Guest opinion: City is 'No. 1' but that's not a good thing

Mickie: Please explain the meaning and significance of the "staff engagement" survey results for Menlo Park. What does it actually measure? How do you interpret them? What actions should be considered? Thanks.

Real companies freeze hiring in times like this, and re-shuffle staff as needed to fill the actually critical vacancies. Menlo Park should do the same.

January 14th meeting?

MP residents need to realize that the city staff has totally captured the elected City Council.

The staff has de facto control of the Council agenda and nothing goes on the agenda that has not been vetted by the staff. Obviously in this arrangement the Council will only be given a very limited set of alternatives to consider.

A test question is - Will the staff recommend outsourcing police services to the Sheriff as is done in both Portola Valley and Woodside? This would save millions of dollars annually and would also improve the level of service. And it would avoid future increases in the city's liability for police pensions.

If not, then we know for sure that the Council is not in charge but rather is being led by the nose by the city staff.

"The Sheriff’s Office has designated patrol service for more than 70% of the County within the unincorporated areas. The Sheriff’s Office also provides contract law enforcement services for the cities of Half Moon Bay, Millbrae, San Carlos, Eichler Highlands, the towns of Portola Valley and Woodside, as well as for the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board and the San Mateo County Transit District. "

Web Link

Interesting San Mateo County Grand Jury Report:

STRAPPED CITIES THAT HIRED THE SHERIFF…IS IT WORKING?

FINDINGS
F1. The SO is providing the police services for which the cities of Half Moon Bay, Millbrae,
and San Carlos contracted within the cost perimeters of the contracts.
F2. Public response to the transition from individual police departments to the SO is positive.
F3. No increase in the number of police involved incidences has been reported by the cities
due to the transition of policing services to the SO and one city, Millbrae, reports a
decrease of 17 per cent in crime.
F4. The transition from individual police departments to the SO was incident free with
former city personnel generally pleased with the change.
F5. The police service contracts between the SO and each of the cities of Half Moon Bay,
Millbrae, and San Carlos serve as good models to other cities in the County which
operate their own police departments and which are facing budgetary restraints.
F6. The trust funds for each city comprised of unallocated funds should be disclosed in
financial reports and described in the policing service contracts.

See full report here - and send it to your Menlo Park City Council:

Web Link

From a population and demographic standpoint San Carlos (2017 population of 30,499) is very comparable to Menlo Park ( 2017 population 34,357)

Per the Grand Jury report here is how much San Carlos spends and saves annually by contracting for police services with the Sheriff:
"San Carlos
Annual contract = Approx. $7 million
Annual savings = Approx. $2 million
1 Captain
5 Sergeants
14 Deputies
4 CSOs
12 Patrol Officers"

That is $7 million for 32 FTEs

******
Here is how much Menlo Park currently spends to have its own police force:

$22 million for 76 FTE's

Web Link

**********************

Do the residents of Menlo Park need more than twice as many police FTE's at 3X the cost as do the residents of San Carlos?

Do the residents of Menlo Park actually get better police services than do the residents of San Carlos? Three times as good?

Learn from Mickie and Peter Carpenter.

Our present staffing v revenue situation is not sustainable.

I have heard the aspirational phrase 'One Menlo Park'. Not exactly true. We own the remains of the former Redevelopment Agency (RDA) - in a sense a second Menlo Park. Our Government is the successor agency of our former RDA and we are still responsible for paying those bondholders, and assure that this doesn't negatively affect our bond ratings.

The reason why contracting with the Sheriff's Office (SO) saves so much money is economies of scale - each city no longer needs a chief, or police admin, or police training and most of the square footage used by a city owned police department can be eliminated.

From the Grand Jury report:
"SO Contracts
The contracts utilized by all three cities are basically the same. They have a common theme of
saving each city thousands of dollars by having the SO perform virtually all policing duties.
These savings are gained by having the SO assume responsibility for office expenses, including
accounting and personnel, along with pension and medical obligations. The contracts provide for
police services at staffing levels determined by the individual city councils, which are
commensurate with the cities previous staffing levels. Additional services not set forth in the
base contract can be added by the cities to fit their needs by amending the contract. There is a
right of termination by either party. Contract costs are adjusted with an anticipated three percent
maximum annual increase. The cities retain revenues generated through violations of city
ordinances, license fees, inspections, vehicle impounding, and the sale of accident and crime
reports. The cities are responsible for the fee collection process. All local ordinances are adhered
to. The cities provide office space for the SO at the cities’ cost.
The contracts allow for the cities to obtain additional services from the SO for special programs,
depending on their individual needs and budget. For example, San Carlos wanted to reduce the
number of traffic accidents around schools. A $100,000 contingency fund was created to enable
the placement of officers on duty during morning school hours for two weeks. Parents who failed
to follow the driving laws were cited thereby establishing a standard for driving near schools in
San Carlos. The additional personnel hours were accounted for at the end of the fiscal year.
The SO provides support services such as property and evidence management, training, technical
services (including 911), records retention, fiscal services such as payroll, and human resource
services. The SO sets the standards for performance and conduct and determines where specific
personnel will be deployed. An effort is made, however, to assign patrol personnel to areas
familiar to them.

Menlo Park PD is a joke. Officers getting arrested for seeing prostitutes on duty, and keeping their job! Always have been a bunch of cowboys. Since the city council won't hire a strong external chief (Carpenter's theory about the staff controlling the council is spot on, they are using an internal chief with anger management issues), the result is pre ordained. Outsource!

Here's the link to the City Employee Satisfaction Survey that Mickie referenced. I had to make a public records request to obtain it. The results show that the employees consider the management the then biggest problem. Web Link

On a related note, here's the link to the Performance Review of the Community Services Department Web Link and the one for the Public Works Department. Web Link I also needed to make a public records request for both. Note: Matrix Consulting identified many serious problems in both departments along with recommendations. Matrix also reported directly to Staff and Council only publically heard a brief (and what I considered very sanitized) presentation that was not given to them before the meeting, let alone the reports so Council could study them in advance.

I plan to write the Council members directly with more specific observations.

In reference to the 2017 employee engagement survey that a few comments have noted, these results were from the leadership of a different city manager. I've heard there's been improvement since Starla Jerome-Robinson took the role. The survey is done every 2 years. What about the 2019 results? Do they show improvement?

Posted by Peter Carpenter
a resident of Menlo Park: Park Forest
on May 2, 2020 at 5:58 pm

"MP residents need to realize that the city staff has totally captured the elected City Council.

The staff has de facto control of the Council agenda and nothing goes on the agenda that has not been vetted by the staff. Obviously in this arrangement the Council will only be given a very limited set of alternatives to consider.

A test question is - Will the staff recommend outsourcing police services to the Sheriff as is done in both Portola Valley and Woodside? This would save millions of dollars annually and would also improve the level of service. And it would avoid future increases in the city's liability for police pensions.

If not, then we know for sure that the Council is not in charge but rather is being led by the nose by the city staff


********************

Just as predicted - the staff is dealing with all of the nickel and dime issues and does NOT even discuss (much less recommend) the easiest way to save MILLIONS - contract for police services with the Sheriff:

Web Link

Note that the City spends over $22 MILLION on police services - twice per capita what other communities pay.

Obviously protect the staff is more important than things like Belle Haven Child Care.