant handling public information also manages the Criminal Investigations Division and is responsible for three separate detective units and 43 employees, according to the staff report.
The department argued that hiring a public information specialist will free up the lieutenant to spend more time with the Criminal Investigation Division.
Measure A, a half-cent sales tax, ed by a slim margin in 2018. Because it is a general tax, money from the sale tax can legally be spent on any municipal purpose. However, the city promised to spend it on public safety staffing and enacted a series of measures to ensure the money is spent appropriately.
Those measures include the expenditure plan that outlined what positions the police and fire departments would hire and a citizen oversight committee that would oversee those expenditures.
Since adopting the Measure A expenditure plan, the City Council has amended the plan four times – once in 2018, once in 2019 and twice this year.
City officials have maintained that the expenditure plan is a “living document” that reflects the changing public safety needs.
The city’s Measure A oversight committee voted 5-3 in favor of this most recent amendment to include a public information specialist and IT technician.
The three dissenting committee did not like that the two new positions would be civilian jobs instead of sworn officer jobs. They thought it more appropriate to spend Measure A money on sworn officers.
Committee member and police officer David Martinez pointed out that although Measure A has lived up to its promise of creating more jobs for the police and fire department, the city budget calls for five new sworn officers but the Council has not funded those positions with money from the general fund.
“I think it’s critical, with no help coming from any other means besides Measure A, that any positions moving forward be sworn positions,” he said during the committee’s October meeting.
Another committee member, Nicole Hobson, said she was not against the two positions but thought that Measure A might not be the appropriate funding source for them.
“I feel those positions might divert from the initial spirit of this measure,” she said.
At that same meeting, retired CVPD officer and committee member Gary Ficacci countered that it takes dedicates staff like public information specialist, IT technicians, dispatchers, and others to help officers fight crime.
Chula Vista Police Capt. Phil Collum added that the number of sworn officer positions created through Measure A so far actually exceeds the amount in the expenditure plan. The original plan called for 29 sworn officers, but so far, 35 positions have been created, he said.
The public information specialist and IT technician jobs would not reduce the number of sworn officers, he added.
The two new positions will cost $147,000 in the next fiscal year, according to the staff report.
