Mayor Norm Childress called the study session to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

Present were: Mayor Norm Childress and Councilmembers Helen Darr, Bill Flory, Pam Horner, Jan McDonald, Javier Rodriguez and Joan Souders. Councilmember Robert Morales was absent.

Staff present were: City Administrator Scott D. Staples, City Attorney Jack Maxwell, City Clerk Anita Palacios, Police Chief David Charvet, Assistant Police Chief Mark Ware and Police Sergeants Kal Fuller, David Palacios and Mike Hopp.

2. POLICE DEPARTMENT DIRECTION/PRIORITIES

Police Chief Charvet introduced the two newest Police Sergeants David Palacios and Mike Hopp. Both were promoted to sergeant following the Civil Service assessment center promotional exam which took place on September 12^th. Their promotions became effective October 1, 2006.

Discussion took place regarding the following topics:

Graffiti

Chief Charvet explained that last fall and early spring, there was a rash of graffiti in the community. He commended the Council for taking the initiative of placing graffiti with the Public Works Department and equipping them appropriately with personnel and equipment. He added that painting the entire surface has also made a huge difference in the appearance of the community.

Discussion took place regarding the graffiti award program. The graffiti award program provides for a $500 award for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of a tagger. The Police Department recently had an incident wherein information received resulted in the arrest and charge of two juveniles for graffiti. The case was referred to the County Juvenile Department and the juveniles received a deferred prosecution. A deferred prosecution does not constitute a conviction and the informant was unable to receive the reward. Chief Charvet recommended the program be amended to include conviction and/or deferred prosecution.

City Attorney Maxwell advised that the local attorneys would probably agree to represent the property owners and pursue civil litigation against the juveniles parents for restitution of property damages.

Friday Early School Release Program

Chief Charvet informed that the first Friday early release was busy and then the last few Fridays have been fairly quite, but this past Friday was busy again. No fights were reported, however, there was a lot of activity involving different groups of juveniles. Police Department officers and School District officials have been meeting every Friday morning to discuss student and gang issues. He advised that the School District was reviewing the possibility of implementing a controlled release and mandatory tutoring at the high school and middle school. The Parks & Recreation staff were also in the process of developing program activities for Friday afternoons. The School District and Police Department would be holding a parent awareness program for gang prevention and anti-bullying on October 21^st.

Animal Control

Chief Charvet advised that the new Animal Control Officer began in June 2006. She really attempts to work with the public on dog issues. During the month of September, she impounded 26 dogs, adopted 13, euthanized 8, and had 81 calls for service. She places a great deal of emphasis on adopting out animals. A majority of the adoptions have been out of the area. He emphasized the need for a new animal shelter and would be bringing that request to Council during the budget process.

With respect to the dog problem on Douglas, Chief Charvet reported that the problem was being addressed even before Mrs. Goldade came before the Council that evening. The Animal Control Officer talked with Mrs. Goldade on the Friday before the Council meeting and also on Monday before she came to the Council.

Loud Music

Councilmember Souders informed that she has received complaints regarding the issue of loud music in cars.

Chief Charvet advised that police officers can only pull over vehicles and issue citations for loud music when they hear and observe the loud music.

Districting Plan

The Police Department has implemented a new Districting Plan. The City has been divided into four districts and department personnel have been assigned to each district. The premise for the Districting Plan was to allow for teams of officers to focus some of their efforts into a smaller, more manageable area. While all officers are ultimately responsible for the entire jurisdiction during their shift, there are frequently more specific tasks that could be accomplished on any given shift. The tasks envisioned are related to the community oriented policing concept. With the smaller areas on which to focus, the groups of officers would eventually grow to assume personal ownership in their area, develop action plans for handling what may be area-specific issues and communicate their activities, ideas and results to other districts. During the summer, each district group was responsible for being involved in setting up the community picnics in their area. Neighborhood block watches were also attended. Any requests by citizens for talks/educational presentations were routed to specific district personnel to follow through with these functions.

Hillcrest Drug House (John Harris)

City Attorney Maxwell advised that the City has obtained a temporary restraining order against the property owner. He would be returning to court in the next three or four weeks to obtain a legal judgement of abatement. The City would then need to appropriate the funds to make the necessary repairs. It was his understanding that it would cost $15,000-$30,000 to decontaminate the residence.

City Administrator Staples informed that some cities establish, through the budget process, a code enforcement revolving fund in order to have funds available for abatement. Once the abatement was complete, a lien would be placed against the property and when the property was sold and the lien paid, the money would go back in the fund.

Student Resource Officer

At the September 18^th joint meeting with the City and School District, the parties agreed to a 50/50 split of salaries and benefits to implement a School Resource Officer (SRO) at the Middle School beginning January 2007. Since that meeting, the School Superintendent expressed interest in starting earlier than January 1^st. Chief Charvet mentioned that he has an officer who would be interested in the SRO assignment and would be available by November 1^st.

Code Enforcement

Chief Charvet suggested that the City hire additional code enforcement personnel in order to improve the community, clean the community, and make the community a better place to live. The City needs to strictly enforce nuisance ordinances. City Administrator Staples advised that currently the City has one employee who was doing both building inspection and code enforcement. Right now based upon the development situation, he was about 85 (building)/15 (code).

Hispanic Leadership

Discussion took place regarding the need to develop leadership within the Hispanic community to deal with certain social issues in our neighborhoods and the gang problems. Hispanic ministers, business owners, and property owners could be identified to work with the City leaders to help solve issues. Councilmember McDonald suggested that the Hispanic Ministerial Association be contacted.

Law Enforcement Legislative Priorities

Mayor Childress explained that at the last Valley Mayors Meeting, the group agreed to form a committee of mayors, city administrators/managers, and police chiefs to develop law enforcement legislative priorities (i.e., payment of medical expenses for incarcerated inmates, juvenile sentencing guidelines, unfunded mandates, juvenile curfews, loitering, harassment, etc.). These priorities would then be brought to our local legislators and lobbied as a group effort.

3. ADJOURNMENT