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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM-80-0885N f CITY OF MIAMI. FLORIDA INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM Richard L. Fosmoen ty Manager DATE December 16, 1980 TILE SUSJEcT Public Service Aides/Community Service Aides ,bert W. Parkins REFERENCES sistant to the City Manager ENCLOSURES The City of Miami Commission has expressed the desire to provide an available supply of potential Police Officers through the use of an expanded Public Service Aide (PSA) Corps. Positive points to support this desire include: PSA's receive a lower salary cost; PSA's attend a shorter training period (10 weeks instead of the 22 weeks for Police Officers); PSA's require fewer equipment costs; and PSA's may be recruited at an earlier age than Police Officers, thus improving the opportunity to retain minority individuals. In addition, the services provided by PSA's relieve the Police Officers from handling routine, non -emergency calls for service, permitting a greater opportunity for sworn Police Officers to be in service and to be able to promptly respond to emergency or hazardous situations. PSA's have been part of the City of Miami's Police Department for several years and in the early stages of the PSA program, the PSA's were fully supported by funding from the U. S. Department of Labor's C.E.T.A. program. Recently, however, total wages provided to a starting Public Service Aide have become such that the wage would exceed the limits permitted by U. S. Department of Labor guidelines for C.E.T.A. purposes. C.E.T.A. is, of course, a program designed principally to provide employment, at an entry level, to individuals who meet certain low-income and unemployment criteria. Generally, in the City of Miami's program, C.E.T.A. resources have been directed to Blacks and Hispanics, in that those two groups suffer a greater rate of unemployment than non -Hispanic whites. As a consequence, C.E.T.A. has been effective in attract- ing and employing minorities and to that extent has been very helpful in the attain- ment of goals under- the City's Affirmative Action program. The Miami Police Department has been actively involved in recruiting members of the minority conviunities for some time and in the interests of furthering this effort, it is recommended that a new entry-level classification, with companion C.E.T.A. funded positions, be created as Community Service Aides. The Community Service Aide (CSA) P-ogram would consist of 75 individuals, tested at community high schools during the last month of their senior year, who would, if successfully passing the required test, be eligible to be employed as CSA's. Starting salary for CSA's would be $7,462. During the final 6 months of a CSA's allowable C.E.T.A. eligibility (18 months total), evaluations would be conducted on a monthly basis to deterrrjine if the CSA would be Qualified and acceptable for transition to PSA. This transition would non»ally occur at or around a CSA's 19-1/2 birthday, thus providing a minimum of 1 year's service as a PSA prior to reaching the point where the individual and the Police Department would wish to determine if a further transition to Police Officer should occur. Since one of the goals of creating a pool of trained non -sworn individuals is to release sworn personnel from non -emergency calls for service, a concentrated training period would be devoted to report writing and pre -employment knowledge. Then, after the CSA's have been assigned to Police support activities, groups of 10 could be placed in continued training on a rotational basis. Through this method, a greater proportion of CSA's would be available to provide sworn -Officer support than if all were in training at one time. The assignment of the CSA's could provide that forty (40) CSA's with exceptional bilingual capacities would be assigned in the Downtown area, Coconut Grove, tittle Havana and other communities, to staff tourist information centers, to aid in assisting and directing the increasing number of visitors to our City. In addition, their presence spread throughout a 12 hour period from 8:00 an until 8:00 pm, Monday through Saturday would create a deterrent effect which should significantly add to a reduction in criminal activity in the Downtown area. Twenty (20) CSA's would be assigned to the Report Writing Center. This function, which addresses itself to citizen/complainants who come to the Miami Police Station or who phone into the Miami Police Station for purposes of filing reports of incidents not requiring on -scene Police presence, lends itself to freeing sworn Police Officers currently assigned to this important function. The remaining fifteen (15) CSA's would be assigned to the Miami Police Department Communication Center. Proficient bilingualism is again a point of emphasis for this assignment. The Communication Center, currently understaffed, is responsible for receiving and dispatching to mobile Police units the more than 500,000 annual calls for service of the Miami Police Department. In the interest of establishing some indication of the interest and aptitude of inner-city high school students regarding the CSA concept, members of the Human Resources Department conducted a test of approximately 110 graduating senior high school students on Wednesday and Thursday, December loth and llth, 1980. The results of this test will be viewed during meetings with Police Department and Human Resources Department personnel the week of December 15, 1980. The expected outgrowth of these meetings will include a recruitment/testing plan and schedule; a training program design; a schedule and assignment profile for the CSA graduates; and a budget for C.E.T.A, purposes. As a companion to the CSA program, it is recommended that the PSA program be expanded to eventually provide for 50 PSA's. One of the limiting factors