Council: Public safety a top priority
for many speakers at special meeting
May 29, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Citizens flooded a special City Council meeting Thursday to give input into city needs they believe should be budget priorities. It was a standing room only crowd that could have used the seats that weren’t replaced after last year’s chamber remodeling.
Vice Mayor Martin Hernandez said he was glad to see the crowd in wake of his earlier remark that citizens usually avoided budget hearings.
But it was public safety that was on the mind of most speakers including members of Citizens for a Safer Santa Paula which last year had a tax measure narrowly defeated.
The crowd at the May 21 meeting included labor organizations, representatives from local advocacy groups and church youth programs, the Santa Paula Unified School District, the business community and economic development proponents as well as city department heads.
The meeting fulfilled the campaign promises of three new council members to have transparency and goal setting as a top priority.
Hard numbers had been examined at previous council meetings in preparation of the 2105-2016 budget, which by law must be adopted by July 1.
The city is looking at a razor thin budget next year that requires cuts to department budgets although no personnel cuts to end the year with a balance of about $12,000.
Consultant Mike Sedell, the former city manager of Simi Valley who has donated his services to the city, helped set the stage for the meeting noting his own meetings with Santa Paulans in the community as well as council members showed “the goals and desires” of the citizenry.
“The sense I received was this is a great town but we want it better,” and a return to previous years when it was better.
Sedell noted “You do great quality services with a minimal number of people but they’re wearing out…and the community senses it.”
Although community priorities noted fire and police Sedell said emphasis was also placed on parks and recreation.
The five general areas the public felt were “most important” were public safety, fiscal stability and financial sustainability, infrastructure and utilities, economic development and transparency.
Steve Smead said proposed cuts to the police department of approximately $280,000 — mainly overtime costs — are “unacceptable” and must be found elsewhere.
He also noted that with the council’s desire for transparency the proposed budget has not been posted online.
Sedell noted the budget has not been finalized and Mayor John Procter concurred, and said there would be no budget decisions until later meetings.
There were numerous public speakers including Gabrielle Muratori, who used delaying home maintenance and the consequences to what could happen if police services are not funded.
“Please, please make public safety your number one priority,” said Muratori. “… if you decide to take this road we the community will be there all the way to support you.”
Another member of Citizens for a Safer Santa Paula, Laurie Beyer, told the council “We don’t want to sound like a broken record, the message gets diluted,” but, “We have to do something…it’s completely unacceptable that we live in a town where we feel unsafe.”
Safety, said Sedell, is a feeling, “not just police,” but rather the “whole village working together” such as Neighborhood Watch groups and interactions and better communication between neighbors.
Such partnerships are reflective of police, fire and community services, “everybody” working together to benefit the city.
“It takes more than just the council to come up with those ideas,” he noted.
Other speakers urged that more police officers be added as soon as possible even if funds have to cut from other services.
Brandy Manzano noted the comments of Eliva Hernandez who earlier told the council about the youth program at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Project Esperanza, which serves about 60 children.
Project Esperanza, according to a October 2010 Santa Paula Times article, was formed to help identify and provide behavioral health services to the underserved youth population and their families through a partnership between the church and the county.
Manzano said there is no shared information in the city about such youth programs, which she and others were unaware of.
“Not only do we need more funding,” she said, “but we need more collaboration.”
Ronda McKaig, like a majority of speakers also a member of the citizens public safety group, said although some have said that publicly discussing crime issues “does a disservice to our town,” nevertheless, “We cannot ignore the gravity of the public safety issues in this town…”
She urged that the council rethink current funding and raising future revenues, including another tax measure.
“We cannot arrest our way out of this crime and violence that we are subject to and therefore need to provide an investment in early intervention programs,” for youth, said Dr. Gabino Aguirre, the city’s former mayor.
He said the city must work with Ventura County to bring in a larger proportion of funding for youth employment and mental health services, funding that is directed without public hearings where input from decision-makers can be garnered.
Santa Paula, said Aguirre, garners only a “fraction” of such funding and noted out of 60 programs serving youth, “We have only two...”
He and others — including Councilwoman Jenny Crosswhite — have initiated meetings with Ventura County CEO Mike Powers to discuss funding issues which sees Santa Paula get only $72,000 out of a bank of $40 million.
“That is important,” said Procter, especially as the lack of funding for local services is “shocking…”
Bob Borrego read a letter from Father Charles Lueras of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and then noted his own opinion that “The first priority of every city should be public safety.”
Santa Paula Unified School District Board President Michelle Kolbeck said the district is willing to partner with the city in many ways from the current School Resource Officer program law and jointly applying for grants to sharing facilities for youth activities.
Shane Norwood, president of the Santa Paula Police Officers Association, said current salaries and staffing levels in the city’s police department has put officers and the community in danger.
“We want to be professionally aggressive and bring Santa Paula back to where it used to be,” when the murder rate over a nine-year period was eight total compared to the nine homicides that occurred in 2013 and 2014.
But that means more personnel: “We’re tired,” Norwood said. “It’s just not something we can do much longer. Cops are humans too.
“Policing is expensive, we get that but the preservation of life,” said Norwood is “priceless…let’s find other ways, the association is willing to work with you.”
Other speakers addressed public safety and its funding including the Santa Paula Fire Department.
Councilwoman Ginger Gherardi said it is also time to stop the “putting a band aid on a gapping wound” approach to fire department funding and suggested staff find a way to correct the “structural problem” in funding.
An assessment district or other funding or service partnerships with the county or nearby communities should be explored, said Gherardi.
Hernandez said he was pleased at the meeting’s turnout and the fact that goals are now being formulated after years of no such guidelines.
Said Hernandez, “My dream when I was elected,” more than two years ago, “was to have this kind of a process for our community…”
The council will continue to discuss the budget at its June 1 and June 15 meetings; if need be they will call another special session June 22 to finalize the spending plan.
