Public safety is topic of POA, city joint meeting

The second joint meeting of the POA Board of Directors and the City Council took place at the lodge on Monday evening. Present from the city were Mayor Pro Tem Jordan Ehrenkrantz, Councilmembers Randy Bonner, Kasey Castillo and Jeremy Smith, City Manager Chris Mann and Acting City Clerk Ana Saucedo. Present from the POA were President Dale Welty, Treasurer Jeanne O’Dell, Secretary Chris Poland, Director Jim Barringham, Director Tom Nathan, General Manager Eric Kazakoff, Assistant General Manager Lyn Jensen, PIO and Clerk of the Board Harmony McNaughton and Member Services Director Cory Gorham.

The meeting began with a moment of silence for the wife of Canyon Lake Mayor Larry Greene, who is battling cancer, followed by the flag salute and public comments.

Public comments began with EVMWD District One Director Darcy Burke, who discussed possible rate increases for water. There will be financial assistance for those who are eligible. She also stated that residents will be receiving the Water Quality report in their mailboxes soon.

Other members talked about Marine Patrol, the dangers of kids driving golf carts, the fire department, the “speedway” between Sparkle Dr. and Village Way Dr., no new taxes from the Riverside County Flood Control and Conservation District, Canyon Lake’s zip code shared with Quail Valley and Sun City, getting RSO to publish what is going on in the community, noise on the lake by the main causeway, and managing and solving the issues with CALFire.

The city manager gave a presentation on the city’s financial position and cost increase in the last six years for police and fire services. The presentation outlined what Canyon Lake receives in services from each agency.

According to the city, the amount the county has charged the city for providing fire protection and emergency medical services has risen approximately 79 percent since 2014. City revenues, while also growing, have not been able to keep pace. These drastic increases have thrown the city’s budget into a structural deficit. If not corrected, the city’s budget deficit of nearly $670,000 will quickly eat away at its General Fund reserves, estimated at $3.7 million. As the current budget situation is not sustainable, the City Council and city staff are in the process of evaluating potential options.

To save money, the city plans to maintain a “municipal” staffing model at the fire station through August 2019 and then switch to a “non-municipal” staffing model for the remainder of the year. Under the “municipal” staffing model, there is a captain on shift at all times. Under the “non-municipal” staffing model, there is just one captain. When that captain is off shift, the next highest ranking person will be in charge of the station. According to the city, this staffing change will save the city approximately $95,000 in the 2019/2020 fiscal year.

Other options being discussed include a two-man response, closing Station 60 and using AMR for medical response, as well as contracting with other cities for fire response. Eighty to 85 percent of calls are medical. State law requires a fire truck to respond first to all calls.

The POA owns the fire station. The city contracts with the POA to lease the station for $1 a year.

The city has contacted Murrieta, Hemet, Corona and Calimesa with no real solutions at this time. A possibility discussed is forming a Joint Powers Authority between the city and the POA for fire and police services, including security. However, with this option, it could take years to sort out the legalities and the agreement would be very complex. The city is also looking at other cities in other counties that have different models.

On police matters, crimes in the city are low and Canyon Lake could perhaps share a second deputy with another city, start a robust volunteer program, or contract with another city instead of RSO. The city has contacted Menifee, Wildomar, Murrieta, and Hemet, with no real interest at this time.

The city is also looking at ways to increase revenue. These options include increasing the UUT, a Special Tax, a Parcel Tax, economic development and the BLM land.

POA Member Services Director Cory Gorham gave a presentation on Allied Universal, the POA’s security provider, and outlined the services provided, such as gate attendants, dispatch, supervisors, guest call-in, traffic violations, rules violations and special events.

The contract has gone from $2,133,623 in 2017-2018, to $2,445,915 in 2019-2020.  Bill Jordan, Canyon Lake’s  Allied Universal manager, explained the number of employees and hours of service at various positions.  Recently, the POA has returned the captain of Marine Patrol to a POA position from Allied Universal to assure a better knowledge of the lake.

A software program called HeliAUS tracks all employees, including their location and what they are working on.  These employees have a red cell phone to communicate with headquarters.  The software maps a 24-hour period and provides an accountability graph. Allied Universal works closely with the city police department when needed for backup in emergencies, special events and major incidents.

City Council members had the opportunity to add comments. Mayor Pro Tem Ehrenkrantz said the city is working on issues pertaining to fire protection services. Councilwoman Castillo reported work on the police contract and issues, including having deputies in visible places and not at the City Hall police station office.

She stated that she has had a discussion with the city attorney about potentially combining police and security services. “Given government code regulations, that’s not necessarily just something we can do,” said the councilwoman. “We’ve talked about potentially looking at spot legislation to fix that because we are a small community and we can’t take a one size fits all approach the way other cities do with these contracts.”

Councilman Smith has been having an open dialog with AMR, the county’s emergency medical responders. A possibility of a building near East Port Park for AMR to help cut down on response times was discussed. The rental income on the building would go to the POA.

“Our goal is to get them inside the community and to push forward the relationship also,” said Smith. He suggested that a couple of board members and AMR discuss this possibility of a building inside Canyon Lake.

The county, not the city, pays for AMR services. If the city enters into a separate contract with AMR, the city would have to pay.

POA President Welty reaffirmed the POA Board’s willingness to work with the city. Director Welty and Director Nathan will serve as POA liaisons to the city.

Director Poland stated that’s he would like to know how Canyon Lake compares in terms of police and fire protection to other communities of the same size. “Is everybody having the same problem being able to afford their police and fire?” he asked.

Director Poland also stated that he would like to see the construction permit process streamlined.

Director O’Dell mentioned that Lake Elsinore is aggressively moving the homeless and some of that action impacts Canyon Lake. “I think the POA and the city need to begin to work together as to how we’re going to be able to address some of that,” said O’dell.  “I think that would be a great topic for a future meeting.”

The city and the POA agreed to joint meetings four times a year. There was talk of increasing the number of joint meetings as necessary.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:49 p.m.