in reaching that number is, of course, the number of individuals who successfully are recruited, tested and processed through the background check, polygraph test, job related agility test, medical examination and oral interview. Data, provided by the Human Resources Department, indicates that approximately 205.; to 30% of those individuals who take the PSA test ultimately become employed as PSA's. Currently, 39 individuals are being processed for background, out of 72 who took the October 29, 1980 examination. If the 20;, to 30 rate remains true, up to 12 of the 39 will actually become PSA's by late December. In addition, the Human Resources Department has an additional 25 PSA candidates who were tested on November 18th, 20th and 21st, 1980 and it is anticipated that 5 of those candidates will successfully become PSA's. An additional test is scheduled for December 17th and 18th, with 25 candidates anticipated. n a- 8 S J .., ., ,... .. ,. :G r sty, �,,;.. .:::` "r;.: ;.':. • , p s 3 Consequent)y, in addition to establishing a 75 individual CSA program, it is recommended that the number of budgeted PSA positions be increased in antici- pation of probable appointments. Based upon the data currently available, this increase, added to the 12 PSA's on board, would require 15 additional positions for the October 29, 1980 test; 5 positions for the November 18, 20 and 21, 1980 test; and 5 positions for the December 17 and 18, 1980 test; or 37 positions total. The anticipated additional budget needs, then, would be $191,000 to provide for the currently expected appointments to PSA through the end of January, 1981. As previously stated, the objective will be to achieve a pool of potential Police candidates comprised of 50 PSA's and 75 CSA's with recruitment efforts to be keyed to the classes of graduating Senior students and, with the cooperation of the Dade County School System, the administration of the PSAJCSA test conducted within the schools. Jt1G/smc MENDMENT NO. 6 TO ORDINANi 12/15/80 ORDINANCE NO. AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 1 OF ORDINANCE NO. 9179, ADOPTED OCTOBER 3, 1980, THE ANNUAL APPROPRIATIONS ORDINANCE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTDIBER 30, 1981, AS &MENDED; BY INCREASING THE APPROPRIATION FOR THE GENERAL FUND, POLICE DEPARTMENT, IN THE AMOUNT OF $190,159; BY DECREASING THE APPROPRIATION FOR THE GENERAL FUND, SPECIAL PROGRAMS AND ACCOUNTS, PUBLIC SAFETY CONTINGENT FUND, IN THE SAME AMOUNT; FOR THE PURPOSE OF FUNDING SEVENTEEN (17) NEW PUBLIC SERVICE AIDE POSITIONS IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT; CONTAINING REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE. WHEREAS, the City Commission adopted Ordinance No. 9179 on October 3, 1980, establishing revenues and appropriations for the City of tliami, Florida, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1981; and WHEREAS, it has been determined that an additional seventeen (17) Public Service Aide positions are required; and WHEREAS, the total of $190,159 is available from the General Fund, Special Programs and Accounts, Public Safety Contingent Fund, and can be appropriated into the Police Department's budget to fund the aforementioned positions; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI , FLORIDA: Section 1. Section 1 of Ordinance No. 9179, adopted October 3, 1980, the Annual Appropriations Ordinance for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1931, as amended, is hereby further amended in the following particulars: 1/ "Section 1. The following appropriations are made for the municipal operations of the City of Miami, Florida, for the fiscal year 1980-81, including the payment of principal and interest on all General Obligation Bonds: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Words and/or figures stricken through shall be deleted. Underscored words and/or figures constitute the amendment proposed. The remaining provisions are now in effect and remain unchanged. Asterisks indicate omitted and un- changed material. All figures are rounded to the next dollar. Departments, Boards, and Offices Appropriation GENERAL FUND Police $ 4 6,927;962 $ 37,117,211 Special Programs and Accounts $--91956,999 $ 8,865,940" Section 2. The herein transfer of $190,159 from the General Fund, Special Programs and Accounts, Public Safety Contingent Fund, to the General Fund, Police Department, is for the purpose of funding seventeen (17) new Public Service Aide positions for FY 1981. Section 3. All ordinances or parts of ordinances insofar as they are inconsistent or in conflict with the provisions of this ordinance are hereby repealed. Section 4. If any section, part of section, paragraph, clause, phrase, or word of this ordinance is declared invalid, the remaining provi- sions of this ordinance shall not be affected. Section 5. This ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure on the grounds of urgent public need for the preservation of peace, health, safety, and property of the City of Miami and upon the further ground of the necessity to make the required and necessary payments to its employees and officers, payment of its contracts, pay�ent of interest and principal on its debts, necessary and required purchases of goods and supplies and to generally carry on the functions and duties of its municipal affairs. Section 6. The requirement of reading this ordinance on two sepa- rate nays is hereby dispensed with by a vote of not less than four -fifths of the members of the Commission. 20 PASSED AND ADOPTED THIS _ ..._ _ __. day of 1980. 14AURICE A. FERRE MAYOR ATTEST: RALPH G. ONGIE, CITY CLERK BUDGETARY REVIEW: MANOHAR S:'S NA, DIRECTOR DEPARTMENT 4MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 1 LEGAL REVIEW: APPROVED AS TO FOR1 AND ORRECTNESS: ROBERT F. CLARK GEORG F. KNOX, JR. ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY CITY A TORNEY .3.