BPD Chief Update

The San Mateo Daily Journal has a piece on the replacement for recently retired Police Chief Jack Van Etten:

Burlingame will name San Mateo Deputy Police Chief Mike Callagy as its interim police chief in the coming weeks if the two city’s respective councils ratify the contract, Burlingame City Manager Jim Nantell said yesterday.

It is a move that one day may lead to a full merger of the two departments, Nantell said.

Callagy was brought in because he shares the vision of shared services between the two departments, a vision some Burlingame rank-and-file officers do not.

Burlingame police have been working without a contract now for 15 months and the force has been reduced by 25 percent, said Burlingame police Officer Jim Hutchings.

You should read the rest of the article to get more color on the potential for sharing police departments with San Mateo.

Comments

[Joe]

Here is a piece of today's editorial in the Daily Journal

In 1978, Proposition 13 forced changes to government budgets across the state. A year later, the cities of Belmont and San Carlos chose to share fire services as a way to make up for budget shortfalls caused in part by the proposition and the recession at that time. The partnership has had its rocky spells but its overall cost-saving benefits has kept it together through various leadership configurations in both cities.

Today, with cities across the state and on the Peninsula facing burgeoning budget deficits, there is a need for more creative approaches to ensuring valued city services remain. While the current recession is diminishing tax revenue, the foundation of the current crisis lies in the events of just 10 years ago. The dot-com boom and bust had its way with city budgets in that pension obligations promised when times were good skyrocketed when the markets they were invested in went south. Rising payroll and pension obligations meant more money had to be funneled to workers who took advantage of early retirement packages negotiated when times were good and public sentiment was behind them. With these obligations no longer sustainable, there has been significant behind-the-scenes discussions of consolidation to eliminate redundancies, particularly in administration. There has been pushback by labor forces now accustomed to their contracts and the pay and benefits they afford. Up until recently, elected officials who benefited from endorsements of the unions whose contracts they approve had little taste for opposition. Now there is a new political reality spawned from necessity. And that necessity is leading to the opening of flood gates once firmly shut.

The Burlingame Police Department has been the topic of merger, shared services, consolidation discussions for years. It has meant the ouster of two police chiefs — the most recent one an acting police chief. This week, the discussion finally yielded progress in a tentative deal that will eventually lead to the sharing of a police chief between the two cities. Some rank-and-file officers are less than pleased with the proposal but the two cities’ leadership were smart in maintaining that the deal is not yet permanent and will only make sense if it means the same level of service and a cost savings, at least for Burlingame, of at least $500,000 the first year. That way, the two sides have an opportunity to see if the partnership is indeed working before making it permanent. And the selection of San Mateo Deputy Police Chief Mike Callagy, the epitome of professionalism, was a solid choice for the transition.

[Joe]

In an era of severe cost cutting, with threats of eliminating public safety positions, is it the prudent thing for the City of Burlingame to pay Callagy's entire salary of almost a quarter-million dollars? (SM Times, 3-19-10)? Anyone else find it interesting that acting Chief Ed Wood was so suddenly replaced with someone with more of Burlingame City Manager Jim Nantell's "vision?" This isn't about Callagy himself or even a Burlingame/San Mateo merger. Callagy may be fine leader and a merger may ultimately prove to be the right option, but what happened to Ed Wood running things, someone who's salary was already part of the Burlingame budget? Let's slow down a bit here! Spending this insane additional amount of money at a time like this just doesn't make sense. If you agree, be sure to be heard at the 4-5-10 (Monday) Burlingame City Council meeting, when Council is set to ratify the decision.

[joe]

Hi Joe2, that's an interesting comment and well worth discussing. Since you are not the Joe who made the original post or the first comment, could I ask you to use some modifier to your screen name so we can keep each other straight? Thanks, Joe

[Ron Fulderon]

I have an amaaaazing way to cut the cost to fill the position by half.

How about if the city were to announce a job opening for a new policy chief and list the salary (and those oh so lucrative retirement benefits) for half of the current pay? And then pick the most qualified applicant from that batch that apply.

[hillsider]

San Mateo leaders said Thursday that they may offer to take over police and fire services for San Carlos, the latest potential public safety partnership between Peninsula cities open to reshaping their government to survive the recession.

San Mateo City Manager Susan Loftus said officials have yet to formulate a detailed plan, but they intend to submit some ideas to leaders in San Carlos to gauge their interest. Ideas could include complete outsourcing of San Carlos police and fire services to San Mateo, a public safety merger between the two cities or contracting for specific operations, such as dispatch.

"I think this is something we'd like to look at, and at least do enough research to see if this is worth pursing more," Loftus said. "We'll talk with San Carlos to see what they want, and we'll put something together and see if it's worth doing any follow-up work on."

San Mateo would have to beat offers already submitted by the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and Cal Fire to provide public safety services for San Carlos. Redwood City also has expressed interest in providing San Carlos with police services and may submit a plan in the coming month.